Arcadia

Arcadia occupies a stretch of Congress Street in Portland's Arts District and runs on the arcade-bar model: rows of pinball machines and cabinets, a proper bar, and an evening that is structured around playing rather than drinking. That structure is worth more to a non-drinker than most dedicated mocktail menus, because the hardest part of a sober night out is rarely the drink itself — it is sitting in a room where the only activity is drinking.

The zero-proof list is better than the format requires. The Mock Trial is built on Stappi, an Italian red bitter soda that has quietly become one of the most useful products in alcohol-free bartending: it delivers genuine bitterness, which is the quality that separates an adult drink from a soft one and the thing sugar-heavy mocktails always lack. Pairing it against pineapple gives the drink both bite and body.

The Coffee Tonic is the other one worth ordering. Nitro cold brew with Fever-Tree tonic and cane syrup is a combination that sounds wrong and works — the nitrogen gives it a soft, beer-like texture, the quinine in the tonic adds its own bitterness, and the result is dry, complex and nothing like a soda. There is also a Watermelon Mojito for anyone who wants something straightforwardly refreshing.

Hours suit a real night out: 5pm to midnight most days, to 1am Wednesday through Saturday, closed Tuesdays. It is a short walk from the rest of the Arts District and from Tandem's Congress Street bakery, and it is one of the few Portland venues where a non-drinker can comfortably still be out at half past midnight with something decent in hand. The games also solve the other problem with late sober nights, which is having something to do with your hands once the conversation runs down.