Wilson Hardware officially opens

Wilson Hardware officially opens to the public tonight, Friday September 8. Taking over the space RìRà previously sat in, the owners have completely revamped the interior so it is totally unrecognizable from its pervious dark Irish sports bar. Happy hour is from 5 to 7pm and reservations are on Yelp. Thanks to Arlnow.com for this great drink list:

"Many of the drinks will reference the Virginia Hardware store, which occupied the space from the early 1960s until 2005. The cocktail menu will feature signature drinks such as the Blueprint, a mix of rosé, vodka, cantaloupe, lemon, ancho chile and mint; the Adjustable Wrench made with bourbon, rum, vanilla and chocolate bitters and the Bright Idea, a shareable cocktail for two."

Social Bites Clarendon Food Crawl

This Saturday August 9, The Social Group and RUNINOut will be launching Clarendon’s first-ever Food Crawl over four restaurants in four hours. The event will start at 12:30pm at Ri Ra, then at 1:30pm they will split off into two different groups and visit two other restaurants for 45 minutes each and will rejoin for an a final tasting around 4pm. Each location will have drinks specials and will be featuring signature items that best represent their establishment. Tickets are $43 here.

Thursday night Clarendon pics

Instagrams from Clarendon, VA this Thursday night

District Karoake Flash Mob and HariKaraoke at RiRa

District Karaoke competitors at RìRà last February

This Thursday, May 1 at 7pm District Karaoke is holding its first-ever flash mob in Clarendon. They are looking to fill Monday night karaoke competition spots for their next season, which kicks off this Monday, May 5 at RìRà. You can sign up here either as a team or solo as a free agent.

After the mob, District Karaoke is going to join another popular karaoke league HariKaraoke for live band karaoke also at RìRà. Amateur singing along with a full band is the best way to distract you from this rainy crap weather.

District Karaoke at RiRa

Trey W. from team Mr. Holland's O Face

District Karaoke, the region’s only social, team-based karaoke league, is currently registering people for Monday nights at Ri Ra Irish Pub in Clarendon.

For 10 weeks, teams compete for a chance to go to the City-Wide Finals. Each night, teams compete in three rounds. The first two rounds are solo performances with a group performance for the third round. What makes District Karaoke special is that everyone at the bar, whether on a team or not, has an opportunity to score the performance. Winners are decided by smart phone voting using District Karaoke's web app.

At the end of the season, District Karaoke will host the top teams from every division at the City-wide Karaoke Championship on April 9, 2013 at Penn Social. Interested singers can register at here as "free agents," as an eight person team, or as a group. Membership costs $55.00 per person. Teams can have a maximum of eight players.

The Winter 2014 season will begin on January 13, 2014. While most of the DC locations are already full, there's still room on Mondays at Ri Ra in Clarendon and at Irish Channel in DC.


Thanksgiving Eve at RiRa

Thanksgiving Eve turns out to be the biggest drinking night of the year, with all the locals back in town and everyone has work off Thursday. This Wednesday, Nov 27 I'll be stopping by RìRà to check out local band Practically Einstein on stage at 10pm. The Better Than Eza-like rock band has been touring recently showcasing their hit Soldier Girl. If you can make it earlier, starting at 8pm their is RiRa's weekly free stand up comedy show, half price burgers and $15 craft beer buckets to keep your mind off the next day's family drama.

Little Pink Dress breast cancer benefit at RiRa

Given that this is breast cancer awareness month, RìRà is also having a fundraiser party for the Breast Cancer Care Foundation. On Saturday, October 26 if you don't feel like celebrating Halloween early, come out to RìRà in Clarendon and instead dress in pink to avoid $5 cover charge and skip the line. This month RiRa's special drink is the $8 Jameson Cherry Sour featuring Jameson Irish Whiskey, freshly squeezed lemon juice, sugar syrup, fresh cherries, a dash of egg white and Peychaud's Bitters. Other drink specials include $3 pints of either Heineken or Bud Light.

USA vs Panama soccer at RiRa

The U.S. Men's National Team has secured its 2014 World Cup bid, and has one more official World Cup qualifying match left on Tuesday, October 15. Starting at 9pm, RìRà in Clarendon is showcasing the match against Panama on their big screen. If you get your RìRà Match Card punched four times you can enter to win a trip to the Champions League Final in Berlin in 2015.

Halfway to St Patrick's Day at RiRa

RìRà is celebrating halfway to St. Patrick's Day this Saturday, September 14. They are getting into the Irish spirit early by partying twice as hard this weekend with two live bands. Celtic rockers Empty Flask hit the stage at 6pm warming the stage for Shake Shake Shake at 10pm.

