The Best Bars in Downtown & around

1. The Pinnacle Guide 2 Pins
2. Spirited Awards 2025 · Winner · Best U.S. Bar Team
3. Spirited Awards 2024 · Winner · Best U.S. Hotel Bar

Fancy Jell-O shots and distilled emu neck share a menu here, which should tell you something about the ambitions of this underground cocktail bar beneath the Riggs Hotel. Red plush, silver trophies, and low ceilings give it the feel of a gentleman's club that took a very interesting turn. The bar comes from Ryan Chetiyawardana, Mr. Lyan himself, and it landed on North America's 50 Best Bars list.

1. The Pinnacle Guide 2 Pins
2. The 50 #55 · North America's 50 Best Bars
3. Esquire Silver Service Martini · The Best Martinis in America

1. Wildsam The 50 Most Essential Bars in America

The cocktail menu runs past 100 drinks, and some of them arrive as flavored clouds. Barmini is José Andrés's molecular cocktail bar, the mischievous sibling to Minibar next door, where the same spirit of culinary wizardry gets redirected entirely into what's in your glass. Spherified drinks and leather-aged premixes are the house vernacular. A James Beard nominee for Outstanding Bar Program, it's the kind of place where watching the bartender work is half the point.

1. James Beard Awards 2022 · Nominee · Outstanding Bar Program
2. Eater The Best Cocktail Bars in D.C.
3. The 50 The 50 Discovery

A few steps down from the lobby, the bar at Tabard Inn sits between a living-room lounge and a black-and-white checkered dining room, which is exactly the kind of transition space that rewards lingering. The hotel around it leans into DC's version of quirky, mismatched vintage furniture and political art on every wall. The cocktail program holds its own against the eccentric surroundings, which is a quiet achievement in a place this determinedly charming.

1. Difford's Guide 3.5 stars · Difford's Guide
2. Eater The 38 Essential Restaurants Around D.C.

1. The Pinnacle Guide 1 Pin
2. The 50 The 50 Discovery
3. Difford's Guide Difford's Guide

Sichuan cooking and serious cocktails share equal billing at this Dupont Circle spot, which holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand and lands on Eater's list of D.C.'s top cocktail bars. The menu runs funky and affordable, with cumin lamb that arrives tender and vivid with spice. No reservations needed if you're happy at the bar, which always has room and is probably where the better conversations are happening anyway.

1. Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand
2. Eater The Best Cocktail Bars in D.C.

The martini here comes with pickled shiitake mushrooms, kombu, and bonito flakes, which tells you most of what you need to know about Bar Chinois. It's a French wine bar by aesthetic and an Asian dim sum spot by appetite, and the kitchen takes both halves seriously. The cocktails are genuinely theatrical, and the dumplings, shrimp toast, and braised pork meatball give you every reason to stay past the second round.

1. Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
2. Eater The Best Cocktail Bars in D.C.

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