Cool bar for sure- if we had more time in DC over the weekend, we'd definitely spent more time here!

The staff treated us horribly. They were so rude! We were not intoxicated or rowdy but they refused to let us in for how we were dressed, even though we spent money on tickets! When we confronted them about why they wouldn't let us in they had no valid reason and swore at and pushed my friend out. It was the most ridiculous thing I have ever experienced! We are livid! Will never come back. read more

It has definitely changed over the many years but, it still has a place for me. The bartenders are friendly. The choices of beers are simple. Everything is easy-going at this place. Although I don't go here on the weekends and to my memory it gets pretty packed on fridays and saturdays. It is a cash bar but thats what atm's are for, which they have. Always will be a repeat customer read more

Since I'm on the shorter side I am not a fan of this venue. The floor is only one level which makes it hard to see the stage if you aren't tall. read more

I went to this venue to see a Denali reunion show back in 2009. The venue is quite spacious. I was too involved with the whole Denali show, thus I never really managed to look at the bar menu or other things. The waiting room was chill. Not sure how I feel about the tiles at the venue though. I'm not from the DC area so I'm not too familiar with the Black Cat's history. The surrounding neighborhood is really nice and trendy especially on a Friday or Saturday night, there's a lot to do after the show. read more

For a 5$ cover to 80's and 90's night you can enter a mostly empty room, with the same music you can hear at most any bar. This bar has the opportunity to market to people who want to go somewhere out of the ordinary and jam out to some TLC, Spice Girls, *Nsync, Britney Spears and other awesome music from the 90's! Over all... Not impressed. Get a real 90's night and I am there! read more

Pretty great venue. The bands feel laid-back along side the crowd. Seen a few good shows here. They also feature some really good obscure or otherwise unknown bands. I've found some of my new favorites here! & pretty reasonable ticket prices. Can't wait to go back over the summer for some cool shows. read more

I've been to the Black Cat several times, in the past few years and its always been a good time. Last time I went they were advertising a Deep House / Disco party. It was actually a lot of fun, and a good change from the typical top 40 junk they play in the typical dc clubs. The only reason I'm giving this a 4 star is because even though the drinks were fairly priced, the cash only bar is inconvenient, also I was hoping they will have events like this more often, but for that there is always U street music hall. read more

I LOVE THIS PLACE. I've never eaten there or hung out during the daytime but at night time this place rocks. They have some really cool bands that come through, and because its a relatively small venue you get to be up close and personal with the artists. If you aren't done with the night after your concert you can always head upstairs for some dance party action. They always play the best music here. It's a really cool bar and a ton of fun. read more

I've gone here numerous times over the years, including shows for We Are Scientists twice on the main stage and the Mercury Program in the smaller room on the first level, to name a few. Each experience was great. For a club it's a very clean venue, the staff is respectful, and it's in a great location. I never bought a drink there, so I can't speak for the bar service or prices. read more

Scruffier multi-level club with performance area upstairs. Food available and quiet bar and coat check on ground floor. All staff were friendly. Only drawback to performance area is your sight will be limited by your height and the height of others around you. read more

does it get better than this? went to see a few shows here and 930 club and was so psyched to be part of history!! hope this place stays open forever. read more

Great venue if you just want to chill, see an inexpensive show and grab a few drinks. I'd give the 80's dance night that they hold one a month a solid 4 stars, but they really need to work on the air conditioning in the tiny back room they hold it in. Don't bring your jacket if you can help it! The upstairs is both spacious (in that it never seems too crowded) but very intimate with the stage set almost at ground level and they never need any burly security guards blocking the band. I've seen many good shows here with good sound and a good drink selection that's average price for DC. Thumbs up, I will return. read more

Nice sound. Fine venue. Horrible crowd, who talked and text-messaged and cell-phoned throughout the legendary Roky Erickson show. If you're not there for the music, please stay home. Poseurs and loud mouths, with no manners. Stick with the 9:30 club. I did my best not to let the 'audience' ruin the show. read more

What a cool arcade and great vibe of viewing band's play.

