When I was in college, Atomic Billiards was my go-to for a quick game of pool during happy hour or a warm up for a night on the town with friends. The decor (old arcade games, iridescent colors) feels very nostalgic and it's quite cozy. During peak hours it can take awhile to get a table, but there are other games to occupy yourself with and the staff are very adamant about keeping wait order so you don't have to worry about missing your slot. read more

Atomic does the job in a pinch if you are looking to play pool. It's fun, kitschy, and small, and they have a decent bar (no food, though). I've had a good time here, and it's great for low-key pool games. I believe all of the pool tables are 8-footers. If you want 9-footers you'll have to go to Bedrock or Buffalo. But sometimes you just want to play and hang with your buds, and you can most certainly do that here. read more

This is definitely a billiards bar. If you're not playing, make sure you stay out of the way of people who are. I was there one night when it was pretty crowded, and there were a lot of people around. There was one woman playing by herself and apparently needed A LOT of room and kept getting angry with people who weren't even that close to her. The beer is pretty cheap though, and the service is okay. Be warned though, one day I was there and there were only a few other people at the bar...and it was silent. Yup, no music. Apparently if no one is paying to use the jukebox, the bar is just....silent. We asked to have something turned on, and they told us we'd have to pay for the jukebox or basically just sit in silence. read more

I could imagine Atomic Billiards in Adams Morgan. But then it would be a Dive Bar plus some dirty change filled with drunken meat heads trashing the place and getting into fist fights over Connect Four. And they'd fill the jukebox with some BAAAAD music. And then, well, it just would NOT be the same four star worthy kitschy rec room. I like it just the way it is, in Cleveland Park. I think the fact it's a neighborhood bar in upper northwest (I call it 'mini Georgetown') helps keep its charm. read more

Great neighborhood bar in Cleveland Park. Love the jukebox and the specials -- but honestly, the pool prices are a little expensive. I like the Sunday incentives for ladies, but how about some deals mid-week? I loved popping in here on a random Tuesday night to drink some beers and to shoot some pool, but sometimes I would end up playing darts rather than pool because of the hourly prices. Anyway, it's still a great place. Wish this kind of bar was in every neighborhood! read more

Very unwelcoming atmosphere and difficult bartender. It was very obvious we were not wanted there.

Atomic is my favorite pool hall in the city! It is small and discreet which, to me, puts it above the massive places like Buffalo Billiards where you can barely hear yourself think, much less hear your friends talk. People are often put off by the fact that it is a basement pool hall, thinking from the outside that it will be sketchy or weird. This is a complete misconception: the place is clean, the clientele is typically yuppie, and the bartenders are usually very friendly. They also have shuffleboard, darts, games, a good beer selection, and a very good jukebox. The only draw backs are that they do not serve food and sometimes you have to wait for a table. But considering these are probably a result of the aforementioned small venue I like, I think these are easily forgivable. read more

Come to think of it, this place might have the best beer selection in Cleveland Park...if not the best certainly a very close second place. There's drafts and also a huge selection of bottles to look at behind the bar. I like the bartenders here...considering how packed it is they are quick. They also will make eye contact/acknowledge your presence to reassure you they'll get to you in just a minute...which they do! I also enjoy that they've busted my balls a couple times for my ordering habits (I'll alternate between ordering a nice craft beer and PBR) because it shows they remember you throughout the night. There's not a lot of room in here because of the pool tables and dart boards and what not...I'm not deducting points for that because complaining that pool tables in a pool hall take up space is like complaining a sauna has steam. Don't go if you don't like it. That said, my friends and I have played some of the board games the bar has without being disturbed, though we were a bit scrunched into the corner. read more

I'm a stranger to the Cleveland park neighborhood, and I don't really know what it's about. But, if this place reflects the neighborhood, then it probably does so accurately. This is a DC-style dive bar, which gets big bonus points for having pool, two shuffleboards, darts, and a old-school pac-man machine. It also get's points for having a couple of different Bell's Ales. The jukebox was interesting, but I imagine it could get obnoxious on crowded weekend nights. The great thing about the place is that it is one of the most laid-back, most unprententious, most "I dont care what I'm wearing or how I look today" bars I've ever seen in DC. Which is great. read more

