The Duchess - Ravenna

Several weeks back, Country Girl was kind enough to take me to The Duchess in Ravenna.  It's a bar nearby where Country Girl used to live.  With such a fancy name, I was teeming with excitement about paying it a visit.  Country Girl advised me to temper my enthusiasm, assuring me it's decidedly not fancy and in fact quite divey.  Given this warning, I was now worried about a trashtacular experience.  Thankfully, she did a great job of lowering my expectations to the point where I was actually mildly impressed by it.

Despite it being in an area with few other shops and restaurants, street parking was very tight.  First impressions through the door were that it's bigger than it appears from the outside.  Large enough to accommodate a couple of pool tables easily.  It's also surprisingly well lit.  The decor appears to be college eclectic, which is to be expected given it's relative proximity to Washington's campus.  The patrons appeared to be largely college aged which, again, should be expected.  I found the kids' presence to be a positive in that it gave the place some vibrancy without being too overwhelming.  It was nice too given that with Country Girl's warnings, I found the crowd much less trashy than expected.  

After getting over the surprise of the place not being as awful as Country Girl made it out to be, some of the not so appealing aspects became apparent.  The beer selection is decidedly not great.  I think out of the eight or so handles, there was maybe one decent beer.  There's a smoking deck in back of the building which is fine enough except the door remains open so the stench of cigarette smoke wafts throughout inside whenever someone is smoking.  Another interesting thing was the heavy rotation of country music on the juke box.  Perhaps country music is part of The Duchess' thing as it definitely stood out relative other places we've been to in the city.

All told, The Duchess wasn't terrible despite Country Girl's warnings.  It's also not spectacular.  I'm very happy that she took me to one of her old stomping grounds and if for nothing other than sentimental purposes, we may visit again in the future.