The 201 Bar

If you want to have a fun time with your peeps, this is a nice place to visit. The space is large. There are a variety of snack items and two bar areas. It gets crowded around happy hour. If you want a seat, go early. It is a perfect venue for events. The bathrooms are small but clean. Bonus points for being close to Union Station.

We had my sister’s 40^th birthday here recently.
The food– Unique and different! Loved the service provided by the food staff!
The atmosphere– Beautiful! We rented out the Executive Lounge, and it was superb! Intimate enough for a small party! The space was large enough to accommodate a small group, and the space didn’t feel stuffy.
However, the BATHROOMs brought the place down! They reeked to the high heavens! No one, and I mean NO ONE, wanted to go to the bathrooms. It came to a point where party guests were ubering back to the hotel, which was about a mile away, to go to the bathroom and then return to party! In our final run, we discovered that they shut down the party early! Which brings me to the next point…
Be sure that if you specify you want the party to end at 2 am, that they honor that. They shut us down at 12:30 am. They took advantage of my rather celebrated and drunk sister, and shut down the party! We ended up scambling to clean up and get our belongings! We ended up leaving behind an expensive bottle of champagne! I’m sure that they served that to a future party and made money of my bottle of champagne!

Came here tonight and there were minimal people in the front bat area. Took the bartender 15 minutes to come over to us. Mind you, there were maybe 6 people at this bar. Took out order. A male bartender, or busboy, brought our food. The food was good, I will say, but our bartender never came back. The other bartender never smiled, looked miserable and we had to literally flag her down to come bring us our tab. Needless to say, we will never come here again. Service was the worst I have ever experienced in the district in my years of living here. 201, get some new staff.
P. s. The male staff was friendly and helpful

They need to stop booking private events, which inevitably ruin the vibe for all of the other customers. The last two times my husband and I have been in there we have had to leave due to the obnoxious people (and music) that the private events seem to encourage.

Was only visiting DC for the weekend but I am a fan of the 201 Bar. Very chic and drink prices were reasonable

This is okay, which there are many bars to choose from in Washington DC. if this is close to your location, give it a shot.

My first time here! I really enjoyed this spot. It has a nice, relaxed «Hill» vibe. My drink of choice was the Cucumber Rickey, which was really good! It was extremely refreshing and had a really nice flavor. My group shared a few orders of the jerk wings — they were delicious! Quite possibly the best jerk wings I’ve had in a restaurant. They were the perfect mix of spicy and sweet. I can’t speak on the service as I wasn’t ordering my own drinks and food but, it seemed to be fine. I will be returning!

Had to pick my husband up from union square one evening. So my daughter n law and I had time to spare while we waited. Looked for local bars near and this one popped up. We went and bartender was the most non social person I have ever encountered as a bartender. We told her we were new to the area and had never been out this way, so gave us 2 clip boards with this lists of drinks. Half of it looked foreign to us. I had to keep asking what else she had, finally she said yes to Hennessy. She didn’t speak to us during out visit. My daughter n law didn’t even finish her glass of wine, needless to say we would never go back.

My mother was visiting and we decided to try out the 201 Bar. We were pretty excited about it since the menu looked good and I even called ahead. We got there and there was not anyone to seat us so we ended up sitting ourselves. We sat down and waited for a menu but no one came. The bat tender saw us but never came by or said anything. After almost 10 minutes of waiting, we just decided to leave. Terrible service and terrible experience.

A Capitol Hill bar on the bar-​starved Senate side of the Hill, The 201 Bar provides a classier option for drinkers/​diners, if you can get over the clientele.
Let’s be honest — the Capitol Hill Bar Scene, especially on the Senate side, is really lacking in options. However, for what few options Hill staffers have, The 201 Bar is a really nice choice. Occupying the basement at the corner of 2^nd and D, 201 offers a more upscale bar experience. There are tons of TV on the walls, a surprisingly spacious interior, and really low lighting. I came here recently with coworkers — 201 was very good about sectioning off an area for us, with a sign and everything. The place seems to really fill up between 6−7pm, then dies down around 8pm.
I didn’t get a chance to try the food, but the drink list is very impressive. They have several beers on draft, from national brands to microbreweries, and a sizable bottle list. The prices are DC reasonable — $ 6 – 8 a glass for beer, a little more for mixed drinks or wine. As you can expect, the overall atmosphere is very preppy and it’s filled with Hill Staffers. Office happy hours, Staff Assistant hours, Dem/​GOP happy hours, bipartisan happy hours — it seemed like every group had a Capitol Hill theme to it.
Overall, I’m a little confused about the low rating. While the bar didn’t blow me away, it’s perfectly serviceable and above average in some respects. I imagine the hate comes from the clientele, but you can’t knock a place for that. I wouldn’t make a trip here, but if you’re in the area and want a classier drink/​eat, you can do a lot worse than 201 Bar.

My company hosted an event at the 201 Bar this past Wednesday and we were overall pretty pleased with the service and location. The communication between event coordinator and our staff was great– could’ve used one additional bar tender but otherwise they were very receptive to our needs.

Wait…$ 4 bourbon? Yes please!
Ended up here with a few friends after we heard about their Thursday happy hour. Service was great and so was the bourbon.
The place is nicely set up and a great place for groups!

