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This is where you're most likely to see an Icelandic beauty tangoing with a suave Pakistani diplomat. DC's internationalistas, many of them Embassy Row residents, congregate in the beautifully designed club (named for its street address in Roman numerals). Patrons sip martinis until , when DJs kick up the world-beat and techno so they can shimmy onto the dance floor. Sunday night is a popular gay night.
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Millie & Al's
This comfortably worn dive is an Adams-Morgan institution, famous for its around US$2 drafts, Jell-O shots and hit-the-spot pizza (best consumed in that order). Two TVs show a constant stream of sports. It has always been and likely will always be a yuppie bar with frat-house flavor, the kind of place where you can expect to be hit on and have beer spilled on you in the same night.
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Mr Smith's
Dark and welcoming, Mr Smith's is really an old-timers' bar, although daily specials like half-price burgers and all-you-can-eat fish and chips draw students, too. The crowded, friendly front bar (you'll rub against at least two strangers while drinking) hides a more spacious rear seating area with a fireplace and open patio with a sort of greenhouse feel - there are lots of plants.
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Nanny O'brien's Irish Pub
Washington's most authentic Irish pub, Nanny O'Brien's has been a favorite with real and wannabe Irish folk for decades. You won't find any cheesy shamrock schlock or shameless promotions here; no, this bar would rather concentrate on serving stiff drinks along with fantastic music. The place is packed and rowdy most nights.
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National Symphony Orchestra & Washington Chamber Symphony
Both directed by Leonard Slatkin, these classic instrumental ensembles perform at the Kennedy Center, and at Wolf Trap Center in summer.
Read more about National Symphony Orchestra & Washington Chamber Symphony
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National Theatre
Established in 1835 and renovated in 1984, the National is Washington's oldest continually operating theater. This is where you would catch Les Misérables and Rent . Half-price tickets are available for students and seniors. Monday nights at the National are good value as they feature free performances at and .
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Penn Ave Pour House
This very popular bar pays tribute to the Keystone State (Pennsylvania) on its first floor, where you'll find Penn State pennants gracing scarred walls. The menu features sausage sandwiches and Iron City beer on tap. Regardless of your Pennsylvania obsession level, this is a fun place to hang out, usually packed to the gills with interns and congressional aides. Upstairs you'll find a plush lounge.
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Pharmacy Bar
In tribute to the building's previous incarnation as a drugstore, old medicine jars decorate the walls and pills are embedded in the tabletops at this cool bar. A quiet contrast to the wild Adams-Morgan scene, it's an ideal spot for a late-night snack or a nightcap.
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Platinum
Beautiful people all dressed up dance to the usual mélange of world and electronic music at this well-established hotspot housed in a grand former bank. Theme nights include College and Latin; check the website as the schedule changes. Sign up in advance to get on the guest list, in which case there's no cover charge before .
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Play Lounge
How can you resist a place with the motto 'no rules and everyone has a good time?' Especially when said place has a stripper pole that draws lines of girls waiting to show off their moves? The scene at this one-room club is reminiscent of a kick-ass college party - no space and tons of sweaty, thriving bodies. If you're in the right mood (and can get past the burly bouncer), it can be a great place to let loose.
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Polly's Café
This friendly, no-attitude, basement-level bar was a New U pioneer: It's been around for more than a decade. Exposed brick walls and fireplace coziness make it a fine place to rendezvous before or after a night of music. Polly serves reasonably priced pints, a menu of basics like salads and burgers. A great Saturday and Sunday brunch includes bloody marys and mimosas by the US$9 or so pitcher. Sop it up with one of eight varieties of eggs benedict.
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Republic Gardens
This historic club (where Pearl Bailey waited tables in the 1940s) still looks fabulous three years after its major overhaul. Exposed brick walls, shiny wood floors and modern leather furniture give it a look of slick sophistication. The program was still being developed at the time of research, so keep your eye on the website.