I've been to going to Atomic for about 3 years and It really is a great place with good service. The jukebox is the best I've seen in DC and the crowd on weeknights is usually local and friendly. As for weekends, I will never go here again. The vibe is entirely different and it brings in aggressive billiard people who treat the entire space as their personal rec room. And I'm not talking about professional or pro-am players... I'm talking about drunks doing trick shots, moving furniture, and pushing people out of the way so they can get a better angle at the table. And really, they always seem to miss the shot anyway.. no matter how belligerent they are in setting it up. The experience at Atomic suffers from its size and that it tries to be both a billiards room and a bar. Talking with friends here is a challenge because you have players constantly putting sticks in your face, but at the same time I empathize that playing "a serious game" of pool here would be a challenge with the current layout. read more

Never quite liked this place as much as Bedrock in Adams Morgan. Not sure why, since they're very similar: both owned by Bedrock Management, both located in basements, neither serves food. Maybe it's Bedrock's layout I like better, with the bar island and the feeling of being in a cool friend's basement with Connect Four and all the boardgames and a less serious focus on the pool tables. Maybe it's the better beer slelection. At any rate, Atomic's not a bad option if you're in Cleveland Park and have a hankering to shoot a little pool, play darts or grab a drink (happy hour daily: till 8pm Sat-Thurs and 9pm on Friday!). Retro, 1960's Jetsonesque decor, good juke box, and eight beers on tap (Guiness, Sierra Nevada, Yuengling, Dogfish Head, etc.) and another dozen or so in the bottle. Pool is a little pricey, especailly on weekends ($14 per hour for two players), so save yourself a little money and buy a membership if you plan on spending much time here. read more

I am not a billiards player, but I have stopped in here a number of times to grab a beer or two, and have been impressed. This is an excellent dive bar - but I need to be back a few more times before I move this rating up. Now, I'm always there way before peak hours, so it's not very crowded and maintains a very laid back vibe. It's tucked away between some other business, and you'll head down some steps into the basement bar. Cool décor will jump out at you, which I thoroughly enjoyed eyeballing while I was there. My favorite thing by far was the beer selection; there was a ton to choose from - including some absolutely excellent IPAs. Recommend, will be back. read more

I've been living in Van Ness for about 3 years now and spent the first 2 trying to find a neighborhood bar that satisfied my desire for good beer, good prices, good music, and a low chance of douche bags. My folly was in not looking below street level to Atomic Billiards. I love shuffleboard and cannot wait until I am 67 to play it all the time. I want to be badass at pool, but am lucky if i hit the cue ball solidly...that's what it is called right? But lucky for me, Atomic Billiards also has Battleship, Connect Four, and other games that I have dominated at since I was 7. The beer is good, the games are fun, the music selection is great, and the atmosphere is extremely relaxed. The main drawback to Atomic Billiards is that there is no kitchen and I am a hungry drunk. There are some chips and maybe some other bagged snack foods, but nothing hot. However, the bar seems pretty cool with bringing in food from outside. read more

A billiards bar that shouldn't try to be one. I generally have an issue with a place that has "billiards" in its name but has less than 10 tables. But, for the location, for the atmosphere, the people that come in, and the ultra cool fact that you can bring a pizza in from the pizza shop down the street, I'll look past this little fact. The drinks are fairly priced, the crowd is fun, the bouncers are nice, and the size of the location makes it cozy. Only a few times has it started to get crowded enough for me to want to leave the place. I'm generally not a fan of standing room only bars. I'm here to max and relax, which generally involves sitting around and drink a beer or two, or shooting pool. Since this place only has 4 tables, that's hard to do unless you get there early. But, I'm still giving it 4 stars because overall, it's a cool bar. If they renamed it "Atomic Bar" I'd probably give it 5 stars. read more

