Pump Up the Volume, or Don't: Tips for Finding the Perfect Atmosphere

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SOMETIMES THERE'S NOTHING quite like a jam-packed bar with music blasting to let the fun receptors in your brain know that it's party time.

If you're in that sort of mood, and you're looking for a beer, burger or wings, Adams Mill Bar and Grill is right up your alley. Combine the noise of a packed house with televised sporting events and a DJ on weekends, and you have something approaching a Metallica concert level of noise.

"We want to get it loud in here," said manager Paul Kerins. "We want to get the crowds into it during games and at night we crank up the music."

For the most part, 18th Street is an easy place to drown out your thoughts. Just walking past places like Asylum Bar and Lounge or the Brass Monkey can be an assault on the ears.

But say you want that same beer, burger and maybe a pretty darn good pulled pork sandwich, but at a lower volume. Walk about a minute south from Adams Mill to Angles Bar and Billiards. Even on weekends, it stays quiet enough that patrons don't have to shout their conversations or elbow their way up to the bar. And its intimate atmosphere is as intentional as Adams Mills' raucous one.

"It's deliberate," said owner Patrick O'Donnell, who's behind Angles' bar most nights. "Most of 18th Street is sort of Red Bull and vodka, and we're not like that at all. I would say we're more of a grownup bar. We don't do dance parties. We don't do loud music."

Most of the D.C. area's loudest spots have quieter refuges close by. The Eighteenth Street Lounge in Dupont can be a great place to lose yourself in blasting music and dim lighting. But take a short walk to the Daily Grill or Hudson Restaurant and you'll find that they still keep the decibel level in the easy conversation range even late at night. Hudson's Duck Confit and Truffle Mac and Cheese also offer a nice alternative to the grease-heavy fare that permeates the bar scene.

In Arlington, Liberty Tavern offers bar food downstairs with a weekend noise level perfect for a satisfying night on the town, as well as a full dinner menu upstairs until 11 p.m. But further down the block is Eventide Restaurant, which keeps things much more mellow.

Some places try to provide options for those who want tranquility and for those searching for bedlam. You can snack on burgers and sausages in the rather cramped interior of the Wonderland Ballroom in Columbia Heights, or you can escape to its outdoor area, which retains the laid-back feel and noise level of a neighborhood party even when it's full.

Add a sushi menu, a hookah bar, and a dense, dressy crowd together and you'll get what Gazuza in Dupont is going for.

"We really want to have a social atmosphere, but we also want it to be a place where people can sit, relax and catch up," general manager Shawn Lucas said. "We're a lounge, but we also have a restaurant. We have a restaurant, but we also have hookah. We have a hookah bar, but we also have a nightclub."

Of course, whether you're looking for quiet or loud, a little common sense helps. If you want the former, stick to weeknights, avoid happy hours and stay off the beaten path. Hotel restaurant bars are fine alternatives, whether it's something as expansive as Fire and Sage, under the Metro Center Marriot, or the tiny M Bar, built into the Renaissance M Street. If you want the latter, plan for Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, or shoot for happy hours. McFadden's, in Foggy Bottom, hosts a purposefully fratty college night on Tuesdays.

Most of all, get to know the places you're going. The same spot may be good for sipping a martini and reading a book one night and cranking up the volume the next.

"We're a good bet for a nice, quiet glass of wine," said Mick McGuire, general manager at Veritas Wine Bar. "But it does get noisy in here sometimes, especially on weekends and during happy hour. That's always been a complaint here -- that it gets loud. But it's a bar. That's what happens."

» Adams Mill Bar and Grill, 1813 Adams Mill Road NW; 202-332-9577. (Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan)

» Asylum Bar and Lounge, 2471 18th St. NW; 202-319-9353. (Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan)

» The Brass Monkey, 2317 18th St. NW; 202-265-6665. (Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan)

» Angles Bar and Billiards, 2339 18th St. NW; 202-462-8100. (Woodley Park-Zoo/Adams Morgan)

» Eighteenth Street Lounge, 1212 18th St. NW; 202-466-3922. (Dupont Circle)

» Daily Grill, 1200 18th St. NW; 202-822-5282. (Dupont Circle)

» Hudson Restaurant, 2030 M St. NW; 202-872-8700. (Dupont Circle)

» Liberty Tavern, 3195 Wilson Blvd., Arlington; 703-465-3960. (Clarendon)

» Eventide Restaurant, 3165 Wilson Blvd., Arlington; 703-276-3165. (Clarendon)

» Wonderland Ballroom, 1101 Kenyon St. NW; 202-232-2563. (Columbia Heights)

» Gazuza, 1629 Connecticut Ave. NW; 202-667-5500. (Dupont Circle)

» Fire and Sage, 775 12th St. NW; 202-661-8925. (Metro Center)

» M Bar, 1143 New Hampshire Ave. NW; 202-775-0800. (Foggy Bottom)

» McFaddens, 2401 Pennsylvania Ave. NW; 202-292-4067. (Foggy Bottom)

» Veritas Wine Bar, 2031 Florida Ave. NW; 202-265-6270. (Dupont Circle)

Written by Express contributor Robert Margetta
Art by Ikon Images/Neil Web