The 88 Best Places to Drink and Stay in Washington
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The best places to drink and stay in Washington, according to the experts: The Pinnacle Guide, Spirited Awards, and The 50 have all weighed in, and their honors are what rank this list. Allegory comes out on top.
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Michelin Guide shows up on more of this list than any other guide, with Forbes Travel Guide next.
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The awards
- The Pinnacle Guide The Pinnacle Guide: 2 Pins
- Spirited Awards Spirited Awards: 2024 · Winner · Best U.S. Hotel Bar
- Spirited Awards Spirited Awards: 2025 · Winner · Best U.S. Bar Team
- The Pinnacle Guide 2 Pins
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Winner · Best U.S. Hotel Bar
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Winner · Best U.S. Bar Team
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Rank 1. Service Bar
Cocktail Bar
The fried chicken sandwich at a cocktail bar is either a cry for help or a statement of intent, and at Service Bar it's the latter. This relaxed U Street neighborhood bar keeps the classics balanced and the housemade drinks genuinely inventive, pulling from ingredients most menus wouldn't dare touch. The Spirited Awards named it U.S. Bartender of the Year in 2025, and North America's 50 Best Bars has it at number 39.
The awards
- Spirited Awards Spirited Awards: 2025 · Winner · U.S. Bartender of the Year · Christine Kim
- The Pinnacle Guide The Pinnacle Guide: 1 Pin
- The 50 The 50: #39 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Winner · U.S. Bartender of the Year · Christine Kim
- The Pinnacle Guide 1 Pin
- The 50 #39 · North America's 50 Best Bars
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Georgetown's grand old luxury hotel, the Four Seasons holds a Forbes Five Star and draws the kind of guests who already know what thread count they prefer. The 222 rooms lean traditional in a city that considers tradition a professional requirement, so the aesthetic fits like a well-pressed suit. Bourbon Steak handles dinner, a proper fitness club handles the rest, and the staff handles everything with the unhurried confidence of people who've seen every VIP twice.
The awards
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Five Star
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
- The 50 The 50: 2025 · Most Admired Hotel Group Award
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star
- Michelin Guide Selected Hotels
- The 50 2025 · Most Admired Hotel Group Award
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Rank 4. Press Club Bar Of Record
Cocktail Bar
The awards
- The Pinnacle Guide The Pinnacle Guide: 2 Pins
- The 50 The 50: #34 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Eater Eater: Best Night Out · The 2025 Eater DC Award Winners
- The Pinnacle Guide 2 Pins
- The 50 #34 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Eater Best Night Out · The 2025 Eater DC Award Winners
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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.
The awards
- The Pinnacle Guide The Pinnacle Guide: 2 Pins
- The 50 The 50: #55 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Esquire Esquire: Silver Service Martini · The Best Martinis in America
- The Pinnacle Guide 2 Pins
- The 50 #55 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- Esquire Silver Service Martini · The Best Martinis in America
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Rank 6. Providencia
Cocktail Bar
A back-alley cocktail bar from Erik Bruner-Yang and Paola Velez, where the food refuses to stay in its lane. The menu riffs on Taiwan and El Salvador in the same breath, papusas share space with gochujang mayo, and the baked Alaska, a Washingtonian dish of the year, arrives under torched Dominican meringue hiding guava shaved ice and whatever surprises the kitchen buried underneath. Bon Appétit named it one of America's best new bars, and the room earns the fuss.
