A new sports bar is taking over one of 14th Street's most storied addresses this week. The Last Straw holds its grand opening on Friday, November 6, in the former Bar Pilar space, with doors opening at 3 p.m. and the venue planning to go 21-and-older after 7 p.m. that night.
Bar Pilar’s run at 1833 14th Street began in 2005, when it operated alongside nearby Café Saint-Ex. An opening-era Washington Post review described a compact, fewer-than-40-seat bar serving dinner until 1 a.m. and named for Ernest Hemingway’s boat. The Last Straw is a change in menu and theme, but late-night service and bar culture have been part of the address since its early days.
The opening was detailed by PoPville, which reported that the bar will not take reservations, with all bar seating and tables handled first-come, first-served. The space itself carries over some of its old bones, with a large bar downstairs and a smaller bar upstairs, plus a kitchen on the first floor.
For anyone planning to watch a game there, the setup sounds built for it. The bar plans to have eight TVs plus a giant projector screen, and the site reports it will be a Chelsea bar for English Premier League viewing, with matches shown with sound, while declaring itself an Eagles bar for the NFL. The Last Straw is also leaving its college football allegiance up for grabs, inviting the public to weigh in on which team it should support.
What's on the Menu and Taps
Food-wise, the planned menu includes burgers, wings, salmon, steak frites and, fittingly for an Eagles bar, cheesesteaks. On draft, expect Guinness plus five other taps, in a lineup PoPville describes as similar to what's poured at Exiles. Weekend late nights will bring DJs upstairs, according to the same report.
Who's Behind the Bar
The Last Straw comes from the team behind Exiles and Easy Tiger Tavern — Karl Keane, Brian Hillery and Donagh Gilhooly — along with Leon Kent, formerly of Fadó, Red Hen and All-Purpose, as first reported by PoPville in October. Exiles operates on U Street, while Easy Tiger Tavern is located in Adams Morgan, giving the new ownership group a presence across several of the city's nightlife corridors.
The owners’ sports-bar playbook has already taken shape at their other venues. Exiles opened on U Street in the former Stetsons Famous Bar & Grill, and the bar has built fan partnerships around teams including the Buffalo Bills, Penn State and Liverpool FC. In Adams Morgan, Easy Tiger Tavern opened in 2024 with Arsenal and LSU allegiances. The Last Straw’s Chelsea, Eagles and still-undecided college loyalties extend a format the group has already used in other neighborhoods.
PoPville, which first broke news of the bar's plans for the former Bar Pilar space, frames The Last Straw as obviously different from its predecessor but sounding like a worthy successor. The former Bar Pilar address has long been a fixture on 14th Street, and its next chapter now hinges on how the neighborhood takes to a sports-and-DJs format built around Guinness, cheesesteaks and Chelsea matches with the sound on.
