Super 7: Miami's Best Dive Bars
Shots, beers, and zero pretense
Mac’s Club Deuce
After-work happy hour is for amateurs. After breakfast happy hour? That’s for dive bar pros, and a big selling point of this South Beach landmark that’s’ been around since 1926. Mac’s Club Deuce the kind of place you’ll see C-list celebrities posted up next to people who look like they’ve been there since sunrise. Neither gets a second look from anyone inside.
Pro tip: Bring cash. The Deuce specializes in clientele who doesn’t leave a paper trail and thus takes no cards.
Insta: @macsclubdeuce // 222 14th St., South Beach
Ted’s Hideaway
Admittedly, Ted’s Hideaway lost a little of its hide-from-the-world charm when it added roughly 600 flat screen TVs earlier this decade. But it’s still a place where you can go at the end of the night to drink vodka-sodas until you realize you’ve been there way too long. Packed with after-shift service industry types and long-time South Beach locals, Ted’s makes you feel so much at home you sometimes literally forget to leave.
Pro tip: Hit Ted’s after a long beach day. The cool AC and dark environs are especially refreshing, almost as much as the cold beer.
Insta: @teds_hideaway // 124 2nd Street., SoFi
Better Days
Brickell’s bar of last resort is tucked – of course – onto the ground floor of a condo tower. The low ceilings and single-stall bathrooms make Better Days an ideal place for 3 am bad decisions, decisions that often spill over onto the couches lining the walls. On weekends, turns into more of a dance club than a dive, so better to hit it on a weeknight - aka the best time to be at a dive bar anyway.
Pro tip: Surprisingly, Better Days makes some pretty fantastic original cocktails, for a dive bar. Try one out before defaulting to your usual shot-and-a-beer.
Insta: @betterdaysmiami // 500 Brickell Bldg., Brickell
Fox’s Lounge
The mark of a great dive bar is obviously its lunch. Because what’s better than “accidentally” forgetting to pick your kid up from school because you were knee deep in a French Dip? This windowless dive deep down US-1 puts out some of the best sandwiches in the city in a space that feels the same at 2 am as it does at 2 pm. So you’ll be forgiven if Fox’s time warp sucks you in.
Pro tip: Peruse the jukebox by the bathrooms. It’s a tribute to the one at the Original Fox’s and the most nostalgic tribute in the place.
Insta: @foxslounge // 6030 S. Dixie Hwy., South Miami
Duffy’s Tavern
Duffy’s tagline for years was “Where the elite meet to eat!” And looking around, you realize their definition of “elite” generally means people who appreciate the nutritional value of Old Crow. Duffy’s is a UM institution, where the walls are covered with license plates, dollar bills, and relics of the school’s football glory days. You might even meet some folks who’ve been sitting at the bar since the Hurricanes’ last national championship.
Pro tip: Hit the ATM before you go, no credit cards are accepted at Duffy’s
Insta: @duffystavernfl // 2108 SW 57th Ave., South Miami
Barracuda Taphouse and Grill
Barracuda is the last of a dying breed of Coconut Grove cold-beer-and-cheap-good-times dive bars that made the neighborhood Miami’s nightlife hub for decades. The beer selection is surprisingly good, too, so while the vibes might bring you back to your frat house days, the beer most certainly will not.
Pro tip: Grab an order of the hot chicken tenders with your beer. They’re some of the Miami’s best and pair well with every beer on the menu.
Insta: @barracudagrove // 3035 Fuller St., Coconut Grove
Bob’s Your Uncle
Theming a dive bar seems like overkill, like having a day spa at a Jiffy Lube or a DJ at 7-11. But Bob’s Your Uncle pulls it off, theming the entire place after the world’s most generic name. Walls are papered in pictures of famous people named Bob, drinks have Bob-themed names, and of course there’s plenty of merch to bring home for the Bob in your life.
Pro tip: Go for one of Bob’s $10 shot and a beer combination. No substitutions, because you don’t need one.
Insta: @bobsyourunclemiami // 928 71st St., North Beach