alcohol drinkers live longer

September 9, 2010 3:05 PM

What is the best dive bar in Alexandria, VA (or the NoVA area, in general)?

By dive bar, I mean one that serves the cheapest, strongest drinks around. That's it. Other interesting information may include: is it suitable for conversation? is the food editable? does it have a jukebox? distance from 395? ease to get to?

posted by TheOtherSide to food & drink (7 answers total)

Obviously, I didn't review this: "edible" lol
posted by TheOtherSide at 3:15 PM on September 9, 2010

Jay's Saloon in Clarendon
posted by downing street memo at 4:09 PM on September 9, 2010

Yeah, I haven't been in ages but Jay's is the only surviving dive I can think of. If it were 1995 I'd have a lot more suggestions!
posted by JoanArkham at 4:21 PM on September 9, 2010

You owe it to yourself to spend an evening at the Vienna Inn.
posted by ryanshepard at 4:50 PM on September 9, 2010 [3 favorites]

Was going to say Jay's as well. No jukebox, but a few years ago there was a DJ on some nights. He played tapes all night. It was awesome.
posted by inigo2 at 4:54 PM on September 9, 2010

Thirding Jay's. The cassette tape DJ is named Pee Wee and he always plays Elivs' Suspicious Minds as his last song of the night. The cheese fries are great, the chicken wings are terrible (dry with lightly drizzled BBQ sauce). The pool table area doesn't have enough room on one side of the room to correctly position your pool stick. Jay's is a nice change of pace from the crowded meat market across the street (Mr. Day's).
posted by JennyJupiter at 6:09 PM on September 9, 2010

If you're willing to venture away from the Metro, Sunset Grille (WaPo) in Annandale is a good time. It's a tiki/'beach' themed place that depending on the night can go towards cowboy boots or bike leather. Definitely not popped-collar/Vineyard Vines/Nantucket Reds territory. There's a front bar which typically has live music (see calendar) and a back bar with a good jukebox and darts.

Food is definitely edible, drinks are plenty strong and well-priced. I have mostly gone on off-peak nights so my assessment of the sound level might not be accurate for Fri/Sat nights, but I had no problem talking (loudly; it's no library) in the back bar. They have a very early happy hour (3PM!) on Wednesdays, if you want to check it out without committing your evening.

It's 4 miles from the Dunn Loring Metro station; getting a cab there would be easy, you'd need to plan on calling for one to get back. There is parking if you can find someone to DD, though.
posted by Kadin2048 at 10:40 PM on September 9, 2010