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.

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!

Came for a live music session over the weekend. First time in the place and it's so cute! Only…read morereally saw the second level in its fullness but the vibes were great. Servers were visible and around, but moving. I was able to grab one to order the lamb pops and the fries, both of which were amazing and so flavorful! I had a strawberry spritz to drink (I think, as it was ordered for me) and it was pretty good. Overall would come back again for an event or nice date night stop!

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.

Love this place because it's such a casual spot to drink after dinner or if you're in the area. I…read morehad never been before to a place that allowed outside food and now I think more should!

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.

Reasonably priced, easy QR code ordering, awesome giant pretzel and loaded hot dog. Basically all…read moreoutdoors. Theres a tent, but dress for the weather. Gets pretty loud. Good as a beer garden.

Decent beer garden, we stopped in very close to closing time so we only got to enjoy the atmosphere…read morefor about half an hour. Bartenders were quick and knowledgeable. I can see this being a fun place to hang out in the evenings, especially with the open air seating! Good vibes!

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.

One my favorite places for sandwiches in dc the crunchy boy is very classic sandwich with potato…read morechips in it adding some texture. Service is friendly and nice. It's quick depending on how many orders there are. The inside is pretty nice but it's small.

I've ordered sandwiches from here a few times from now and I can't say that I love them…read more When it comes to subs and sandwiches everyone has different preferences. For me it comes down to fresh breads, quality ingredients, thoughtful assembly and one of the most important for me ... balanced ratio of ingredients. Each time I've ordered, the ratio of ingredients has been what has thrown me off. The subs are large and the bread is fresh, but between the massive amounts of shredded lettuce and the thickness of the bread, the meat on my turkey sandwich gets swallowed alive to where I'm constantly opening it up to look for and re-adjust. The ingredients though do seem fresh, so it's not a matter of never trying other sandwiches in the future. I just haven't found one yet that would be worth a repeat...so it's not that there is not potential.