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The patio at Columbia Room.
Nicholas Karlin/Columbia Room

Drink Al Fresco at These Brand New Patios Around D.C.

The latest places to sip under the sun

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The patio at Columbia Room.
| Nicholas Karlin/Columbia Room

Now that warm weather is here, plenty of restaurants are getting into the outdoor patio game for the first time.

The following patio picks on this list are brand new — some even days old. Others mark comebacks or expansions of existing drinking destinations. Jaleo in Chinatown is back after going offline to accommodate construction last year, and Columbia Room’s patio just grew with more seats.

Pretty soon, D.C. drinkers will have even more al fresco options with the Memorial Day debut of a street-level patio from El Techo, along with TBA openings of W Hotel’s anticipated beer garden; Seven Reasons’ new lounge; and a small outdoor setup at Hopscotch, which is replacing Crisp in Bloomingdale.

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El Sapo Cuban Social Club

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Cuban-born chef Raynold Mendizábal’s playful homage to Havana’s party scene debuted in downtown Silver Spring last year and grew this spring with the addition of a 100-seat outdoor “Mojito Garden” and cafe. The plan is to perk up customers with Cuban espressos during the day and roll out street foods and live music at night. The evolving arrangement is similar to that of D.C. and Sterling’s Colada Shop.

El Sapo’s patio features pops of bright green.
El Sapo/Facebook

I’m Eddie Cano

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The retro-themed Italian restaurant debuted last fall in upper Northwest, and an 18-seat patio now comes alive daily starting at 4 p.m. (an hour earlier than inside). Weekday happy hour includes $4 drafts and $5 rose, prosecco, and spritzes, along with a small bar bites menu. To celebrate Italy’s upcoming “Festa del Lavoro” — its Labor Day, of sorts, on Wednesday, May 1 — industry folks get 25 percent off their check.

I’m Eddie Cano’s wildly popular eggplant parm.
I’m Eddie Cano/Facebook

Roy Boys

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The team behind Arlington millennial hangouts (Don Tito and The G.O.A.T.) knows a thing or two about outdoor drinking. Their new neon-lit fried chicken and oyster stop in Shaw just installed a strip of indoor-outdoor seating running along the bar, making it easy to keep oyster shooters and daily bloody marys coming. Lunch service also entered the mix last week.

Roy Boys bloody mary
Roy Boys’ all-day bloody marys.
Roy Boys/official

Gaslight Tavern DC

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The Shaw cocktail bar just unveiled a new 600-square-foot cocktail garden pouring new draught selections like a Boulevardier and Rum Old Fashioned. The airy respite, lined with colorful rhododendrons and hibiscuses, also sports a retractable awning to encourage drinking in the spring rain.

Gaslight Tavern’s new patio.
Gaslight Tavern/official photo

Jake's Tavern

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Long-delayed neighborhood bar Jake’s Tavern debuted this winter, bringing Shaw a casual option for classic cocktails and blue-collar brews in a nautical setting. A fenced-in patio, complete with canopy lights and powder blue stools, opened up out back this month. The outdoor addition serves seasonal specials tied to Kettle One’s new botanical vodka line, with a Derby Day party in the works.

Jake’s Tavern
Tierney Plumb/Eater DC

Zeppelin

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The two-month-old Japanese street food and omakase eatery just unveiled its 800-square-foot outdoor patio that seats 65, calling for al fresco sushi sourced from Toyosu Market in Tokyo, Japan. The airy canopy-lit setup, similar to the team’s sister restaurant Chaplin’s down the street, is lined with old lamp posts and a black-and-white monster film mural stretching along the brick facade. Drinks include 80 types of sakes and over a dozen cocktails made with its pricey highball machine inside. An ordering window is coming soon.

Muralists Patrick Owens painted this dramatic Godzilla-themed mural at Zeppelin.
Tierney Plumb/Eater DC

Coconut Club

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Chef Adam Greenberg’s pastel-hued ode to the islands debuted in the dead of winter in Union Market, but its patio came to life just in time to ring in spring. It’s first-come, first-serve (open 5 p.m. to close every day and starting at 3 p.m. on Saturday), complete with bright white bench seating and palm-filled planters. The dog-friendly getaway also offers custom water bowls for Fido.

Coconut Club
Coconut Club/official photo

Columbia Room

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The award-winning cocktail bar from Drink Company can now seat more at its outdoor Punch Garden this spring, thanks to a new larger bar and bench tables. The secluded drinking oasis tucked inside Blagden Alley is adorned with greenery. The bar now slings seasonal sips like the Polyglot Punch (Capitoline White, Great King Street Artist’s Blend Scotch, manzanilla, amchoor, and lemon).

