Service Bar on U Street is the cocktail bar in Washington, DC whose staff won Best U.S. Bar Team at the 2026 Spirited Awards, and it will also sell you two brined chicken thighs with mac and cheese and green beans for $24. Chad Spangler and Glendon Hartley opened it in October 2016 at 926 U Street NW, a block east of the U Street/Cardozo Metro stop. This year it is No. 39 on North America's 50 Best Bars (it was No. 33 in 2023).
A Neighborhood Bar on U Street
The house rules on Service Bar's hours page read: "Come as you are, it's your presence we're after, not your attire. Suit, pajamas - or somewhere in between - if you're comfortable, we're delighted." The one hard rule is age, since everyone indoors has to be 21 and anyone younger sits on the patio with a parent. Behind the bar the brick is painted blue, one wall is papered with old newspaper pages, and the drinks arrive in tiki heads, skulls and glasses shaped like tree stumps.
Hartley had worked with chef Carlos Delgado at Ocopa, a Peruvian restaurant on H Street NE that has since closed, where Spangler was a regular, and the two made a pact to own their places without outside investors. With Delgado they later opened Causa, a prix-fixe Peruvian restaurant in Blagden Alley, and the cocktail bar Amazonia upstairs from it. The Service Bar About page still says the bar "might even give the now famous Causa | Amazonia a run for its drink money." Service Bar was a James Beard semifinalist for Outstanding Bar in 2024. At the 2026 RAMMYs it won Best Bar of the Year, and Amazonia won Cocktail Program of the Year.
Old Fashioneds, Rum and a Menu of Birds
The SB Old Fashioned is Wild Turkey 81 bourbon, Lustau Spanish brandy, turbinado, Angostura bitters, and it costs $11. It drinks like a bourbon Old Fashioned with a little dried fruit from the brandy and a rounder finish. Rob Roy in Seattle goes the other way and lets you pick any aged spirit. Wild Turkey turns up all over the Service Bar menu. The Suffering Bastard is Wild Turkey 81 bourbon, Fords gin, fresh ginger, mint, lime, bitters ($16), and Starry Nights is the same bourbon with Wray & Nephew, turbinado, mint and Angostura bitters ($16).
For those that came for rum, the Zombie is Appleton 12yr, grenadine, lime, grapefruit, absinthe, cinnamon, bitters, 151 float, and runs $21. The Island Breeze is Brugal 1888, Ron Zacapa 23yr, fino sherry, grapefruit, vanilla, lime ($16), and the Daiquiri is Angostura White Oak rum, lime, sugar ($11). Mountain Mist and Fog splits the order between whiskey and rum with Wild Turkey 101 rye, Appleton 12yr, fig leaf, raisin, Benedictine, bitters ($16). If the rum list sends you looking for more, Cotton & Reed distills its own rum in the Union Market District.
The newer drinks are on a separate Birds menu, "inspired by different birds around the globe," and each bird's home range is printed under the drink. The Sacred Ibis (Africa, Middle East) is pistachio, golden raisin, Aberfeldy 12yr, Bacardi 8yr, canela, green cardamom, lemon, $21, and it comes to the table under a glass dome of canela smoke. The Satanic Nightjar is koji-fermented jackfruit, coconut milk and Batavia arrack, blended, with a caramel eyeball on the side. The Flying Squirrel (not a bird) is the most expensive drink on the list, $23 for acorn, mushroom butter, apple, Courvoisier VS, Laird's 7.5yr, Carpano Antica. The No-Maro Swizzle is the non-alcoholic option at $11, a Miller High Life is $4, and an ounce of whiskey or tequila "pop" in the beer is another $4.
The Fried Chicken at Service Bar
The kitchen is open until midnight Tuesday through Saturday and 11:30pm on Sunday. The fried chicken is "golden brown brined chicken thighs, served with mac & cheese and green beans," classic or hot spice dust, at 2 pieces for $24, 4 for $42 or 8 for $64. On changing the recipe, the About page says "you can't refine what's already perfect." The sandwich is a fried or grilled thigh with pickles and special sauce on a sesame bun for $15, and Eater put it on its 2023 list of essential fried chicken sandwiches in DC.
In December 2019, while Popeyes and Chick-fil-A were arguing over sandwiches, Service Bar started FRIED, a monthly series with a guest chef's fried chicken sandwich, and Kevin Tien opened it with a Sichuan and Nashville hot chicken thigh with slaw, pickles and comeback sauce. Vegetarians get 6oz of oyster mushrooms "fried like our famous fried chicken" for $13, and the deviled eggs come with crispy chicken skin ($11).
Happy Hour, Hours and the 20 Percent
Service Bar opens at 5pm Tuesday through Friday, 2pm Saturday and 4pm Sunday, closes at 2am (3am on Friday and Saturday), and is closed Monday. Tables book on OpenTable through the bar's site, and small groups can reserve the Snug Room. On a busy weekend night the Birds drinks take a while to come out, and the bartenders will explain what's in each one. A 20% gratuity is added to every check. Happy hour runs Tuesday to Friday from 5 to 7pm, with a $9 Old Fashioned, Daiquiri and Pisco Punch and a $7 High Life with a shot.
Try the Old Fashioned at 5pm on a Tuesday, $10.80 with the gratuity.
Photos: Service Bar
