OVERALL: 3 Stars
Weird eating naan and curries for breakfast. Remember to ask for orange juice to mix with your champagne. A carafe will be provided.
Food Quality: 4 Stars -- like i said, weird eating hot savory curries over rice and naan for brunch, but then it was a nice change. The sauces were light without too much grease. Most were vegetarian. One had chicken and another had fish. The crispy potato chip things with yogurt sauce and I think diced tomato were delicious. Such a strange combination but we couldn't get enough of them.
Mimosa/Champagne Quality: 2 Stars -- No exotic juices or even the typical OJ was offered with their semi-dry champagne. As you probably guessed this made us a little more drunk than usual. As we left we saw that some diners had small carafes of OJ on their table. Why were we given that option...?
Service Quality/Refill time: 3 stars -- Average on the refills. After while Bob realized the bottle was being placed in an iced tub just behind us, within arms reach. That sort of nixed the meaning of refill time. They were very tolerant of us otherwise. Josh knocked over the table and everything had to be replaced at one point. They cleaned up, and offered us more booze.
Atmosphere: 2 stars -- The decor was tasteful and the chairs very comfortable, but the space was so crammed with tables that is was difficult to get to the buffet. Get rid of the live pianist and spread everything out a little more. There were kids there too, which made keeping our voices down all the more important.
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| dining room |
OVERALL: 5 Stars
Oh, the south! Being from Texas, this location reminded me a lot of home. But the similarities ended with the menu. Otherwise, the place was sophisticated and had plenty of DC history to support its claims.
Food Quality: 5 Stars -- Buffet's are fun because you can pick and choose from several different options. The first thing on the line was fried fish, chicken and greens. The meat was delicious, with just enough grease to make you feel a little guilty. Macaroni and cheese, sausages, gumbo, jambalaya followed suit. A salad bar was laid out, as well as an omelet and waffle station. The food was placed in random order; the breakfast food was the least accessible when going to the buffet, when I think you should start out with eggs and croissant.
Mimosa/Champagne Quality: 4 Stars -- Included in the meal price was champagne or mimosas. Halfway into the meal we challenged the waiter into mixing us some other types of champagne concoctions from a list of juices he had rattled off as we sat down. Pineapple, grapefruit, cranberry. Pineapple was my favorite. The grapefruit was a little bitter.
Service Quality/Refill time: 3 stars -- Our waiter's name was Beau. He certainly seemed to love his job. He could have been a little bit faster with the refills, but thats always limited by the bartender. As he realized we were there for the booze, he began to pick up the pace.
Atmosphere: 4 stars -- The historical location definitely impressed. Our waiter gave us a well practiced scenario of the Presidents who had passed through and why the space has been designed and decorated as it had. There was a live pianist, trying to class it up a little, but I think he could have practiced a bit more.
