The Last Word
The Last Word keeps an ambiguous door on W. Huron, runs a kitchen alongside the bar, and lets you sit over one cocktail all night.1
Why go
The Infatuation put this on its March 2026 list of the nineteen best places to drink in Ann Arbor, and the line it leads with is about the front door: Even in a small midwestern town, you can still find speakeasies with ambiguous entrances, deceptively large spaces, and hostesses with an enviable wardrobe.
1 The bar runs a kitchen alongside the drinks, which is why the room fills with people eating and people only drinking at the same tables.1 Nothing published names a bartender or a house build, so I have no drink to point you at here.
Order this / avoid
- Avoid: arriving with a group and no booking. The room is reported as always packed and it takes reservations through Tock.1
What locals & experts say
- Bella Simonte, The Infatuation, 26 March 2026:
It's easy to spend hours nursing a single cocktail and burning the midnight oil with your friends, significant others, and out-of-towners.
1 - The Infatuation, on who fills the room:
Last Word is first and foremost a bar, but they also have a hearty food menu, which gives it a varied demographic of diners, drinkers, singles, groups, and people ages 21-50.
1
Good to know
- Booking: through Tock, linked from The Infatuation's guide.1
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: "One of the top cocktail bars in the city." The published record does not yet get as far as his claim, and this entry does not pretend otherwise.
Verdict
could-visit — The Infatuation put this on its nineteen-bar list of the best places to drink in Ann Arbor and praised the room, the food menu and the fact that nobody moves you along. That is a real endorsement and it is also the whole file. Nothing published names a bartender, a build or a house drink, so the case rests on one guide blurb and Jeff's own line. Find a writer on the drinks and it argues for a lot more.