The awards
- Bon Appétit Bon Appétit: America's Best New Bars
- Punch Punch: Ni de Aqui Ni de Alla · Our Favorite Cocktails
- Eater Eater: Bar of the Year
- Bon Appétit America's Best New Bars
- Punch Ni de Aqui Ni de Alla · Our Favorite Cocktails
- Eater Bar of the Year
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Fifty-five rooms on the C&O Canal in Georgetown, where the smallest luxury hotel in D.C. somehow includes townhouses with private courtyards. The library's double-height ceilings and velvet armchairs do their best impression of a private club, and the rooftop lounge adds skyline views for good measure. Wolfgang Puck handles the food. It holds a Michelin two-key distinction and a Forbes Four Star rating.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: 2 Keys
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Four Star
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The view from the upper floors puts the White House close enough to make you feel briefly important. This Italian Renaissance hotel on Lafayette Square has been the discreet address of choice for presidents, diplomats, and people who prefer their name not in the papers, and it carries that old-world air without letting the plumbing get old-world too. Holds a Michelin Key and a Forbes Four Star.
The awards
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Four Star
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: 1 Key
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Wooden apples sit in every guest room, a nod to Blue Duck Tavern's famous pie downstairs, which tells you this hotel has its own personality. The Park Hyatt Washington sits quietly in the West End, with Tony Chi's neutral, minimalist interiors making 220 rooms feel closer to a private residence than a convention block. Forbes Four Star. A Tea Cellar stocked with global varietals keeps things interesting between monuments.
The awards
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Four Star
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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The ninth floor penthouse suites have their own private elevator, which tells you everything about how The Dupont Circle Hotel pitches itself. It's a Doyle Collection boutique property with a midcentury-meets-contemporary feel, planted squarely between embassy row and the White House. Downstairs, the bar carries a serious Irish whiskey list and the coffee counter runs striped pink-and-white cups. The Michelin Guide awarded it one Key.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: 1 Key
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Recommended
- The 50 The 50: The 50 Discovery
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The skylight in the lobby dates to the 1920s, hidden until a renovation uncovered it. The Jefferson is a luxury hotel two blocks from the White House, decorated throughout as a quiet monument to its namesake: custom furniture based on Monticello originals, framed maps of places the third president loved, rooms with his words on the walls. The staff can hold a proper conversation about all of it. The Michelin Guide awarded it 2 Keys.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: 2 Keys
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Recommended
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A 130-foot smokestack rising from your hotel is either a red flag or a very good story, and here it's the latter. The Ritz-Carlton Georgetown occupies a converted incinerator building, red brick and black ironwork intact, tucked quietly between the C&O Canal and the Potomac. Inside it reads more loft than grand hotel, with a wood-burning fireplace in the lobby and Frette linens upstairs. A Forbes Four Star property.
The awards
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Four Star
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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A butler, a bottle of champagne, and a ceremonial saber await at this grand hotel two blocks from the White House, where the nightly sabering ritual sets the tone. The coffered ceilings and Palladian windows date to an opening presided over by Coolidge, and the corner of 16th and K has been D.C.'s definitive power address ever since. A Forbes Four Star property, and the kind of place foreign dignitaries treat as a given.
The awards
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Four Star
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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Herzog & de Meuron designed the building, which tells you immediately this isn't the usual DC hotel playing dress-up in neoclassical marble. The Conrad is a luxury hotel sitting above CityCenterDC, with interiors by Rottet Studio that feel genuinely considered rather than generically plush. Estuary does Chesapeake Bay flavors downstairs, and the rooftop bar Summit has the kind of panoramic view that makes visitors feel briefly important.
The awards
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Recommended
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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On 340 acres in the Blue Ridge foothills, this full-service luxury resort was modeled after founder Sheila C. Johnson's own nearby home, and it does look suspiciously settled-in for a modern build. Horse trails and working stables share billing with a sprawling spa and several restaurants, putting equestrian country at the center rather than the background. It holds a Forbes Five Star and a Michelin Key, and one of too few Black-owned hotels at this level.
