At East Bay's best new bar, the community is as vibrant as the cocktails

"The television show "Cheers," with its 11-season run and 28 Emmy awards, did a good job of making it a cliche, but an essential part of a great bar is the sense of belonging it generates. Humans, scientific studies indicate, are healthier when they have places where "everybody knows your name." Accordingly, Nosh Awards voters, over and over again, used the word "community" to explain why they chose 13 Orphans as the East Bay's Best New Bar of 2025."

""We actually have done a lot of community events for the past three and a half years with the [upper] space and kind of wanted to really focus on something that was tried and true, and really spoke to us within our culture and our community," Lui told NOSH earlier this year. "So when we started talking about the speakeasy, we just got really excited about creating its own dedicated theme, bar menu and food concept.""

A great bar creates a sense of belonging that supports health and social connection. Nosh Awards voters repeatedly cited "community" when naming 13 Orphans the East Bay's Best New Bar of 2025. The space grew from years of events on the second floor above Baba's House in Downtown Oakland. Owners Jenn Lui, Eman Garcia and Alan Chen developed the upper room into a speakeasy-style mahjong lounge with a dedicated theme, bar menu and food concept. The venue centers Asian culture in an inclusive way and operates as a creative community hub that fosters cultural, social and culinary connections.

Read at The Oaklandside