Nellie's Sports Bar

 TWSF took our good friend Carmela out for a happy hour dinner at 1905 (3$ lamb tacos on Tuesday) to commemorate her daylong job interview. After dinner, we walked down U Street and passed Nellie's Sports Bar. The other blogger stopped the group and suggested that we go in, noting that it was voted best sports bar by Washingtonian magazine and since I like sports and bars we should go in. Had she read the full review she would have also learned that Nellie's is also described as the anchor of the U Street gay scene. It was cold, they were in heels and I had never been to a gay sports bar and was interested to see what it was all about.

Upon first glance Nellie’s looks like your average sports bar, dark wood, sports memorabilia, trophies, servers carrying trays filled with burgers and fries, framed photos screwed to the wall, flat screens playing college basketball and a primarily male clientele. As we settled into our table I began to notice the details that make Nellie’s not a typical sports bar, a display case at the bar filled with mini cupcakes, statues of terriers on the bar, giant paintings of women in Victorian garb, a wall covered with frat paddles and a drag queen getting ready to host bingo night by the kitchen.

We had a great time at Nellie’s. It was refreshing to be in a sports bar, or any bar for that matter, with courteous bartenders and a level of cleanliness I have never experienced. The pint glasses looked like they came straight from the box and the bathroom was cleaner than ours. Nellie’s was also nice because it was by far the most racially diverse bar that I have been to in the District and it seemed like everyone in the place was genuinely having a good time.

We were fortunate enough to stumble into Nellie's in time for the beginning of Drag Bingo which is held every Tuesday. The aforementioned drag queen MCed the bingo event and for my money was by far the most entertaining bar game host that I have ever witnessed. She was dressed as Rhianna and spent more time roasting the audience than calling out bingo numbers, thankfully we were sitting out of her line of sight.

Would I bring my boys to Nellie's to catch a game, probably not, but it was a fun time and I wouldn't mind going back for trivia night.