Workday Treats: Happy Hour at Tonic

MY DEFINITION OF a good happy hour has as much to do with the food and the atmosphere as it does the drinks. So my advice is as follows: if you have a case of the Mondays (or Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays or the TGIFS), head slightly off the beaten bath to the Mt. Pleasant bar they call Tonic.

In this relatively chill space, you can satiate yourself with cheap rail drinks, cheap pints (of good stuff, like Magic Hat and Red Hook, cheap, juicy burgers served with every big kid's favorite tater: the Tot. Crispy on the outside, pillowy on the inside — the perfect after-work snack.

»Tonic, 3155 Mt. Pleasant St. NW; weeknights from 5-7 p.m.; 202-986-7661. (Columbia Heights)