Mother’s Ruin is a bar in Germantown that also happens to serve really good food (shout out to the perfectly crispy Old Bay waffle fries), that also feels a bit off the beaten path, surrounded by low-slung houses and nondescript brick buildings. That’s perfectly fine with the people who bounce between the three levels, stopping for the occasional snack session on the outdoor patio. It can get loud and buzzy, a result of the playlist and copious rounds of Slushy Du Jour a.k.a. boozy frozen concoctions that rotate daily. But it’s exactly where you want to be when heartfelt conversations aren’t a priority and drinking the night away with a room full of strangers is.