Not to be confused with Free State Distillery in Upper Marlboro (though many also call it Arthur…read moreWheeler Spirits haha), this place is located just off of the main street in chinatown, and it's surprisingly lowkey. It's a basement bar with a bit of a dive vibe, but it's hard to ignore the nautical, blue crab theme throughout. Turns out that one of the owners is a Marylander, which is cool to see reflected in the decor in a place in dc, even though it is next door. They have a happy hour and they have a great variety of drinks in general. It's bring-your-own-food (BYOF) and there are a bunch of delicious looking Asian spots nearby, including upstairs. It didn't start getting crowded until closer to 10, which, as I said, is surprising for this part of town to me. Everywhere in Chinatown is not going to be packed and busy, and this place is here to remind you of that. Stop by if you're looking for a more chill vibe. Staff are pretty cool.

Free State is perfect for a chill bar in the Downtown area. It's exactly the kind of place you want…read moreto share a few drinks and be able to hear the person in front of you. I had a delicious orange crush drink and my friend had a sangria. The bartenders are extremely chill and nice; they only come up when you need it which is nice for good conversation. I'll easily be back when I want to catch up with friends without a speaker blaring in our ears. Great place to introduce to more people!

At my recommendation, my son and his girlfriend went here after a day of touring in D.C…read more. Apparently, they ordered the blue crab, mac & cheese, and chicken wings. Both reported, it was an outstanding choice. They enjoy the time before they took the Metro back home. There are no complaints about the service, and they didn't really mention what the place looks like. But it could not have been too bad. They did say, it was clean and nice in the 22-year-olds that's a compliment. They also said it was convenient to get to the metro from there.

I won't be back unfortunately and you should probably keep walking and find something else. Didn't…read morerealize what kind of restaurant this was until I was told to order off an app and then my food would be ran out to me...and that's all you get for customer service. Runners just do that. Run around the restaurant throwing food down on tables and run back to the kitchen. Never checking on anyone to see if they need anything and how the food is. I ordered the SW Salad ($16.50) with a steak add on ($9.00) at medium temp. I also ordered a cup of Clam Chowder ($5.95) as an appetizer. Chowder came out pretty much right on top of my salad, but no big deal. Chowder was decent taste, but only found one clam. Ok whatever. Salad came out looking like a side salad on a large plate with five slices of rare, tough steak. It was so rare, that it was extremely hard to cut through, but again, who was I going to talk to about it. No wait staff would even look my way. I couldn't even get a refill on my water and there is no place in the app to order a glass of water...so that's that. Unfortunately it was just an extremely bad experience for $40. I'll be looking for dinner somewhere else tomorrow night.

A year later they are still making great beer. Happy hour is until 8 which is generous for…read morediscount full pours. They also have half pours. Staff are friendly. Ambiance makes a newer brewery feel like it is older from the mid 20th century They are also on InKind I learned after my last visit. Hence, being a block from Sushi Sato I can use my cash back here in the future. Haven't tried the food since we fill up at Sushi Sato instead each time but they seem to have a nice selection. Learned from staff and customers that they are not the newest brewery in DC proper anymore, it is Urban Garden at the site of the former Right Proper Brewpub in Shaw.

While I didn't try the main storefront -- which looked family friendly -- I did have a fab…read moreexperience at the hidden bar. Drinks: fantastic. You tell them what flavors you like; they mix something up for you. No menu, no frills, excellent quality. Service: Good. There were two mixologists who also did the serving and hosting, and it wasn't too busy, so we got plenty of attention. Ambiance: Fabulous. A true speakeasy experience and a luxe decadent interior. Fabulously intimate space. No pictures. And I respect it. Happy hunting, and cheers!

I visited this store looking for Dekuyper Red Apple Schnapps, as Google indicated it was sold here…read more While the item wasn't currently in stock, the sales associate went above and beyond to assist me. They took the time to check the ordering system and even mentioned they would speak with the store owner about possibly getting it in and following up with me. That level of effort and care--regardless of the outcome--is what true customer service looks like, and I genuinely appreciated it. Note: The store is tucked away in an alley, so if you're using Google Maps, be cautious when navigating to the location--it's easy to miss or drive past.

We came in looking for a sweet red wine and had a specific bottle in mind. The employee let us know…read morethey didn't have it, but said there were other sweet red options we could try. We made it very clear that we do not like dry reds and that the sweeter, the better. He recommended a bottle, but his attitude wasn't very welcoming. We decided to trust his recommendation anyway, only to get home and realize the wine was very dry -- exactly what we said we didn't want. We were really disappointed because we were looking forward to trying a new sweet red wine. Better customer service and listening to customer preferences would've made this a much better experience. The place itself was very nice with a lot of selections.

I already mentioned Shelter in my Roost review, but it also deserves its own review for being the…read morebest beer bar that I ever visited inside a food court. Its a pretty easy feat to achieve for the minds behind spots like Church Key and The Sovereign (and I'll get to those places later). But from showcasing a well-rounded list of around 1000 beers annually including some exclusive brews in 50 taps, to having equipment like a temperature controlled tap system, side-pull taps for lagers, and a cask engine system for ales and ciders, it shows that they have features that many non-food court beer bars could only dream of! With it being Snallygaster weekend I was on cloud nine sipping and savoring a satisfying preview of the breweries that I'd be enjoying over the weekend. But I also enjoyed some of their regular harder to find brews while conversing and geeking out about good beers with the bartender. Another standout plus to the bar being in a food court that's very tech savvy was the ability to order from any restaurant in the court while sitting at the bar! Toss in plenty of cocktails, whiskey pours, a well-rounded wine list, and non-alcoholic options, and this bar is a good spot for anyone to Shelter in place in. Especially during their happy hour and special events!

