America’s Most Political Bar Has a Brand-New Look

Some bars are famous for their cocktails. A few are famous for their regulars. Round Robin Bar, at the Willard InterContinental on Pennsylvania Avenue, is famous for both, and after nearly 180 years of pouring drinks for presidents, senators, writers and the people who wanted something from all of them, one of the most historic bars in Washington, D.C., and among the longest-operating in America, has been restored. The good news? The circular counter is still there, and so is the Mint Julep.

Photo Credit: Greg Dohler for Willard InterContinental Washington, D.C.

I should explain why that matters. Round Robin opened in 1847, two blocks from the White House, and it has spent most of the time since as the place where Washington actually gets things done. The roster of people linked to the Willard and its social rooms reads like a syllabus: Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Woodrow Wilson. Kentucky senator Henry Clay is credited with introducing the city to the Mint Julep here in the 1840s, and the hotel’s lobby, crowded with power brokers angling for a word with the powerful, is said to have given us the term “lobbyist.” (Whether or not that’s strictly true, it’s exactly the kind of story you want to hear while sitting at the bar.)

So the stakes for whoever touched this room were high. Rip out the wrong thing, and you’ve erased a chapter of American history. Change nothing, and it starts to feel like a museum.

Photo Credit: Greg Dohler for Willard InterContinental Washington, D.C.

What Changed (and What Didn’t)

D.C. designer Maggie O’Neill trod carefully. Her brief, as she puts it, was “never to reinvent Round Robin Bar, but to reimagine how to tell the stories that celebrate its extraordinary history.” She restored the bar itself, the original millwork, the marble stairs and the mosaic floor in the lounge, then gave the old woodwork a new backdrop: deep emerald walls, herringbone wood floors and seating upholstered in fabrics with a little Americana charm. It looks like the Round Robin you remember, if you remember it, only better rested.

The biggest change is on the walls. D.C.-area artist Nicole Bourgea painted a sweeping mural that wraps around the circular bar, mining the Willard’s past for its scenes: opera star Jenny Lind’s celebrated 1850 visit, the 1859 Peace Convention held at the hotel in a last-ditch attempt to avert the Civil War, and the grand Beaux-Arts lobby, lobbyists presumably included. Look closely and you’ll spot a nod to Mark Twain’s famous white suit. It’s also, remarkably, the first permanent artwork by a female artist anywhere in the hotel’s interiors, which, after 179 years, feels overdue.

Photo Credit: Greg Dohler for Willard InterContinental Washington, D.C.

If your drinking companion runs out of stories, the walls will pick up the slack. Point your phone at any of the works using the StraxAR app, and one of 12 short films about the history behind it will start to play. “The Round Robin has always been a room where history happened,” says Strax Networks CEO Eric Singleton. “Now it can tell you so itself.” I’m usually allergic to technology in a historic bar, but I’ll make an exception for this.

My favorite addition, though, came from behind the bar. Round Robin mixologist Raydel Blanco is also a painter, and he contributed two acrylic portraits: Henry Clay, seated within the bar’s signature circle, and Helen Herron Taft, gazing across the room in his direction. Behind her are the Tidal Basin and the Jefferson Memorial, a nod to the first lady who brought Washington its cherry blossoms. There’s something lovely about a bartender painting the room’s history and then making you a drink in it.

Photo Credit: Greg Dohler for Willard InterContinental Washington, D.C.

What to Order

Start with a Mint Julep. It’s been the signature order here for good reason, and drinking one at the counter where Clay is credited with introducing it is about as close to time travel as Washington gets. The refreshed cocktail list has a few more history lessons, too. The Diplomatic Visit nods to President William Howard Taft’s 1909 meeting with Mexican President Porfirio Díaz, with Yuu Baal mezcal, Ancho Reyes Verde, housemade tamarind shrub and chocolate bitters. Taft, a frequent Willard guest, also gets his own Barrel Manhattan, made with the hotel’s exclusive Woodinville single-barrel bourbon and finished in Sauternes casks. And there’s a Last Word made with Nolet gin and a blue borage flower, which is as pretty as it is serious.

Executive chef Gyo Santa keeps the food firmly in cocktail-hour territory: Petrossian caviar and chips, truffled deviled eggs, braised short rib crostini, panko-crusted lamb chops and a miniature version of the Willard’s famous lobster roll.

Photo Credit: Greg Dohler for Willard InterContinental Washington, D.C.

For a private toast, the restoration also took in The Nest, a 900-square-foot room on the mezzanine above the bar that was once the Ladies Lounge and Old Tea Room. It has floor-to-ceiling windows over Pennsylvania Avenue, original chandeliers and a fireplace, which makes it a rather grand place to mark a milestone of your own.

It all caps a broader transformation at the Willard, which unveiled its 335 restored rooms and suites in 2025, just in time for the country’s 250th birthday. As for me? I’ll take the julep and the caviar and chips, preferably with a seat at the curve of the bar. If the walls feel like talking, I’m all ears.

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Planning a stay? Revisit Haute Living’s look at the Willard InterContinental, a Washington icon with a modern update.