Went here a few weeks ago and dropped 200 bucks on drinks for my friends and I. We had alot of drinks! Danced like there was no tomorrow. i do think they should switch from stamping hand to wristbands. I wash my hand alot everywhere i go so i had to keep getting stamps. Overall great place to have fun read more

Like Tripp, the Black Cat was the first place I went to hang out when I moved to D.C. A friend of mine is a D.C. native, so she brought me here for a Smiths vs. Cure dance party and it was a lot of fun. I've also seen a lot of good bands here -- both local bands and more popular bands "on their way up." For instance, I saw Bloc Party when they played upstairs here about a year and a half ago and it was great because we were really close to the stage bc the room is sort of smaller. There is also a tiny room on the bottom floor where bands play, and *I would suggest ear plugs for this room*. Unless you're seeing an acoustic set, of course. Every time I go here, I have a lot of fun. I think the bum who sits outside saying "Black Cat, Black Cat" over and over is a nice touch as well. The staff seems friendly for the most part, except one time the door guy called my friend Hilary Duff and she didn't like that too much. I've heard people say that The Black Cat is a pretentious scene, but I don't think that's true. Isn't it part-owned by Dave Grohl? read more

Karen is a terrible and nasty bartender. Not only does she have a nasty negative attitude, I said to her "Gosh I would love a drink, thank goodness school is out".. She said, "I don't support over indulgence in alcohol"..excuse me? I'm 27! I ordered 1 drink from you! What a rude lady. She ruined my time and experience here. So dissatisfied with her assumptions and attitude. I probably won't be coming back if she will be here. What a rude nasty person. The music is great, but please hire staff that doesn't suck. read more

With such an unassuming facade, it's hard to imagine this plain brick building to be a pillar of DC nightlife. The Black Cat has been a DC live music staple for decades, undergoing a small move (its old location is less than a block up the street from its current home) and some minor renovations. Boasting no less than four rooms to entertain you, the Black Cat plays host to some of the edgiest bands, most exciting DJs, and delicious club food in the area. There are two rooms devoted to music. The upstairs room can hold several hundred people (though I've never bothered to count), and is flanked by two bars, with a small area for seating in the back. Tables are littered on three large steps, which also serve as seats, and there are a couple very comfortable leather couches against the back wall (which are often fought for, and guarded with one's life). Downstairs, in the back corner of the main bar, is the downstairs room (simply called "Backstage"). Considerably smaller, it also has a bar and some tables, as well as a stage where bands can perform. There is less space for dancing (the room holds maybe 50 people comfortably), but it is the host room for all of the Black Cat's popular dance nights. There are three of those nights: The Wag, which is all 60s and 70s garage and soul music (read: The Beatles, The Stones, The Kinks, and a lot of James Brown); Bliss, which is indie and Britpop (read: Blur, Travis, Arcade Fire); and Mousetrap, far and away the most popular of the dance nights, and featuring some of the best local DJs spinning everything from electroclash to indie rock. Rotating weekly, these nights are not to be missed. If you're not in the mood for crowds and ticket prices (shows range from between $10 and $25 usually, dance nights for $5 or $6), the Red Room is one of the best bars in DC. Not only does it have a long bar, stocked with all the liquor you can imagine and no less than 6 beers on tap, but it also boasts an array of pinball machines, arcade games (including perennial favorite Ms. Pac Man), and a full-sized pool table. Pushing the bar's ambiance over the edge of awesomeness, though, is the jukebox. Stocked with tunes from Elvis and the Beatles to Built to Spill and Sonic Youth, it's one of the best jukeboxes in the city. A jukebox can make a bar, and this one certainly makes the Red Room. If you're hungry after all that drinking, Food For Thought is the Black Cat's small restaurant, serving up vegetarian and vegan fare until just before the club closes around 2 a.m. Service is fast, with no-frills, and the food is simply delicious. The Black Cat can get crowded on weekends, especially after 10 p.m., so if you don't want to fight for a table, a drink, or even a place to stand, going earlier will always be better. Make sure you check for shows, too, as that can affect the length of the line to get in (usually patrons not attending the show do not have to wait, but the crowds can be annoying to say the least). And the Cat is one of the best places to spend a weekday night, as the lines for games and pool are much shorter and the Red Room (open until 2 a.m. every night) is much less crowded, making for a far better time. read more

as a live music fan-atic, i was desperate to find a solid music venue when i arrived here in d.c.. although i've only been here once, Black Cat definitely satisfied my music needs: smaller venue (which i prefer), good acoustics (in the main room, don't know about upstairs or downstairs) and decently priced beer (they have yuengling, woo!). And an added bonus, the fellas working the place were nice to look at...especially the guy who gave me my tickets at Will Call-- hello! My friend and I came here to see We Are Scientists-- a first for both of us (and i had only introduced W.A.S. music to her mere days earlier)-- and it ROCKED. they sounded amazing and i think Black Cat was the perfect venue for their highly energetic (read: danceable!) power pop-ish music and the witty repartee the trio engages in--both with themselves and with the audience. too bad the lights went up without an encore. i'd definitely come here again. read more