Excellent selection of beers and they have guest taps! There is something for everyone, which we…read morefound out after we saw the frozen drinks they had in the corner and decided instead of have frozen pina coladas instead of craft beer. Glad we did - these were really good! And a good size, too. Service was quick and helpful as counter service only.

Amazing service and incredible drinks! Graham is the best bartender in the city…read more Also the creativity is unmatched! Order what you want from the menu but they are also willing to make you specialized drinks to your liking.

studying art history, took a trip to d.c. to go sight seeing of some of my studies. decided that we…read morewanted to go out one of our nights here, this is where we landed. cider on tap, means we're going to have a good night. walked past a group of (maybe) 26 year olds, they took one look at my friend group (realistically we are more alternative looking for what district of columbia is used to, anywhere else in the midwest we're average), guy looks over, "whispers" to the rest of his group, "DO YOU THINK THESE GIRLS GO TO ART SCHOOL?". he was absolutely right. we do go to art school.

Such a fun place! Right next to the Nationals Stadium, great place to try whatever beer/cider/wine…read moreyou might be interested in - just tap the card and serve however little or large amount you want. The food was great, we loved the mozzarella bites. The marinara tasted super watery. Service was super friendly and great. It was really busy and crowded - was also game day so it was expected. Would go back again!

If you want a place with a good beer selection and fun vibes, then this is the spot. If you're…read morehungry, then maybe try another place first then come here for drinks.... We ordered the Mac and cheese bites but they did not have any Mac.. it was just fried cut up mozzarella sticks. Which is great.. if that's what it was called on the menu. We also ordered a fried chicken sandwich and a pub burger. The chicken sandwich was fine. The pub burger was ... meh. The pretzel bun they brought out was over toasted and looked like it was pretty dry before that. Like it was HARD. No one came to check on us after the food arrived so I had to take my plate to the check out desk to address the issue. Cait took care of it right away; I asked for just a new bun - I don't mind swapping it out myself. But in the end the burger was still just meh. Almost forgot to mention the fries .. not great. They were salted well but the fries themselves were almost chewy. When we checked out, Cait said apologized and mentioned some staffing issues. She offered to get in touch with some sort of compensation but didn't offer to waive our one beer. We left paying full price for everything. Again, fine spot if you just wanted to hang out and drink beer.

Fantastic spot for large gatherings. Our group had over 60 people here to celebrate one of our…read morecolleagues departure to another higher level opportunity. We all had so much fun together and the bar staff kept up! No one was empty handed that didn't want to be.

Better customer service ESPECIALLY for new potential customers and oh…read more NoLa Saints games featured Front and Center. LSU certainly wouldn't condone its alumni doing otherwise. But if your not from Louisiana... I totally understand. Commanders it is.

A solid spot before a Nats game, be warned there is a lot of stairs and when we came on a…read moreWednesday, only the rooftop was opened. It was mostly in the shade which was a huge plus on a hotter day. Bar service is ok, it was slightly busy but a bit chaotic. They had a HH so we got a frozen pina colada and a beer - the pina colada didnt have too much flavor but it did have a a pretty strong liquor flavor so at least you didn't feel like it was all sugar. We ordered some fries and I swore they had truffle fries on HH but I guess it was truffle tots but they were able to put together a variety of truffle fries, it was just like a truffle dip on the side and not like the fries mixed in a truffle salt or whatever. Longer bathroom lines and no soap in like 2/4 of the bathrooms so that was unpleasant. Nice spot for one drink but not a ton of seating upstairs.

Didn't even make it in. We called first, and the phone was cutting in and out, but we did hear them…read moresay that there was plenty of room on the patio. Got to the front door and a heavily "tactical equipped" doorman. It seems we upset him by not properly cueing in an empty line. After getting past this transgression, we asked if we could eat dinner (early ~4pm) and were stopped since we had a less than 21 yr old and he wasn't sure that we could go. Now enter the manager. Manger comes down and says we are fine to come in since we are with the event. We were not. At this point, we gave up and walked away. If you want to get scolded by Blade for entering a line incorrectly, this place is for you.

Really good BBQ we tried the brisket, sausage, and turkey. Solid sides and freshly brewed iced tea.read more

The brisket here is incredibly tender and flavorful. Has the perfect texture. It has real BBQ…read moreflavor without being overpowering. You can eat it without any sauce which means the meat itself is great. The pickled onions and pickles are genuinely good enough to eat on their own. It's pretty pricey - spent $42 for 1 side and ~1lb of meat... after tax, so I did have enough for two meals. The sausage is soft but meaty, clearly made in-house, with a nice smoky flavor throughout. The mac and cheese is rich and solid. It's a pretty standard good BBQ mac and cheese, nothing crazy but well done. Overall, I was surprised by how good this place is given how casual it is. Just know it will be pricey- but that's everywhere now