CityBar Rooftop Lounge — Restaurant in Washington

Ran into this place after it was recommended by a friend as a "secret" rooftop bar without the POV or Eaton style crowds with a phenomenal cocktail list. Sold!

The feel is vibrant, casual, and relaxing, with beautiful views of SW dc. I often stay at Hyatt places when I travel but by far City bar could be a standalone establishment. I'm in DC often and this place is for the cocktail connoisseur rivaling many hot spots in the city.

I've been three times and have been able to order some very original drinks, seemingly the menu has something for everyone. Melon tinctures, whiskey beer combinations, and a personal fav the frose. They do serve 4 beers on draft.

Happy hour is great and the snacks are noms. I've had the sliders, calamari, and the sweet potato fries (the real winner here).

Admittedly, service can be touch and go, just based on the time of day. I hear there have been staffing changes as well since my earlier visits, but the bartenders have always made it right. Come early as seating may be limited. But there is seating for both small and large groups! Awesome vibes...

We thought this would be a little hidden gem as it was close to our hotel and liked the idea of a rooftop bar. The view was nothing exciting. Just a bunch of buildings. The food was overpriced for the quality. My son ordered 3 crabcakes for $21. Thinking they were going to be actual breaded and fried cakes they were not... Just squishy doughy balls. And to top it off they didn't hand us an itemized bill, rather just the credit card slip when it was time to pay. The total seemed to add up more than we expected so my husband, who is a restaurant manager, asked for the itemized bill to find out they automatically charged a 20% gratuity, and expected us to tip on top of that. Very sneaky of them. We got our drinks from the bar and my husband put our order in there as well, all they did was bring our food to us. Bottom line...overpriced and sneaky automatic gratuities don't make this...

Lovely spot for a drink after work in SW with fantastic views of the city and VA. Located on top of the Hayatt hotel. While the waterfront scene is opening up soon, I think this place will still have a lot to offer with it's reasonable happy hour drinks and food. This is an outdoor bar with clever cocktails, but when it gets busy don't expect much attention from the wait staff. Also, they've made a terrible design decision putting a 12 top table 4 feet from the bar, basically blocking access to the bar, and creating an unnecessary "elbow your neighbor" to get to the bar situation when the place is busy. All that said, I'm still interested in coming back to give it a 2nd chance. There are few places in SW to get good drinks in this area, so kudos to them for...