The Best New Bars Around D.C. Right Now

Highlands Tavern

Cleveland Park welcomed a catch-all tavern near the Smithsonian Zoo over Labor Day weekend. Highlands Tavern specializes in brick-oven pizzas, fish tacos, Basque cheesecake. A mural depicting the nearby Metro stop and stone lions leads the way to a sleek rooftop patio. The bi-level bars feature cocktails made with house-made syrups and 12 taps full of lagers and IPAs. Weekday happy hour includes $6 drafts, $7 margs or Old Fashioneds, and $8 wines, with an affinity for Notre Dame and Washington Commanders football across its 14 TVs. The owners also own Knowles Wine Station in Kensington.

The Boogiedown

Owner and lifelong Jets fan Chris DeFelice brought Adams Morgan a New York sports bar by day and dance club by night this month. The storied second-level space was formerly home to Death Punch (which moved one floor below) and was Bourbon before that. For its latest act, the Boogiedown showcases the MLB playoffs-bound Yankees out of the gate across 10 TVs to go along with $40 mega-buckets of Bud Light, beer towers, and 10 draft lines. Starting in October, the Boogiedown flips Shibuya Eatery’s former kitchen downstairs into a takeout window that serves chicken biscuits, a la Chick-fil-A, well into the night.

Carla

Vet D.C. bar owner Bill Thomas (Jack Rose Dining Saloon) and his business partner John Roberts revive the Adams Morgan corner that formerly housed Imperial with the late-September opening of Carla, a walk-in hangout full of affordable cocktails like $11 spritzes and a globe-trotting menu that swings from berbere-spiced chicken skewers to shrimp bao buns. Head up to the roof for rotating DJs and live bands.

Five Dollar Bar

The nightlife nexus of 14th and U streets welcomed a grungy, budget-friendly bar in August that lives up to its name: Every drink or shot is $5, with “no exceptions.” The industrial setup, lined with graffiti bathed in black light and walls that customers can scribble on in chalk, understands the assignment. Open Thursday to Sunday from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Franks Wild Years

Logan Circle’s well-received watering hole from the team behind Petworth’s dog-friendly dive Snappy’s opened in June. “Founding members” got a brick with their name on it in the fun-house-styled bar that used to be a dry cleaner. The menu lists $8 rail drinks, $10 beer-and-shot combos, and the distance to neighborhood food favorites. Racy red bathrooms star Jessica Rabbit and toilets tagged with cherries. Now open daily from 3 p.m. to last call.

First Round

Dupont’s storied subterranean space that formerly housed the saloon Childe Harold, where Bruce Springsteen and the Ramones performed way back when, got a fresh start as First Round Bar & Social in mid-September. Happy hour (5 to 7 p.m.) includes $10 pomegranate martinis and $6 Sapporos. Its sibling spots up top, Ko Japanese Dining and Sabai Thai Lao, supply the dishes. Trivia is every Tuesday and Thursday, and karaoke becomes a thing every Wednesday starting in October. Also on tap: matchmaking parties and late-night comedy shows.

Cafe Tulum

Georgetown’s stylish, seafood-studded taste of Tulum comes from Mexican restaurateur Juan Dracoulis, who envisions his alleyway respite as a plant-filled spot to relax over Mexican small plates with Japanese influences. Cocktails served from the matte-black bar are all built with natural fruits. See: the cucumber basil vodka or spicy watermelon mezcal.

Dirty Rhino

The 200-person live music venue leans mostly country, with a scheduled lineup of bands out of the gate. The basement bar officially made its debut during this month’s annual H Street Festival and opens for good on Wednesday, September 23. Dirty Rhino’s owner Chris DeFelice describes the bar as “not fancy, but also not divey.” He formerly ran Dirty Water upstairs (which has new ownership), as well as Georgetown’s long-closed Rhino Bar.

Continental Club

A destination cocktail lounge under Union Station’s gorgeous gold-leaf atrium opened in the historic transit hub last month. Classics include a Manhattan, Old Fashioned, French 75, and, to perk up weary travelers, an espresso martini named the Night Train. Saddle up to a velvet blue booth to order lobster rolls adorned with caviar or charcuterie. Founder Rochelle Julich, who’s behind mobile bartending company SHKR, also caters to local regulars with live music and DJs on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. It’s a pop-up to start, with plans to extend its run in the new year.

The Bit at Barrel

The Southern standby’s lower level, home to a steady stream of themed pop-up bars, found its footing this July with the arrival of the Bit. The 28-seat subterranean fixture, outfitted with couches and candle-lit marble tables, showcases martini service, a banana pisco punch, and carajillo cocktails to pair with fun drinking snacks like smoked pigs in a blanket, melon sprinkled with Tajín, and an ice cream sandwich.