NEW: At long last, Astro Beer Hall to open in Shirlington next Tuesday

(Updated at 3:10 p.m. on 9/15/23) The long-anticipated Astro Beer Hall will open next week in Shirlington, serving decadent donuts by day and “astronomic” sandwiches and apps late into the night.

Ahead of the Tuesday opening, owners Elliot Spaisman and Peter Bayne are running around, making finishing touches on the 14,000-square-foot, galactic-themed space, while the team trains and awaits deliveries.

“We’ve got a lot going on over here,” Spaisman tells ARLnow.

The Village at Shirlington location is the second for the hall, which debuted in D.C. in 2019. The owners are bringing over some famed foods — including fried chicken sandwiches made with savory doughnuts — and debuting new bites. There will also be arcade games and, eventually, billiards.

The beer hall, with a sprawling 140-seat patio and adjacent coffee shop, took over the old Capitol City Brewing Co. space at 4001 Campbell Avenue, which closed five years ago. The Tuesday opening caps off two years of work in the midst of Covid and supply chain and permitting issues, the co-owners say.

The owners say they’re more than ready to open their doors.

“There’s a million pounds off my shoulders. It’s been such a whirlwind and a beast to get this thing open,” Bayne said. “It was so frustrating along the way, so to get to this moment where we can have a beautiful spot we can open up, feels so good.”

He and Spaisman opened the first Astro Beer Hall location all of four months before Covid lockdowns. While the location is faring well now, Bayne said the downtown D.C. scene is still stifled post-pandemic and he is excited to come to Arlington, which he says is “where it’s at.”

“This is nice because it’s a dense residential area in Shirlington with commercial and offices, a nightlife strip, and a ton of great options around us,” Bayne said. “It’s a hub people want to go to on a Friday or Saturday. It’s a little bit of something for everyone.”

That seems to be the plan with Astro Beer Hall, too.

There will be a coffee shop open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., serving baked goods, compliments of a doughnut-frying robot, and Compass Coffee beverages.

Over in the beer hall, patrons can watch sports from what Spaisman says is “a massive amount of TVs.” They can play classic arcade games such as skee ball and Ms. Pacman and, in the coming months, billiards in the basement.

Once it is beer o’clock — as early as 11 a.m. on the weekends but 4 p.m. on Mondays — the hall will start serving snacks, sandwiches and salads for lunch, happy hour and dinner.

Highlights include the Astronomic Burger — two 4-ounce beef patties topped with pimento cheese, fried onions, smoked bacon, pickled jalapenos and BBQ sauce — and an appetizer sampler platter with fries, deviled eggs, fried mac and cheese, chicken fingers and wings, cheeseburger sliders and fried pickles.

Living up to its name, Astro Beer Hall will have 24 taps primarily for beers from local and independently owned breweries, including some hard-to-come-by Virginian brews. There are a handful of cocktails, including a cinnamon-spiced espresso martini and seasonal slushies.

From the out-of-this-world murals to the nostalgic arcade games, Bayne says his motto for the hall is “don’t take yourself too seriously.”

“We want to be the place where memories are formed,” he said. “I think as long as we’re remembering we’re good neighbors and part of community, and we’re here to help people have fun and cut loose, we’ll always maintain successful businesses — and have fun while we do it.”

The Astro Beer Hall coffee shop is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, while the hall is open 4-11 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, 11-1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Sunday.

During Happy Hour weekdays from 4-6 p.m., pint beers and select cocktails will be $2 off. Weekend brunch will begin in the coming weeks.