Anyone who’s visited the Hotel Daphne, the art-filled boutique property that opened last December in the Heights, knows the only thing it’s missing is a place to grab a drink. Thankfully, that situation will change today (Monday, May 4) with the opening of its in-house bar, which is simply called Bar Daphne.
To date, the hotel, which is operated by Austin-based hospitality company Bunkhouse, has yet to release any details about the bar. Over the weekend, a user on the Houston Heights Foodies Facebook group noticed the bar’s webpage on the hotel’s official website had been posted, which gave the group’s members a sneak peek. (The webpage was taken offline shortly after CultureMap requested comment on the ill-timed posting.)
This post popped up on the Houston Heights Food Facebook group on Sunday, May 3.Screenshot via Houston Heights Foodies/Facebook
The webpage hints at what customers can expect from Bar Daphne. “It’s everything you want in a neighborhood bar: welcoming service, bold cocktails, killer bar bites,” one paragraph reads. “Right on the corner of Ashland and 20th, it’s a local spot where easy nights turn into late ones. All kindred spirits welcome.”
Those “killer bar bites” are created by chef Terrence Gallivan, executive chef of Hypsi, the hotel’s Italian restaurant. According to a menu that was also briefly posted online, the choices consist of globally-inspired shareable options like shrimp-stuffed street corn, black garbanzo falafel, veggie crudité, salt & vinegar chips with caramelized onion dip and smoked trout roe, lamb sausage with eggplant and tomato-cherry chutney, fried olives, and campechana verde made with shrimp, crab, and avocado.
The webpage goes on to explains that the bar’s cocktails are named for “the original modern paintings hanging throughout the space.” They include eight house originals such as the “Life On A Merry-Go-Round” (apertivo, lychee, cherry, lime, and boba), the “Studio 8” (American single malt, pineapple, lime, and clarified banana water), and the "Watercolor No. 35" (tequila, raspberry syrup, lime, passionfruit soda, and guava foam). A couple of zero-proof options are available for those who prefer to abstain from alcohol, and, of course, the bar also pours wine and beer.
The Hotel Daphne has had its ups and downs since opening. On the positive side, Esquire named it as the only Texas representative on the magazine's list of the The Best New Hotels in the World 2026. On the downside, Houston Chronicle food critic Bao Ong awarded Hypsi zero stars in a review that stated “the missteps at dinner make Hypsi difficult to recommend, at least for now.”
How Bar Daphne fits in remains to be seen, of course, but it is ideally situated for a Heights bar crawl that includes the two most recent Bar of the Year winners in the CultureMap Tastemaker Awards — Johnny's Gold Brick (2025) and Donna's (2026).
Bar Daphne opens daily at 5 pm. At some point soon, its website will go live here.
