Handshake Speakeasy

The Room Before the Room

Pull back the theatrical curtain on the ground floor of a hotel on Calle Amberes and the entire team greets you in unison. That choreographed welcome is not a gimmick; it signals something deliberate about how Handshake Speakeasy is run. Colonia Juárez has become one of Mexico City's most concentrated zones for serious drinking, with bars like Baltra Bar and Bijou Drinkery Room within easy reach, but Handshake occupies a different tier in terms of international recognition. The décor references the Great Gatsby and prohibition-era aesthetics: low lighting, dark hues, the kind of environment designed to make you slow down and pay attention to what is in the glass.

The basement is a different proposition. The soundtrack shifts to hip-hop, the tempo rises, and the format becomes more informal. Two floors, two distinct registers — and the drinks program has to hold together across both.

What the Awards Actually Mean

Mexico City's cocktail scene has developed quickly across the last decade, moving from a small cluster of technically serious bars into a city with genuine depth across multiple neighborhoods. Against that backdrop, the trajectory of Handshake's awards record is worth reading carefully. The bar ranked 25th on the World's 50 Best Bars list in 2021, climbed to third in 2023, and reached first place in 2024 — the same year it held the leading position in North America's 50 Best Bars. It retained that North American number one ranking in 2025 and sits at fourth on the Top 500 Bars list for the same year. The Pearl Recommended Bar designation in 2025 adds a further independent signal. That kind of sustained upward movement across multiple ranking bodies over four years is not a single-year spike; it reflects a program that has been consistently developing.

Two decisions in 2021 contributed to the shift: a relocation to its current hotel setting and the arrival of Eric van Beek as drinks director. Those structural changes gave the bar the physical format and leadership it needed to execute at this level consistently. Among Mexico City peers, Bar Mauro and Brujas represent very different approaches to the city's drinking culture, but none currently hold comparable international ranking positions.

The Craft Behind the Counter

The editorial angle on Handshake that gets repeated most often , culinary-driven cocktails , is accurate but requires unpacking. A culinary approach in bar terms means applying kitchen technique to liquid: clarification, fermentation, precise temperature control, ingredient sourcing treated with the same seriousness a chef applies to produce. The clarified piña colada is the clearest illustration. Strip out the particulates that make a conventional version heavy and cloudy, and what remains is the essence of the drink without the weight , refreshing rather than sweet and thick. That one drink demonstrates the underlying method more efficiently than a long description of the broader philosophy would.

The service model is equally considered. Every person working at Handshake is a bartender. Roles rotate on a weekly basis: prep work, the floor, the maître position, the till. The practical effect is that whoever brings your drink understands how it was made, because they made drinks like it earlier in the week, or will next week. In Mexico City's hospitality culture, where warmth is often a given, this structure adds technical depth to what is already a generous host tradition.

What to Order and Where to Sit

Fig Martini has been on the menu since Handshake first opened, which in cocktail bar terms is a statement of confidence. A drink that survives years of menu evolution without being retired is either genuinely well-executed or carries enough sentimental weight to be untouchable. At Handshake, the evidence suggests the former. The Three Sips Martini takes a different approach, presented like a floral bouquet , visual drama serving as an entry point rather than a substitute for what is in the glass.

For first visits, the ground floor is the natural starting point: slower, more atmospheric, better suited to working through the drinks program without distraction. The basement suits a later part of an evening when the energy of the room becomes part of the experience rather than something to tune out. Both floors share the same kitchen-trained drinks program; the difference is tempo and setting, not quality.

Mexico City in Context

Handshake sits inside a broader moment for Mexican cocktail culture. Across the country, bars are drawing on local ingredients and techniques with increasing precision. El Gallo Altanero in Guadalajara and La Capilla in Tequila represent distinctly regional approaches; Arca in Tulum and Bekeb in San Miguel de Allende show how the country's bar scene extends well beyond the capital. Aruba Day Drink in Tijuana operates on an entirely different register again. Mexico City itself offers enough depth that a dedicated bar itinerary across several evenings is worth planning , see the full Mexico City guide for broader context. For international comparison, Bar Leather Apron in Honolulu and Coco Bongo in Cancun illustrate how differently bars across the wider region position themselves , Handshake's program is closer to the technically serious end of that spectrum than anything in the entertainment-led tier.

Planning Your Visit

Handshake Speakeasy is located at Calle Amberes 65, Colonia Juárez, Cuauhtémoc, Mexico City. The bar has a Google rating of 4.4 from over 1,600 reviews, which given the volume suggests broad satisfaction across a range of visitor types rather than a narrow enthusiast audience. The bar is set within a hotel, which means the address is findable and the entry point more direct than a true hidden-access venue, though the theatrical curtain does the work of establishing atmosphere from the moment you arrive.

Given the bar's sustained position at the leading of North America's 50 Best Bars and its 2024 global ranking, demand is high. Planning ahead rather than arriving without a reservation is the practical approach, particularly for Thursday through Saturday evenings when Colonia Juárez sees significant foot traffic across its bar concentration. Hours, pricing, and direct booking information are leading confirmed through current channels before visiting, as these details shift.