Dan’s Cafe

A small divey joint that ensures you will bump elbows with others and meet new people.
The alcohol is served in old ketchup bottles so it’s always silly to squirt the alcohol into your friends mouths. You get 5 $ back if you bring the bottle back to the bar, so make sure you don’t forget it !
It’s a good place to start and pre game but it’s too small for dancing.

yup 6 years later, still amazing. still divey. still the IDGAF service. We came here on a empty Saturday night around 3:00 am, they were closing but stayed open for us! Given it was a bunch of girls on girls night, still. this is the type of bar you want to grow with, live with and support FOREVERRRR!

I’m a big fan of dive bars, and I’m not the pickiest person, but ugh… this place is pretty gross. Dirty. I think I’d need to show up extremely drunk to be willing to drink here, at which point I probably don’t need their great deals on mixed ketch… I mean mixed drinks.

All the hype about Dan’s Café is true. It is dirty, they serve drinks crazy strong, and it is a good time. I would have never been able to find this place if I didn’t have a local with me. Just a blue door, no visible sign, and boarded up windows make it almost unrecognizable.
It’s a small space with a wood bar and some long tables with a bathroom at the back. I highly recommend sitting at the bar so you can talk to the bartenders. We learned Adams Morgan history and learned that Dan’s Café has been open since the 1940s with the same owner since 1968 (the bartender’s dad!). The bartender has been working at Dan’s since he was 18 years old. Lots of stories and lots of laughter. You just don’t get the full Dan’s experience sitting at a table with your friends.
If you order a drink, you get the whole pint, a bucket of ice, and cups to mix your own. If you order a shooter, it comes out in a squeezy condiment bottle with shot glasses. There’s something so fun and unique about the way they serve their beverages and I’m cool with it. Remember you pay a deposit on the squeeze bottle, so make sure you return it before you leave to get your $ 5 back.
Cash only. Dirty, dirty bathrooms without working locks. Start or end your night here. Maybe not every weekend or it’ll lose it’s novelty, but be sure to stop by on occasion!

As a self proclaimed loather of Adams Morgan, I was happy to eat my words after a visit to Dan’s.
No sign on the door? Excellent, things are off to a great start.
Cash only? Great– no concerns about closing out.
¹⁄₈ ice to ⁷⁄₈ liquor in a squeeze bottle? SOLD.
The staff is exactly what you should expect: gruff, effective, and not going to put up with any crap. I love it.
I will absolutely be back.

Dan’s is a national treasure. Go there. Tonight.

Have you recently turned 21, are single, and ready to kiss someone you’ll regret/​barely remember the next day? Are you ready to be sticky and wet like you’re in a frat basement? Are you ready to love everyone drunken minute of it? Dan’s is for you.
One of my favorite bars in college. I think I’m too old for it now, sigh.

The toilet is less appealing than some stalls I used while traveling in India.
The gin and tonic is a pint glass of gin served with two empty glasses of ice and an unopened bottle of Canada Dry Tonic Water.
SoCo Lime is served in a squirt bottle.
Naked photo hunt up front may be out of order, but if not, you may see my team’s all-​time high score here after dozens and dozens of nights here squirting drinks in each other’s faces.
Total dump, but that’s the fun of it.

Dan’s is the diviest dive bar there ever was… genuinely. I don’t know how else to describe this place… it’s just so darn DIVEY.
Dive-​alicious.
Dive-​namite.
Dive-​naymic.
I came here for the ketchup bottle… cause I’m all about the alc, bout the alc, no beer! The bottles seem pricey at $ 24 (plus the $ 5 deposit), but think about how much shots would be otherwise? It ain’t bad.
If you’re looking for beer, wine, etc. this is not the place for you. Come for the hard drinking and the unkempt atmosphere.
Tip: Avoid the bathrooms. Not the business.

