Best Sober Date Night Spots in Sacramento

Sacramento's alcohol-free scene has one dedicated room and a lot of licensed depth behind it. The Teetotalist is the city's first alcohol-free bar and social club, and it runs as a residency in the Jungle Room at Propagate, a Midtown plant shop — an events programme rather than a nightly bar, so check the schedule before making the trip. The strongest year-round drinks are in licensed venues. Juju on L Street ferments its own tepache for the Endless Summer and keeps spirit-free cocktails on the menu all year rather than every January; Kupros Craft House in Midtown stocks Lyre's and will build an Old Fashioned on it, which is the hardest classic to fake; Revival at the Kimpton Sawyer runs a named Sober Sundays menu; and Wildwood out at Pavilions makes its blood orange margarita with CleanCo alcohol-free tequila. Downtown is walkable and dense: Juju, Revival, Darling Aviary's rooftop and Dive Bar — where mermaids swim in a tank above the bar and three named mocktails sit on the menu, open 3pm to 2am every day — are all within a few minutes of each other. The Irish Hospitality Group's three bars (Ro Sham Beaux, The Snug, The Butterscotch Den) stock the same St. Agrestis Phony Negroni and Guinness 0 across Midtown and Broadway, which makes them dependable late. Beyond the centre, Bike Dog pours hop water and Untitled Art in East Sacramento, Shangri-la keeps three permanent zero-proof drinks out in Fair Oaks, The Local by Dunloe dry-hops its own lemonades in Davis, and Louie's in Rancho Cordova is open 6am to 2am with three non-alcoholic beers in the fridge. One correction worth making: Bottle & Barlow, still listed in Visit Sacramento's own mocktail guide, has closed permanently. For a date, the venues below balance a real NA program with an atmosphere that actually works for talking to someone.

12 date-friendly venues