The Big Hunt

This is the place I take a date that I don’t want to be seen with. It’s dimly lit, the beer is cheap, and there’s no risk of running into anyone that I actually respect. It’s filthy charm has grown on me over the years, but the crowd is unfortunately fratty. There are better bars in the area, but if you need something quick and cheap, this’ll do the trick.

This place is great! It is a perfect divey bar. Good beer selection. Witty bartenders. Secret intimate comedy rooms. Good food. The interior is eclectic and divey.
It was the perfect place to kick-​off my adventure filled night with some good friends. I would not recommend it to anyone too pretentious as it is a dive bar. A great dive bar.

There’s something about this place that I really like. A colleague of mine said it was one of his favorite haunts back in the day. I can see why, it’s a dive-​y bar and compared to the snootier spots it’s Moe’s tavern. The happy hour deal here isn’t bad, basically super cheap house beers and PBR. The other selections though are pretty good, a balance between variety and familiarity. I haven’t had the food yet but it seems pretty good, with a lot of specials but I’ve always just gone to the bar. The annoying thing here is that if you go from level to level your tab doesn’t carry over.

This is one of the most reasonably-​priced bars in DuPont circle ($ 5 – 6 drafts of good stuff, not cheap beer). It’s a basic bar with nothing really special to offer, but serves its purpose well. Came here on a Saturday night to catch up with an old friend and didn’t have to wait more than 2 minutes to get a drink. The crowd was a decent size (not jampacked shoulder to shoulder) and the bartender on the top floor worked very efficiently. They have an outdoor patio which was probably my favorite part. Would definitely return!

What a dive. Horrible décor. Stinky basement. But the comedy redeemed the whole thing.

The happy hour is awesome! Comedy shows are great. The only issue I have is with the Asian cunt that works downstairs. She shushed me twice after asking her to fix my order that she put in wrong. Not my issue. She was completely wrong in her actions and I was not being loud or rude. It’s a bar for crying out loud. She’s a rude bitch. I’m not sorry for my language. I hope they find friendlier staff. Other than her, awesome experience. Don’t be rude to your customers. :)

Come here if you want to be refused service immediately because they don’t like your form of ID (a passport). A disgusting smelly place that you would want to avoid anyway.

At first site this place comes off as a typical DuPont Circle happy hour bar on Connecticut Ave. However, there’s much more to Big Hunt than meets the eye.
For instance, Wednesday happy hour special with $ 5 burgers makes this one of the cheapest places to get a burger and beer in the neighborhood (about $ 8-​$ 9 in total).
In addition, they have a stage downstairs where they do stand up comedy on Wednesdays and Fridays at the stage downstairs. The acts are quite good. Very different than any of the other places in Dupont Circle. Worth checking out if you’re in the neighborhood.

I’m a fan of the Big Hunt. It’s a dive bar so go in expecting that. With that being said, this is one of those spots I always find myself ending up at and having a great time. Their happy hour deals change by day, and on Thursday you can get $ 4 wells, which is a steal for this area. I like the multiple levels and the roof top with picnic tables is pretty cool.
Also, they have comedy shoes on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday in the basement. Wednesdays are free and I’ve gone a few times– they’re a good time. Some good local talent and a fun way to spend a Wednesday night. Also on Wednesdays are half price burgers, so it’s the perfect spot to grab a bite, a few beers, and get your daily laughs in.

I loooove this bar! They have an amazing beer selection, delicious bar food (the fries are fantastic) and a great terrace for when it’s warm outside. They have pool and games on the second floor. The bartenders are always friendly and they don’t mind suggesting beer if you ask (even when they’re busy). It’s a fun place to go to in a group.

Good happy hour prices for the beers, good beer selection, cute patio area but small so get there early. Inside was a bit stuffy for my taste. Didn’t try any food. Service was pretty good. Right now the Jack-​o-​traveler shandy is my fave.

Always enjoy a night out at The Big Hunt. They have an excellent beer selection, and I have had no complaints so far with the service. Does tend to get a little loud and crowded on weekends, but that’s not surprising. I would recommend getting a table over sitting at the bar, since that seems to allow better service.
I also enjoy their comedy nights. Always a good laugh, and the occasional $ 5 cover for special shows is well worth it.

