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A bright ping pong wind-up toy installation sits near the main entrance at Spin.
Rey Lopez/Eater DC

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Inside Spin, Downtown’s New Bar With Wall-to-Wall Ping-Pong Tables

The table tennis club is scheduled to open Tuesday, December 18

by Tierney Plumb
All photos by Rey Lopez
Tierney Plumb is the editor of Eater DC, covering all things food and drink around the nation's capital.

Spin is ready to make ping-pong players out of downtown’s 9-to-5 crowd. The first D.C. club from the New York-based chain is scheduled to start serving food, drinks, and flying orange balls on Tuesday, December 18.

The budding celebrity-backed chain has sprinkled seven previous locations from New York City to Seattle. A “United by Ping-Pong” slogan greets guests at the door in D.C. (1332 F Street NW). Once underground, patrons find a full-service restaurant manned by Patrick Tanyag, an alum of Le Kon in Clarendon, and a horseshoe-shaped bar overlooking 12 ping-pong tables.

The venue will host competitive Friday night play, social league Mondays, and Thursday pick up-and-play with instruction by Spin pros. Starting December 23, every Sunday will host unlimited ping-pong all day for $9.

Food includes gourmet snacks, sliders, flatbreads, and sweets. There will be draft beers, spins on classic cocktails, and wines by the glass. Spin also has its own brand of bottled, carbonated cocktails. All menu items are designed to be double-fisted with a paddle.

“All food and beverage is focused on what we call a left-handed philosophy,” says Tanyag.

The 12,000-square-foot space resembles a sprawling modern penthouse pad — complete with plush leather and velvet seating, a matte black exposed ceiling, and a wall of colorful reading materials. Like other Spin locations, an iconic ping-pong-filled bathtub scene built for photo ops sits at the entrance. D.C.’s version will go all out with tile, a shower curtain, clothes line, and bathrobe.

Hours and menu items will both be limited on opening day and the rest of the month. A full grand opening is scheduled for January. Tanyag, who told Eater he wants to showcase a variety of D.C.’s cultural influences on the menu, has a chilaquiles-taquito hybrid filled with Filipino stew in the works for brunch, which will be rolled out sometime next year.

Scroll on for a look inside the playful downtown newcomer:

Images of competitive ping-pong legends double as modern wall art at Spin.
Rey Lopez/Eater DC
A second bar area at Spin. Spin’s proprietary ball catcher nets help games move along faster.
Rey Lopez/Eater DC
Walls of color-coded reading materials and hand sculptures holding paddles line the bar.
Rey Lopez/Eater DC
Every Sunday starting December 23, all-day unlimited ping-pong is $9. In January, every Monday through Thursday after 9 p.m. until close, paddling costs $9.
Rey Lopez/Eater DC
A horseshoe-shaped bar overlooking the paddling action below is managed by Arlington bar vet Reda Bouizar.
Rey Lopez/Eater DC
Each location sports similar design elements: In D.C. there’s a monochromatic blue area near the bar, and in Philly, there’s an all-red room.
Rey Lopez/Eater DC
Grand opening manager Malin Pettersson, a 14-time Swedish National Champion, will stick around D.C. for the next six months.
Rey Lopez/Eater DC
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