Espita is a Shaw mezcaleria at 1250 9th Street NW, built around an agave list of more than 100 mezcals poured beside Oaxacan moles and hand-pressed tortillas.
Who would love it: anyone curious about agave spirits who wants a guided way in. Who would skip it: a drinker after a quiet wine bar, because the room runs loud and the kitchen is part of the show.
Espita opened in 2016 and made the agave bar its signature from the start. Washingtonian covered the launch as a rare full mezcaleria in the city, and the bar still pours one of the deepest agave selections in Washington. The Daily Meal has described it as a destination for mezcal drinkers rather than a Mexican restaurant that happens to stock a few bottles.
The room
The space pairs a bright dining room with a long bar backed by shelves of agave bottles. Murals run the walls and the open kitchen grinds heirloom corn for tortillas each morning. Bar seats give a direct line to the bartenders, who steer first-timers through the agave list rather than leaving them to guess.
Timeout DC frames Espita as a Shaw anchor that has held its standing across a decade of openings on the block. The room reopened for full service after the pandemic stretch with the agave program intact, and the bar runs as its own draw separate from the dining tables.
The kitchen has drawn steady recognition for its regional Mexican cooking, and the bar has hosted agave producers and guest pours that push the list past the standing menu, per District Fray. The early-evening happy-hour window is the locals' entry point, with lower agave pours before the dinner rush fills the room. It is the calmest stretch to learn the shelf without a wait.
What to order
Start with a flight from the agave list, which spans young joven mezcals to aged and smoky bottlings, most pours around $14 to $18. The agave cocktails rotate, and the bartenders will build a path from the approachable to the assertive. From the kitchen, the moles are the dish to know; the menu spotlights several regional styles alongside sopes and ceviches.
The crowd and vibe
The crowd skews Shaw locals and agave-curious drinkers crossing town for the list. Early seatings run calm; by 8pm the bar is full and the volume climbs. Weekend nights push late, and the late hours draw a drinks-first crowd after the kitchen rush.
Best time to go
A weeknight at 5pm is the move for bar seats and an unhurried walk through the agave list. Friday and Saturday run to 2am and fill fast, so reserve a table or accept a wait for the bar. Sunday keeps shorter hours, closing at 10pm.
What regulars say
- The agave selection draws the most consistent praise, per repeated Google reviews.
- Bar seating is the insider call for a guided mezcal flight.
- The moles earn steady mentions as the dish to order alongside the drinks.
Who it is for
- A first real walk through mezcal with a bartender's help
- An agave flight at the bar before dinner
- A late Shaw nightcap with smoke in the glass
The smart approach is to treat Espita as an agave bar with a kitchen attached. Take a bar seat, ask for a flight, and let the bartenders steer from joven to aged. It is one of the steadier agave rooms in the city, and the list is the reason to come.
See where it lands among the cocktail bars in Washington DC, browse more bars in Washington DC, or compare it across our best cocktail bars guide.
Sources: Espita official site (2026); Washingtonian; The Daily Meal; Timeout DC; Google Maps reviews (n=1,500+).
