Best Quirky and Retro bars in Paris

Where to drink in the City of Light when you’re tired of marble counters and €22 negronis

Paris will happily sell you the postcard version of itself: a wine bar with zinc counters, a tolerating waiter, an espresso the size of a thimble. Lovely. But the city’s drinking scene has a much weirder underbelly — laundromats that aren’t laundromats, pizzerias hiding 1920s speakeasies, and neon-lit retro bars in Paris where you can play Mario Kart with a cocktail named after Pac-Man.

If you want the City of Light with a wink and a side of nostalgia, here are the best quirky and retro bars in Paris worth crossing town for.

Quick list: the best quirky and retro bars in Paris

1. Moonshiner — 1920s speakeasy behind a pizzeria (11th)
2. Lavomatic — cocktail bar hidden in a laundromat (10th)
3. Candelaria — mezcal den behind a taqueria (3rd / Marais)
4. The Reset Bar — 90s retro gaming bar (1st)
5. The Honey Moon — retro-futurist cocktails on tap (Pigalle)
6. Le Comptoir Général — “ghetto museum” bar (10th)
7. Le Syndicat — French spirits speakeasy (10th)
8. Le Lèche-Vin — religious-kitsch dive bar (11th)
9. No Entry — speakeasy under Pink Mamma (9th)
10. Baranaan — Bombay night-train themed bar (10th)

1. Moonshiner — The pizzeria that’s hiding a Prohibition speakeasy

📍 5 Rue Sedaine, 75011 Paris (Bastille / 11th arrondissement)

The blueprint for every “you’ll never believe what’s behind this door” bar in Paris. You walk into Da Vito’s pizzeria, smell the dough, try to look like you belong, then make for the metallic walk-in fridge at the back. Push it open and you’re in 1925: gramophones, leather armchairs, a fumoir and a small safe nobody’s cracked yet (contents go to whoever does — try your luck).

Whiskey-forward cocktails, dim lighting, bartenders in waistcoats who actually know what they’re doing. One of the most famous speakeasies in Paris, and still one of the best.

Best for: date nights, whiskey drinkers, first-time speakeasy hunters.

2. Lavomatic — A bar hidden behind a washing machine

📍 30 Rue René Boulanger, 75010 Paris (10th arrondissement, near République)

Yes, it’s a real laundromat. Yes, the machines work. No, you don’t need to bring socks. Find the right washing machine — the one whose door opens into a staircase, not someone’s spin cycle — climb up, and emerge into a brightly coloured apartment-style space with swings instead of bar stools and detergent-box seating.

It’s silly, it’s photogenic, and the cocktails — herbal, fruity, made with house syrups — are far better than the gimmick suggests. Get there before 8pm on weekends or prepare to make small talk with a bouncer.

Best for: Instagram, group nights out, anyone who likes a gimmick that overdelivers.

3. Candelaria — Taco joint by day, mezcal cathedral by night

📍 52 Rue de Saintonge, 75003 Paris (Le Marais / 3rd arrondissement)

The OG of the modern Paris speakeasy scene. The front looks like a tiny Mexican counter doing brisk taco business — and it is, the tacos are great — but the unmarked white door at the back leads into a candlelit cocktail den that’s a fixture on the World’s 50 Best Bars list.

Agave is the religion here. Order La Guêpe Verte: tequila, cucumber, coriander, green chartreuse, lime, a chilli kick. It’s been on the menu for a decade and there’s a reason.

Best for: mezcal lovers, serious cocktail nerds, dinner-and-drinks in one stop.

4. The Reset Bar — Cocktails with a side of Street Fighter

📍 99 Rue Saint-Honoré, 75001 Paris (1st arrondissement)

A neon-soaked time capsule of 1990s gaming and one of the best retro bars in Paris for nostalgic millennials. Atari, Mega Drive, Super Nintendo, PlayStation — all set up for self-service, no tokens, no fuss. Order a Lemon Pac-Man (gin, white wine, pineapple, brown sugar, somehow it works) and settle in for a Mario Kart grudge match.

Best for groups, ideally before too many cocktails — thumb dexterity does decline. Closed Mondays.

Best for: birthday groups, gamer dates, rainy afternoons.

5. The Honey Moon — Retro-futurism on tap

📍 Pigalle (9th arrondissement)

A 1970s disco fever dream done with surprising restraint. No bottles on display — instead, 38 chrome taps fed by copper pipes deliver cocktails pre-batched in an underground lab. Green, purple and white neon, a playlist mining the best of the 90s, and a bar team with serious pedigree (alumni of Lulu White just up the road).

Because the cocktails are on tap, you can taste before committing. Civilised.

Best for: design lovers, anyone bored of the speakeasy formula.

