Best of Arlington 2016

Food & Drink

Best Dive Bar

Cowboy Café

Photo by Amy Moore

“I tell people I work at Cheers,” says Erika Mendez, general manager of Cowboy Café, where she knows the names of most of her customers, from construction workers to one particular bank CEO. With its snug wooden booths and a smattering of tables, the cozy pub seats only 52. Regulars eschew fancy drinks, gravitating instead to the 14 beers on tap (Lagunitas IPA and Devils Backbone Lager are popular) and showing up like clockwork for Monday’s trivia night, Tuesday’s half-price burgers and the weekend brunch. If you want to sound like you’re in the know, ask what the ghost has been up to lately. This mysterious entity is blamed when objects in the kitchen sometimes move themselves. –Laurie McClellan

4792 Lee Highway, Arlington, 703-243-8010, thecowboycafe.com

Other top vote-getters:

First Down Sports Bar & Grill
The Forest Inn

Galaxy Hut
L.A. Bar & Grill
Westover Beer Garden & Haus
Whitlow’s on Wilson