The awards
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Five Star
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: 1 Key
- Washingtonian Washingtonian: Neighborhood Guide: Where to Eat, Shop, and Play in Middleburg
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Five Star
- Michelin Guide 1 Key
- Washingtonian Neighborhood Guide: Where to Eat, Shop, and Play in Middleburg
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The hotel has its own resident dog, Georgie, available for guest cuddles, which tells you something about how seriously the Fairmont takes its wellbeing pitch. This Georgetown hotel is a comfortable, upscale base for the city, with spacious rooms and a three-floor wellness center running a 50-foot saltwater pool, sauna, steam room, and spin classes. A renovated lobby and courtyard bar draw the power-lunch crowd even when they're not staying over.
The awards
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Recommended
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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A sharp-angled modernist building on the Southwest Waterfront, a short distance from Capitol Hill but feeling nothing like it. This 131-room hotel from the Montage group holds a rooftop bar with a circular bar and Potomac views, an all-day Latin American restaurant with water vistas, and a moody ground-floor bar wrapped in navy and gold palms. Check-in happens seated, at a desk by a fireplace, which sets the residential tone. It holds a Michelin Key.
The awards
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Recommended
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: 1 Key
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A terrace overlooking the Washington Marina keeps the vibe grounded even though the Jefferson Memorial is a short walk away. This 373-room hotel on the Southwest Waterfront sits close to The Wharf and the National Mall, with a lobby that signals money without shouting. Chef Kwame Onwuachi's Afro-Caribbean restaurant Dōgon runs separately downstairs, and the spa gives you a reason to stay in.
The awards
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Recommended
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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A plantation-style inn tucked into the Blue Ridge foothills where most guests book a room and a table in the same breath, treating dinner as the main event and sleep as the gracious afterthought. The chef has held a Michelin star for years, and the Forbes Five Star rating keeps the staff sharp. Afternoons run to tea and scones; evenings to tasting menus that take a while. Hike, balloon, or antique between the two.
The awards
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Five Star
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: 2 Keys
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Wood-paneled lobby, fresh flowers, chandelier light, and parlor furniture that signals you've arrived somewhere that takes comfort seriously. This West End hotel runs on the classic Ritz-Carlton formula: big rooms by D.C. standards, Frette linens, soaking tubs, and Asprey products in marble bathrooms. The minibar comes stocked with champagne, which is either indulgent or practical depending on your afternoon.
The awards
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Recommended
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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The room key reads "no need to break in," and the hotel leans into that history rather than apologizing for it. Luigi Moretti's curving building on the Potomac got a sweeping renovation, with Ron Arad handling the interiors and the "Mad Men" designer dressing the staff, resulting in something that feels genuinely retro-modernist rather than merely themed. Monochrome rooms, Potomac-facing balconies, a rooftop bar, and a whisky bar for co-conspirators round out the package.
The awards
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Recommended
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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The Old Post Office building has been around forever, and the bones show it: 16-foot ceilings, original windows, hardwood floors, and a grand lobby skylight that turns the whole atrium gold on a clear afternoon. Now a Waldorf Astoria hotel, it sits squarely between the Capitol and the White House, which suits the guest list. Velvet, marble, and gilded finishes set the tone; a Forbes Four Star and a full spa seal it.
The awards
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Four Star
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Rank 23. Amazonia
Amazonian Peruvian
The awards
- James Beard Awards James Beard Awards: 2025 · Winner · Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic · Carlos Delgado
- Esquire Esquire: The Best Bars in America
- The Rammys The Rammys: Finalist · Chef of the Year · Carlos Delgado
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Winner · Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic · Carlos Delgado
- Esquire The Best Bars in America
- The Rammys Finalist · Chef of the Year · Carlos Delgado
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Rank 24. Shia
Korean
A 22-seat Korean fine dining room where the staff never once mentions that the kitchen runs as a nonprofit focused on zero waste, letting the tasting menu speak for itself instead. Edward Lee's cooking gives traditional Korean ingredients a modern setting, moving through courses that land somewhere between precise and quietly surprising. The Korean spirits list leans into the esoteric, including a crimson makgeolli made with red yeast rice.
The awards
- Esquire 50/50 · The Best Martinis in America
- Washingtonian #37 · 100 Very Best Restaurants
- Eater The 38 Essential Restaurants Around D.C.