Memorial Day weekend lineup at RiRa

Judging by Twitter, most people I know have fled DC this three day weekend for Dewey beach or another warm spot. If you have stayed in town for Memorial Day, RiRa is hosting an entire weekend of live music.

Starting tonight, Friday May 24 the always entertaining Kleptoradio plays at 10pm, and they cover all genres, from yesterday's and today's country, rap and rock.

Saturday night the Irish rock group the Blaggards comes to RiRa. Massive in the Celtic Rock scene, this high energy band have toured across the US and Europe. Two of their songs from their album Standards will appear on the CBS series The Good Wife this Sunday, March 24, 9pm.

They round off their weekend nights on Sunday night with DJ Dave Thong spinning until cl



St Patrick's Day at RiRa

Dr Fu

A full day of music at RiRa on St Patrick's Day! Starting at 12pm they kick off with traditional music from William Dicke, followed by music from Nine Mile Circle. Local legends Dr. Fu taking the stage at 9pm. Come and enjoy the music and the best Guinness in town!

Great Guinness Toast at RiRa Friday

It's time again to raise your glass and help try break a world record! On Feb. 15, join other revelers at RiRa Irish Pub in Clarendon for the Great Guinness Toast. The event starts at 9pm with the goal of joining countless others around the world to clink your glasses together in an attempt at a Guinness World Record for largest simultaneous toast. RiRa will also have a bagpiper on hand to kick off their countdown to St. Patrick's Day.

Mardi Gras celebration at RiRa tonight

Tonight should be a fun night out in Clarendon with the annual Mardi Gras parade at 8pm followed with lots of drink specials at various local bars.

RiRa is strategically placed in the middle of the parade route on Wilson Blvd and is celebrating with live music by Tommy Gann starting at 7pm. Beer specials include $3 Heineken and Newcastles until 9pm.

Karaoke tonight at RiRa

Live band karaoke tonight, Jan 10 at Rì Rà! Fun starts at 10pm. $3.50 Guinness black courtesy of their lovely Guinness girls.

Be a zombie at RiRa Saturday

If you are in the mood for Irish zombies this Halloween, check out RiRa this Saturday Oct 27. RiRa is waving their cover charge (usually $5 or $10) to anyone dressed as an Irish zombie! The night will also include costume contest with a $250 prize for best contest and anotehr $250 for best couple.

St. Patrick's Day in Clarendon

Boccato Gelato festive Chocolate Guiness

Happy St Patrick's Day Clarendon! Check out Arlnow.com impressive list of events this Irish holiday. Clarendon highlights include:

Whitlows for live celtic music at 1pm and cover band at 8pm (no buffet today).

IOTA has the raucous celtic punk O'Tasty band at 8:30pm.

O'Sullivan's for live Irish music throughout the day and  Boyle School of Irish Dance at 5:30pm.

Mister Day's for green beer.

RiRa for three cover pands and a benefit party for The Reading Connection.

Taste of Clarendon on Sunday Nov 1

Professionals in the City are running a "Taste of Clarendon" event to sample the fares at four of Clarendon’s restaurants: La Tasca, Restaurant 3, Ri Ra, Sette Bello. Cuisine varies from Spanish, Soulful Southern Cooking, Irish and Regional Northern and Southern Italian.

The event lasts from 2 to 6pm on November 1st and is $49 if tickets are purchased by this Friday on their website.

Open Mic Comedy @ RiRa

Another great night of standup comedy at RiRa bought to us by StandupComdeyToGo. The night featured more than a dozen comics from amateurs to veterans like Seaton Smith, Hampton and Mike Way. And half price burgers!

As always, the irreplacable John Quirk was there to warm up the crowd and MC the audience joke contest at the end. Even if you get stuck in the front table right next to the loud speaker, its still a worthwhile night.

Open Mic Comedy @ RiRa

Another full house at RiRa's weekly free comedy night presented by StandupComedyToGo. There seemed to be a sorority or high school reunion attending, as half the crowd was somewhat inebriated late twenty something females. One of them even tried her first attempt at stand up that ended in what would become an infamous joke about "bleached assholes."

Like most of RiRa's stand up nights, it featured a mixture of newcomers and comedy veterans like Hampton performing. The night concluded with the hilarious Tony Woods improvising most of his ten minute stand up routine.

Open Mic Comedy @ RiRa

Made my second appearance at RiRa's open mic standup show named "HaHa." The comedy seemed a little darker and dirtier than last time, which wasn't the best of luck for me since I brought my Dad this time =P Although veterans like Lisa Fine and Roger Mursick made solid performances.

Wednesday nights 8 to 10 pm
2915 Wilson Blvd
Arlington,VA 22201
703-248-9888
http://www.rira.com/arlington/home.html
www.StandupComedyToGo.com