Atomic is great if you like a un-pretentious spot to hang out. The bartenders are amazing here. Make sure to have a conversation with Terrence, probably the best bartender in DC. This is a good place to get a few drinks, play a game (pool, darts, shuffleboard, connect 4... anything), have fun with your friends without the cluby loud music. I truly wish more DC bars were like this. By the way, who cares that it is underground... do you go to a bar to look out the window? A negative? It is starting to get more crowd. I think it got mentioned in some magazine because the crowd level defiantly picked up. read more

Cool spot. Pretty chill. They have a surprisingly good beer selection both on draft and particularly bottles! They have billiards and shuffle board. read more

This place is nice, laidback and unpretentious. A good place to play pool during the week, as it's never too crowded. I haven't been here during the weekends, though. They have an AWESOME jukebox. If you like the jukebox at The Black Cat then you'll find some gems here, too. read more

Went here on a Saturday night. I expected it to be super busy, but there were two pool tables available. We'd originally gone because of the board games, but we spent $7 on a half hour of pool for two of us--that's a good deal in my book. (Unfortunately, both shuffleboards were taken.) Huge selection of beers. Bartenders were super friendly and helpful. They even settled someone else's pool rule debate. We ended up playing Boggle (all board games are free to play), but they also had Monopoly, Scattergories, Sorry!, etc. Definitely an older crowd, in their early 30s and older, which I equate to the neighborhood. I'd still go back, though, and I'm 23. Everyone seemed friendly, no one was particularly rowdy. Good jukebox, too. read more

I love townie bars, and DC doesn't have too many real townie bars (except the occasional bar sprinkled in the middle of nowhere that no one goes to because it's in the middle of nowhere), but Atomic absolutely is, and it's great. It's never packed, you can almost always get a table (pool) pretty quickly, and the drinks are cheap. Exactly what a townie bar should be. If you want to laugh, have a few drinks in Atomic, and then go next door to Bardeo Ardeo and compare. read more

Why is it that up until a few weeks ago, I remembered this place being upstairs? It is totally downstairs. So, keep your eyes peeled for the stairs. Anyway, it is odd that the same peeps own Buffalo Billiiards cause Atomic is so low key in comparison. And the drink prices are great three to four bucks for a beer. And table prices aren't bad -- just $8. There's darts and board games to play while waiting for a table, and some cool things to look at with all of the 50's sci fi posters and such on the walls. read more

I've only been here once, but mostly because I NEVER frequent the Cleveland Park area. But I really liked it here, since it's on the dingy/dive side of bars. It has a nice laid back feeling, and if I find myself in Cleveland Park, I'd probably stop by. I met up with a friend for a beer and a couple games of shuffleboard. Granted it was a sunday evening, so there was pretty much no more than 8 other people in the place. So no wait for a shuffleboard table/pucks. With Janis Joplin blaring out of the jukebox, pint of stella in one hand and a shuffleboard puck in the other and a side of playful trashtalking to my opponent... I'd say I had a pretty good time. Plus I won both games ;) Oh, the only downside to this place was it took awhile to find parking. It's alot of residential streets in the area, so I still ended up a few streets away for the closest spot. Perhaps there are certain streets in Cleveland Park that have more parking that I haven't discovered yet? read more

Love this place! Moderate prices, cool stuff, and great bartenders! Lets start with the basics: 1) Great jukebox (Has anything and everything from the Pixies, Beck, and White Stripes, to Wu Tang, Jay Z, and Desmond Decker, and everything in between) 2) Good Selection of beer/booze (I don't venture far from shock top/blue moon, miller lite, and jack and diet, but my friends who know about this stuff say their selection of draft and bottle beers is quite good, though not great) 3) Cool crowd (Went here with 2 girlfriends and didn't get bothered once by any horny drunkards, basically its not the adams morgan/georgetown crowd) 4) Stuff to do (Pool, shuffleboard, darts, video games, and even board games and cards, because not everyone wants to watch espn all night) 5) Cool staff (Everyone from the door guy, to the bartenders are cool, funny and chill, Rich basically puts on a one man show which is quite entertaining) Only bad things I can say about the place is that it can get a bit expensive if you play pool, or shuffleboard for any extended amount of time, also it is not the biggest place in the city so it can get packed. read more

