Food

12 New Fall Happy Hours to Try Around DC

Deals for after-work drinks and weekend fun.

Lulu's Wine Garden offers happy hour throughout the entire indoor/outdoor space. Photograph courtesy of Lulu's Wine Garden.

New happy hour deals are cropping up all over the city—whether you’re back in the office and looking to unwind with colleagues, take a break from the home office, or snag deals on weekends. Many of the options here are available on patios and rooftops as well as inside.

All-Purpose Shaw and Capitol Riverfront 
79 Potomac Ave., SE; 1250 9th St., NW
The twin pizzerias recently launched generous new happy hours that run until 7 PM. Drink options are extensive with $5 local craft beers and hard seltzers, $7 glasses of wine, a fun little lineup of $9 cocktails (hello, Aperol spritzes), and $10 classic cheese pizzas with Bianco di Napoli tomatoes, mozz, Sicilian oregano, and grana Padano. For those looking for outdoor real estate, the Navy Yard location offers deals on the riverside patio and roof deck. Details: Monday through Friday, 5 to 7 PM (Navy Yard opens with HH at 4 PM on Fridays).

Boundary Stone
116 Rhode Island Ave., NW
Bloomingdale’s beloved neighborhood pub offers indoor and outdoor seating for happy hour with $5 local drafts, $6 old-fashioneds and glasses of wine, and $7 fried fish or hot chicken sandwiches. Details: Monday through Thursday, 4 PM to 7 PM.

Café Riggs
900 F St., NW
The swanky Riggs DC hotel restaurant serves an upscale special on Mondays in its dining room, garden terrace, and outdoor patios: a half dozen oysters ($12), and glasses of Champagne for $12. Bottles of bubbles are available at a discount for $48 to $60 (which, for Champagne at a restaurant, is not a terrible deal). Details: Mondays, 5:30 to 9 PM.

Dauphine’s newly opened patio. Photograph by Jennifer Chase.

Dauphine’s
1100 15th St., NW
The New Orleans hotspot from the Salt Line team recently launched a speedy happy hour—available on weekends—at its indoor and new outdoor bar. A concise menu (subject to change) includes snacks like crab deviled eggs ($6) and dressed oysters ($2 each), plus Abita beers ($4) and a handful of wines by the glass ($9). More of a deal are NoLa barman Neal Bodenheimer’s cocktails like Pimm’s cups and Roffignac highballs, offered for $9 versus the usual $13-plus. Details: Tuesday through Sunday, 5 to 6:30 PM.

Hatoba
300 Tingey St., SE
Daikaya Group’s Navy Yard ramen spot, which just launched a new Hawaiian menu, is catering to groups for happy hour with $20 buckets of Sapporo beer, which includes five cans. An added perk: happy hour runs all-day on weekends.  You’ll also find discounts on to-go cocktails and frozen concoctions—a nice match with poke and garlic shrimp. Details:  Wednesday through Thursday, 4 to 7 PM; Friday through Sunday, noon to 7 PM

Imperial
2001 18th St., NW
Head to the open-air rooftop terrace, raw bar, or regular dining room bar for the new “sunset hour” at this Southern-leaning spot in Adams Morgan from the Jack Rose team. Happy hour specials include $2 local oysters, $10 bar plates like oysters Rockefeller or miniature shrimp rolls, and fanciful $11 cocktails—think frozen sherry cobblers or a spicy margarita-esque Eternal Sunshine with tequila and pink Himalayan sea salt. Details: Wednesday through Friday, 4 to 9 PM.

Lulu’s Wine Garden
1940 11th St., NW
This Southwest-inspired wine garden along the U Street corridor just launched “golden hour,” which is available throughout the entire restaurant—including on two outdoor patios and an atmospheric streatery. Chef Cable Smith’s food specials ($6 to $10) include shareable snacks like homemade white queso and chips, or meals such as a spicy cheeseburger with “fancy sauce” and seasonal hatch chiles from New Mexico. To drink: $35 wine bottles, $7 craft drafts, and $9 vino glasses and Ranch Water cocktails. Details: Tuesday through Thursday, 4 to 6 PM; Friday 3 to 5 PM

The raw bar at Imperial, one of three indoor and outdoor bar for happy hour. Photograph by Rey Lopez.

Officina Downtown
1615 L St., NW
Chef Nick Stefanelli’s brand new Italian cafe in downtown DC serves complimentary snacks like olives and house-made potato chips with its aperitivo hour. Drink deals include $6 beers, and $8 wines and rotating cocktail specials such as spiked Sicilian lemonades or spritzes. Details: Monday to Friday, 4 to 6 PM.

OKPB
3165 Mt Pleasant St., NW
Bar talent David Strauss (ex-Sheppard) built this stylish, convivial speakeasy above a dentist office in Mt. Pleasant. As the owners say, “We love the classics and we love a bargain.” To that end, you can quaff half-price martinis, Manhattans, Moscow mules, and Fitzgeralds. Details: Tuesday through Friday, 5 to 7 PM.

Penn Social
801 E St., NW
If your ideal happy hour is more football, less co-workers, this massive Penn Quarter sports bar—which just reopened after a long pandemic closure with six new 86-inch TVs—is a good option (though note to the indoor-wary, it’s all enclosed). During college and NFL games, the bar offers $4 Miller Lite, $5 Port City Optimal Wit, $10 frozen drinks, and $10 flatbread pizzas. Details: During college and NFL games.

Succotash Prime. Photography by Rachel Paraoan.

Succotash Prime
915 F St., NW
It’s happy hour every day at this newly reopened and revamped Southern restaurant/steakhouse in Penn Quarter—a strong contribution to the downtown HH scene. In addition to a  selection of craft brews ($4 to $6), wine and Prosecco ($7 to $9), and Southern cocktails like milk punch ($8), there’s a generous food menu that runs the gamut from snacks like deviled eggs ($1.50 each) to full plates like a pimento cheeseburger ($16) or chicken and waffles ($12). “Wing Wednesday” brings a new set of deals on smoked, fried, and glazed drums. Details: Daily, 4 to 8 PM.

Taco Bamba
Participating locations in Ballston, Fairfax,, Rockville, Springfield, and Vienna
Happy hour goes fast-casual at chef Victor Albisu’s local taqueria chain, which pours  $5 draft beers, micheladas, sangrias, and margaritas. Diners can snack on “takitos” a new menu item only available at happy hour. Details: Monday through Friday, 4 to 6 PM.

Food Editor

Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.