I used to be a regular at this place. I was there all the time. The beers on tap would give me stomach cramps because the taps aren't professionally cleaned, and in general, it became obvious that the label "punk rock bar" served as a front for being cheap. All in all, though, many of the bartenders there were really truly great, and you could meet a lot of people in the neighborhood. I stopped going a few years ago on account of the miserably rude and viciously aggressive door staff. One new female employee got in my boyfriend's face, "stepping to him" and asking him "why he's got to be like that," because we had started a tab with a bartender we knew on the first floor, and my boyfriend had brought another round for us to the second floor, where I was waiting. We learned that night that Black Cat had enforced a new rule about having to show an individual hand stamp for each drink when bringing drinks from the first to the second floor. Despite the fact that I showed her my hand stamp, indicating that I was of age and able to drink the second drink, she refused to back down and became increasingly hostile. We asked this door staff person repeatedly to get the manager, because it was obvious that she was making this a personal issue. She asked us why we kept asking her that and kept jumping in my boyfriend's face. I thought she was going to hit him. When another rude and aggressive door staffer appeared, we decided to leave. Female door staffer followed us and kept yelling at us while we went down the stairs toward the exit. I guess she was disappointed that the scene wasn't more dramatic, so from the first landing, she screamed to the door staff manager at the bottom of the stairs (a great guy who my boyfriend and I both knew) that we had thrown "a bottle at her neck." We were horrified by her blatant lie. Because we knew many people who worked there, we were able to leave the venue without further incident, but had we been a standard patron, I'm sure the cops would have been called and it would have been our word against theirs. Very scary. Black Cat later made excuses for this employee's behavior and tried to implicate us in the story where they could. I was shocked that they would try to rationalize her behavior. Found female door staffer's My Space page down the road. Her page quote was, "Yeah, I'm better than you." and one of her hobbies was "Getting into fights." Nice. Just the type of person you want involved with the general public. read more

The sound system is shite, but hey, it's all part of the experience. So's forgetting your cash and getting f%#ed by that ATM fee, putting off a trip to the scummy bathroom until you're filled to bursting with long island iced teas, and of course falling madly in love with (and sorta wanting to buy a big steak for) every doe-eyed, stringy-haired, malnourished-looking indie boy you see. Some people say they don't get enough big name bands here anymore, but I've been privileged to see the Pogues, Frog Eyes, Rancid, my dearly departed Sleater Kinney, Band of Horses, M83, and Mission of Burma plus many, many more all for less than I spend on lattes in a week...Plus, if you're going just to see a "name" and not to get up close and personal with a band you dig, regardless of notoriety, you are lame, please piss off and die. The dance nights are fun and the crowds are generally cool; of course there's a few bad apples in every bunch. I remember on one jampacked night seeing Washington Social Club, I was rockin' out in a perfectly respectful, self-contained manner, and the uptight dickwad next to me kept shooting dirty looks my way because, oh horror of horrors, I accidentally bumped his shoulder a few times. I mean, come on...I was more or less grooving in place; he acted like I was doing the frickin' Charleston or something. Dude, it's a rock show. Those who are too precious to be touched should steer clear because this is a sweaty, dirty, glorious, intimate venue, among the finest DC has to offer. Also, props to Food For Thought for having a really tasty vegan & vegetarian-friendly menu and the best damned apple cider I've ever had in my life. read more

Before I came to DC, the only club I was really aware of was the Black Cat. It seemed as though whenever one of my favorite bands made a stop in DC they invariably played at the Black Cat, and sure enough, it ended up being the first place in town I went for drinks. After a couple months now of regular visits, it just might be the incarnation of the perfect indie/punk bar. The drinks aren't overpriced, the atmosphere is plenty dark, the jukebox is filled with quality tunes, the staff is colorful and friendly, there is a vegan-friendly restaurant on site, and the clientele doesn't look like a J-Crew ad gone wrong. Oh yeah, did I mention that you can catch your favorite national and local acts upstairs? As for local up-and-coming groups, spoken-word presentations, and dance parties, the backstage space downstairs provides an intimate environment that fits such events exceptionally well. What all of these amenities add up to is, in my opinion, the best place in DC to get have a drink, listen to some quality tunes, and just have a great time out with friends. Be sure to take Glassjaw's advice to heart, and tip your bartender well, too. http://www.blackcatdc.com/ read more