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Rank 25. Albi
Live-Fire Palestinian
Everything at this Palestinian live-fire restaurant in Navy Yard passes through a roaring open hearth before it reaches the table, and the renovated dining room leaves the kitchen's fire in full view. Michael Rafidi, a James Beard Outstanding Chef winner with a Michelin star, draws on his family's Ramallah roots while working with mid-Atlantic seasons. The tasting menu is the move, though the wood-fired lamb pies and hummus hold their own à la carte.
The awards
- James Beard Awards James Beard Awards: 2024 · Winner · Outstanding Chef · Michael Rafidi
- The 50 The 50: #6 · North America's 50 Best Restaurants
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: 1 Star
- James Beard Awards 2024 · Winner · Outstanding Chef · Michael Rafidi
- The 50 #6 · North America's 50 Best Restaurants
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
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Rank 25. Landini Brothers
Tuscan
The awards
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The awards
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The vaulted ceilings and carved stone arches of a 19th-century bank are still very much the point at this Penn Quarter hotel, and the Michelin Guide recognized it with one Key. The bones are stately, the renovation decidedly less reverent, with D.C.'s history reinterpreted as design inspiration rather than preserved under glass. It lands somewhere between grand civic institution and a hotel that knows it's allowed to have fun.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: 1 Key
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The awards
- Eater The Best Cocktail Bars in D.C.
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Top 10 U.S. Nominee · U.S. Bartender of the Year · Andra “AJ” Johnson
- Spirited Awards 2023 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. East
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Rank 25. The Green Zone
Middle Eastern Cocktail Bar
The awards
- The Rammys The Rammys: Finalist · Best Bar of the Year
- Eater Eater: The Best Cocktail Bars in D.C.
- The 50 The 50: The 50 Discovery
- The Rammys Finalist · Best Bar of the Year
- Eater The Best Cocktail Bars in D.C.
- The 50 The 50 Discovery
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A skybridge connects this Ritz-Carlton directly to Tysons Galleria, which tells you something about the clientele and their priorities. The hotel sits in Fortune 100 territory about fifteen miles from D.C., making it a logical base for both boardroom visits and wine country day trips. Upper-floor rooms look out over the Tysons skyline, the spa leans contemporary, and the wine bar runs live music. Forbes Four Star.
The awards
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Four Star
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The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: 1 Key
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The awards
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Rank 34. Barmini By José Andrés
Cocktail Bar
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.
The awards
- James Beard Awards James Beard Awards: 2022 · Nominee · Outstanding Bar Program
- Eater Eater: The Best Cocktail Bars in D.C.
- The 50 The 50: The 50 Discovery
- James Beard Awards 2022 · Nominee · Outstanding Bar Program
- Eater The Best Cocktail Bars in D.C.
- The 50 The 50 Discovery
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The awards
- Esquire Medina's Martini Service · The Best Martinis in America
- The Rammys Finalist · Cocktail Program of the Year
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Five minutes from Reagan National and steps from the Pentagon City mall, this Ritz-Carlton pulls off the usual trick of making a business-travel corridor feel like somewhere you'd actually want to be. Rooms come with feather beds and Egyptian cotton linens, the club level adds its own quiet remove, and the on-site restaurant, Santé, runs a Mediterranean menu with a fireside lounge good for a post-flight drink.
The awards
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Recommended
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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.
The awards
- Difford's Guide Difford's Guide: 3.5 stars · Difford's Guide
- Eater Eater: The 38 Essential Restaurants Around D.C.
