Water Witch
Sean Neves, one of Water Witch's owners, has walked in at four o'clock on a Wednesday afternoon to find the bar full of retired judges drinking negronis.
Why go
Sean Neves, Scott Gardner and Matt Pfohl opened Water Witch in Central Ninth in late 2016 (Imbibe). In 2025 it became the first Utah bar to reach the final of the James Beard Foundation's Outstanding Bar award (City Weekly, James Beard Foundation). Stuart Melling of Gastronomic SLC calls it Salt Lake City's best cocktail bar
in his 2026 guide (Gastronomic SLC).
Neves told Alex Springer of City Weekly in 2025: We always had a vision of sparking some real drink programming in Utah.
A few months after opening, in early 2017, he had said: We want you to come in and have a snack and a pitcher, if that's your deal
(Salt Lake Magazine). Lydia Martinez of Salt Lake Magazine, who drinks there often and counts the owners as friends, found both in the room in 2025: It is intimate without feeling too swanky, with great cocktails that don't feel pretentious
(Salt Lake Magazine).
Neves told Imbibe in 2024 that it is easily the smallest bar in Salt Lake City
(Imbibe). Melling warns that it gets busy fast once the evening rolls in,
so go early for a seat. Springer found the afternoons quieter in 2025 and the weekends packed. Steve E. of the spirits blog Spirit Seers drank there in 2019 at a butcher-block bar, with a copy of Alfred Lambourne's painting Cliffs of Promontory on the west wall (Spirit Seers).
Skip the menu if you like. Martinez wrote in 2025: You can tell the bartender, 'I'm feeling like something bourbon-y and booze-forward with a splash of old library,' and you will get a fantastic beverage out of it
(Salt Lake Magazine).
What locals & experts say
- Steve E., Spirit Seers (2019, paid his own way):
It's a place that somehow manages to be equal parts neighborhood tavern, cocktail bar, and community gathering place.
7 - Zach Wade, chef of Cosmica in Central Ninth, on Water Witch and Bar Nohm (Salt Lake Tribune, 2025):
just doing incredible stuff and deserve all the recognition they can get.
10 - Scott Gardner, co-owner (City Weekly, 2025):
We will never be anything we're not, and we have to be the Witch 100% of the time.
2
Good to know
- When: from mid-afternoon Monday to Wednesday and from noon Thursday to Sunday, open late every night (the bar's site, September 2026).
- Booking: come early for a seat.
- Food: Ted Scheffler (Utah Stories, 2023) listed bar snacks of tinned fish and olives. For a meal, walk through the rear hallway into Bar Nohm, the sister izakaya (Utah Stories).
- Where: 163 West 900 South, Central Ninth. Call (801) 462-0967.
Verdict
should-visit — Go for the cocktails that put Utah in its first James Beard bar final, and let the bartender build one to your mood. The room is tiny and fills by evening, so come in the afternoon for a stool.