The Bungalow does its best to change your mood after a rough day at the office. Settle into a bright red or yellow bar stool, look down and check out the old vacation photographs, postcards and Hawaiian records arranged under the clear bar counter. Look up to see flags representing Key West's Conch Republic and the Outer Banks hanging overhead.

Beers arrive in 32-ounce mason jars as well as in standard pint glasses, and bartenders whip up margarita after margarita. Behind the bar is a huge backdrop done up like a battered old house with televisions in its windows. Flat-screen monitors show sports as well as a rotation of photographs from Mardi Gras and other past parties at the bar.

Every weekday brings a different happy hour. There's the Monday fiesta with $1 mini Coronas and tacos and half-price nachos, free pool for women Wednesday nights and complimentary snacks and discounted beers on Fridays.

Throw in dart lanes and a room full of pool tables and the Bungalow has everything you need to get away from it all, at least temporarily.

This branch of the Bungalow was the second of four locally owned bar-and-billiards combos to open in Northern Virginia, all with the same party-hearty vibe that draws crowds of ball-capped 20-somethings, though older patrons don't look out of place. If you're not the theme-bar type, the decor can feel a little overwrought and cheesy at times, but there's one more escape: Once warm weather arrives, there's a good-size patio outside.

-- Fritz Hahn (March 16, 2007)