National Mall public bathroom ratings: Where to go when you've gotta go

WASHINGTON - Millions and millions of people visit DC's National Mall every year, and at some point or another, they've all got to go-- to the bathroom. July 4th is on the horizon, so before you go downtown to celebrate the USA, you need to know where to go. Fortunately, Washingtonian magazine did the dirty work, so you don't have to.

In all, there are 10 public restrooms located on the National Mall. The brave souls from Washingtonian visited all of them, rating their smell, cleanliness and how easy they are to find, on a scale of 1 to 5. They also looked for the basics, like toilet paper, soap, hand dryers and doors that lock.

Then, they wrapped it all into a handy dandy little map you can pull up on your phone while you're out celebrating America's birthday (or anything else you might do on the National Mall this weekend). Well done, to say the least.

Washingtonian: We Reviewed Every Public Bathroom on the National Mall So You Don't Have To

Rosa Cartagena was one of the lucky ones to do the restroom rating, and she said overall, it wasn't so bad.

"Most of them were operating pretty well," she told FOX 5.

The map created by Washingtonian will give you all the specifics, but here are a few highlights: Cartagena told us the bathroom by the DC War Memorial was great, though not glamorous. On the other hand, the Constitution Gardens bathroom by the Reflecting Pool was "pretty hard hit." Under cleanliness in the review, it's a 1.5.

"This isn't a bathroom to recommend to someone you like," it reads.Also, there was no TP in any of the three stalls-- but plenty of trash.

The magazine declares the bathroom by the Martin Luther King Memorial to be the newest, with updated appliances and fixtures.

Overall, the smells range from "perfectly tolerable" to "no rats died here, but it was pretty poopy." Over at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, the smell is labeled "locker room-esque." Tolerable, but definitely not a bouquet of roses."

When you gotta go, you gotta go, but at least now you know what you're getting into.

Check out their full map of bathrooms-- with reviews-- below! (app users: click here)