Columbia Room’s Punch Garden
Nicholas Karlin/www.karlinvillondo.com

Streets Market

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Homegrown grocer Streets Market brought the residential-heavy NoMa neighborhood a much-needed drinking destination in January with the opening of a cavernous bar inside. A newly attached outdoor patio, located in the courtyard of Ava NoMa’s apartment building, comes complete with high-top tables, lots of rosé pours, and access to 30 draft lines.

Street Market’s new tree-lined courtyard patio.
Tierney Plumb/Eater DC

Red Bear Brewing Co

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This months-old, gay-owned brewery sports a rustic campground look, fitting well into its NoMa nook that includes outdoors tycoon REI. Its added patio invites patrons to sample brews made on-site while playing one of its 100-plus board games.

Reverie

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This new American restaurant from executive chef Johnny Spero joined the Georgetown dining scene this winter, and its recently completed outdoor patio tucked away off the restaurant’s cobblestone street offers intimate seating for 15. There they can sample new spring cocktails like The Business (gin, honey, and citrus), with more specialty drinks and design tweaks to the coming to the minimalist respite soon.

Reverie’s modern outdoor drinking cube.
Obi Okolo/Reverie

The popular Penn Quarter patio at chef José Andrés’s first-ever restaurant went dark last year to accommodate scaffolding on the building. It reopened this spring, complete with gin and tonic pours, Spanish tapas, and views of the bustling neighborhood around Capital One Arena.

Jaleo’s newly reopened patio.
Jaleo/official photo

Detour Coffee

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This coffee bar by day, happy hour spot by night entered the Clarendon restaurant scene in fall 2017 and just welcomed a new 30-seat outdoor patio last month. The artificial grass-lined setup is shooting for spring garden vibes, with grape vines coming soon. Its opening coincides with Detour’s newly expanded rosé list, with sparkling sips and outdoor-friendly pours sourced from Argentina, Spain, and France. On Wednesdays the whole wine list is half price, and future drinking plans call for a mimosa bar this summer.

Detour Coffee
Detour/official photo

Tortuga

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Hill Restaurant Group’s Key West-themed replacement to Tio Javier just opened this week with a Barracks Row-facing patio filled with furniture painted every color of the rainbow. And sister spot Willie’s Sports Bar, Navy Yard’s five-year-old barbecue and beer bar, christened its newly expanded patio in time for Opening Day at Nationals Park.

Vim & Victor at the St. James

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Celebrity chef Spike Mendelsohn made his foray into health food this winter inside the all-encompassing sports and wellness center located in an industrial area of Springfield, Virginia. A newly opened patio invites 42 workout fanatics at a time to fuel up before heading inside the sprawling 450,000-square-foot complex to play football or splash around in the waterpark. Brunch also just came online, complete with chilaquiles and breakfast burgers.

Vim & Victor’s new patio features marble dining tables a lounge area.
Vim & Victor/official photo

El Sapo Cuban Social Club

Cuban-born chef Raynold Mendizábal’s playful homage to Havana’s party scene debuted in downtown Silver Spring last year and grew this spring with the addition of a 100-seat outdoor “Mojito Garden” and cafe. The plan is to perk up customers with Cuban espressos during the day and roll out street foods and live music at night. The evolving arrangement is similar to that of D.C. and Sterling’s Colada Shop.

El Sapo’s patio features pops of bright green.
El Sapo/Facebook

I’m Eddie Cano

The retro-themed Italian restaurant debuted last fall in upper Northwest, and an 18-seat patio now comes alive daily starting at 4 p.m. (an hour earlier than inside). Weekday happy hour includes $4 drafts and $5 rose, prosecco, and spritzes, along with a small bar bites menu. To celebrate Italy’s upcoming “Festa del Lavoro” — its Labor Day, of sorts, on Wednesday, May 1 — industry folks get 25 percent off their check.

I’m Eddie Cano’s wildly popular eggplant parm.
I’m Eddie Cano/Facebook

Roy Boys

The team behind Arlington millennial hangouts (Don Tito and The G.O.A.T.) knows a thing or two about outdoor drinking. Their new neon-lit fried chicken and oyster stop in Shaw just installed a strip of indoor-outdoor seating running along the bar, making it easy to keep oyster shooters and daily bloody marys coming. Lunch service also entered the mix last week.

Roy Boys bloody mary
Roy Boys’ all-day bloody marys.
Roy Boys/official

Gaslight Tavern DC

The Shaw cocktail bar just unveiled a new 600-square-foot cocktail garden pouring new draught selections like a Boulevardier and Rum Old Fashioned. The airy respite, lined with colorful rhododendrons and hibiscuses, also sports a retractable awning to encourage drinking in the spring rain.

