Need a cheap-date idea? Here are good options from happy hours to discount theater nights.
By
Kyle JamesonPublished Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Arlington billiards bar CarPool has weeknight drink and food specials that are sure to keep your wallet happy. Photograph by Chris Leaman
BAR BARGAINS
CarPool Weeknights from 4 to 7, you can get Miller Lite and rail drinks mixed with soda for $2.75. Yuengling, Peroni, and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale costs $3.50. Nosh on half-price appetizers and half-price burgers on Tuesday and 35-cent wings on Wednesday.
Ceviche Draft beer is $3, house wines and sangria are $4, and margaritas and caipiroska are $5. Appetizers range from $4 to $6. For $15, guests can order a glass of wine or a pint of beer, accompanied by a half-portion entrée and dessert. Weeknights from 4 to 6.
Comet Ping Pong This Ping-Pong-and-pizza parlor is a popular spot for dates and easy on the wallet, too. Wood-fired pies topped with gourmet ingredient—think fresh clams, smoky Gouda, and roasted squash—cost $11 to $15. Cans of Pabst are $2.50. Ping-Pong is free.
Lounge 201 All-night specials include half-price martinis on Tuesday, wine on Wednesday, and draft beer on Thursday. Also on Thursday, $7 Hammer and Sickle cocktails, and on Friday, a specialty cocktail list, all for $7.50.
The Red Derby Every hour is happy hour at this cash-only dive. All beers—$2 to $6—are served in cans. A beer-and-shot combo costs $5. Daily cocktail specials (Monday Manhattans, Tuesday Tequila Sunrises, and Wednesday White Russians) are $4.
Relic Rail drinks and a selection of ten draft beers are $3. Wine by the glass, sangria, martinis, and cocktails are all $5. Bar munchies, also $5, include mussels, potato-chickpea cakes, and frog’s legs. Daily from 4 to 7.
Science Club Monday from 5 PM to 2 AM and Tuesday through Friday from 5 to 8, Yuengling and Pabst Blue Ribbon cost $3. Amstel Light, Guinness, and rail drinks cost $4. Two Chilean wines—one red, one white—cost $5 a glass or $20 a bottle.
Urbana Every day from 4 to 7, bottles of Peroni and Estrella Galicia are $4, daily wine selections are $5, and four varieties of 11-inch gourmet pizza are $8. Starting at 5, fresh-shucked oysters—those eternal aphrodisiacs—are $1 each.
Vermilion Weeknights from 4 to 7, house wines are $4. Mixed drinks—jade sour-apple martinis, fuchsia martinis, and King Street lemonade—are $4.50. Miller Lite, Yuengling, and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale on draft are $2.75. You can also score $4 nibbles, including French fries seasoned four ways.
FOR THRIFTY THEATERGOERS
National Theatre Watch free dance performances every Monday night at the Helen Hayes Gallery, featuring a range of styles from Armenian folk to Broadway. Shows are at 6 and 7:30. Tickets are distributed 30 minutes before curtain on a first-come, first-served basis.
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company Score pay-what-you-can tickets for the first two performances of every main-stage subscription-series production. After that, theatergoers age 25 and under can buy $15 tickets. A limited number of side-balcony “stampede seats” are also available for $15 two hours before showtime.
WALLET-FRIENDLY WINE NIGHTS
Chef Geoff’s Downtown Every Monday, wine bottles—normally $29 to $195—are half price. The extensive roster features a selection of nearly 100 varieties hailing from Chile, France, Germany, and Italy, among others.
Teatro Goldoni Pay half price for any bottle of wine under $100 Monday through Thursday from 5 to 8 and Friday until 9. Italian and American wines are available, plus some French sparklers.
Comments
Thanks for this great post Kyle. I just posted a link to it on my site. I definitely love Love Woolly shows and all of the other Pay-What-You-Can events but they aren’t easy to track down always and you usually need to get there early to secure tickets.
If you want to find out about all kinds of great discount performances, I highly recommend TICKETPLACE.org. They offer Half-Price, advance tickets to lots of shows at places such as The Kennedy Center (including the NSO), Church Street Theatre and lots more! Inventory changes daily so definitely check often.
TICKETPLACE was recently revamped and is much easier to use. It is a great resource run by The Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington, who also run CultureCapital.com, another super site for arts and cultural events which I refer to often.
For free, donation based, and PWYC events you can also check out my site, FreeinDC.blogspot.com
Cheers!
Amy, Free in DC
Posted by: Amy Melrose, Free in DC, Feb 18, 2010 09:47:03 PM
Set up a date (I use this for first dates or internet dates) at La Tasca in Dc for 6pm on a Thursday or Friday and get there at 5 to get grab a bar table. Thursdays sangria is $11 a pitcher and Fridays they have free paella at 6pm. They have 3.50 a glass sangria and a few bargain tapas daily till 7 (8 at the Arlington location).
Posted by: Jason of DCFUD.com, Feb 18, 2010 02:43:11 PM
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