Old Ebbitt Grill

Washington's oldest saloon, serving oysters and American classics in a Victorian dining room a short walk from the White House.

Old Ebbitt Grill traces its roots to 1856, when, according to legend, innkeeper William E. Ebbitt bought a boarding house, and it has long called itself Washington's oldest saloon. Since 1983 it has occupied a Beaux-Arts building on 15th Street that once housed B. F. Keith's Theatre, with a Victorian interior that evokes the capital's turn-of-the-century saloons, down to carved glass panels depicting the White House. The Oyster Bar is the heart of the room, and the kitchen runs from breakfast to late night, making it a natural stop between the monuments and the White House.