This subterranean Senate-​side spot was a Chinese restaurant in a previous life, and it’s demise ended the notion that Chinese restaurants never die, they just change ownership.
Anyway, I never really bonded with this place when it was 201 Lounge, and the same holds true for its newest incarnation as 201 Bar (probably a better name anyway, since the white-​topped bar is front and center when you walk in the door). The space itself is not unattractive, but (like the nearby Monocle) seems to cater primarily to Hill staffers and lobbyists. It used to only be open Monday-​Friday, but at least now it’s open weekends too. Based on my experience, and looking over other reviews, it seems they do a lot of private events. Great, but it made me feel slightly uncomfortable and out of place.
Can’t speak to the food, but they do have a decent selection of 12 rotating drafts which included Schlafly Sessions IPA, Victory Red Thunder and Devi’s Backbone Eight Point IPA on my visit, plus another 35 or so in bottles and cans.

No windows but a load of big TVs, don’t overlook this little sister of the Union Pub in the same building just cos it’s down a half flight of stairs.
Nice taps at the 201 Bar! A dozen drafts including several IPAs like Devil’s Backbone, ales like Goose Island Sofie and the unavoidable bud lite. Most priced at $ 6, discounted during some happy hours.
Open for lunch Wed-​Fri, very quiet on my first visit, I tried the calamari salad. Nice variety of greens, good passion fruit vinaigrette dressing, some raw cucumber, fried plantains were perfect but the rings were (argh!) barely warm. Not unreasonable at $ 12.
Rap playing at lunch was a little jarring. Whatever I guess.
Vegetarian rating: 2.5 stars, with your bourbon you can get a salad, an avocado sammich or a pizza.
Bourbon night every Thursday, most bourbons just $ 4. Also pizzas half off every night after 9pm.
Not so sure about their bourbon infusions. Does sage & peppercorn really improve a bourbon? Somebody please do the necessary research and get back to me lol.

Whoa!!! I haven’t been here since this place changed to 201 Bar. I went several times when it was Lounge 201. Completely different atmosphere! No more Old School R&B and hip hop… No more Dance floor…
I chose this place to celebrate my new job with my old coworkers. Awesome time! Even though the vibe was not what I was expecting, the drinks were great, the service was amazing, and the people were awesome! Plenty of space for a large group to celebrate without worrying about annoying crowds. I’ll definitely consider coming back if I need a place that can accommodate all of my friends without needing a reservation!

Went with a friend for some food and drinks.
I was impressed with the decour — it was all classy without being ostentatious. Also, the waitstaff was on top of their game as well.
The beer selection was as good as I could have hoped for and the honey bourbon wings were delicious.
There was some heritage foundation event going on in the bar that night, but they weren’t being too loud of obnoxious, so hats off to 201 for being able to host an event in the same space as your regular service without them getting in the way or being annoying!

This place is definitely a laid back place for Capitol Hill workers and just neighborhood people can come for a great happy hour. The prices were very decent and they even had a Real City paper deal for food and drink. The bartenders were nice, although there needed to be MANY more of them. There seemed to be only 3 ladies working the bar and the place was PACKED. The food was just okay. My husband liked his mac & Cheese with chicken, my mussels were really not great, and our friends ordered a veggie pizza which was good, but greasy. You really should go to this place for drinks and not food. They do have good happy hour deals and we enjoyed a couple of $ 5 rye whiskeys (mine on the rocks).
We will come back when we are in the neighborhood, but the earlier the better, this place fills up quickly.

Visited on a Friday night for a birthday celebration venue. They have ample parking spots near the building and the bar has a great set up and style. On a Friday night the bar was pretty much live and had a good atmosphere. The birthday celebration was hosted in the back room that had ample space and the staff ensured that all request were done promptly. I ordered the beef tacos and I have to say I LOVE IT! The drinks are not over priced and the food is priced well also. I think this is a hidden yet awesome lounge setting in the heart of DC. I have visited multiple so called lounges in DC which turn out to be a full fledge «bump and grind» atmosphere, but this place gives a good lounge vibe and well priced overall.

This is a really classy looking establishment filled with classy looking people.
They have some of the best Goose Island options I’ve ever seen. The night we went, their draft special was the Big John, an imperial stout that was packed with so much roasty chocolate and coffee flavor I couldn’t believe it. Seriously one of the best beers I’ve ever had.
They also have nice dessert specials. We tries the pecan pie, and it was as sweet and decadent as I hoped. I’m a sucker for the pecan pie, and they’re doing it right. Makes me feel good about their other dessert options.
If you’re looking for a lower key kind of night, this is the place to be. I’m looking forward to going back.

Lunch review:
The good: Great relaxed atmosphere. Very chill music and low light ambiance. Good service, fast and friendly. Good tasting food at a reasonable price. Great drink menu. Big TVs for sports.
The bad: Food selection is somewhat limited.
Overall: Very good lunch experience. I imagine it gets very crowded after work and in the evening, which could completely change the experience depending on what you’re looking for.
Atmosphere: ⁸⁄₁₀
Service: ⁸⁄₁₀
Food: ⁸⁄₁₀