A row of mannequin heads is an unusual welcome committee for a cocktail bar. At The Wig Shop on Temple Place, it’s how you know you’ve found the right address. Over in Back Bay, Hecate takes you below a Greek restaurant, where the drinks menu includes ingredients such as cedar smoke, sea moss and duck fat.
These two Boston speakeasies put some effort into the evening before you’ve ordered anything. The Wig Shop keeps the storefront disguise and serves food that deserves attention alongside the cocktails. Hecate borrows its name from the Greek goddess of witchcraft and gives its bartenders a fairly extensive collection of things to work with.
Both appeared on the 2026 extended list of North America’s 50 Best Bars, with The Wig Shop at No. 86 and Hecate at No. 88. For planning a night out, though, the more useful distinction is what happens once you get inside.
The Wig Shop
27 Temple Place, Downtown
The Wig Shop sits near Boston Common behind a storefront that still makes a convincing case for selling hairpieces. The wigs belong to the address’s previous life, so the disguise has some local history behind it.
Inside, the emphasis is on sitting down with a drink and staying a while. The cocktail selection changes, and the bar invites customers to ask for something suited to their preferences if nothing on the list appeals. You can explain what you like without committing to a drink because it has the best name.
The food is a reason to leave room in your plans. The current menu includes buttermilk pancakes topped with warm lobster, harissa butter, tobiko and dill. There are also sliders with bacon and white cheddar, crab and corn fritters, and bean-and-cheese pupusas with curtido and salsa roja. Ordering pancakes at a disguised cocktail lounge is a perfectly serviceable dinner decision.
For something smaller, there are ranch-seasoned crispy chickpeas and marinated olives. The range makes this a useful option when one person wants a drink and the other has realized they never ate.
The bar’s booking policy covers both walk-ins and advance plans. It opens daily from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. It accepts limited reservations for parties of two to six, released a week ahead, alongside walk-ins. Check the booking calendar for available times. Its posted table policy allows 90 minutes, with longer stays possible when nobody is waiting. Everyone must be 21 or older and bring proper identification.
Hecate
Below Krasi at 48 Gloucester Street, Back Bay; entrance on Public Alley 443
Hecate has 24 seats, so this is a better proposition for a small outing than an expanding group chat. Find the entrance in Public Alley 443 rather than expecting to walk through Krasi’s dining room.
The room is dim, and the drinks carry names that sound more like something you’d encounter in a book of spells. Beverage director Lou Charbonneau’s menu gives those names plenty of substance.
On the Volume V cocktail list, Snake Oil combines vodka and gin with eucalyptus, buckwheat, cedar smoke and tobacco bitters. Nightmarch takes a different direction, pairing rum with toasted coconut, oolong, caramelized pineapple soda and salted guava foam. Tides of Bujan includes duck fat, wormwood and a whole egg.
Read beyond the spirit at the beginning of each description. A familiar base doesn’t necessarily mean a familiar drink, and ingredients such as egg, almond and sesame matter if you have dietary restrictions. Ask the bartender before ordering if something is unclear.
Hecate also gives alcohol-free drinks their own menu. Its zero-proof selection includes Theta Range, made with ingredients including chicory, beetroot, fig, hibiscus and clarified milk. Skipping alcohol doesn’t mean being handed a glass of juice while everyone else gets the elaborate order.
Hecate’s posted hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Planning a night at these Boston speakeasies
Choose The Wig Shop when you want food with your cocktails or need a Sunday or Monday option. Hecate suits a smaller party interested in working through an unusual drinks list. Neither needs to become one stop in an overambitious bar crawl.
For more addresses, keep our Boston speakeasies guide handy. For these two, send your friends the entrance details as well as the name. At Hecate, that means the alley. At The Wig Shop, the mannequin heads are doing their job.
