OVERALL: 4 Stars
We were totally pumped to try this place, because i had to make reservations a month in advance. It lived up to expectations, and is one of the few places we feel gets somewhat close to the Black's untouchable 5 star rating.
Food Quality: 5 Stars -- Fried chicken, mini bagels and lox, I counted a total of 8 cold salads which were fantastic. Cheese blitzes, numerous cakes for dessert, made to order omelet station. Mac and cheese was not impressive. You need more than just velveeta to make a delicious cheese sauce. Food is the reason to go here.
Mimosa/Champagne Quality: 3 Stars -- Again, just the standard; OJ and bubbly. No exotic juices or what not. The bloody mary was pretty tasty though, and i'm usually not a fan.
Service Quality/Refill time: 4 stars -- Waiters were well dressed and very polite. I don't think we ever had an empty glass.
Atmosphere: 3 stars -- The restaurant touted its "sky room" dining area, which pretty much was an extended sun room they had added on to the bar area to make into dining space. It was nice, i'll admit, to sit in the sunlight and stuff my face, but it did get kind of hot in there. They also need to do a better job of keeping the floors dry. I slipped near an emergency exit on the stamped concrete floors and spilt my entire plate all over another diner. thankfully none of the food was hot, and he was very nice about it.
OVERALL: 3 Stars
Across the street from Urbana, in Dupont. We should just get a reserved parking spot in this area. Middle of the road all around. No surprises either way.
Food Quality: 3 Stars -- Skip the lobster hash; too much hash, not enough lobster. And not too flavorful. Eggs chesapeake was pretty respectful. Mac and cheese was great. And one full point just for the fried pickles!
Mimosa/Champagne Quality: 3 Stars -- Each person had to choose between mimosas or bellini's or bloody mary's, and stick with that. BUT they bring carafes pre mixed to the table, so you can take a little of this and a little of that if you want.
Service Quality/Refill time: 3 stars -- No problems, delicious fried pickles came out along with the mac and cheese just as we were getting hungry. Several times we were waiting for carafe refills though. Our drunken selves were getting anxious for our refills!
Atmosphere: 3 stars -- The space was narrow and clean, and the front room had big windows that let in plenty of sun. The hostess podium looked like it had been thrown together the night before in some college kids basement: it was plywood and nails, painted on the front. We got placed in a smaller room in the back, which was quiet and shaded.
OVERALL: 3 Stars
So last weekend we took a break and had to regroup at Blacks. After that interlude, the southern based sports bar was next on the list. Next door to the well known chili place, the dark bar tried to class it up a little.
Food Quality: 3 Stars -- I tried the signature dish and it was delicious, but I couldn't believe how much plaque formed in my arteries from a dish with shrimp in it. Cheesy grits, piled with a white wine and butter sauce cover with shrimp and sauteed veggies. A fascinating combination. Fried chicken a waffles was also a stand out; sweet and salty.
Mimosa/Champagne Quality: 2 Stars -- They used the large wine glasses, which i like, they are easier to drink out of and hold more per serving. But all they had was the plane jane classic. Maybe a little pineapple would spruce it up?
Service Quality/Refill time: 3 stars -- The service was appropriately paced; just fast enough to keep you from looking for the waiter. He had a smart mouth on him though. I told him i was deciding between the shrimp and the french toast. He said, so would pass up our signature dish for bread dipped in eggs? well then.
Atmosphere: 3 stars -- Dark wood, tall stools pulled up to tall bar tables, trying to step up a notch from its namesake next door. On every wall a flat screen displayed a stock image of a beach. This really got on my nerves after a while. I kept waiting for something to happen. Put the morning news up there, or something, music videos, i don't know. It was like a digital fish tank, but less interesting, and with no fish.
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.
OVERALL: 3 Stars
Chef Tony's had a great groupon recently, which was perfect: $25 for 1 entree and bottomless mimosas. We had a friendly, well prepared meal at a 50% discount, with plenty of bubbly. The place was crowded and people were waiting out the door as we were leaving. They should spend some of their profit on new tables and decor though.
Food Quality: 3 Stars -- The standards were on the menu; French toast, something with crab in it, steak and eggs. I enjoyed the apppetizers that were priced under $10. Calamari, fried oysters, a greek hummus plate. There were just enough of lunch to give the salty taste you craved but not too heavy or pricy. I would suggest they find a better serving dish for the calamari. The paper lined raised basket made it hard to see into. I felt like i was fishing for the squid a second time. The entrees were yummy. The french toast was my favorite, with the unique caramel sauce on top.
Mimosa/Champagne Quality: 2 Stars -- They only served the classic here. No exotic juices. They mimosas were well made though with perfect proportions of OJ to bubbly.
Service Quality/Refill time: 3 stars -- I think out waiter was more interested in discussing the latest movies that were out, but he did his best focusing on our empty glasses after a while. We didn't have to wait more than 5-10 minuted before our drinks were filled. The food was also prepared in a timely fashion, though he forgot that eggs came with our french toast, as it was stated on the menu.
Atmosphere: 2 stars -- The owners must have skimped on decorators, because the paint job wasn't the best. Some walls had traditional appearing murals of potted plants. Others had more contemporary art work. The track lighting was not positioned appropriately so the pendants hung off to one side of the round or square tables. The tables themselves had rickety, plastic legs things covered with white paper drop cloths.
OVERALL: 1 Star
Only if every other place on your list is totally full, then go here. The food was tasty, and cost effective given that $35 got you unlimited food and drinks. We had a great time, of course, because we entertained ourselves trying to come up with good stories of where the wait staff was...
Food Quality: 3 Stars -- The best thing about the place was the eclectic menu. Grits, salmon omelet, thai burger. The name makes me think it was going to be latin food, and 20% of the menu had chorizo in it, which to our dismay the kitchen was out of. The Grits with cheesy melted bits mixed in were delicious and buttery. The skirt steak was also well seasoned and cooked to order, no"rare" piece of meat with a warm center. That steak was cold in the center, just like it should be.
Mimosa/Champagne Quality: 2 Stars -- Only 2 champagne cocktails in addition to the traditional mimosa, plus 2 types of bloody mary's and 1 lemonade cocktail. All were average, when we finally got a few on our table. But those ingredients too began to disappear. No more lychee to be found!
Service Quality/Refill time: 1 stars -- The wait staff kept forgetting which drink we ordered, but after the first 45 minutes we didn't care as long as we got anything to drink at all. I maybe got 4 glasses the whole hour and 45 minutes we were there? And the food came out in single plates, making the first round of "plates" very awkward as we all waited for our small amounts of food to arrive. It did, eventually.
Atmosphere: 1 stars -- The place was trying to be modern and industrial, with clean square lines and painted steel pipes for hand rails. The lighting was good, but they had crammed too many tables into inappropriate spaces. We actually moved tables a few minutes after we sat down because the first table we were placed at was literally right next to the front door. Come on! We had a reservation, and that's where you put us?
