Last Exit

$ 9 (before tax) for a regular Jameson? Are you kidding me?!? No. Never. Especially not in Mount Pleasant when I can go down to Raven and get a shot of Jameson for $ 5.

Great bar, excellent cocktails, good atmosphere, decent food.

This is a great addition to the Mount Pleasant/​Columbia Heights neighborhood.
Went there on a Friday night for their $ 5 cocktail happy hour. The drink was strong and a steal at $ 5. We then moved on to sampling their other cocktails– which range around $ 10 – 13. I ordered the Daddy Warbucks and loved it. At first there was the strong, smoky mezcal flavor, but by the end of the drink, it was sweet and lemony.
The décor is really cute and cozy. We were able to have a conversation with a large group of people, although that was partly due to the bar being basically empty besides us.
I stole a few bites of my friend’s appetizer– popcorn with old bay. It was delicious.
Bottomline– this isn’t a Gibson substitute, but I’ll definitely be returning since its close to where I live and they have a great happy hour deal.

I’m told this speakeasy wasn’t as easy to find when they first opened, but the more open format now allows them to blast music later in the evening. Playlist is pretty good, but we got tired of near-​shouting to be heard. Service by Hamere was lovely, and décor perfect for a date: mood lighting, sheer drapes lining the walls, variety of seating arrangements.
Red Barn, Black Crow offered a variation of a Manhattan with a red currant (licorice hint) twist. Lion’s Tale was tasty and garnished with a wee star anise. I’d say this was better than PX and perhaps TNT Bar, but not as good as Columbia Room or Bad Decisions. I foresee our return for every seasonal cocktail menu rotation (I hear the Duling is delicious), maybe for nibbles but definitely for infused liquor cocktails.

Last Exit is a nice little sister bar of Tonic focused mainly on craft cocktails. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a speakeasy, but it has that type of vibe going on… small, cozy, chill. And now that I’m moving to the neighborhood, I can see myself dropping by more often and possibly making it the go-​to neighborhood bar.
But that may be more due to proximity and convenience than an overwhelming superiority when compared to other cocktail bars. I would say that it falls a bit below the likes of Passenger or other speakeasy type bars around town, yet the prices don’t seem to reflect that difference. Which is fine, it’s the only game in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood and I still welcome it.
So for those who are just looking to enjoy a cocktail and conversation, then this is the neighborhood place to be.

The good:
Small, pretty chill place. Easy to have a conversation.
Not so good:
All the cocktails seem to be on the sweeter side. They could have more variety on their cocktail menu, definitely would be an improvement.
Last Exit isn’t bad, and prices are similar to other bars in the District, but places like the Passenger and A&D are superior cocktail spots.

Want a neighborhood haunt that has a funky living room feel with great drinks and ambiance? This place is great — drinks are tasty, the service is personable and good, and the food you can order is delicious. It has a little bit of a underground prohibilition era feel with a modern edge and was a fun place.

Love it!
Hosted my husband and his twin brother’s 30^th birthday here last week and everyone had a fabulous time. Both in advance and on-​site the staff was knowledgeable, accommodating and friendly. Ordered some appetizers and a specialty cocktail (a Moscow Mule, which they don’t regularly serve) for a toast to the birthday boys. Food was great, drinks were super tasty and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly!
The speakeasy /​Prohibition vibe is really fun too — a few of us even decided to dress the part.

Well done. They place a priority on having well-​crafted and high quality cocktails, and it shows.
I got something that was pretty similar to a Manhattan, but I don’t remember exactly what they did that made it different. Carefully prepared, delicious. My fiancé had a vodka based drink that had a lemon infusion and a black pepper infusion. She wasn’t psyched about it, but I chalk that up to her unfortunate inability to drink bourbon.
I really liked the atmosphere but there was something just a shade off about the décor. To me it looked like they tried to make it look like a speakeasy without having the financial ability to fully pull it off.
All in all — great cocktails, good ambiance, and a place I would recommend taking a date.

Cocktail strainer fell on the floor, reused without a wash…

This is a great little speakeasy-​type place. Excellent (pricey of course) cocktails and good food. The only problem is that if you go on a weeknight you are likely to be the only person there :(

I wouldn’t quite classify Last Exit as a speakeasy, but it’s definitely a low key place with a touch of class. Oddly, on a Friday night at 11, my friend and I were the only ones here. I’m unsure why that is given that The food’s pretty tasty and the drinks are original and strong.
Lets start with the food. I would highly highly recommend the wild mushroom mac n cheese, which comes as a huge hot and cheesy portion (definitely meant to share) with a fragrance that makes you feel like you’re IN a truffle. The cuban pork tacos were also delicious. The pulled pork was tender and they don’t skimp. Just add a generous dollop of sour cream and you’re good to go.
Aside from the food, I found the drinks to be fairly interesting, if not quite as exciting as the food. We tried the Rumdog MIllionaire which was curiiously savory but quite good. Similarly cool was the Calypso Flip which is a nice creamy tropical drink that seriously takes you all the way to the Carribean. I’m usually not a fan of tropical drinks (reminds me too much of curdling milk) but this one really works.
The Bacho was the only sort of disappointing drink. While strawberry infused tequila (housemade) sounds cool, it simply tastes kind of weird. Not sure something as fruity as strawberries works that well.
Overall, kind a fun quite bar to check out once in a while, but Last Exit probably won’t be my regular joint.

