By Katie Bowles
Photo by Brocreative/Shutterstock.com.
With Selection Sunday over and everyone scrambling to fill in their brackets, finding a place to watch your favorite teams compete in the NCAA Tournament may have slipped your mind. Never fear, Northern Virginia Magazine’s got you covered. Don’t settle for your weird coworker’s smelly living room or your parents’ basement–check out our picks for the best bets in NoVA to catch all the action.
Glory Days
With nine locations in NoVA (including the original in Burke), Glory Days knows a thing or two about what sports bar patrons want. Each location has at least 25 televisions, along with touchscreen bar entertainment and free WiFi for the diehards who need to keep an eye on online brackets.
- Glory Days (Photography by Erick Gibson)
Mister Days
This Clarendon sports bar has a striking amount of TVs (around 50 surrounding the two bars and seating area), all of which are HD. Mister Days also has large projection screens for the can’t-miss events and arcade games for patrons who may need a break from the basketball action.
The Bungalow Sports Grill
The Bungalow‘s two locations (in Shirlington and Franconia) both offer a spacious place to check out the game and play some of your own. Each location has over 30 TVs, pool tables, dart boards and shuffleboards, along with happy hour five days a week (4 to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday). The Franconia location also has two bars cut down on the wait time between pitcher refills.
Kilroys
This Springfield staple (also know as the “Hokie House of Northern VA”, for all you Virginia Tech fans) has 38 TVs spread throughout its location. Kilroys also offers food specials (like a wing buffet or 50-cent tacos) every weekday, along with a happy hour that (according to owner Philip Thomas) has “the best deals around–you can’t beat two-dollar beers“.
Photo courtesy of Kilroys.
Velocity 5
V5‘s four NoVA locations (in Falls Church, Centreville, Sterling and Arlington) all have around 50 TVs and offer other games (like pool and arcade games), along with special events like pong tournaments. Each location has at least 50 beers for thirsty patrons to choose from and will offer its regular happy hour during March Madness.
First Down Sports Bar & Grill
Located in Ballston, this bar is known for its buffalo wings and will give you plenty of chances to try them for cheap, with regular half-price wings and all-you-can-eat wings nights. Grab a meal while watching the game on one of First Down‘s 20 TVs, then play a few of your own on its foosball tables and shuffleboards.