I’ve been pretty excited about Reliable Tavern, the new spot on Georgia Ave just south of New Hampshire from Joe Englert, who has opened dozens of awesome spots about the city (DC9, the Pug, Big Hunt, Sticky Rice etc.) And I got a chance to check it out on Friday, their opening day. It’s a good spot. You should go.
There’s two floors, with a long bar upstairs plus tables and chairs, then a bar downstairs with two pool tables and more sitting/hanging out areas. It’s all rustic and wood, which goes with their vaguely Tex-Mex theme. They had a good beer, cocktail and wine selection, and I really enjoyed the the bartender’s choice, where you pick a category and a spirit and they make a cocktail — in our case it had yellow chartreuse, ginger beer and I forget what else, and it was really delicious.
They also have snacks like kolaches from Republic Kolache, who also provided them at Small Chop, plus chips & salsa, “proper Texas queso,” hummus and guac.
The bartenders were also super nice and we kept running into people we knew, which is always a good sign. Good jukebox too with a good Tex-Mex selection.
In short, it’s awesome. See more pics and the menu below. They’re open 5pm-2am every day except 5pm-3am on Friday and Saturday.