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Rhino Bar & Pump House
The previous bar on this site, Winston's, was legendary for its dance-and-grope scene. The Rhino Bar has sanitized the premises a bit, but the college-age crowd still checks its inhibitions at the door. DJs play dance music Thursday to Saturday. There are great happy-hour specials - if you can call to happy hour - including 10¢ wings on Monday and half-price burgers and beers on Friday.
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Saki
At first Saki's basement lounge feels like a mental institution: low white ceilings, white walls, white floor and tables. Then your eyes adjust and you realize that creatively placed rectangular panels are bouncing rainbows of light around the room, bathing the trendy couples sipping cocktails in color. Light shows aside, Saki is known for its DJs. Locals especially like the mix of old-school funk and electro house on Fridays.
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Saloon
The Saloon is made for chatting - there's no TV to distract you, no loud music to clog your ears. It's a comfortable place to go for a drink even if you're solo as seating is communal (to encourage conversation) with lengthy tables stretched out across the brick-lined room. There is a solid beer selection at the J-shaped bar, and light jazz plays in the background.
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Saloun
More casual and cheaper than the better-known Georgetown venue Blues Alley, the Saloun attracts patrons who are younger and less polished but more fun. The mostly local acts play jazz during the week, blues and Motown on weekends. There are 18 beers on tap and Cajun food to soak up all the liquor swirling inside your tummy.
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Shakespeare Theatre
Under artistic director Michael Kahn, this little theater on Gallery Row has been called 'one of the world's three great Shakespearean theaters' by the Economist . Its home company stages a half-dozen works annually, plus a free summer Shakespeare series in Rock Creek Park.
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Sign Of The Whale
Next to DC's most notorious gentleman's club, Camelot, Sign of the Whale is a shotgun-style Brit pub with a giant fireplace, high beamed ceilings and a long wooden bar overlooked by boars' heads. It's popular for happy-hour specials and a weekend brunch featuring unlimited mimosas for around US$9 or a Bloody Mary bar for $10.
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Spy Lounge
The Spy Lounge has been one of the hottest spots in Adams-Morgan for a while now, very cleverly playing on everyone's secret desire to be suave, sneaky and, well, more like James Bond. Espionage is in; conveniently, so are martinis: Both are on tap at this swanky lounge, next door to funky Felix .
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Stetson's Famous Bar & Restaurant
'Famous' might be a bit of a stretch, but Stetson's can lay claim to fame as the neighborhood bar in the U St area. It is basic - the ratty pool table and the jukebox are the primary amenities - and comfortable, with good and tasty burgers and cheap happy-hour specials.
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Studio Gallery
A 30-artist cooperative featuring canvases and sculpture, this is the longest running artist-owned gallery in the area. There are both solo and group exhibits in all mediums. Openings are held the first Friday of the month.
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Third Edition
For a cinematic college-bar experience, visit this place, which was featured in the 1985 film St Elmo's Fire. This is a serious singles' scene: People are listening more closely to pick-up lines than to the music. When you get tired of the crowded dance floor, relax at the tiki bar on the back patio. Nearly everyone who graduates from Georgetown has some comic or tragic story about this place.
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Titan
This crazy place (look for it above Dakota Cowgirl Restaurant) hosts gay Family Feud, wildly popular among the Dupont set. State Department and World Bank types - officially Gays & Lesbians in Foreign Affairs - meet here for happy hour the third Thursday of every month. There are nightly happy hours.
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Tombs
Georgetown University's most revered drinking spot is filled with students, professors and even the occasional Jesuit priest. They flock to this dive nightly to indulge in cheap pitchers and better-than-average pub grub priced for college pockets. The square bar is dimly illuminated and there are plenty of grubby wood tables to share (and scope the competition out from). Walls are decked with sports junk and, oddly, WWI-era posters.
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Tryst
This Greenwich Village-style spot is probably the best coffeehouse in DC. The couches, armchairs and bookshelves scattered about, and the light flooding through street-side windows lure patrons so faithful they should probably be paying rent. Sweet alcoholic concoctions flowing along with caffeine (sometimes in the same glass)complement a menu of waffles, muffins and cake. A great place to meet up with old friends or make new ones.