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Two blocks from the actual White House, this extended-stay hotel trades nightly-rate thinking for full kitchens, in-suite laundry, and enough square footage to forget you packed a suitcase. Suites run from one-bedroom to penthouse, all dressed in the kind of restrained luxury that suits a city where everyone is here on business. The in-house lounge doubles as bar, workspace, and informal meeting room, for when self-sufficiency only goes so far.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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The awards
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The awards
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A converted seed factory in the Union Market district, Hotel Nell is a boutique hotel where the horticultural past shows up in deep greens, live foliage, and a rooftop bar called the Treehouse. Rooms have exposed beams and art from local artists. The farmers market down the street supplies breakfast, and green roofs keep the building cool, because of course they do.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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A hotel one block from the Treasury Building, which puts it about as close to the White House as anything that isn't the White House. The interiors run toward bold, design-forward choices that would raise eyebrows among the city's more buttoned-up regulars, which is precisely the point. Pennsylvania Avenue has never been known for its nightlife, and Hotel Washington seems quietly determined to do something about that.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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A pointillist Ruth Bader Ginsburg covers an entire lobby wall, which tells you most of what you need to know before you've even checked in. Hotel Zena is a Viceroy property in Logan Circle that committed fully to a feminist theme after a full renovation, with warrior guardian sculptures flanking the entrance and women's achievements woven into the decor throughout. Subtle it is not, but it commits with conviction.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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A 1940s Art Deco building in Dupont Circle, warm with wood and leather in the public rooms and quietly monochrome in the guest rooms, this boutique hotel leans into glamour without making you feel like you're in a museum. The neighborhood is genuinely lived-in, which helps. Lyle's, the in-house restaurant and bar, runs from breakfast through last call, so you rarely have a reason to leave before you're ready.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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A few blocks from the Capitol, this Irish-owned hotel chose to name itself after a Dublin park rather than lean into its politically charged zip code, which tells you something about its personality. Guest rooms run deep indigo against silver and white, elegant without being stuffy. The Dubliner downstairs is exactly the Irish pub you'd conjure if you closed your eyes and wished hard enough. Lobbyists tend to book elsewhere, which is probably a point in its favor.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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A ten-story glass atrium sets the tone for this Capitol Hill hotel, which hangs commissioned artwork where most business-district properties hang generic prints. Rooms are spacious by DC standards, with pillow-top beds and Egyptian cotton sheets, and the gym and yoga studio are genuinely solid. Bistro du Jour turns out French classics in a room ornate enough that you almost believe it. Union Station is a short walk; the Supreme Court, a little less so.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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Two restored Federal-style row houses on a quiet Georgetown block hold just fifteen rooms, which means the staff knows your name by checkout. This luxury boutique hotel sits in Washington's oldest neighborhood, a short walk from the university and well clear of the monumental everything downtown. The interiors run spare and bright against the historic facades. Breakfast and an evening spread of craft beer and local wine are included, and Georgetown handles the rest.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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A converted Romanesque church in Adams Morgan, The LINE DC is a boutique hotel where the vaulted ceilings and stained glass have been kept largely intact while everything around them skews deliberately bohemian. The restaurants and bars draw a neighborhood crowd that isn't staying the night, which means the lobby rarely feels like a hotel lobby. Adams Morgan's dining and nightlife scene runs partly through this building, which is either convenient or a little loud, depending on your room.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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Mid-century modern lines and warm, well-considered rooms put this Dupont Circle hotel in that narrow lane between aggressively trendy and forgettable business-chain. The Viceroy brand has a knack for making a lobby feel like somewhere you'd actually want to sit, and the DC outpost follows through with enough polish to satisfy the points-chasing traveler and enough personality to keep the boutique crowd from bolting.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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Warm, eclectic interiors that feel like someone actually collected the pieces rather than ordered them from a mood board. Yours Truly is a boutique hotel in Dupont Circle that belongs to IHG's Vignette Collection, pitching itself somewhere between high-design cool and genuinely livable. The industrial bones nod to an earlier era of design hotels, but the result reads more like a well-traveled apartment than a set piece. The Michelin Guide has it among its selected hotels.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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The awards