This over-priced dive bar is full of pretentious, power-tripping staff who use their meager power over the faux-hipster masses to generally be condescending and rude assholes. I have been coming here for most of my blissful college years, and have gradually become more and more disillusioned. Last night, I was forced to pay hilarious amounts of money to listen to a glorified high school rock band (there are exceptions to this--the Black Cat does, unfortunately, occasionally gets good artists), dance with a pathetic little crowd of Hollister-adorned fifteen-year-olds that was outnumbered by the mushy-looking staff, and then kicked out for entering a bathroom stall with my twenty-year-old friend when I had a drink in tow. Oh, and for the record, a staff member followed us into the bathroom, you know, just in case. This person then rallied a small army of flashlight-toting managers to stalk us around the bar for a half-an-hour. Having still found no evidence of anyone drinking (ALCOHOL!!!!!) the staff person proceeded to report us to her manager anyway on the basis of the fact that my friend "might have had a drink." And my favorite quote (from the manager): "I know what goes on in bathroom stalls, I used to be up to shady stuff too." Well...just because you ended up in this sad little joint by wiling away your youth snorting coke in the bathroom doesn't mean you need to take it out on us. Sheesh. Look, all drinking shennanigans aside (I get that the staff needs to do their job...but this job is apparently now defined as underage head-hunting with torches) this place just isn't cool anymore. The real indie-rockers have long fled to brighter pastures on U Street, and all that's left is a bar trying to salvage some veneer of cool by overcharging, cleaning less, and treating its customers like crap. If the definition of a hipster is that you never admit it, the Black Cat is screaming it at the top of its lungs. read more

I went to the Black Cat this past weekend expecting to enjoy the Little Dragon concert. My friend and I drove all the way from Baltimore to DC. I purchased my tickets at ticketalternative.com two days prior to the concert. I printed out one ticket which I brought with me the night of the concert. I presented my printed ticket and ID to enter. The young man scanned my ticket twice and asked me to wait. When he returned he informed me that someone else had already used my ticket. I showed him the ticket confirmation that was sent to my email. He then accused me of being a scam artist. He was loud and EXTREMELY RUDE. As I tried to figure out the situation, he got louder and louder. Calling me a liar, a scam artist that just got caught. His behavior was completely inappropriate. What is even worst HE was the MANAGEMENT! It was a huge inconvenience. My friend and I had to return to Baltimore because she is not going to leave me in a car while she attends a concert for 3hrs. We were both out $18.00 a ticket and EXTREMELY disappointed that we missed Little Dragon. If I showed him verification that the ticket was purchased by me, isn't it obvious that the scam artist would be in the concert. How effective is a policy to show ID with the ticket when someone got in with a ticket that had my name on it? I was HIGHLY offended and embarrassed to be called a scam artist when I had ALL proof including receipt that I purchased the ticket. Not to mention I missed one of my favorite bands because of your staff's inability to check IDs when scanning tickets. Even after calling ticketalternative.com, they sided with the venue because "they are their clients". So, it doesn't matter if you purchase your tickets honestly, it doesn't matter if you have your ID AND receipt of purchase, any ole person can intercept your ticket and simply arrive before you and you're labeled a scam artist... Meanwhile some hacker is gonna get in on YOUR MONEY. read more

My friends and I were trying to go to Mixtape, but for some reason, they did not accept my (valid, legal) license. They passed it from one guy to the next, using backlights of all sorts, calling a mysterious stranger, and not saying anything to me for about 5 minutes. Another guy comes over to do more of the same, I make the mistake of laughing at the ridiculousness of this situation, and he refuses my entry. An incredibly disrespectful staff!! Not sure if I'll ever return considering there's a chance they arbitrarily don't accept legal IDs. read more

all the best music acts come through this dc joint. they also have dc's awesome all woman dj collective, girl friday, come through here regularly, which is pretty awesome in itself! read more

oh man do I have a memory of going to this place! in my lifetime, I can never recall being actually afraid of going into a place. Let me explain the clientelle: The guy in front of me was wearing a shirt depicting a woman's vagina, the woman behind me in line must have had 50 piercings on her face, and after the bouncer gave me "the eye", I told my friends I am out of here! read more

