T.S. Muttly’s
2427 18th St. N.W.

Last Friday night brought me back to Adams Morgan for the first time this semester. And after reaching the summit of the 18th Street hill, we found ourselves in the hands of T.S. Muttly’s for a not-so-inclusive open bar. Perhaps because we looked parched at 8:30 in the evening, the bouncer greeted us with a hearty “hello” followed closely by “are you here for the party?” After giving him $20 each in return for a little red wristband (without ever being carded), we sidled up to the bar to start our evening.

Carbombs? No Guinness included in the “open bar.” J?ger bombs? Sorry, no J?ger either. Jack and Coke. No Jack Daniels. All right, so what can we get? Rails, domestic beer (and by domestic, the bartender really meant Bud, Bud Light, Miller Light, and Miller High Life) and Smirnoff.

All right, how about lemon drops and a whiskey sour? The bar didn’t have any sugar (which is doubly surprising to me as the bar did have a kitchen), so our lemon wedges were coated in powdered sugar instead. And, for the second weekend in a row, I got a whiskey sour that was undrinkable. Maybe my palate has changed in the past two weeks, or maybe the bartenders in D.C. just don’t know what they’re doing. Regardless, I steered clear of the rail whiskey and I switched to vodka cranberries for the rest of the night.

Now, don’t get me wrong. The evening didn’t start off quite as expected, but by 10 p.m., it felt like it was 2 a.m., proving that even bad alcohol will do the trick (as if, somehow, I had forgotten.)

Also contributing to my good time on Friday was the solid music, which rocked throughout the evening. From Michael Jackson to Journey, Bon Jovi to Jimi Hendrix and the Violent Femmes to Van Morrison, as the already-paid-for-alcohol kept flowing, sing-along and dance-a-thons ensued throughout the bar.

If you don’t make it to T.S. Muttly’s for a night when there is an “open bar,” you can expect standard prices on drinks: $5 rails, $4 to $5 for beer, $8 top shelf and $6 You-Call-It (Jack, J?ger, Bombay, etc). Happy hour lasts until 7 p.m. when drinks are $1 off. Wednesday night boasts a U-night when, apparently, a lot of good looking ladies show up and you can have yourself some 25-cent wings.

Fitting with the name, T.S. Muttly’s is an Irish bar complete with the flag outside, four TVs for watching the game and quite a bit of Red Sox paraphernalia considering how small the bar is. T.S. Muttly’s only non-brick wall was painted green, and while I didn’t have the chance to ask, I couldn’t help but think this was merely a coincidental resemblance to Fenway Park’s Green Monster.

While T.S. Muttly’s wasn’t anything special, the good music and young crowd means that I would by no means object to a return trip.

Belle Rating