Five districts do most of Buffalo's heavy lifting: Chippewa is the loud one, Allentown is the strange one, Elmwood is the comfortable one, Hertel is the grown-up one, and University Heights is the close one. Here's each, told straight, with the bars that define it - every one of them lives on the full list with live crowd, cover, and specials.
Chippewa: the loud one
The strip your out-of-town friends mean when they say "going out in Buffalo." Bottoms Up is the anchor - doors at 10, open until 4, Thursday through Saturday. SoHo keeps the same three late nights, Rec Room runs Friday and Saturday from 8pm, and Bada Bing opens at noon and still makes it to 4 on weekends. Nine Chippewa rooms reach 4am in all - the full list is here. Expect a $5-10 cover after 10 or 11 on weekends; the cover post has the exact switch hours. Two doors down the seriousness scale, Town Ballroom and Mohawk Place are show rooms: you pay for the bill, not the bar, both close at 2 rather than 4, and both charge on the door as a ticket ($20 and $12).
Allentown: the strange one (a compliment)
Allen Street is where Buffalo keeps its character. Nietzsche's has hosted live music since before your parents met, and it is the only room on the street that posts a cover at all - $7 after 9 on Friday and Saturday. Everything else here is free at the door. Duke's opens at 5 and runs to 4am on weekends, Billy Club and Tudor Lounge take Thursday through Saturday, Allen Street Hardware closes at 2, and Mulligan's Brick Bar posts a 4am close seven nights a week - the only room in the district that does, and the answer to where you go at 3am on a Tuesday. Allen is where you go when you want the night to have a story.
Elmwood Village: the comfortable one
Elmwood is neighborhood bars wearing college colors, strung along an avenue instead of packed into a block - so the crowd spreads out and no single door has a line worth complaining about. Cole's has been the corner anchor forever and opens at 11am, Thirsty Buffalo does the same, and both run to 4am on weekends. Mr. Goodbar posts the widest late window on the avenue - Wednesday through Saturday to 4am - and High Violet and Milkie's round out the six rooms here that reach last call. Thin Man closes at midnight, which makes it the early option rather than the late one. Cover is mostly a rumor: Goodbar charges $5 after 11 and Milkie's $5 after 9 on weekends, and that is the whole story. Full writeup in the Elmwood guide.
Hertel: the grown-up one
North Buffalo's avenue moves at a different speed - less line, more table. Mes Que, Lloyd Taco Factory and the Wellington Pub all open at noon and close at 2, which tells you most of what you need to know: these are rooms you sit in, not rooms you close down. Nothing on the avenue charges a cover. Hertel does keep four genuine late rooms further out - Del Denby Tavern and M.T. Pockets post 4am seven nights a week - but the strip proper is where you take the night when the goal is conversation you can hear.
University Heights: the close one
The Heights is the answer to "I don't want to pay for a ride." The Steer is the flagship - open from 4pm to 4am Thursday through Saturday, and its $5 cover after 10 is the cheapest admission to a reliably packed room in the city. Average Joe's keeps the same three late nights and charges $5 after 11 on weekends, and Gordy's Inn posts 4am seven nights a week for nothing at all. Those two doors are the only cover in the district. Walkable from South Campus, which is why the Heights runs hot on the meter most weekends - more in the South Campus guide.
The honorable mentions
Not every good room sits on a big five strip. Buffalo Iron Works in the Cobblestone District is a show room - $15 on the door after 7 on weekends, and it runs to 4am. Southern Tier and Resurgence cover the brewery vote and both close at midnight, so plan them as a first stop. Downtown proper hides Misuta Chow's, open to 4am Thursday through Saturday, and the Banshee for a proper Guinness until 2. The Old First Ward keeps Swannie House and Gene McCarthy's exactly as they've always been, the West Side has the Gypsy Parlor running to 4am and Essex Street Pub to 2, and South Buffalo answers with the Blackthorn and Doc Sullivan's. None of these charge a cover except Iron Works.
So which one tonight?
Depends who's out - which is the point. Districts have personalities; nights have facts. Tonight's board shows where the crowd actually is, what the door costs, and what's on special before you commit the crew. Pick the district by mood, pick the bar by data.