Berwick’s is partly an island getaway and fully a testament to Houston’s abundant, albeit occasionally overlooked, bar culture. Owner Robin Berwick knows all too well the brilliance of her local bar scene, having worked at the lauded lesbian bar Poison Girl, the boundary-pushing Anvil, and the coffeeshop-meets-cocktail bar Double Trouble. After years of helping to usher Houston’s drinks into the national spotlight, Berwick is adding her own vibrant stamp to the landscape.
Berwick’s cocktails put a tropical twist on classics, like the Crocodile Tears Martini, which adds coconut water, dried limes and sea salt to a base of vodka, while the Day-O’ Fashioned, an ode to Civil Rights hero and artist Harry Belafonte, throws banana liqueur and Double Trouble’s cold brew concentrate into the mix. The food menu, from Joshua Peterson and Jacob Pate, offers a lineup of bar snacks with personality and is just as impressive as the cocktails.
Berwick is explicit that this is not a tiki bar. Instead, it draws on the travel experiences dating back to her youth through her dad’s work in Veterans Affairs, and channels her long dream of working in a hotel lobby bar. This bar may take a different tack—rather than being in a hotel, it’s an unpretentious abode with ample outdoor seating in Houston’s Heights neighborhood—but it still brings lucious, refreshing, elegant cocktails to a city just as warm as the islands she dreams of.
Day-O’ Fashioned
This cold brew-spiked cocktail, made with rum and banana liqueur, leans into the bar’s tropical theme.
MAKE IT
For an Aperol Spritz that feels like it’s made for the Caribbean, opt for the Safari Sunset.
The citrusy, cool cucumber salad is one of the few non-fried bar menu options in the entire city and the beloved jalepeño-laden smash burger and jerk chicken wings are part of rotating daily happy hour specials.
Robin Berwick is an icon of Houston’s bar scene.