So you know how there is a jumbo slice, a McDonald’s, and a late night diner (The Diner, mmm so good) all in Adams Morgan? Well, I’m a firm believer that those exist primarily to serve late night food to people stumbling home from Dan’s Café.
Dan’s is the diviest dive bar that I’ve ever been to, but the squeezy bottles make it all worth it! Come onnnn, shots out of a squeezy bottle are the best kind of shots! However don’t be tempted to take the bottle home… they keep a deposit on them. You get your $ 5 back when you return the bottle!
So for $ 25 you get the strongest mixed drink that you can get in all of the district. It is not fancy, it is not well mixed, but it is an Admo staple!
REMEMBER: CASH ONLY! That is my perpetual downfall… I always forget to bring cash!
The crowd is very young, lots of college kids and recent grads, but isn’t that as to be expected?
BE WARNED: Their bathrooms are probably the 7^th circle of hell. You have not seen filth to you see these bathrooms late on a Saturday night. However, typically by this point you just won’t care! However, if you aren’t drinking the squeezy bottles, do not, DO NOT use the bathroom!

So many people walked in looking confused and walked out. Haha, and others who stayed seemed perplexed. So read the reviews closely people and know what you’re getting yourself into beforehand. You get a squirt bottle for $ 25, with $ 5 refunded when you return the bottle. They fill it with ice and dump in a small (250 ml?) bottle of the alcohol of your choice. That’s about 5 shots people, let’s not get carried away with the exaggerations of how much you’re getting. Still, that’s a good deal. You get it with a half-​shot glass to drink it out of, too, which adds to the mystique.
As fun as the concept is, it was very hard for us to get over the STANK. When you walk in, you get slapped in the face by one of the most awful scents I’ve ever had the misfortune to sniff in a public establishment. And no matter how long you stay, you don’t get used to it. The possible culprit: it looks like nothing in this place, including the bathrooms, have been cleaned in at least 3 years. And the signage inside hasn’t been replaced in a good 20.
Still, it’s a must try. Bring unknowing friends here, and you’re sure to be remembered forever for creating a memorable night.

Cash only. Sticky floors, sticky counters, alcohol in squirt bottles. A squirt bottle!
$ 25 gets you a flask sized pour of your choice of alcohol and a mixer. The bartender will then wave you on your way to make bad life choices. $ 7 for four shots of Jameson. Crowd is very college and late 20 somethings. 30 and up, don’t come unless you have completely lost your dignity and/​or self worth.
You’ll ponder what you are doing with your life while sweating in this tiny, dusty bar, but then you can just take another squirt of your alcohol and everything will be well again.

If you want
–to remember to only bring cash
–pregame and maybe not make it to the actual party
–stalk some seating but almost always find some
–drink out of an awesome squirt bottle
–listen to some awesome 90s music
this is your place.
Dan’s looks like nothing from outside, but it is my favorite bar in adam’s morgan. The drinks are cheap, its a great place to hang with a few friends and drink wayyyy too much.
best advice, get a jumbo slice after dans.
Cash only, and remember to return your squirt bottle when you finish and you get some $$ back!

This is the kind of place you take your second mistress to so your first mistress won’t find out your cheating on her. It’s dirty, they’re cash only, and I love it. Buy a bottle of your favorite spirit, a mixer, and pour yourself a drink. Yes, the photo I uploaded of the inside is dark, and it’s hard to see exactly what’s in the picture — perfectly representative of the place itself.

WHAT. WHAT! WHAT IS THIS PLACE.
This place is:
–cash only
–the smartest pregame known to man/​bro
-$ 25 for your first squirty bottle and $ 20 for each after
–DRUNK
–sticky
–the best
–your cool friend in college’s living room where you’d drink for what seemed like 5 minutes but then you get up and fall down because you don’t even know why and then you go to the clurb and have the greatest night of your life because it’s just
–down the street from amsterdam falafel
–creating the best beginning (nobody cares about the middle) and end of a night out you ever knew could exist
–bye
P.S.
Q: what is this place like in daylight?

I will also try and add things that haven’t been included.
–there are fruit flies everywhere. In freakin November no less.
–yes it’s a dive bar, but the bartenders are super friendly at 9pm on a Friday and they are not at all stressed about the monsoon of hipsters that awaits them at 11.
–cash only! I can’t stress this enough.
–the prices are cheaper than my hometown of Arlington, but not something to write home about. Good LTE service here as well.
–hard to find. You have to use Google. It’s right below Bourbon. Look closely and you’ll find it.