Atomic is down the street from my apartment, which of course means I never come here. The few times I have, I had a good time though. A nice selection of beers on tap (other than your usual lights). Some fun dart throwing or pool playing. A great array of music on the classic jukebox. How could you not enjoy yourself? Sometimes they're understaffed on busy nights (one bar tender) making it hard to grab a drink on a regular basis, but other than that minor snag, Atomic is an A-OK place for anyone looking to have a relaxing evening out at a fun, laid back bar. read more

Only been in here twice. Very divey, many tables, friendly people, inexpensive drinks. The pool tables were a little pricey. I'll be back. read more

Only been this place One time for a Office happy hour there's plenty to do there board games shuffleboard billiards darts video games TVs for watching sports Great jukebox with music The bartenders are very friendly read more

An underground pool hall. Not much of a hall, and not really underground, but it is downstairs. Note: cellyphone service in this joint can be spotty. Also, smokers stand just outside the door, and sometimes the smoke wafts down there. It's not like they're smoking inside, but it is a smell that we've all gotten used to NOT smelling in a DC bar in a few years. But that's all the bad stuff, the good stuff is that the drinks are solid, reasonably priced, made by friendly staff, and the jukebox is very good. They've got board games, as several people have noted. That's not a big deal to me, but everybody else seems to like it. There are a couple of dart boards, and they recently put in a pair shuffleboard tables. That's pretty cool, especially for a place of this cozy size. If playing pool/darts/shuffleboard or sitting at the bar isn't your thing, there are couches to group around, and for the non-players rolling with groups who play pool, etc., there are lots of seats around the perimiter of the room. This place seems to peak between 10pm and 1am most nights. UPDATE: they have added at least one video game, the cocktail-table style Mrs. Pac-Man ... and that's way cool. Also, my friend moved away and had his send-off party here. He got in touch with Atomic ahead of time and they pulled one of the albums off of the jukebox and let him put his own in. When people started to arrive we slipped a ten into the juke and *voila* we set the atmosphere! The bartenders and other patrons were happy, whomever counts the money in the jukebox was happy, and except that our friend was leaving, we were happy. (this review was upgrade +1 star for that act of coolness. Thanks Atomic Billiards!) read more

So I tried to give this place a chance, but I can't. I've just tried to come in for a beer, but every time I'm not a regular and feel unwelcome. Tonight I got carded and the gentleman bartender threw my 26 id on the ground. That's cool but not if you want to keep a business going. read more

The best place to go on a dreary weeknight (or weekend!) I learned how to play pool here, and love the bartenders, multitude of board games, and ladies' night on Sundays (free pool with a drink purchase - Magic Hat is $4 that night - so it's a good deal even if you're a poor college kid like me!) Also, ladies - every time I go here there seems to be a swarm of attractive men. Why more girls don't hit up this chill spot is beyond me, but if you're looking for a great place to meet men this is it. I suggest you sashay over with pool stick in hand and ask for some one-on-one lessons. ;) read more

2.5 I visited this place to catch the Nova-Pitt game and check out some new hot spots in DC, but Cleveland Park continues to fail me. After an initial disappointing visit to Cleveland Park Bar & Grill Atomic Billiards also disappoints. This place does billiards just wrong, it's too small only has a handful of tables and it's just very uninteresting. The specials were ok but the bar tenders were very pushy on the billiard front, the mix of people lacked diversity and all in all it was just a pretty bland experience. Can someone take me to a place in C-Park that will yield a good time? I'm not asking for much :) read more