Not impressed. Dirty place, I won't turn my nose up at a dive bar, but this place was just really run down with a bad vibe. We went for a concert and my husband assured me that the bar served food that was supposed to be pretty good. We got there early, I saw one person served their food, and then we waited and waited and waited. Asked politely a couple of times with flippant responses from the bar tender. We cancelled our food order and watched our show while starving (which started an hour late on a weeknight), but the show was great. Won't be back. read more

i've only been to the second floor, and i don't live in d.c., but this was the only club i've been to so far in d.c. that i've thoroughly enjoyed. i forgot myself, loved the music, and had a great time. no one there was concerned about anyone else, the drinks were strong, there was plenty of room to dance, and just for a couple of hours, i was convinced that d.c. was finally cool. read more

Nice, intimate venue with good acoustics. Reasonably priced tickets and drinks and the bartenders are cool, especially the dude with the long beard. Highly recommend. Ed read more

this may be the most established hipster hangout in all of dc. the side restaurant has some really good vegan food. the little bar has typical offerings and is not very crowded at off times. the concert hall is a bit cramped with low ceilings, but halfway decent acoustics for some shows. lots of great old punk rock bands come through sometimes, though much of that seems to have moved down to the now-trendier rock and roll hotel or one of the new places on u street. read more

The Black Cat is an institution. They have provided a venue for some of the best bands I've seen (from a long list). The place doesn't look like much, but they've made improvements over the years. Take a chance and see a band you've never heard of. read more

I am a huge live music fan and I love the smaller intimate venues like Black Cat. But what Black Cat cannot seem to get right is their audio system/sound management. I have seen several shows here and EVERY one of them has had awful sound management. There are far too many microphone spikes that hurt your ears and make you cringe. I saw a band there the other night, one that I was VERY excited to see, and the experience was ruined by the atrocious sound. The band heavily used electronics/synths and they were fine for the first couple songs but then they dropped out almost completely and the mics the band used would cut in and out. The sound was so bad that when the microphone spikes would happen they would actually mess the singers up, they themselves would cringe at the abrupt and piercing noise. Such a disappointment from what could be a fantastic live music venue. Hopefully they realize soon that they need to revamp their audio systems and hire a competent sound engineer. Black Cat gets 2 stars because I truly believe they have the potential to be so much better. I'll stick to seeing shows at the 9:30 Club. read more

So I've always heard of this place, and that picture that they have I've seen countless of times, of the "Chat Noir," it was every where when i visited Paris last. So I finally made my way there; the area seemed pretty solid, not TOO sketchy or anything and it seemed very intimate. It completely is, I feel like the bands they get to play there don't have that pompous attitude that others may have, they're the ones that still chill and sell me merch. Its a place where you can meet the bands and sweat on the stage. BUT, hello creepy men who can't comprehend that I'm staring at the guy standing near the backstage area with the cute facial hair and clothes, and that I am in fact underage. But its a nice place, not too crazy unless that drunken asshole hitting on you dancing like an idiot is there. read more

Aside from food, I think I've experienced everything the Black Cat has to offer. I've been to mainstage concerts, mainstage dance parties, backstage dance parties, and just the bar to hang. Every single one of these things has been fantastically fun. Depending on how well you know or like the band, the mainstage area can be a good venue or an awesome one...it's medium sized and it can be hard to see the stage, but it's so loud and packed that even the notoriously still hipster crowds of DC occasionally allow themselves to dance. My preference for location if you are attending one of the many, many dance parties the backstage area, but the plethora of bars in the place ensures that wherever you end up you'll be having a good time. The Red Room bar has enough to satisfy the more beer snobby among us, but when you're dancing like a maniac and just need something to cool down, cheap Yeungling in the back bars of the dance floors does just fine. The bar is cash, the DJs know how to get people on the floor, and there are plenty of couches to crash on when you can jump, dance, or drink no longer. read more

I love the Black Cat, I always have a good time here. They have great dance nights, good bands and decent bartenders. The bathrooms are also respectably clean. There are lots of pretentious hipsters, but most of them don't want anything to do with me so they are easy enough to avoid. The red room is my least favorite part, as it is crowded and loud and people put crappy music in the jukebox. read more

Excellent venue with an energetic atmosphere. Plenty of room to move around, even though the show was a sell out.

smaller than i expected, but brings some good acts, and anything that encourages music in DC, i gotta get behind

Very dive-y, but since they have the occasional amazing band, I'm giving them a good rating so they continue to secure better and more amazing talent. It's still a fun place. read more