Solly’s Tavern

Murad is the best bartender ever! We always have the best time everytime we come in great food and the best staff.

One bartender tonight had an unusually bad attitude. He was hostile to several of us. Interestingly, we were all people of color of various ethnicities. As an expiriment, we had several of our white friends approach him, and he was noticeably less hostile. We gathered enough data to be confident that this bartender had a more hostile attitude to minorities, no matter their disposition. To be clear, this only applied to one bartender.

More hipster than dive but close enough. Solly’s is an unpretentious bar in the middle of the U Street bar scene. Staff was easy to deal with, bouncers checking IDs friendly enough, bartenders, make nice drinks and are quick with service.
Food choice is usual bar fare, I went with a order of shredded pork tacos, pork was tender and spicy, definitely provided a kick but wasn’t overly intimidating. Also sampled an order of fries, decent but not great, wish they were fried a little harder.
Chill atmosphere for drinking and socializing but nothing overly special.

Was not happy with the service last time I went. The bartender popped the right beer, but didn’t tell me about the $ 10 minimum to start a tab after doing so. I didn’t have money on me so I was forced to spend more than I wanted too for the night, not cool.

If you are looking for a real bar with top notch bartenders, who may or may not growl at you, this is the spot. There is always cold beer and interesting conversation. Great place. Oh, and plenty of tvs for Sunday football.

A classic bar from the old school. Time has proven that this is a staple of the Ust community. The bar has great specials. It has recently been renovated and has that new bar feel but retaining its charm. There’s always something going on here, from sports events to karaōke. Live music upstairs, and an open patio downstairs. The food is great! The Monday special is a tall Natty boh, shot of whiskey and a sloppy joe for $ 10!!! Can’t beat it!

Bartender is cool. Patrons seem to be regulars. Some singing along is going on. A shot and a drink for 16 bucks… not the cheapest bar I’ve been to on a Monday night. Nice and cozy on a chilly night out.

Interesting bar marred by its hilariously pedestrian clientele. Can’t have karaōke night without a brony in a top hat sing in want it that way. Stay on the first floor.

Divey dive bar with a dive bar drink selection. The drinks are a decent price and the vibe is pretty chill. Don’t expect a dancing crowd here but you can expect solid drinking and a relaxed vibe. Apparently this place does draw some «I work at a private equity firm types» but that’s typical of most dc bars. I occasionally swing by for early or late night drinks and I don’t think that’ll change in the near future.

Always relaxed, divey and friendly. The bartender plays punk, they have soccer and rugby on a lot, and the prices… Look, its still DC and it all costs too much. Weekends the douchebag numerator gets too high but for some good tacos and a couple of cold beers after work on a Tuesday this place enjoyable.

I’m so sad to write this review. I’ve lived in DC for 9 years and lived on the U street corridor for 6 of them. When Solly’s first opened it was the dive bar my friends and I went to. Its been a while since I lived in the neighborhood so I don’t visit as much but what happened last night really blew me away, no longer the friendly establishment it used to be. When I closed out a check for 31 bucks I signed and left only to realize about an hour and 3 miles away later that the bartender had given me the wrong card. This has happened to me once before at Big Board on H street NE. Its super annoying but mistakes happen. And yeah, I should have checked too, but the thing was the receipt had my name on it, and the card was blue, so I didn’t carefully check. So I left, when I realized hopped in a cab (about 11 bucks) to go get my card and give the wrong card back.
When this happened to me at Big Board they wiped my tab, and the bartender actually bought me a few drinks for being nice enough to bring the wrong card back for the other customer, because turns out, yeah its a huge pain to go all the way back. I could have just cancelled my card and thrown the other dude’s card away. But I didn’t, because I’m a nice guy and have some manners. So I’m thinking, I’ll roll up there and trade cards, they’ll wipe my measly 31 dollar tab as an apology. But no, they actual trade cards (which they make me wait about 10 minutes to do), and then bring me another tab. At this point I actually had to ask the bartender like 3 times if he was serious. I get it, I had a tab, I owed money. But the hilarious inconvenience of having to PAY for a cab to go back to their establishment so I could get my own card while also assisting them by bringing back another customer’s card and to STILL owe then cash was just too much. Highly advise avoiding this place. The bartender at this point said, «whatever, don’t tip me».
As a friend who I was with last night said ‘Not everyone has manners’. I still tipped him 20%, so I guess I do
Edit:
And after checking my credit card they’ve now charged me twice… Neither charge makes any sense based on the tabs I was given and the tip I left. WTF?
07÷17÷15
SOLLYS U STREET TAVE
19.00
07÷17÷15
SOLLYS U STREET TAVE
36.00
Fantastic.

It took less than 10 minutes for me to realize how racist Solly’s is– if you’re Black or a person of color stay away. I walked in there and got a $ 3 beer, and in within one minute of them walking in, I witnessed the bartender tell his bouncer to tell the very complacent and calm black patrons, to «stop having a party» by the bathroom when all they were doing was standing outside the door waiting to use it. He quickly walked over and ordered them to move away.
Afterwards, I noticed the bartender ask a mature looking black woman to see her id at the bar even though everyone is id-​ed at the door. It was fairly crowded, and nobody else was asked to do the same– she and her friends were amongst the less than 5 black patrons in the place.
Upon leaving to meet a friend, I told her about what had happened, and she told me about another time when a friend of hers had filled the place up for her birthday, and was asked to «just not» by the bartender when she and her friend’s (all Black) started dancing. They left.
I’m used to this seeing this kind of treatment in DC bars at this point, but it’s been awhile since I’ve seen it happen as boldly and overtly as by the staff at Solly’s– it’s a real shame.

