8 Best Cocktail Bars in Winnipeg

Amsterdam Tea Room and Bar has one of the more quietly distinctive origin stories in the Exchange District: Scottish owner Mark Turner opened it in 2016 as a loose-leaf tea shop, and that DNA is still visible everywhere — 74 teas on the menu, a bar inlaid with thousands of Scottish pennies, tea-infused cocktails that show up in nearly every account of what to drink here. The room itself has been built with real intention. Custom tables by local welder Matthew DeRyckere, a Netherlands-inspired mural by Winnipeg artist Michael Johnston, and massive windows onto Old Market Square give the space a handmade quality that's harder to come by than the price point (a solid level two) would suggest.

The food is small-plates contemporary, overseen by Chef Aron Epp and Turner, and the menu is the kind that rewards grazing through with a few people. The beef tartar and Tuna Francesco are the dishes diners consistently point to as the place to start — they surface repeatedly in discussions of what Amsterdam does best. The duck liver pâté and Parisienne gnocchi are reported to anchor a shared spread well, rounding out a table without competing for the spotlight. At this price level, the menu is broadly understood to offer craft that outpaces the bracket.

Practically speaking, those windows make Amsterdam a strong call across different occasions — afternoon tea, a cocktail before a show at one of the nearby Exchange venues, or a longer dinner without a hard stop. Weekend bookings are advisable; weeknight arrivals early enough to secure a window seat are worth the planning. The beef tartar is the consensus starting point; from there, let the cocktail list — specifically the tea-infused options — shape the rest of the evening.

Bellissimo doesn't do much to flag itself from the street, and that's apparently been the operating philosophy for over two decades. What started as a 25-seat dining room has grown into a 140-seat operation with a lounge and a patio — the kind of expansion that only happens when the regulars keep showing up and bringing people with them. Anthony Gagliardi's restaurant has built that following the slow way, and the room reflects it: dark, moody, and confident in a way that doesn't need to advertise itself on the sidewalk. This is the pitch for mid-price Italian in Winnipeg that's aimed squarely at people who've aged out of chains and aren't interested in pretending minimalist tasting menus are a good time.

The kitchen is known for making everything in-house daily — sauces, soups, breads, doughs, desserts — which is the kind of detail that tends to show up in the specifics rather than the headlines. The Pesce Asiago is the dish that diners and the menu both lead with: mussels in a tequila cream sauce, a combination that reportedly threads the needle between rich and sharp, the liquor pulling the cream back from heaviness. It's consistently described as the dish that signals this kitchen has its own point of view rather than just running through the Italian canon. The Frutti di Mare takes a different angle — pasta in a white wine sauce that reads lighter and more acidic, the kind of preparation that keeps the seafood at the center rather than burying it.

Practically speaking, the room is reportedly better later in the week when the lounge gets some momentum and the main dining room fills out. Request the interior rather than the perimeter tables — the atmosphere the place is known for apparently concentrates toward the darker core of the room. Start with the Pesce Asiago; it's the dish that sets the tone for what Bellissimo is actually about.