The Best Bar to . . . Hide Out in When Business Goes Bad: Holland House This East Nashville stop is dark and takes mixology seriously.

Holland House Bar And Refuge | Nashville, Tenn.

When a deal falls through--whether it's because your prospective partner was a flake or the funding wasn't there--the last place you want to go is somewhere everybody knows your name. You want to go to a place dark enough that you can wallow, with a drink menu to take the edge off and a bartender skilled enough to craft whatever you want and serve it up with discretion. A refuge, so to speak.

The word refuge is in the name of East Nashville's favorite bar and the country's best stop when things have taken a detour south, at least metaphorically. Opened in 2010, Holland House Bar and Refuge is a "cross between a saloon and a contemporary industrial bar," says owner Terry Raley. This is the kind of place that takes its cocktails seriously without taking itself too seriously.

The upscale, swanky environs are dark enough to give you some privacy after a setback, but not depressing enough to make you feel like you've failed. And if you're not the kind to drown your sorrows solo, well, there's a good chance your next business partner--with a great, creative, only-in-Nashville kind of idea--is sitting on the next stool at the bar.