Must-see nightlife in Washington, DC

  • Atlas Brew Works

    Logan Circle, U Street & Columbia Heights

    An awesome, welcoming spot filled with local beer buffs. With its concrete floor, exposed ducts and hodgepodge of tables, the taproom mightn't look like…

  • Round Robin

    White House Area & Foggy Bottom

    Dispensing drinks since 1847, the bar at the Willard hotel is one of DC's most famous watering holes. The small, circular space is done up in classic…

  • Right Proper Brewing Co

    Logan Circle, U Street & Columbia Heights

    Right Proper Brewing makes sublime ales in a building that shares a wall with the joint where Duke Ellington used to play pool. It's the Shaw district's…

  • Bar Charley

    Washington, DC

    Bar Charley draws a mixed crowd from the neighborhood – young, old, gay and straight. They come for groovy cocktails sloshing in vintage glassware and…

  • Off the Record

    White House Area & Foggy Bottom

    Table seating, an open fire in winter and a discreet basement location in one of the city’s most prestigious hotels, right across from the White House –…

  • Copycat Co

    Washington, DC

    When you walk into Copycat it feels like a Chinese fast-food restaurant. That's because it is (sort of) on the 1st floor, where Chinese street-food…

  • Primrose

    Logan Circle, U Street & Columbia Heights

    Stepping into Primrose is like being in Paris and finding the quintessential cafe hidden down a tiny lane. The ostrich-feathered chandeliers, turquoise…

  • Board Room

    Washington, DC

    Grab a table, pull up a stool and crush your opponent at Hungry Hungry Hippos. Or cozy up to a serious game of Scrabble. Board Room lets you flash back to…

  • Songbyrd Record Cafe & Music House

    Washington, DC

    By day hang out in the retro cafe, drinking excellent coffee, munching sandwiches and browsing the soul and indie LPs for sale. You can even cut your own…

  • Raven

    Logan Circle, U Street & Columbia Heights

    The best jukebox in DC, a dark interior crammed with locals and lovers, that neon lighting that casts you under a glow Edward Hopper should rightly have…

  • Top of the Gate

    White House Area & Foggy Bottom

    The downstairs whiskey bar at the sleek Watergate Hotel is impressive, but it pales in comparison with the hotel's rooftop bar and lounge, which offers…

  • Dan's Cafe

    Washington, DC

    This is one of DC's great dive bars. The interior looks sort of like an evil Elks Club, all unironically old-school 'art,' cheap paneling and dim lights…

  • Tombs

    Georgetown

    Every college of a certain pedigree has ‘that’ bar – the one where faculty and students alike sip pints under athletic regalia of the old school. The…

  • Ching Ching Cha

    Georgetown

    Airy, Zen-like Ching Ching Cha is a world away from the shopping mayhem of M St. Stop in for a leisurely pot of rare tea (it brews more than 70 varieties)…

  • Dacha Beer Garden

    Logan Circle, U Street & Columbia Heights

    Happiness reigns in Dacha's freewheeling beer garden. Kids and dogs bound around the picnic tables, while adults hoist glass boots filled with German…

  • Dabney Cellar

    Washington, DC

    Tucked in the basement underneath the acclaimed Dabney restaurant, the Cellar pours loads of wines by the glass, including many varietals by hard-to-find,…

  • Little Miss Whiskey’s Golden Dollar

    Washington, DC

    If Alice had returned from Wonderland so traumatized by her near beheading that she needed a stiff drink, we imagine she’d pop down to Little Miss Whiskey…

  • Churchkey

    Logan Circle, U Street & Columbia Heights

    Coppery, mod-industrial Churchkey glows with hipness. Fifty beers flow from the taps, plus five brain-walloping, cask-aged ales. If none of those please…

  • Granville Moore’s

    Washington, DC

    Besides being one of DC's best places to grab frites and steak au poivre, Granville Moore’s has an extensive Belgian-beer menu that should satisfy any fan…

  • Bluejacket Brewery

    Washington, DC

    Beer-lovers' heads will explode in Bluejacket. Pull up a stool at the mod-industrial bar, gaze at the silvery tanks bubbling up the ambitious brews, then…

