Sign of the Whale

If you ever thought that Tuesdays were the night to stay in, you’d be mistaken. Come late night and find out who’s got the happy hour. If you’re lucky it’s Y-​O-​U. You’re in for a real treat at Sign of the Whale. That treat is me, and hundreds of other kiddos, living it up like Ke$ha on a good day (side note: request the DJ to play Ke$ha). When you’re there, go straight to the bar and snag a pail. Blue and green are my favorite. Your pail should have more hard liquors in it than you can count on your hands. The more experienced bartenders make the best pails. Once you’ve got a pail you’re set to live like there is no tomorrow. Forget that you have a lecture and have some fun. Live a little and dance your heart out. Go to the photo booth and get some snapshots the vintage way. Who needs Snapchat? Seriously, one time I dropped my phone in a pail using Snapchat.
Now, after you’ve been doing your thing for a little, keep an eye out for the happy hour girl. Under no circumstances do you leave Sign without putting your name down. If you are lucky, and I guarantee you probably will be, Ali (my girl) will call you at some point to let you know you’ve won a happy hour. SCORE! Now you can drink for free next Tuesday. It is the perfect cycle of fun. Cheers!
I also hear Sign of the Whale has food, but I don’t believe in such a conspiracy.

There was an event here when my friends and I went here so it was a bit crowded. They did have a bracelet special for happy hour specials until 9 instead of 7. When we finally found a place to stand by the bar and started ordering, everything my friend wanted was gone or they didn’t provide. The music was mediocre. The place is pretty long and it was crowded so it must be a favorite. It was super loud, as well so not the best place to drink and talk.
I might give this place another try but we’ll see.

We purchased a deal on groupon for this place. Our deal was $ 15 for $ 30 to spend. We ordered the M Street burger which was cooked perfect, buffalo wings which were outstanding and the Jamaican Jerk Egg Rolls. Neat place that had a variety of options and great service. Will return next time we are in DC.

Great food! I had the buffalo burger, and was blown away at how delicious it was!
Great atmosphere as well, we were near a group of 4 or 5 people at the bar that may have been old friends or just friendly strangers!
Check them out!

Some friends and I came here for a happy hour. Free drinks for an hour, we all had wristbands. Zach (I believe that was his name) was super great to us and very sweet.
Anyway, my friend ended up having a super strong drink and I had a pretty watered down drink which was annoying but whatever. So I poured some of mine into hers just to water it down a bit because it was SUPER strong and one of the bartenders gets super visibly pissed starts rolling his eyes and what not (wtf right) so I ask him what the heck was his problem and he brushed me off. We ended up finding out from ANOTHER bartender that we weren’t supposed to do that. Cool. Ok if the super douche baggy bartender (who also happened to be a manager) would have explained that to us it would not have been a big deal. Someone else apologized on his behalf and said just ignore him because he was grumpy, but still. We were pretty pissed. That’s not how you treat customers. Other than the manager being shitty, it was a pretty fun night at that place. It won’t be my go to bar but it’s a nice place to people watch I guess.

Stopped in for a beer before headed info to the DC Improve, and not impressed at all.
Overpriced drinks and just an overall «trash» feel. Maybe it was because it was later in the night, but just didn’t feel like a good place. Plus, it’s a «Philly» bar with Eagles, Phillies, and Flyers memorabilia all over.
We won’t be back, just not the spot for me.

Nothing special or unique about Sign of the Whale. Decent size, longer than it is wide but plenty of bar space and an upstairs for more casual sitting. Bathroom was tiny but well maintained. Staff was friendly and helpful. TVs over the bars for sports watching, they appear to be a Philly bar so that sucks but I won’t hold it against them.
Happy hour is decent, everything behind the bar is half off. Drinks are decently made as the bartenders do a good job of matching the mixers and the alcohol. They also have a food specials, food is basic bar food. Tots are delicious and well made, pulled pork sliders comes in threes and were decent, pork was moist and flavorful, buns were fresh.
All in all, a decent place to go for happy hour, doesn’t get too packed until a little later and a decent amount of time to enjoy some well priced drinks and food before the night gets too wild.

Ok bar. Pay attention to your tab!!! I think they inflate tabs or mistakenly add others’ drinks. Me and 2 friends came, got happy hour wristbands, and somehow spent over $ 180 on drinks alone, which would mean the three of us either asked for really expensive liquor (we drank rail all night) or we drank so much we left in an ambulance (not true either). Also, the drinks are relatively cheap so there’s no way 3 people spent $ 180 on rail drinks in 3 hours.
So keep track of how much you spend! Also, they must have old transaction systems because the payment may not hit your bank account for 2 weeks. Just be mindful!

