1...alcohol is marked up wildly at restaurants and bars, regardless of what tier of alcohol you're drinking - it's where they make their money
2...a nice restaurant aint gonna be serving bacardi or smirnoff, so off top, you aint gonna be getting $7/8 drinks, "cheap" drinks will start at mid tier brands (i.e. stoli) and only go up from there
3...the past decade has stepped up the cocktail game something fierce, a lot of house-made syrups and bitters, specialty ingredients, fresh fruits/garnish/herbs, small batch/independent spirits, those shyts gonna run you 12-20+, especially in big cities