The most atmospheric spot in town is the Lake Hotel beer garden, which sits on the shore of Lake Victoria with views that are hard to beat anywhere in Tanzania. On Friday evenings it fills with expats, NGO workers, and Bukoba's professional class. Beer is cold, service is slow, and nobody seems to mind.
Around the corner from the Lake Hotel, the Bukoba Club is the kind of old colonial institution that somehow survives. You get mshikaki, chips, and cold beers, and can follow up with a game of snooker or darts. It feels agreeably worn-in and local — less of an expat scene than the Lake Hotel, more a neighbourhood bar for people who actually live here. The NBC Club, owned by employees of the National Bank of Commerce and located near the NBC bank, runs on similar lines: mshikaki, chicken, drinks, and a television in the corner showing whatever football is on.
For daytime caffeine and a bite, the Space Bar (near the Red Cross) pulls in a mixed crowd for chicken, chipsi mayai, and a variety of drinks. The Rose Café is the volunteer and NGO crowd's default meeting point — run by Zully and Moshi, both English speakers — and works well for fruit juice and a cheap meal through the afternoon.