This is as divey as it gets– but for a dive bar, this is a good place! It certainly is popular. Used to go many times for after work happy hour– never on a weekends so this review is based on that. They have a good selection of drinks and lots of TVs. This was always a good place to watch some March Madness or some sports and relax after work. The Tator Tots are the best thing on the menu by far!
The service isn’t always the greatest, and it gets crowded– but you get what you pay for :)

A solid spot, seems well loved, or at least it was packed! My friend ‘won’ a happy hour so we got our wristbands at the door and got discounted drinks. Woo!
The drinks took a while to come our way but they were sufficiently strong. I was a bit bummed they didn’t have the fixings to make a dark & stormy, oh well. The waitstaff seemed confused, we had two people who kept asking what we needed, and the service was still slow… strange.
The pulled pork sandwich was tasty, and the fries were great. Bonus points for being able to make good fries, a surprising number of places can’t…
There’s a good amount of space for standing and sitting, we managed to squeeze into one of the tables in the back. Literally squeeze. I appreciate them trying to make more table space but when three skinny people have to squeeze in and out of chairs and worry about bumping the next table, you should probably remove one of the tables.
I’d come back, especially if I get chosen for the happy hour I put my name on the list for… *wink wink *nudge nudge

This might be the first time I’ve ever given somewhere in DC 1 star review. Hopefully it will be the last. 7 of us (6 locals) popped in after dinner. There was a cover (why is beyond me) so we paid and got our hands stamped. Here’s where it gets weird.
My friend Sam gets a Hendricks and Tonic, then pulls out a broken piece of glass half the size of my palm. Turns out the bartender «Grey Hat» shattered a pint glass over the ice area and didn’t clean it out. Holy cow. We showed the 2 bartenders the drink and while one admitted to making a drink full of glass, they were very defensive and angry at us for bringing then the drink. The bartender «Zack» accused Sam of drinking some of it «so he must have liked it» and didn’t need a new one.
So we start telling people in front of the glass filled ice well to get drinks from a different station, and Grey Hat yells, ‘OK, OK! I’ll give free shots to you and your friends!’ To shut us up. We got some shots of sprite and lemon and zero alcohol. Hooray.
Finally, Sam goes to get his drink replacement and Zack tells him that he can’t serve him because he doesn’t have a wristband. I repeat: Holy Cow. We have been here an hour drinking already, and we have hand stamps. Zack insists that Sign of the Whale has never given stamps and therefore we can’t be drinking there anymore.
On that note, it was time to depart, never to return again.

So I always find myself here for the patrons who won a free happy hour. After about 5 visits, I’m over it. Not the best bar food, customer service is always a hit or miss, and it seems like they can’t properly manage the crowd. As in, wait time at the bar is always too long. it’s not bad, but way better options in the neighborhood.

This is a pretty solid bar in DC. As a Georgetown student, I can say most of the people here are in college or maybe just graduated. The cool thing about this place is that they offer Happy Hour that you can sign up for! If you win, you get free drinks all night, and anyone part of your Happy Hour party gets discounted drinks until 1am. The odds for winning are also good!
Unfortunately, this bar can get pretty ratchet. I’ve seen some pretty crazy stuff happening on the dance floor (stuff I would get banned for typing haha). Unlike a lot of the more popular spots in Dupont, there are plenty bartenders at Sign, so it’s easy to get a drink at one of the 3+ bars. It’s also pretty close to everything in case you wanted to go bar hopping.
I would recommend this for Tuesdays and Thursdays. I imagine it would be much too crazy for me on the weekends. And try the whale pales!

Shoutout to the tall Caucasian bartender with the baseball cap on snow day who told me I was «an incompetent retard» when I asked if the kitchen was open… at 8pm… After they had texted me on Friday saying that Sign of the Whale was open all weekend despite the snow.
False advertising, absolutely horrendous customer service and the most «incompetent» staff I have encountered in awhile.
Recommend madhatter 2 blocks away instead —
great food, staff, music and most importantly drinks. Madhatter also has a private floor for special events.

