Olive Lounge: Bar, Community Center

Sam Morris has only been tending bar at the Olive Lounge for a few months, but his customers already know him by name.

They call out to him with a “Sam,” not a “Hey!” or “Excuse me.” They joke with him when he mishandles a check: “Come on, Sam, we’re regulars.”

And they are regulars, like most of the bar’s clientele. The Olive Lounge has been open for three years (though Middle Eastern Cuisine, the restaurant to which it’s attached, has been open for more than a decade), and it’s the only place in Takoma Park where the bar is the focus. Roscoe’s Pizzeria sells alcohol, but it’s first and foremost a restaurant. The Olive Lounge, on the other hand, is where people can go to just hang out.

“I think it’s really good,” Morris said of the Olive Lounge’s place in the community. “There wasn’t much nightlife before.”

But the bar isn’t known for crazy nights. Some of the regulars come in for happy hour after long days of work in D.C. Others meet in groups — Cub Scout troops, nursery school boards — in what is becoming Takoma Park’s unofficial community center.

Though it’s a tiny space, it’s an inviting one. The walls are a warm combination of autumnal red and orange, outfitted with paintings of sports figures. A pair of TVs hang on opposite walls. On a weekday happy hour, Christmas tunes waft in from unseen speakers.

The small size doesn’t detract from the Olive Lounge’s ability to get the basics right. There are only four taps, but the type of beer in each is changed every few days. While there are only 10 tables, there are 42 varieties of bottled beer.

The bar sells shirts with the slogan “Olive this place.” The regulars would be inclined to agree.

“I like the fact that we have a neighborhood bar,” said Bruce Andersen, 47, a policy analyst who has lived in Takoma Park for three years and goes to the Olive Lounge once a week. “This nation was born in the taverns of Boston. There’s something about having a good neighborhood bar where you can meet with friends, you can see people you know.”

Morris said that it’s a rare occurrence to see a customer younger than 25 come to the bar. Instead, it is a bar for young professionals. And for older couples. And for families who bring their kids for dinner.

It is for the community, and that’s what sets it apart.

“Takoma Park is in the middle of a great community revival,” said Scott Ward, 46, a 12-year Takoma Park resident. “And the Olive Lounge has been the anchor of that revival.”