It wants to be your neighborhood bar, but it also comes with a motto of “Cocktails on cocktails on cocktails.”
Service Bar (926-928 U St. NW) is casual in atmosphere and even in price, but the cocktail program is wide-ranging and whimsical. DCist was recently invited for a visit to tour through the space and the drinks.
The guys behind this bar, which opened October 20, have been around the block in the D.C. drinking scene. Chad Spangler and Glendon Hartley co-created the cocktail programs at popular places like Ocopa, Provision 14, Bonfire, Soi 38, and MXDC. Partner Chris Willoughby also ran the now-closed Jin on 14th St. Shake all that up, and what they’ve come up with is an ambitious, brash program that seeks to change the drinking world. Or at least on U Street.
“What we know is our love of cocktails,” Spangler says. “We wanted to make an environment that we want to just hang out in, but also serves amazing cocktails.”
First, and in the nod to the neighborhood hangout, is the all-day menu. A scant $7, from open to close, gets you a classic cocktail like a daiquiri, or a shot and a beer if you go for that. Speaking of shots, they’re all buy-one, get-one. The rest of the cocktails are still in the very-reasonable-for-D.C. range of $10-12.
Service Bar is also sensitive to trends. So there’s the hyper-seasonal menu, featuring ingredients from local purveyors, farms, and farmers’ markets. Look out for some ephemeral concoctions here. To wit: examples like “Baked Apple and Pear Gin and Tonic,” made with farmers’ market produce, housemade tonic, clear lime, and gin; and the “Sumo Punch,” made with lime/yuzu, smoked apple mint syrup, togarashi infused Midori, and green tea and pear-infused Japanese whiskey.
The owners’ shakers really shine in the impressively extensive menu of proprietary craft cocktails. Separated by major alcohol ingredient (brandy, gin, rhum), they come with fantastical ingredients (Eucalyptus-infused Maraschino) and cheeky names (The Italian Bubble Coat, Thanksgiving Dandelion).
If your friends want a real special spot, squeeze into the “snug room,” modeled after small, private drinking rooms of Irish pubs.
“We want to get to know our customers and create meaningful connections,” Spangler says. “We want our customers to get off their phones and talk.”
The “snug room” offers exclusive cocktail and amuse-bouche menus with a private window to the bar. You can order either the “Cocktailery” menu for $25 or bespoke “Tomfoolery” menu with a whole bunch of drinks and eats created just for your party.
On top of that, there are some expertly chosen wines and bubbles designed to be paired specifically with dishes. And as part of the wine list, you’ll find the Dope Wine of the Week, a distinctive, small-batch vintage at an affordable by-the-glass price.
What’s in your glass? Cool stuff. But in Service Bar’s quest to one-up everyone else out there, drinks are poured not in your everyday Collins glass, but other distinctive barware—say, pineapple-shaped copper tins and ceramic tiki-esque mugs with chia-pet-style hair.
Oh yes! And the food. The menu is a majority fried chicken and locally sourced, of course. Served as tenders in a savory waffle cone with spicy avocado dip for a chicken-and-waffles riff or bone-in thighs plated aside frites, daintily placed atop local greens, the chicken is liberally breaded, slightly piquant, and just casual enough to still be fun.
As much as it might want to claim neighborhood-bar status, Service Bar is much more than that. It sets the bar pretty high, and we think it has to tools to reach the mark.
Service Bar is located at 928 U Street NW. They are open from 5 p.m. – 2 a.m., Tuesday through Sunday.