I was a frequent visitor of Sign of the Whale but no longer will they receive any of my business (or a substantial part of my Law School’s business). I won a free happy hour for January 21^st but in light of the impending blizzard I informed the bar that I would not be able to attend. I then asked that they reschedule my happy hour for a later date. Their response was «Unfortunately because the snow won’t be starting till tomorrow we aren’t permitting people to reschedule their Thursday happy hours at this time!»
I responded by stating «I understand, but I do feel that it is irresponsible to insist that people redeem their happy hours when there is an impending blizzard coming. In the interest of ensuring that your customers take adequate preparation for the storm and due to my extensive patronage of Sign of the Whale, I am asking that you reconsider. Thank you. «
Their response was that they are «not insisting that [I} must come, you’re welcome to pass on your happy hour if you would prefer to stay home and prepare for the snow.»
I responded by stating that «[b]y denying me the option of redeeming my happy hour at a later date, you are insisting that I come today. If you were not insisting then you would have provided an alternative other than come tonight or good luck winning another happy hour.»
I am a avid fundraiser and I have hosted various events at Sign of the Whale, but because of bad business practices I will no longer do so.

A little hole in the wall spot next door to my favorite hookah spot. The drinks are strong and good! Definitely gets crowded week on the weekend and a great Happy Hour Spot. I wouldn’t go there for any major event because it’s just too many bodies. Overall, one of my go too spots.

Very nice dive in bar in DC. Will come back again when visiting. This is a nice place to hang out in DC. Will be back again. Used a groupon. The food was good had the steak and cheese egg rolls. Margaritas was on point. Turn up Tony was real cool. Gave us apple shot.

Came here once because I had a Groupon. This, is a dive bar… above ground. It has two floors: the bottom is the bar and the upstairs is dining.
I came here once, so take this with a grain of salt (if that’s the right metaphor). I chose to sat in the bar… because I did not have a choice. I sat at one of the high top tables. There was only ONE person working the floor… and it was the bartender. Not only did he have to serve the needs of those that need a taste of liquor, but he also had to service the people sitting at the hightops. He tried his best to make with the pace so it didn’t bother me too much.
The place is dimly lit. There are lots and lots of TV for your sports viewing pleasure. Seating is plentiful so I wouldn’t imagine there being a lack of seating unless you went their during a prime sporting event.
The food was great! The choices are your typical bar food. I chose the HAWAIIAN BURGER and after i took one bite, I thought I was surrounded by coconut bra’d girls and palm trees. It had a slice of fresh pineapple, ham, and burger meat. It was fantastic and on par with a sit-​down restaurant burger.

After reading others reviews, it makes me laugh how accurate some of them are! For example, someone wrote of her shoes «sticking to the floor» — yep! This definitely has a younger/​college crowd. People making out. People Bumping into you over and over and over again. The music and drink prices were pretty decent. I think we had to pay a cover the night we went which is completely lame! I hate paying a cover for NOTHING — especially when I’m going to buying your overpriced drinks! No over 21 only bar should ever have a cover in my opinion unless there is a band or something. This place isn’t the type of bar that I would frequent or ever think of when deciding where to go for a night! The best part about this bar is probably its close proximity to &pizza when you’re done drinking!

Dive bar on every level. It’s been a while since I’ve had my shoes stick to the floor of a bar. Lots of drunky drunk college students. Complete with bar fights, girls twerking in too short/​too tight dresses. It’s place is flat out gross. The bathroom is unbelievably dirty.
We purchased drinks for my friends who went out for a smoke, minutes later to try to gain access and they were denied because it was past closing. But if your friends with the bartender you will get in regardless of the rules. so here I sit with 4 drinks and nobody to drink them. Bouncer never said they couldn’t go back in when they were on the way out for a smoke.
Digital photobooth was on the fritz. Soooo, if you’re in to all this glitz and glamor go check it out.

I only go there for drinks. Its usually crowded because people of the inexpensive drinks. Typical bar food, its nothing more than just a good meet spot to pregame for an better venue.

One star, before I was even *allowed* to step inside.
I waited in line to get in with a group of friends for 15 minutes, until I quickly stepped out of line for 30 seconds to take a picture with another guy also wearing a Mighty Ducks shirt (it was 90s Night). After I stepped back in, I was told to get in the back of the line, even though the people next to me, in front of me, and behind me vouched that I had only stepped out for a second and that they would be glad for me to take their place. The Big Man guarding the door responded with «I’m gonna be here all night» while shaking his head, and then «Then don’t go!» when we said that we weren’t going to go in without one of our group. We promptly left to go to a better place down the street.
F-​. Avoid at all costs, especially when you have literally hundreds of places in Dupont.

I’ve probably been to Sign of the Whale 3 or 4 times since living in Arlington.
As everyone knows… they do free happy hours if you «win» their contest. Aka if you sign up for the contest you will eventually be picked for a free happy hour.
The deal is, you get a time slot for a happy hour — the winner drinks for free and the winner’s friends get $ 4 drinks during their time slot which is actually a pretty good deal.
Although, it does get pretty crowded when it gets a little later but if you don’t have much going on on any given night, this could be a good option for you.

