It's a frigid Friday night, and the entertainment centers of the city – Chinatown, U Street, Georgetown, H Street, Capitol Hill, Adams Morgan and Barracks Row – are flourishing with people crowded into bars and restaurants, eager to warm their fingers and enjoy good food and interesting chatter.

In the Southeast neighborhood of Anacostia, however, the streets are dead. The only exception is on the 2200 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue.

 That is the home of Uniontown Bar and Grill, one of only two sit-down restaurants in the neighborhood.

 Anchoring the corner of King Avenue and W Street, Uniontown sits across for the neighborhood’s iconic Big Chair and the Big Chair Coffee and Grill, the only other sit-down restaurant. Like Uniontown, it also recently reopened after being closed.

Uniontown is unassuming on the outside. The only indication that something is going on inside comes from the few patrons standing outside to have a smoke.

Inside is a crowd of diverse ages. People are buying drinks, chatting, laughing and dancing to deafening music as a disco ball shoots multicolored lights across the walls and floors.

 Now under new management after the previous owner’s conviction on drug charges, Uniontown has an authentic Washington feel. It offers themed drinks, like the Marion Barry, the Chuck Brown and the Ballou Knight, which is named after the mascot of nearby Ballou High School. On the second level, patrons listen and dance to go-go, a form of music that originated in Washington, and enjoy hookah.


 Tonight, Jackie Maddox and her daughter, Christine Montgomery, collect entrance fees at the front door and give out wristbands for re-entry. They both frequent the bar throughout the week.

“The people draw me here,” said Montgomery, a meeting planner who lives in the neighborhood. “It’s a family atmosphere.”

Montgomery is greeted by almost every customer with a hug and a promise to meet later.

The restaurant opens every day at 11 a.m. and closes at midnight, with the exception of Sundays, when it opens at 1 p.m., and Fridays and Saturdays, when it stays open until 2:30 a.m. Happy hour is Monday through Friday from 4 to 8 p.m., and each night there is a new attraction — comedy nights on Wednesdays, motorcycle night on Mondays.

"On the weekdays, it’s a mature crowd, and everyone comes after work to unwind," Maddox, 54, said. "They have karaoke and jazz here. It's really nice atmosphere."


In 2012, the restaurant closed after being open for about a year after the owner pleaded guilty to selling cocaine.


 Aftermath, which plays R&B, pop and go-go, has been playing at Uniontown for three weeks.

 Vocalist Tiny lives in Ward 8 and was coming to the bar well before her band started playing there.

 "It's a decent bar," she said.. "It's in the community, so you can get something to eat, watch the game. It’s a nice stop."

 Dmaz, 39, is a native Californian, but he said feels completely immersed in the culture whenever he’s at Uniontown.

"Pure and uncut" is how the Howard University graduate describes Uniontown.


"I'm not from D.C.," Lumukanda said. "But I love a unique authentic experience, and this is it. It doesn't get more D.C. than this."

Ayenubizu Yimenu, the owner of The Big Chair Coffee ’N Grill across the street at 2122 King Ave., said that people come to eat at her restaurant and then head over to Uniontown for dancing.

The Big Chair Coffee ’N Grill was one of the first sit-down restaurants in the neighborhood and, like Uniontown, was shut down for a brief stint of time due to some legal issues.

Since it first opened in 2010, Yimenu has had trouble getting an entertainment license so that she can get a DJ, but she isn’t fretting over lost business.

“People still come in here,” she said. “They like my food.”

Source: 

http://washingtoninformer.com/news/2015/feb/25/uniontown-bar-brings-nightlife-anacostia/