6. Le Comptoir Général — A “ghetto museum” in the 10th

📍 80 Quai de Jemmapes, 75010 Paris (Canal Saint-Martin / 10th arrondissement)

This one defies category. Set in a hidden courtyard off the Canal Saint-Martin, Comptoir Général calls itself a “ghetto museum” — part bar, part bric-a-brac postcolonial junk shop, part botanical curiosity. Stripped wooden tables, mounted chandeliers, a wall of vintage African magazines, and a punch menu that takes itself seriously enough to keep regulars loyal for years.

Wander around. You’ll find something odd in every room.

Best for: long afternoons, browsers, people who hate “concept” bars but will make an exception.

7. Le Syndicat — Cocktails of French Protection

📍 51 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis, 75010 Paris (10th arrondissement)

You will walk past it. The frontage is graffitied, peeling, and looks like a derelict shopfront — deliberately. Inside, one of Paris’s most original cocktail programs, working exclusively with French spirits: Cognac, Calvados, Chartreuse, Armagnac, obscure regional things you’ve never heard of. Hip-hop on the speakers, no nonsense, no English menu unless you ask.

A real point of view, which is rarer than it should be.

Best for: drinkers who want something they can’t get anywhere else.

8. Le Lèche-Vin — Religious kitsch and cheap pints

📍 13 Rue Daval, 75011 Paris (Bastille / 11th arrondissement)

A tiny, scruffy Bastille bar plastered floor-to-ceiling with religious iconography out front — Madonnas, Jesus paraphernalia, saints — and, in the back room, a wall of much-less-saintly imagery we won’t describe here. Cheap drinks, irreverent atmosphere, zero pretension.

The opposite of every cocktail bar on this list, and a useful palate cleanser.

Best for: budget nights, dive-bar fans, people allergic to cocktail menus.

9. No Entry — Behind Pink Mamma’s freezer door

📍 20 bis Rue de Douai, 75009 Paris (9th arrondissement)

Pink Mamma is one of those Italian restaurants Instagram won’t shut up about. Skip the queue, ask the hostess for a cocktail, and you’ll be led down to a basement door marked “No Entry” — the kind of warning sign you’d see on industrial machinery.

Inside: glass demijohns of slowly infusing spirits, over 3,000 litres of macerating alcohol lining the walls, soft pink lighting, and a gin programme built around a Ceylon-tea-infused Tanqueray cocktail called Te Amo. Worth the schlep alone.

Best for: gin lovers, dinner-then-drinks, people who like a proper hidden entrance.

10. Baranaan — The Bombay night train

📍 7 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Martin, 75010 Paris (10th arrondissement)

Walk through what looks like an Indian café, push the door with the tiger on it, and find yourself in a faux train carriage rattling through a Bombay night — scenery scrolling past the windows, retro Hindi signage, dim seductive lighting.

The cocktails are Indian-spice-led and unlike anything else in the city. Try the Tajma, served in a freshly cracked coconut. Naan available alongside, which feels exactly right at 1am.

Best for: themed-bar lovers, late-night drinkers, anyone who’s already done the standard speakeasy circuit.

Practical tips for visiting quirky bars in Paris

• Opening times: Most open at 6pm. Arrive before 8pm on weekends to skip queues.
• Reservations: Generally not required, with the exception of No Entry (book a table at Pink Mamma first).
• Payment: Cards accepted everywhere; cash optional.
• Dress code: No formal codes, but Parisians dress up. Smart-casual goes a long way.
• If a place looks closed, has no sign, or appears to be a laundromat: you’re probably in the right spot.

FAQs: Quirky and retro bars in Paris

What is the most famous speakeasy in Paris?

Moonshiner, hidden behind a walk-in fridge in Da Vito pizzeria in the 11th arrondissement, is the most famous Paris speakeasy. Candelaria in the Marais is the closest rival and a regular on the World’s 50 Best Bars list.

Where are the best retro bars in Paris?

The Reset Bar (1st arrondissement) is the standout for 90s retro gaming, while The Honey Moon in Pigalle delivers a 70s disco/retro-futurist vibe. For 1920s Prohibition-era retro, head to Moonshiner or Mobster Bar in the 11th.

Which Paris arrondissement has the best hidden bars?

The 10th and 11th arrondissements are the heartland of hidden and quirky Paris bars — both have a dense cluster of speakeasies, dive bars and themed spots within walking distance of each other. The 3rd (Marais) is the strongest single neighbourhood for award-winning cocktail dens.

Do you need to book quirky bars in Paris?

Most don’t take reservations — they operate on a walk-in basis. Arrive before 8pm on Friday and Saturday nights for the best chance of a seat. No Entry is the main exception, since access goes through Pink Mamma’s restaurant queue.

Are quirky Paris bars expensive?

Expect to pay €12–€16 per cocktail at speakeasies like Moonshiner, Candelaria and No Entry — in line with any quality cocktail bar in Paris. Dive bars like Le Lèche-Vin run far cheaper (pints from €3.50). Le Syndicat sits in the middle.