I always want to like the bars that are nearby but this one really was just «meh». This place is supposed to be eminscent of the 30s «speakeasys» but «The Gibson» this is not! It is a long space with a couple of couches and other loungy seating arrangements. It’s fine. The music was rather loud and we sat right under a loudspeaker so it was difficult to talk.
One should come here for the drinks — being speakeasy and all — but the drink menu is a bit limited and although the bartender said he could make «anything» the champagne cocktail he came up with just so-​so.
I know I said that one should go there for the drinks but since that was a tad lacking I thought there is always food but not much there either… They have 3 or 4 things to eat — I love the rather retro pigs in a blanket but a few more small plates would do this place some good.

This bar is seriously confused about its identity. First, it needs to decide if it wants people to dance or not (the club-​type music implies yes, the layout and harsh lighting implies no.) Second, is this supposed to be a sorta upscale «speakeasy» place or is it a laid-​back neighborhood bar? And what is the exact relationship to Tonic, the bar next door it’s connected to?
The night I visited Last Exit, things were really disorganized and amateurish. It took about 15 minutes to get a rum and coke when my friend and I were among 10 people total there. As it got more crowded, the service declined more. The specialty cocktails I tasted were flat-​out nasty.
I think the owners just need to decide what they’re doing here and commit to it.

I liked it. It’s in my hood, it’s a refreshingly «classy» joint, good music and the drinks I ordered, although not getting me drunk, were delicious. I’m a rum drinker so I went with the Navy Grog and the Painkiller, which were both refreshing and interesting.
I didn’t try the food, although the menu looked yummy.
This is a «speakeasy» type place, a few steps down, kind of hidden, so expect to pay at least $ 10 for a drink. A good place to take a date you want to sit close to where you can hear each other talk, or to catch up with girlfriends (which is why I was there). Even though it’s tiny we didn’t have a problem finding a seat around 10pm Sat night, which tells me either 1. people don’t know about it or 2. people think it’s too expensive. In any case, I’ll be back on occasion when I’m in the mood for a more chill evening and feeling spendy.

3.5 stars for Last Exit after my first visit. Last Exit is the perfect complement to a place like Tonic when you are with a few girlfriends and want to sit in comfortable seating, have a delicious cocktail, and catch up over some sweet or savory treats. The food is not excellent and the prices are high, but the drinks are surprisingly authentic– even the glögg, which tasted as though it had been slow-​cooking for several hours.
The service was friendly, though as the night went on, the space got a bit cramped. I’m looking forward to a next visit to try out a few more of their well-​crafted drinks.

Last Exit is a little-​known speakeasy (that’s the idea, right?) which will surprise you with its impressive menu of cocktails.
Order the very popular Tom Collins ($ 11) made with house-​made cucumber-​grapefruit infused gin, fresh lemon juice, sugar and soda.
The Violetta ($ 11), mint-​infused bourbon with a dash of sweet syrup and served on the rocks.
It comes with a bowl of chocolate chips which bring out the toffee flavors in the bourbon. A great choice for «bourbon babies,» it is fun, smooth and gives your hands (and mouth) something to do.
The Harrison ($ 11) pairs a very fragrant rosemary-​black peppercorn infused vodka, tonic, and a side of grapes. All you’ll need is a young Roman to feed them to you…
(full review on blog)

What a hidden gem! Thank you for coming to Mt. Pleasant.
We stopped in on Saturday night around 10:30 on our way home for that last drink. It was a sleepy little place with a couple of couches, some two tops and a small bar. Best part, no TVs! And not an annoying frat boy in sight. Clarendon is not here, thank god.
We took two seats at the bar so that we could chat with the bartender and see if he knew his way around a cocktail. The cocktail menu was pretty standard (I think they are a bit worried about people not knowing anything but a sidecar or a manhattan) but they had a couple of home made infusions that looked interesting. He took the incredible cucumber and grapefruit gin and made me a martini. So clean and fresh, it might become my go-​to drink.
This is a cozy, homey little speak easy. No pretension. A pleasure to see the mixologist craft at work.

I like this place it is small, you will miss it if you don’t ask where it is since it is in the back of Tonic. The music is really cool and the staff is awesome especially Patrice! I tried «The Josephine» because it come with a side of jellybeans. Some of the signature infused drinks come with sides (Grapes, chips, popcorn) and cool names. I love french fries so I had the truffle fries they were great!

I visited Last Exit this past weekend for their soft opening and I must say I am impressed. While you might be thinking that the last thing DC needs is another cocktail lounge or speakeasy-​style bar, I think Last Exit is a fine addition to the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood.
If you don’t look around, you might miss Last Exit on your way out from Tonic. It’s at the bottom of the stairs, to the left (under the neon Last Exit sign). The inside probably wouldn’t hold more than 30 – 40 people but I personally dig that.
I copped a seat at the bar with a good view of what Last Exit does best: infusions. The lined jars on the wall behind the bar hint at their cocktail concoctions: rosemary and peppercorn infused vodkas and grapefruit and thyme infused gin, to name a few. I had a cocktail named the Josephine which included the latter with a splash of soda and a side of jellybeans (!!!). While the novelty of the drink was aces, the drink itself was not. It was a bit too heavy on the thyme and with a very long wait to go to even get the drink (despite customership being fairly light for a Saturday night) it did not equal a winning combination. The only high point was the side of jellybeans and friendly bartender banter. Boooo.
While my first drink was sadly a let-​down, rest-​assured I will be returning to Last Exit. The bar is incredibly inviting and the Last Exit folks were extremely pleasant however, I personally am chalking this one up to visiting during the soft opening week, what with all their service kinks to iron out. I definitely have faith that I’ll be able to find that tasty go-​to drink when I visit Last Exit a second time around.