Ivy City Smokehouse Tavern sits at 1356 Okie Street NE, in the warehouse blocks of Ivy City in the city's northeast. The tavern works above the company's own smokehouse and fish market, and the Michelin Guide lists it for the kitchen that smokes its seafood in house rather than trucking it in.
Who would love it: drinkers who want a raw bar and a cold cocktail in a part of town most visitors never reach. Who would hate it: anyone expecting a downtown polish, because Ivy City is an industrial pocket and the tavern leans casual.
The room is a two-floor tavern with a rooftop deck, set against the brick of the old industrial district. The seafood comes from the operation downstairs, so the smoked fish and the raw bar are the reason to make the trip out past Union Market.
What to order: a dozen from the raw bar, a plate of the house-smoked salmon, and a gin and tonic or a local draft to match. Prices stay reasonable for the quality, which is the payoff for the off-the-grid address.
Best time to go is a weekend afternoon, when the rooftop opens up and the market traffic adds life to the block. Weeknights are quiet, an easy seat at the bar without a wait.
It is one of the most worthwhile detours on the northeast side of the District. Find it in our guide to the best hidden gem bars in Washington DC, and browse more Washington DC hidden gems.
The address is the catch and the reward. Ivy City is an industrial pocket of northeast DC, better known for warehouses and distilleries than for bars, which is exactly why the tavern reads as a find. The Michelin Guide lists it for a kitchen that smokes its own seafood on site rather than sourcing it in.
The vertical setup is unusual. A retail fish market and smokehouse operate on the ground level, and the tavern sits above with a rooftop deck on top of that. The result is a raw bar and a smoked-fish menu pulling from the operation directly downstairs, which keeps the seafood as fresh as the format allows.
Regulars treat it as a destination, not a drop-in. Yelp's 700-plus reviews single out the smoked salmon and the oysters, and note that weeknights are quiet enough to walk up to the bar. The trade-off is the trek, since Ivy City is a rideshare or a longer walk from the nearest metro.
It fits a Union Market detour. The market district sits a short hop away, so the tavern works as the seafood-and-a-cocktail end of an afternoon spent on the northeast side.
The smokehouse below is the reason the tavern exists. The company built its name on smoked salmon and other cured and smoked seafood sold through the ground-floor market and to retailers around the region, and the tavern grew out of that operation as its first sit-down room. That lineage shows on the plate, where the smoked fish is the dish to order, and it gives the bar a story that most seafood rooms in the city cannot match, since the product is cured a floor below the table.
Who it's for
- A raw-bar fan willing to leave the tourist core
- An afternoon paired with a Union Market stop
- Skip it if you want a downtown address
Sources: Ivy City Smokehouse official site (2026); Michelin Guide; Yelp reviews (n=700+); Instagram