- The Rammys The Rammys: Finalist · Best Bar of the Year
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The awards
- The Rammys The Rammys: Finalist · Best Bar of the Year
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The awards
- The Rammys The Rammys: Finalist · Best Bar of the Year
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The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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The awards
- Eater Best New Bar · The 2025 Eater DC Award Winners
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. East
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Rank 61. Brasero Atlántico
Steakhouse
The awards
- Washingtonian #75 · 100 Very Best Restaurants
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. East
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The awards
- Bon Appétit America's Best New Restaurants
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Hotel Bar – U.S. East
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A boutique hotel carved out of an 1885 estate in Leesburg, a town that once hid the National Archives and later became a quiet retreat for Washington's political class. Fireplaces anchor multiple suites, the Rooftop Suite has its own outdoor terrace above the roofline, and the in-house restaurant runs a hunt-inspired dinner menu. Loudoun County's vineyards and equestrian estates spread out just beyond town.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Hotels
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Rank 65. Cana
Brazilian
Caipirinhas built from fresh sugar-cane juice anchor this small Brazilian bar and kitchen in Adams Morgan, where a vinyl soundtrack keeps the room at a low simmer all night. The open kitchen sends out charcoal-oven dishes and fried tapioca squares with spicy guava sauce that Washingtonian singled out as a favorite dish of the year. A James Beard semifinalist for Best New Bar, it draws the kind of crowd that skips the menu on the second visit.
The awards
- Washingtonian Washingtonian: Dadinhos de Tapioca · Our Favorite Dishes of the Year in the DC Area
- Washingtonian Washingtonian: #26 · 100 Very Best Restaurants
- Eater Eater: Best Night Out
- Washingtonian Dadinhos de Tapioca · Our Favorite Dishes of the Year in the DC Area
- Washingtonian #26 · 100 Very Best Restaurants
- Eater Best Night Out
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Rank 65. Death & Co. D.C.
Cocktail Bar
The awards
- The Pinnacle Guide The Pinnacle Guide: 1 Pin
- The 50 The 50: The 50 Discovery
- Difford's Guide Difford's Guide: Difford's Guide
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A corn broth that quietly dismantles everything you thought about corn broth is a good sign you're in the right place. Elcielo is a Michelin-starred fine dining tasting menu restaurant near Union Market where the Colombian-born chef turns his home country into a deeply personal, course-by-course argument. The chocotherapy dessert has become a thing people mention unprompted. The room runs warm in a way that doesn't feel managed.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: 1 Star
- The Rammys The Rammys: Finalist · Formal Fine Dining Restaurant of the Year
- The Rammys The Rammys: Finalist · Service Program of the Year
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- The Rammys Finalist · Formal Fine Dining Restaurant of the Year
- The Rammys Finalist · Service Program of the Year
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Rank 65. Mita
Latin American
Plant-based Peruvian tasting menus in Shaw sounds like a premise that requires a disclaimer, yet Mita holds a Michelin star and a James Beard nomination for Best New Restaurant. The chef's team pulls from across Latin America, so the flavors run from Andean to coastal without apology. Two tasting menu lengths mean you can commit at whatever level feels reasonable on a Tuesday. The bar program is serious enough that Punch named the team among its best new bartenders.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: 1 Star
- Punch Punch: Best New Bartenders · Lou Bernard
- James Beard Awards James Beard Awards: 2025 · Nominee · Best New Restaurant
- Michelin Guide 1 Star
- Punch Best New Bartenders · Lou Bernard
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Nominee · Best New Restaurant
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Rank 65. The Fountain Inn
Cocktail Bar
The awards
- The Pinnacle Guide The Pinnacle Guide: 1 Pin
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Rank 70. Alegria
Latin American Cocktail Bar
A cocktail bar inside Bryant Street Market's food hall in Edgewood, Alegria spun out of a beloved 14th Street agave spot and kept the Latin spirits focus while widening the net. Hibiscus, cacao, and fresh fruit make their way into the drinks alongside a beer list that moves from Pacifico to a Hyattsville local. Canned cocktails go out the door for those who can't be contained to 26 seats.