Gaslight Tavern’s new patio.
Gaslight Tavern/official photo

Jake's Tavern

Long-delayed neighborhood bar Jake’s Tavern debuted this winter, bringing Shaw a casual option for classic cocktails and blue-collar brews in a nautical setting. A fenced-in patio, complete with canopy lights and powder blue stools, opened up out back this month. The outdoor addition serves seasonal specials tied to Kettle One’s new botanical vodka line, with a Derby Day party in the works.

Jake’s Tavern
Tierney Plumb/Eater DC

Zeppelin

The two-month-old Japanese street food and omakase eatery just unveiled its 800-square-foot outdoor patio that seats 65, calling for al fresco sushi sourced from Toyosu Market in Tokyo, Japan. The airy canopy-lit setup, similar to the team’s sister restaurant Chaplin’s down the street, is lined with old lamp posts and a black-and-white monster film mural stretching along the brick facade. Drinks include 80 types of sakes and over a dozen cocktails made with its pricey highball machine inside. An ordering window is coming soon.

Muralists Patrick Owens painted this dramatic Godzilla-themed mural at Zeppelin.
Tierney Plumb/Eater DC

Coconut Club

Chef Adam Greenberg’s pastel-hued ode to the islands debuted in the dead of winter in Union Market, but its patio came to life just in time to ring in spring. It’s first-come, first-serve (open 5 p.m. to close every day and starting at 3 p.m. on Saturday), complete with bright white bench seating and palm-filled planters. The dog-friendly getaway also offers custom water bowls for Fido.

Coconut Club
Coconut Club/official photo

Columbia Room

The award-winning cocktail bar from Drink Company can now seat more at its outdoor Punch Garden this spring, thanks to a new larger bar and bench tables. The secluded drinking oasis tucked inside Blagden Alley is adorned with greenery. The bar now slings seasonal sips like the Polyglot Punch (Capitoline White, Great King Street Artist’s Blend Scotch, manzanilla, amchoor, and lemon).

Columbia Room’s Punch Garden
Nicholas Karlin/www.karlinvillondo.com

Streets Market

Homegrown grocer Streets Market brought the residential-heavy NoMa neighborhood a much-needed drinking destination in January with the opening of a cavernous bar inside. A newly attached outdoor patio, located in the courtyard of Ava NoMa’s apartment building, comes complete with high-top tables, lots of rosé pours, and access to 30 draft lines.

Street Market’s new tree-lined courtyard patio.
Tierney Plumb/Eater DC

Red Bear Brewing Co

This months-old, gay-owned brewery sports a rustic campground look, fitting well into its NoMa nook that includes outdoors tycoon REI. Its added patio invites patrons to sample brews made on-site while playing one of its 100-plus board games.

Reverie

This new American restaurant from executive chef Johnny Spero joined the Georgetown dining scene this winter, and its recently completed outdoor patio tucked away off the restaurant’s cobblestone street offers intimate seating for 15. There they can sample new spring cocktails like The Business (gin, honey, and citrus), with more specialty drinks and design tweaks to the coming to the minimalist respite soon.

Reverie’s modern outdoor drinking cube.
Obi Okolo/Reverie

Jaleo

The popular Penn Quarter patio at chef José Andrés’s first-ever restaurant went dark last year to accommodate scaffolding on the building. It reopened this spring, complete with gin and tonic pours, Spanish tapas, and views of the bustling neighborhood around Capital One Arena.

Jaleo’s newly reopened patio.
Jaleo/official photo

Detour Coffee

This coffee bar by day, happy hour spot by night entered the Clarendon restaurant scene in fall 2017 and just welcomed a new 30-seat outdoor patio last month. The artificial grass-lined setup is shooting for spring garden vibes, with grape vines coming soon. Its opening coincides with Detour’s newly expanded rosé list, with sparkling sips and outdoor-friendly pours sourced from Argentina, Spain, and France. On Wednesdays the whole wine list is half price, and future drinking plans call for a mimosa bar this summer.

Detour Coffee
Detour/official photo

Tortuga

Hill Restaurant Group’s Key West-themed replacement to Tio Javier just opened this week with a Barracks Row-facing patio filled with furniture painted every color of the rainbow. And sister spot Willie’s Sports Bar, Navy Yard’s five-year-old barbecue and beer bar, christened its newly expanded patio in time for Opening Day at Nationals Park.

Vim & Victor at the St. James

Celebrity chef Spike Mendelsohn made his foray into health food this winter inside the all-encompassing sports and wellness center located in an industrial area of Springfield, Virginia. A newly opened patio invites 42 workout fanatics at a time to fuel up before heading inside the sprawling 450,000-square-foot complex to play football or splash around in the waterpark. Brunch also just came online, complete with chilaquiles and breakfast burgers.

Vim & Victor’s new patio features marble dining tables a lounge area.
Vim & Victor/official photo

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