The best bars near Nationals Park

The good news on Half Street this year is that Atlas’s pandemic adaptation — two rows of picnic tables on the pavement out front — remains in place. The first-come, first-serve seats are the answer to a variety of situations, whether you’re on a double date or looking for a place to meet friends and their kids. There’s no game-day happy hour this year, but Atlas has created new beers for the season, including the crispy Spring Training Helles lager, and the award-winning Andy’s Pizza is available by the foldable slice. 1201 Half St. SE. atlasbrewworks.com.

One of 2022’s most popular arrivals was the Navy Yard branch of Takoda, a no-reservations rooftop bar with great views and frozen cocktails. The space is filled with long, narrow tables perfect for perching with a group; try to grab the ones facing the river and D.C. Water’s shimmering headquarters. There are usually eight cocktails on tap and a few more swirling around in slushie machines, plus 16 beers, ciders and hard seltzers. The food menu, on the other hand, doesn’t get more involved than loaded fries or fried pickles. Select drinks cost a few bucks less at happy hour, which runs from 4 to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday — regular and frozen cocktails are $9 instead of $13 — but watch out after Nationals games: We’ve seen lines to get in stretching around the corner before the final out has been called. 1299 First St. SE. takodanavyyard.com.

The gimmick at Tap99 is the row of taps along the wall, winding around the room. The bar’s founders boast about having 99 beers, wines, cocktails, hard ciders, hard seltzers and hard kombuchas to pour yourself — even Red Bull and vodka shots, if that’s your thing. Stroll around, checking out the digital displays: All beverages are priced by the ounce, so you can pour tasters of six different fruited sours before picking the one you want. (Just remember that you’ll be paying for those samples, as the taps work with a card linked to your credit card.) New this year: a long, covered wooden streatery that seems to stretch for half of N Street, filled with tables at a perfect height for standing. 1250 Half St. SE. tap-99.com.

There aren’t many rooftop bars around the ballpark, so you’d think that the Hampton Inn’s Top of the Yard, with its partially obstructed view of the field, would be more popular. But on a recent sunny Saturday during the Nationals’ first homestand, there was no wait for the lobby elevator, no line at the bar and no fight to grab a spot at the railing. The solar panels the Nationals installed atop Parking Garage C block views of any action deeper than a pop fly, though you can still see first and third bases and home plate, and the video screen on the back of the scoreboard shows replays. 1265 First St. SE. totydc.com.

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