The awards
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Rank 70. Astoria DC
Sichuan Cocktail Bar
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.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Bib Gourmand
- Eater Eater: The Best Cocktail Bars in D.C.
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Rank 70. Bar Chinois
Cocktail Bar
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.
The awards
- Michelin Guide Michelin Guide: Selected Restaurant
- Eater Eater: The Best Cocktail Bars in D.C.
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Rank 70. Jack Rose Dining Saloon
Cocktail Bar
The awards
- Difford's Guide Difford's Guide: 4 stars · Difford's Guide
- Eater Eater: The Best Cocktail Bars in D.C.
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Rank 70. Jane Jane
Cocktail Bar
The cocktail menu is organized by spirit, which sounds obvious until you're deep into the amaro section wondering how you got there. Jane Jane is a cozy cocktail bar on 14th Street with a living-room feel, home-style snacks, and drinks that range from gin classics to Basque whiskey creations nobody else would think to make. Small, warm, and genuinely hard to leave once you've settled in.
The awards
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The awards
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Rank 70. Show of Hands
Cocktail Bar
A cocktail bar tucked inside the Roost food hall on Capitol Hill, Show of Hands leans hard into herbal liqueurs and brown spirits, with a menu organized by mood rather than spirit. The low-ABV side of the list is taken seriously, not grudgingly. Pop-up menus occasionally pay tribute to celebrities, which sounds gimmicky until you realize the drinks are the point and the theme is just the excuse to show up.
The awards
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The awards
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Rank 70. Trouble Bird
Cocktail Bar
Disco balls overhead and frozen tiki drinks on the menu: Navy Yard's 40-seat cocktail bar came out of a wine bar conversion and has been making noise ever since. The team behind it includes alumni of Silver Lyan, and the house Sazerac riffs on an everything bagel with sesame aquavit and chive gomme, which sounds like a dare and sells out anyway. A neighborhood crowd fills the small room fast on weeknights.
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Rank 79. Daniel O'Connell’s
Irish Pub
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Kirwan's is an Irish pub on the Wharf, all dark wood that wouldn't look out of place on a 17th-century naval vessel. Downstairs is for sports fans and conference lanyards pouring Guinness, while an upstairs mezzanine has a closed-off snug and a whiskey room tucked below for anyone who'd like their stout with fewer opinions shouted at it. Shepherd's pie and a spice bag are the order, entry-level pub prices apply.
The awards
- Washingtonian Washingtonian: 9 Great Pubs for a Full Irish Breakfast Around DC
- The Infatuation The Infatuation: The Best Restaurants In The Wharf
- Washingtonian 9 Great Pubs for a Full Irish Breakfast Around DC
- The Infatuation The Best Restaurants In The Wharf
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Rank 79. Samuel Beckett’s
Irish Gastropub
An Irish gastropub in Shirlington where the full Irish breakfast runs on weekdays too, not just weekends. The owner is from Tipperary, and it shows: rashers, puddings, beans, eggs, and a potato cake with homemade brown bread on the plate. The kind of place where a pint and a proper fry-up at noon on a Tuesday feels entirely reasonable, which is really the whole point of an Irish pub.
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Rank 79. The Old Brogue
Traditional Irish Pub
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Rank 87. Irish Channel
Traditional Irish Pub
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Rank 88. PX
Cocktail Bar
Todd Thrasher makes his own tonic water, his own bitters, and his own roasted pineapple juice, which tells you almost everything about PX before you've touched the door. It's a cocktail bar in Old Town Alexandria running on a serious DIY ethic, the kind where the drink in front of you contains something nobody else thought to make from scratch. The room is small and unhurried, well ahead of the speakeasy moment before that moment existed.
The awards
- Difford's Guide Difford's Guide: 4 stars · Difford's Guide