Where to begin with Dan’s Café. If you are reading this review, you already know what Dan’s Café is all about. This is not a place you go to hang out. This is a place you go to catch a good buzz and then head somewhere else. With that being said, Dan’s Café is an experience and usually leads to a good story.
From the outside, I do not think there is even a sign that says Dan’s Café anymore. The door is barred with a small, rectangular sign that reads, «Come in we’re open». Upon walking in you immediately notice the dank, stale smell. The furniture and decorations appear like they have been around for more than forty years.
During my visit, there were two people working. One was a bartender and the other was a man named Dickey who is the owner of Dan’s Café. I asked Dickey if he knew Dan’s was recently named one of the best dive bars in America and he said he had no idea because he is 80 years old and does not use the Internet. Dickey said he has been at the place for 39 years and bought the bar from Dan in the 1970’s.
The concept of the bar is simple. They have small airplane bottles of name brand liquors as well as larger pint bottles of liquor. I saw just about every popular liquor you would find in the store from Absolut, Grey Goose, Jack Daniels, Makers Mark, Malibu, etc. Most people order the larger bottle sauce which comes with a squirt bottle. The squirt bottle is a clear plastic squeeze bottle that resembles a ketchup bottle. The bartender fills the squeeze bottle ¾ full of ice and then dumps your bottle of liquor inside. Then you choose a mixer which includes the usual suspects of cranberry juice, pineapple juice, coke, sprite, etc. The bartender tops off the squeeze bottle with only a little of your mixer because it is already full of liquor. Then he hands you shot glasses for however many people are in your party. The cost is $ 25 and you get $ 5 back when you return the squeeze bottle which is never really an issue. They also have industrial light larger beers for $ 4 and better beers for $ 5.

THE. GREATEST. DIVE. BAR. EVER.
Feel free to take my word and stop reading now.
For those skeptical-​minded, picky alcoholics out there… Dans is legit. Walked in from out of town. Looked around at dusty fake hanging plants (and I mean havent been touched in 15 years, dusty), and a covered pool table with its share of dust which now serves as an extra dining table. Behind the bar, liquor bottles and cans of pop. Oh yes… the magic is coming.
I was amongst a party of 4. Went to the bar, ordered a Jack n Coke. Barkeep grabbed a bottle of JD, poured it in a ketchup (or is it catsup?) bottle ¾ full. Then he grabbed a 12 oz can of Coca Cola and 4 shot glasses and asked for $ 16.
I was shocked. I was confused. I was in love.
I was soon fucked up.
Dan’s is what it is. A place that should probably have been shut down long ago (no thanks to reviews such as this). Thankfully we had an itinerary for the night, or else we wouldve likely gotten wrecked at Dan’s, for a crazy affordable price. As far as im concerned, DC is Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Dan’s Café.
Nothing else really matters. It’s so absurdly simple, cheap, and authentic, Dan’s stands on it’s own.
God bless America

This place is dirty as can be. Grime everywhere. Tiles on the bar are cracked. There doesn’t appear to be AC, and if there is, it’s an ineffective window unit. On a busy Friday night there was only one bartender. There appeared to be another bartender, but, I’m not sure, as I never saw him get up from his seat in the back corner of the bar in the hour plus I was there. And trust me, I watched intently. So far as I can tell, there is one bartender, and one guy who is presumably paid to occasionally turn the dial on the radio. But, somehow all that crap just adds to the charm of this place.
The squirt bottles contain a surprisingly large amount of booze and at $ 24 (with $ 5 back if you remember to return the squirt bottle) it’s a great deal. There is something also fun about taking shots of a mixed drink (its mostly liquor — but they do put a bit of the mixer in the squeeze bottle). Of course there is the typical AdMo crowd of college kids here, but, if you can get past that, this is a great place.
Ohh yeah, and it’s cash only — but all the other reviews mention that as well. But, cash only always makes me take off a star, because I almost never have cash. Ohh, and this place is in a basement, and I don’t really remember a sign, so, you just have to look at house numbers when you first come to this place.

DC’s Premier Dive Bar!
You are not going to find a dive bar more divey and hipstery in all of the DMV area.
Bring cash as credit cards aren’t accepted and prepare to take shots out of a squirt bottle. Dan’s Café sells squirt bottle full of booze and provides you with a can of chaser, of your choosing. How bad can that be?! Make sure to return your bottle to get your $ 5 refund.
My friends and I love starting out at Dan’s Café before an «Adam’s Morgan» night of shenanigans and jumbo slice pizza.
Everything from the booths to the bathrooms to the bar is decaying with dive bar chic — and it’s something I’m into in 2014.
Yes, you should probably make this your first stop in an evening for tomfoolery and bad decisions.