I've been here a few times now and had a good time every time. The beer selection is interesting and fairly priced, and the bartenders have always been good with a recommendation or answer. One time I ordered a Manhattan (probably not the best choice for this type of bar) and I think they judged me a little bit - the bartender made a sarcastic comment about having to dust off the sweet vermouth...but when I got it, it was delicious. Atmosphere is a little shady in all the right ways. They have kind of an odd Flinstones 50s futuristic decor scheme - quirky and fun. I love that it's in a real basement. I love that it's really close to my house. They don't serve food, but as previously mentioned, you can bring in whatever you want. Only problem....Pool is really, really, really pricey here. Like 15/hour. Which, compared to pool halls in suburban Illinois is ridiculous, though the rates are probably higher everywhere here. I haven't tried any other places. But they have great happy hour/Sunday specials and I'm pretty sure there was a ladies-play-free night once. So that is good. Also, the tables are placed a little too close to eachother. Especially on weekend nights, you may be doing some yoga style stretching around people who aren't playing to make some shots. The bathrooms are placed behind the darts, which really isn't ideal. Still, always a good time. read more

You might miss this location, but it has a doorway right on Connecticut. Giant Jenga-- Free Happy hour specials every day of the week, but they change each day of the week. Cute decor with billiard themes. Dart section is small but fun! (For $1) Sundays is ladies night (free pool for ladies ;) ) read more

Okay, so I'll start this off by saying I'm a bit biased. I met someone really great who I'm still in touch with as of writing this... not saying that just because it's awesome, but because it skews my perspective... Anyway, it makes for an awesome dive bar or locals' hangout or grad student with "cool enough" college students hang out. I really liked it. Downstairs, tight fit, pretty much any game you'd actually play at a bar and some you normally wouldn't, but make for good conversation starters. The bartender, I'm going to assume it was Terence due to other reviews, was pretty awesome, but also had that "I'm an awesome bartender" thing going on that made him a bit snobbish to new folk. Not much, though, I broke his facade quickly and he poured some great beers! Good selection of beers, great crowd for a weekday night and there's a fun spot to have a cig (yes, i'm a smoker and it's on my okcupid profile, too! :) up the stairs and outside. Sucks that it rains so much and all, but I like the rain, so buy an umbrella if you feel that way. Anyway, another good stop on my roadtrip. Very happy they were open on a Tuesday night! read more

Basement pool hall! Come on, who does not love a dark downstairs bar with cheap beer, darts, pool, table shuffle board, a juke box, and a diverse crowd from all types in DC? I enjoy this place because it is loud enough to not have to talk, people leave you and your friends alone while you play pool, you never have an empty drink, even on busy nights, and the bouncers let most things slide, but keep a bit of control so know one ends up seriously hurt. This is not the cleanest place, the floor is filthy, the bathrooms are not spotless, I have had a few dirty glasses (stick to the beer bottles), but atomics is exactly what an basement bar should be. Show up in jeans and a tee shirt, and you will fit right in. Pool table rental is by the hour and prices fluctuate for time of day/night. Be sure to ask because it can get pricey at times. read more

Super cool "dive bar" vibe. They always ID so it's definitely a 21+ place. The bartenders are super friendly, just don't expect a mixed drink. It's definitely a "what do you have on tap" type of place and they have 6+ different drafts on the average weekend. My favorite part is their giant jenga which definitely gets loud if you go with some friends! read more

Cool ambiance, reasonably priced drinks, plenty of games and friendly patrons. Atomic is a refreshing oasis in a DC plagued with bars that are overpriced and basic AF. read more

Love this place! Great staff! Great patrons! I'm indulging in their delivery service during COVID.

Tables are alright, nice bar, a little cramped at the bar. If you want to play pool, it's a good place to come in earlier in the night. They have a sit down arcade machine, you can put your drinks on top- like a table. Nice place, good music- heard The Smiths playing. read more

Decent happy hour and beer prices. I feel like I'm in a 80's arcade with a bar. Cool divey vibes. Will return for a nice cold one or two or three. read more

Great pool hall! It's small, and easy to miss, but you'll be glad you didn't once you get downstairs. They have great happy hour specials every day, a wide variety of beer, and absolutely fantastic service. Even if you don't play pool you can find something to entertain you (darts, Jenga, board games, etc). read more

Dark, divey and perfect for cheap drinks is right. When my friends and I aren't in the mood for a wilder night of standing in lines and being bumped into, we head to Atomic where we can sit by the jukebox and every once in a while stumble over to play a game. Laid back, no pent up sexual frustration, lots of cold beers. It's a dive bar fiend's heaven. read more