My friends and I enjoyed hanging out at the bar area here. My only complaint — we visited on Friday, July 3 during happy hour, but after we ordered our first round the bartender told us that due to the holiday there were not offering the regular weekday happy hour prices. I understand that a lot of people were off from work that day, but throw us some kind of July 4^th special or have some kind of special drink or something to offer instead.
Despite this small complaint, I liked the dive bar feel here, complete with lots of Philadelphia sports apparel. I was with my Villanova college friends, so we felt right at home here. While we were there, the soundtrack was all country hits which we enjoyed. I’ll stop back here next time I’m in town.

**This Review is about the Night LYFE**
If you want to forget the responsibilities of your every day life, question your insanity, party like you’re in jersey shore, barf a whole morning, make bad decisions – like really bad decisions, and/​or be back in college, THIS IS YOUR PLACE!!!
Known for their infamous group happy hours and crazy drink deals in the night, this place is the definition of a crowded party. This dive bar is not the hugest even with it’s upstairs, but gahdammnn do they serve strong drinks. I usually only go here for a friend’s happy hour (either 5 – 7 or 10 – 2 time frame), which you could win from signing up. Someone with a clipboard will usually be going around. The drinks are a dollar difference with the happy hour, but I usually always get a bucket ($ 8) and this is filled with the shittiest of the shittiest combinations of alcohol. It’s like an AMF but with so much more. If you want to live your college days, trust me, get this!
Overall, this place is filled with a lot of college students and freshly 21 people, so beware of the craziness and rude people pushing you around. It is quite an experience being here and would highly suggest this for a wild night, but would not come here if you ain’t ready to partayyyy. Also, the staff is pretty rude, so just stick to your friends and the bar!
I swear I will never come back to this place, but I always end up going here. It is hard not to especially when the THIRST IS REAL.

I LIKE this place for what it is! Sticky floors and all.
Cheap drinks, Karaōke on Wednesdays, discounted happy hours, free shots being passed out. Relatively «nice» bartenders, and decent food (mozzarella sticks and fries every time). I went here with a couple friends last Wednesday and rocked out to hits by Mary J Blidge and Nelly with complete strangers. What could be more fun than that? Nice vibe everyone is friendly and just wants to have a good time.

One of the less preppier dive bars in Dupont circle. Two levels, sort of. Once you get in to the left you can go to a little upstairs bar. All the easy to the back you get a little more open space up a few steps. Still divey though lol. Occasionally sticky bar, but what do you expect. It’s like a slightly better college dive bar with a more interesting crowd.
My friends and I usually come for their happy hours! They have random drawings for free happy hour which are pretty nice. The winner gets free drinks and anyone in their party/​that mentions their name will get discounted rail drinks $ 3 I believe. Good pregame deal for a Friday or Saturday evening ;)
It does get pretty packed there though so be prepared to wait and wiggle your way to the bar. I suggest you get there early to grab a table or else it’s all standing room for you!
Loaded tater tots and fries are to die for! My frienda like the spinach and artichoke dip and their buffalo wings. Overall, not bad bar food or drinks. Music is pretty good too. I would totally hang out here.

Not a fan of this bar at all.
I’ve been here for brunch and at night on a weekend.
I had purchased a living social deal for brunch and was especially excited for the bloody mary bar. All was going well until my friend and noticed a GIANT RAT crawling in between our booth and the wall.
Now, this bar isn’t the cleanest. The floors are sticky, some of the fixtures are falling apart, etc. But the last thing I want to see while I’m trying to enjoy a meal is a rat. Not cool. Nonetheless we were good sports and continued eating. The food was mediocre, and the bloody mary bar was pretty cool, but not worth coming back.
This place is a popular spot on Saturday nights, so probably not a good spot for you if you don’t like your personal space disappearing.
M street has many great bars, and this is not one of them.

If you didn’t get enough of the college party scene when you were in college, you can come back here and relive it!
They are big on prize happy hours and chances are one of your friends won one, invited you, and now SOTW has the crowd they need. These HH’s generally include $ 4 rail mixers and $ 3 – 4 drafts. If you want to win one you’ll get lots of chances as the promoter girls constantly push the sign up sheet at you.
I’m sure if you are one of the GW undergrads you’ll love it here. If you’re not, good luck.

My review is for the bar only. I didn’t eat any of the food here.
I love Sign of Whale. The crowd is super diverse (which I absolutely love). There are lots of professionals and everyone seems to be super relaxed and there to have fun.
The drinks are super cheap. We came here for HH and after several shots and mixed drinks, the tab came to $ 111 which was pretty good after a three hour time frame.
If you put your name on their list, you can win a HH where the winner gets free drinks and his/​her friends get half of their drinks.
Be careful with their rail vodka… it creeps up on you like a thief in the night. You won’t know what hit you.
Good times!

