Food

12 DC-Area Fall Happy Hours With Seriously Good Deals

Where to find bottomless drinks, weekend specials, free snacks, and more.

Aperitivo hour at Stellina is a full meal. Photograph by Rey Lopez

The bad news: days are getting shorter. The good news: happy hours are getting longer (and cheaper, and better). Who says summer has all the fun? Check out these fall happy hours for bottomless drinks (!!!), all-day deals, weekend specials, and cheap, delicious eats—no $1-off $18 cocktails included.

Stellina Pizzeria Mount Vernon Triangle
508 K St., NW
Not every happy hour makes a meal—but the newest Stellina Pizzeria, in Mount Vernon Triangle, dishes up a proper prix-fixe for $20. The set includes an alcoholic drink (wine, beer, or cocktail), a ten-inch margherita pizza, and two crispy treats (an arancini and mozzarella en carrozza). Additional beverages—including spritzes, negronis, and Italian wine—are just $5. Details: Tuesday through Friday, 3 to 6 PM. 

Thirsty Crow
3400 11th St., NW
The East Asian sports bar below Columbia Heights Malaysian restaurant Makan is now one of the best bets for your food-loving football friends and happy hour buddies. New fall menus include $9 draft wines (white and rose), $8 “shifty” combos (Narragansett beer and shot of bourbon or tequila), and bites like Northern Thai pork sausages with garlic, ginger, peanuts, and chili ($12). While not happy hour, per se, the new bar menu won’t break the bank with eats like shrimp chips ($3) or dan dan noodles ($15). Details: Monday through Saturday, 5 to 7 PM and all night Sunday.

Puro Gusto
1345 F St., NW
The Milan-based cafe, which opened its first US location in Downtown DC, embraces la dolce vita with bottomless—yes, all you can drink—happy hour, which is continuing through fall. For $18, patrons get unlimited draft beers like Peroni, draft cocktails such as negronis and Aperol spritzes, and light snacks such olives and chips. Details: Monday through Friday, 4 to 6 PM.

Northern Thai sausage with peanuts and chilis on the happy hour menu at Thirsty Crow. Photograph courtesy of Thirsty Crow

Death Punch Bar
2321 18th St., NW
One of DC’s most generous happy hours is sticking around—and anyone who’s a fan of the $20 “open bar” deal at this Adams Morgan hangout is happy. The special includes bottomless beer and rail drinks (which are also sold individually for $5 if you don’t want to overindulge). Pad the stomach with $1 sliders or a bowl of ramen from the adjoining izakaya. Details: Daily, 4 to 6 PM and 10 PM to midnight ($5 drinks are offered until closing time).

Tune Inn
331 Pennsylvania Ave. SE
The Capitol Hill dive paused its happy hour during the pandemic, but it’s back in a big way as of September 1. There’s nothing fancy here—just cheap booze, and no one’s complaining. Rail drinks go for $4, while a lengthy list of serviceable beers (bottles, cans, and pints) are $4-$9. Pitchers are between $16 and $21. Details: Monday through Thursday, 4 to 7 PM; Fridays 3 to 7 PM. 

Boqueria Penn Quarter
777 Ninth St., NW
Bottomless bubbles—not just a brunch phenomenon. The Penn Quarter location of this Spanish spot offers unlimited cava at the bar for happy hour with the purchase of any tapas—including $10 pan con tomate with jamon and manchego cheese, $6 Spanish tortillas, $8 patatas bravas, and more. There are also regular happy hour deals on sangria, tapas, and more. Details: Free-flow cava offered Tuesday through Thursday, 5 to 6 PM (bar only); general happy hour, weekdays from 3 to 6 PM. 

Three rounds of happy hour at Fight Club. Photograph by Kimberly Kong.

Fight Club
633 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE
The new Capitol Hill sandwich bar throws down the gauntlet with three rounds of weekday happy hour: afternoon, early evening, and late-night, when deals include $2 off draft cocktails, $7 boilermakers (Hamms 16-ounce and a shot of whiskey), and $10 wines. There are also a bunch of new weekend specials for football season, including $4 Jello shots, $22 beer buckets, and eats like $14 loaded fries. Details: Weekdays, noon-2 PM, 4-6 PM, and 11 PM-midnight. 

Italian Bar 
5008 Connecticut Ave., NW
Chevy Chase DC’s new sliver of a cafe, gelato shop, and apertivo bar dives into apericena (Italian happy hour). Stop by for free snacks—including olives, salumi, and taralli— with the purchase of any alcoholic drink (think spritzes, spagliatos, negronis, and more). Details: Monday through Friday, 3 to 5 PM.

Succotash Prime
915 F St., NW
Can’t get off work in time to enjoy most downtown DC happy hours? Chef Ed Lee’s Southern spot just extended its daily happy hour to include newly-launched lunch hours as well as dinner. It’s possible to make a meal from the lengthy food menu, which includes $1.50 deviled eggs, $5 ham-and-cheese hush puppies, and mains like $12 half-chicken and waffles. Drink deals include $7-$8 Southern cocktails, $4 beers, $7 wines, and more. On Wednesdays, look for several styles of $2 wings. Details: Monday through Friday and Saturday, 11:30 AM to 8 PM; Sunday 4 to 8 PM. 

Grab a happy hour lunch or dinner at the bar at Succotash Prime. Photograph by Rachel Paraoan

Hank’s Oyster Bar Dupont
1624 Q St., NW
The flagship Dupont location of this New England-style seafood spot just launched a new happy hour with lots of food and beverage options. Oysters on the half-shell go for $2, and crispy oyster or shrimp sliders start at $7, as do four bacon-topped deviled eggs. The drink list is strong with several $6 local beers (DC Brau, Aslin), $7 wines, and $8 house spirits with simple mixers (i.e. gin-and-tonic). Details: Tuesday through Friday, 4 to 6 PM (bar only).

Present Company Public House
438 Massachusetts Ave., NW
The Mount Vernon Triangle neighborhood pub, housed in a historic firehouse, just launched a weekly Sunday funday for the college-age and college-at-heart. Happy hour kicks off from 3 PM to close with $2 off drafts, $5 rail drinks, $6 wines, and snacks like English muffin pizzas and Nashville hot fries for $5. Also: corn hole, beer pong, flip cup, and other games on the patio, with ten percent off for Georgetown Law Students. Details: Wednesday to Friday, 5 to 7 PM; Saturday, 3 to 7 PM; Sunday 3 PM to close.

Beloved Arlington pub Whitlow’s reopens in a new Shaw home. Photography by Fredde Lieberman

Whitlow’s
2014 Ninth St., NW
The newly revived Whitlow’s—which moved from Arlington to the U Street Corridor—is now open and pouring plenty of specials. Happy hour runs all day Monday with $5 draft beers and rail liquor, and $8 cocktails (the same deals are offered weekdays 5 to 8 PM). On Wednesday, all whiskeys are 25 percent off. There’s a nice rear patio for warm days, and a wood-burning fire for cold ones. Details: All day Monday, Tuesday through Friday, 5 to 8 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.