  • U Street Music Hall

    Logan Circle, U Street & Columbia Heights

    Two local DJs own and operate the basement club; it looks like a no-frills rock bar, but it has a pro sound system, a cork-cushioned dance floor and other…

  • Jack Rose Dining Saloon, facade

    Jack Rose Dining Saloon

    Washington, DC

    Walk into Jack Rose and you know you’ve hit the whiskey jackpot. Hundreds of bottles stack the shelves – 2687 bottles, to be exact. It's the largest…

  • H Street Country Club

    Washington, DC

    The Country Club is three levels of great. The bottom floor is packed with pool tables, skeeball and shuffleboard, while the upper floor contains its own…

  • Bardo Brewing

    Washington, DC

    Sprawled by the river in the shadow of Nationals Park, Bardo feels post-apocalyptic. Silver fermentation tanks rise from the dirt, dogs lope around rusted…

  • Firefly Bar

    Washington, DC

    Firefly is a restaurant first – the Hotel Madera’s restaurant, to be precise – but we’re not listing it for those merits. We can say it’s one of the…

  • DC Brau

    Logan Circle, U Street & Columbia Heights

    DC Brau was the first craft brewer in town. It continues to pump out bodacious pale ales, IPAs and porters that are widely available around DC, but you…

  • District Winery

    Washington, DC

    Is the wine made here world class? No. But the space is really cool. It's enormous, with steel tanks fermenting the juice in back, and a clean-lined,…

  • Republic Restoratives

    Logan Circle, U Street & Columbia Heights

    Welcome to DC's largest crowd-funded distillery, and its only women-owned one at that. Vodka, bourbon, rye whiskey and apple brandy emerge from the tanks…

  • 18th Street Lounge

    Washington, DC

    Chandeliers, velvet sofas, antique wallpaper and a ridiculously good-looking, dance-loving crowd adorn this multifloored mansion. The DJs – spinning funk,…

  • Room 11

    Logan Circle, U Street & Columbia Heights

    Room 11 isn’t much bigger than an ambitious living room, and as such it can get pretty jammed. On the plus side, everyone is friendly, the intimacy is…

  • La Colombe

    Washington, DC

    One of five DC branches of the specialist coffee roaster, this La Colombe occupies a vintage brick garage in Blagden Alley. The long space is drenched in…

  • Sovereign

    Georgetown

    The Sovereign takes its Belgian theme seriously. All of the beers here – 50 on tap and 300 more in bottles – are Belgian or Belgian-style. The top floor…

  • Cafe Citron

    Washington, DC

    Cafe Citron is one of DC’s most popular Latin-music clubs (in fairness, it plays everything, but the focus is on salsa, bachata et al). Girls dance, guys…

  • Jos A Magnus & Co

    Logan Circle, U Street & Columbia Heights

    The distillery cooks up bourbon, gin and vodka that gets stirred into cocktails in the attached cozy bar, the Murray Hill Club. It has a casually swanky,…

  • Red Derby

    Logan Circle, U Street & Columbia Heights

    Welcome to a hipster-punk lounge where the bartenders know patrons' names, the sweet-potato fries soak up the beer ordered from the impressively long list…

  • Wonderland Ballroom

    Logan Circle, U Street & Columbia Heights

    Wonderland embodies the edgy, eccentric Columbia Heights vibe to perfection. The interior is clapped out with so many vintage signs and found objects it…

  • Tune Inn

    Washington, DC

    Tune Inn has been helping the thirsty since 1947. Mounted deer heads stare from the wall and watch over old-timers knocking back Budweisers at the bar…

  • Marvin

    Logan Circle, U Street & Columbia Heights

    Named for DC native son Marvin Gaye, this spot is a low-lit lounge and bistro downstairs, serving mostly southern fare. Upstairs, the splendid roof deck…

  • Hank's Cocktail Bar

    Logan Circle, U Street & Columbia Heights

    With its high-backed wooden booths, chain-wrapped lights and flickering candles, Hank's feels both modern and medieval. It's dark and slightly eerie,…

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