Big Hunt is a craft beer dive bar that has some sort of love affair with Founders Brewing. I’m serious. The owners of Founders Brewing love Big Hunt and vice-​versa. They have Founders events here all the time. They have some decent food that was unremarkable. Staff are usually preoccupied and mostly clueless about the beer selection.
The bar is actually split between two rooms. One is your normal dive bar and the other is made to look like you are inside the belly of a whale. A small tap list here is not a bad thing since there will probably something that catches your eye. I know there is a bottle list… but I’ve never gotten something off of it.
However, the tap beers are 90% of the time tasting bad. Not the beer’s intrinsic flavor, but the kegs and tap lines are clearly not cared for giving the beers a flat appearance and funky, sometimes sour or soapy taste. This has happened to me too consistently to be coincidence. So I cannot recommend this as a beer bar.
Last, we’ve had issues with the staff and bouncers before. Our worst experience is when the bouncer would not let in our friend with her valid, very real, West Virginia driver’s license. Why? Because West Virginia re-​did their driver’s license design and Big Hunt’s outdated binder on what IDs around the US look like didn’t have that design in it. Go figure.

This divey bar (or at least as divey as Dupont gets) is a lot of fun! The bartender had been there for more than a decade and was happy to chat with us (or pretended to be, anyway…). They have some great cheap beers you can enjoy on a nice deck out back, should you so choose. I hope to make it back and catch the comedy, which is rumored to occur in the basement.

Hit or miss with the drinks! It’s supposedly «a dive bar» which makes me think that the drinks will be simple and at a relatively good price.” That’s definitely not the case. At all. The drinks were overpriced and the service was really bad.
In reality the only dive-​bar part of this bar was the attitudes that the bar tenders had.

Okay, so this place wasn’t my favorite, but props to the owners/​staff for a unique bar experience. I think it just wasn’t my scene, as others appeared to really enjoy. Had one drink in the front window, which was nice for people watching. When my friend and I decided to switch to wine, we asked about a wine list– definitely not the place to order wine. The server was brutally honest about both house wines being «basically adequate.» I appreciated the honesty on that one!

I’ve been here multiple times, but never wrote a review until now. I have a hard time giving this place more than three stars based on my last experience. We sat in the upstairs patio, and came for a few beers. Our waitress was in attentive, and unfriendly. She took forever to come back to our table after our beer glasses were empty. Other than the service, everything else was great — nice selection of beer, yummy bar food (try the fries). All in all, a decent place to hang out on the «roof» when the weather is nice.

Quintessential dive bar with a flavor for weird décor. They have a wall of fake human heads that is visible in the front of the bar. The capstone head is Ronald Regan. Perhaps he was cryogenically frozen and placed inside the bar. (whoa that was twisted).
They have their own beer. I like the big ass ipa. Also any establishment that serves a beverage named «ass» is alright by me. They also have a fairly large craft beer selection. Happy hour is muy cheap. I used to spend a lot of time in here but now I’m #elderly and have moved back to awful NJ. Any establishment that’s around this long, and that caters to everyone is okay by me.

The Big Hunt, my office’s go-​to Happy Hour spot, is a big and dark three-​story bar with a heated and covered patio.
Happy Hour for drinks:
Monday — Friday, 4−7pm
$ 3 PBR, Lite Ass Brew, Big Ass Wheat, Hard Ass IPA & Bad Ass Amber
$ 3 rail drinks
$ 1 off all other drinks and draughts
Pros
— Big
— Good happy hour
— Nice upstairs patio
Cons
— Busy
— Unexceptional food (regular bar food)
What I thought
I’ve only been here for Happy Hour, so I can’t say anything about other times. I like Big Hunt. It has at least three bars inside, with many separate rooms and seating. Even so, it’s very busy in here. I always feel like I’m in someone’s way. The service is really hit-​or-​miss; bartenders and servers are really annoyed by the big crowds during busy times. I have not personally ordered food here, but the nibbles I’ve had of my friends’ dishes were fine, just mediocre.
Big Hunt is a good for big groups that like loud music and crowded bars. I always get surprised seeing smaller groups and dates here. It’s so loud… how do you hear each other?!

Good selection of brews. Ideal for HH. Decent prices, especially for DC. Didn’t try the food, but the HH specials seemed like a deal. Previous reviewers label this as a «dive bar». I’d have to contend that is not the case. Maybe a dive bar to the DC clientele, but living all over the world — not even close true dive bar greatness. Sorry.
Recommended for first timers to see for yourself.