This bar just such a bad scene. Literally the only redeeming factor is the digital photobooth at the front of the bar — the perfect way to remember a night you probably want to forget.
I walked in around 6:30 on a Monday and noticed the bar smelled overwhelmingly like a port-​a-​potty. This smell is particularly intense in the restroom (natch) but manages to fill the entire multi-​room space.
I would have left right away based on the smell, but had made plans to play trivia. Trivia itself was very slow moving and not something I’d recommend. Neither would I recommend the quesadilla which featured undercooked/​raw onions and literally a tablespoon worth of pico de gallo that tastes like marinara sauce and cost $.50 if I wanted an additional tablespoon. Prize for winning trivia is $ 50 to the bar but then we’d have to come back… so we came in 4^th place and felt very okay with that.

About as fratty as they come, Sign of the Whale is the kind of place that loses its appeal the older you get, yet you always end up back here because someone you know won that free happy hour.
The same thoughts run through my head every time I’m on my way to Sign of the Whale (SOTW) — this is the last time, why am I going here, is this what rock bottom feels like — and yet I always seem to find myself coming back to this fratty, noisy, perpetually crowded bar. I’ve been here more times than I’m willing to admit outside of therapy, and I have no doubt I’ll be back several more times.
Why you ask? Because SOTW has one of the best deals in DC for cheap drinks. You can sign up to «win» (used loosely due to the frequency you win and the questioning after the fact as to whether the term is being used correctly in this case) a happy hour for you and your friends. If you win, you drink for free (pretty much everything cheap such as beer or rails) and your friends get happy hour extended from 6−9PM or 9−11PM. It’s one of the best deals in town, complete with wristbands. If your goal is quantity, not quality, of alcohol you are in heaven. Unfortunately, everyone under the age of 25 knows this as well, and starting at 6PM this place gets packed with so many people you wonder if the bar treats the maximum occupancy restrictions as more of a suggestion than a rule.
Enough hate and on to some of the positives — the bar food is pretty good. I recommend the Chicken Quesadillas, Loaded Tots, Nachos, and Spinach Dip. The food arrives quickly and is actually really good bar food. The bartenders are hit-​or-​miss, mostly male, and if you’re a girl you’ll always be served first. It’s not a bad place to begin your night, just get out of there early.
Overall, your likelihood of enjoying this bar is directly correlated by (1) your age and (2) intended level of drunkenness. If you want to take a date here, you will not be getting that second date. But if you’re out with your bros/​girls looking to get smashed before going to Camelot next door, you’ll have a great time.

As a longtime regular guest of the bar here, I have conflicting feelings about SOTW. It’s really not a great bar, but despite this I find myself coming back way more often than I should.
The biggest plus is that they give out «happy hours» where you get to drink FOR FREE 6pm-​9pm on any day from Tuesday through Friday. You can even choose a 9pm-​11pm time slot on Fridays, which is a sweet deal if you’re already planning on a Friday night out. Any friends you bring get half off drinks during that time as well. I’ve won multiple happy hours and have also attended them for other people. Your ability to take advantage of these deals depends on several factors, including how busy the bar is on your day and how attentive your waiter/​bartender is. Regardless, you can’t beat drinking for free.
Another plus in my book is that SOTW has some sick appetizers. The chicken quesadilla here is the BEST I’ve ever had at a bar. It’s got fresh veggies inside and comes with a huge dollop of sour cream. I always order one every time I visit.
On to the negatives. Overall, SOTW is just not a classy place. The inside is small and dingy and it tends to get way too crowded, especially on Fridays. The crowd is young and loud, and don’t be surprised if you get jostled frequently or get drinks spilled on you. Also, they recently redesigned the back of the bar so that there’s barely any seating. Service is a hit or miss — I’ve interacted with plenty of pleasant staff members, but I’ve also had at least a few incredibly rude servers.
I was most disappointed to find out that SOTW recently got rid of the happy hour pricing on appetizers. The apps used to come out to $ 4-​$ 5 each during happy hour, making them some great deals. However, they now run $ 7-​$ 8 each. I’m not even sure if the online menu correctly reflects the price increases — although my chicken quesadilla was listed as $ 7 on the online menu, I ended up getting charged $ 8 for the «happy hour» price.
In sum, while I don’t hold the highest opinion of SOTW, I’ve been here so many times for happy hour that I know exactly what to expect.