Cons:
Eww, never again. Garbage drinks. While it is possible they might have something good here that I didn’t think to try, it wouldn’t be worth going back to find. They had a small beer collection. They didn’t have any decent beer. I mine as well buy some beer from a liquor store and drink in an alley. Atmosphere was very dirty. I killed more than one roach while there. There wasn’t comfortable seating. Of all the places to be in DC, this one isn’t worth your time.
Pros:
The staff seems friendly.

We visited Solly’s last night to watch the second game of the Final Four. The bar has an impressive patio, and the first room we went in seemed decent. But as we made our way to the back room, things took a turn.
There’s something very wrong with this bar: it smells like a goddamn port-​a-​potty. This was surprising, as the bar is in the middle of a city, has indoor plumbing, and apparently was issued a license to serve food and liquor. It smells like a dogshit-​infested port-​a-​john, and nobody who works there seemed to notice or care.
We asked the bartender if we could open a window. She said, «Oh, I know it’s warm in here, I’ll try to prop the door open.» And after she said that, we couldn’t get mad when that door never opened. Why? We felt an immense amount of pity for her, because she had gotten so used to the rancid stench of the place that she thought we were complaining about the temperature.
Every person who walked in the room squished their face up, the way you do when you’re on an airplane and want people to know that you weren’t the one who farted. Some people put their shirts over their faces. Neither of those statements is an exaggeration. Swear to god.
We ordered food before discovering just how terrible the bar smelled. Probably shouldn’t have eaten it, as the kitchen was in the same part of the bar as the odor. I tried the buffalo chicken sandwich, which mostly tasted like white bread and lettuce. I guess Solly’s meant «buffalo» as in «to intimidate,», the way the rancid odor of the bar scared people from their seats into the streets. Maybe they were referring to the other secondary definition, «to puzzle or baffle.» We sure were buffaloed as to how Solly’s has managed to keep its doors open this long (but not literally open, see above).
Bottom line? If you’re anosmatic, give Solly’s a try. If you have a working nose, steer clear.

If you’re looking for a dive bar, Solly’s Tavern does not disappoint. This place has a typical dive bar happy hour (PBR, etc.) and is a lot larger than it looks. In fact, it has two bars and lots of seating. Great atmosphere, a nice oasis from the typical DC scene. I’m a fan.

I understand dive bars… I love a good dive but this place, it’s the most garbage bar I’ve ever been to in my life. The doormen were rude and unprofessional. The bartenders were painfully slow, incredibly rude, and just looked like they haven’t taken a bath for a year. The beers were warm, cocktails were watered down, and the food was a tad worse than what you’d find in a dumpster behind a sperm bank.
I wouldn’t recommend this place to my worst enemy. I hope they go out of business and these people never open another bar again.

We have a couple of friends who just love this place. I will say that after the renovations, they have made a huge upgrade. The food is really solid and they have a good menu. Head to the right when you walk in and the bar area has good TVs, a few game machines and plenty of area for your group to gather.
They really need to blow up the bathrooms and start from scratch. They are just not cutting in. Please close them for a weekend, re-​do them and then open back up. That would just make it a little more pleasant situation when you are there.
Yes, it is a dive bar, but the bathrooms being clean and usable would are a necessary edition.

Solly’s is a regular ol’ dive bar and nothing too special, but it’s pretty much what you’re looking for on U Street anyway. I prefer the first floor because it’s quiet enough to comfortably have conversations, but you can still hear the music. Upstairs is generally more crowded and they sometimes have live music or karaōke. Last time I went, there was a guy singing some killer Michael Jackson karaōke! It was just too crowded for me, though.
Drinks and food are pretty normal prices, and the food is a little less than good. It’s bar food and will fill you up, if that’s all you’re looking for. But the person who posted the picture of the juevos rancheros has me wanting to go back and try them, so maybe I’ll be back.
The time I went there, it wasn’t really alive enough to be a place to go when you’re looking to dance, and not calm enough to go have a conversation. If I’m bar hopping on U and just looking to have drinks and hang out with friends, I wouldn’t mind stopping here. It’s not a destination for me, though.
$ 10 minimum on credit cards!

After a long day of work I was looking for a decent beer and some bar style noshes. This place fit the bill. I am a fan of a dive and this is definitely got the feel of a neighborhood bar, even though the hipster quotient somehow elevates it above my normal dive.
The service was very good and the specials on some decent beer options were worth the visit alone. Add to that the pork nachos and you’ve got yourself the makings of a great night out.
When I relocate to the area, this will absolutely be a regular stop in my rotation.

My cousin and I went to Solly’s while we were waiting for our table to be ready at The Gibson, and overall, this is just a normal dive-​bar, nothing special.
When we walked in here, we were carded, so that gives you an idea of what kind of bar this is. It was somewhat crowded for a Friday night, but it was easy to get a table in the side bar. There’s no tableservice, and you have to flag down the one or two bartenders that are frantically working. When we ordered, they didn’t offer to start a tab and no one was ever proactive with getting us to pay a bill (or even gave us a bill until we asked some random bartender who had no idea and asked us what we ordered). From the business management perspective, I’m sure they lose money that way.
I saw on the menu but you could order food here, but that wasn’t something that exactly appealed to me.
Basically, I think this bar is a pre-​bar, kind of like a way-​point between when you’re actually going. While we were sitting down, two different groups of people asked us where a more popping bar is, so it’s definitely not good that that is the main question on a Friday night.