Location: 2200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC 20037
Phone: (202) 587-8277
Website: http://www.districtcommonsdc.com/
Style of Food: Modern take on traditional American Tavern Fare
Owner & Chef: Jeff Tunks
Reservations: Accepted via phone or online via OpenTable or company website
Private Dining: Available
Parking: Street parking, garage, valet ($10 at brunch and dinner only)
Metro Accessible: Yes, Foggy Bottom Metro
Dress Code: Lunch – casual; Dinner/Happy Hour – business casual
Other Locations: Penn Commons in the Penn Quarter located near the Capital One Arena (formerly the Verizon Center) and Acadiana on New York Avenue
Noteworthy Mentions: Every night at 10 pm (Sunday at 8 pm), they ring the Farm Bell for that evening’s Family Meal – each night a different offering. Fried Chicken, BBQ Brisket Platters, Burgers, Steak au Poivre, Chimichangas for $12 per person.
Booze: Large wine offering (by the glass as well as by the bottle), 99 Beers on the Wall, Signature Cocktails, variety of spirits
Review:
Upon entering the restaurant you’re immediately welcomed by the host team, one who is the coordinator and the other the seater. The coordinator, John, and I had talked on the phone a few times; once to change the number in our party (we decreased from 4 guests to 2) and then the day of as we were running late due to the ever unexpected DC traffic (allow yourself plenty of time to get to the restaurant plus more to find parking). John was wonderful and was friendly right off the bat, I recognized his voice as soon as he greeted us, acknowledging that we had a show at the Kennedy Center to attend. His co-host was much less friendly and brought us to a large table without a smile. I reminded her that we were only a party of 2 and offered to sit at a smaller table; she confirmed we were fine to sit at the larger booth (which could seat at least 5 guests). I had actually noticed this booth from outside as we walked by because it was an interesting shape (turns out, it’s really hard to get in and out of, very happy I was wearing pants).
The layout of the restaurant is done well. The tables aren’t too close together and there are sheer curtains sporadically placed around the restaurant to give the idea of privacy (we had a few around our booth). The lighting was appropriate for the time of evening. Happy Hour was going strong while we sat waiting to be acknowledged by our server, who took almost 10 minutes to say hello to us with other servers walking by smiling but never saying anything. My friend and I sat next to each other since we were put in this awkwardly shaped booth and we had to yell into each other’s ears to be heard over the roar of crowd in the bar and the diners in the restaurant trying to speak over the crowd. There was also music playing which added to the noise (I can’t tell you the style of music because all I could hear were music notes over the screaming voices of patrons).
Once our server, Sammy, finally came over to us, we had a hard time hearing him and he strained to hear us. We let him know that we were on a time crunch due to our lateness and having to get to a performance; typically the server is told this in advance so it was a little disappointing to realize that this information hadn’t been shared with him. Overall, his service was inattentive and our waters never refilled. He did offer my guest a refill on her glass of wine which she declined. He checked on us once after our food was delivered and we had to request the check. When payment was run, my friend and I split the check evenly onto two credit cards, he dropped only one pen that we had to scribble for a while to get to work.
The beverage menu is extensive with what had to have been 100 wines, the 99 beers, and a nice array of signature cocktails and after dinner drink offerings. The wine list is definitely confusing if you don’t know wine. For instance, a wine will be listed as “CS” instead of Cabernet Sauvignon. When you get down to the blends, it gets complicated and becomes a guessing game: “CS/CF/MR” I could deduce as Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot. There were other abbreviations that again, were mere guesses on my part when reviewing the wine list with my friend. I ordered the Joel Gott Zinfandel for $12 and my friend ordered Milbrandt Red Blend “MB/CS/T” for $11 (Malbec, Cab Sauv, Tempranillo were my guesses). Both wines were tasty and what we expected.
We only ordered one course due to our time constraint. My friend ordered the Shrimp & Grits, her go to when we eat out, for $19 which consisted of Gulf Shrimp, Grits, onions, peppers, and celery. She enjoyed it but it wasn’t her favorite rendition. I ordered the Wedge Salad, my go to salad when I see it on a menu, for $12. The wedge was probably a quarter of an iceberg head which is generous as was the bacon, which was almost lardon in style and buttermilk blue cheese dressing. Cherry tomatoes came on the salad, which was not listed on the menu, but I like tomatoes so no problem. There was supposed to be an “Everything Bagel” crumble on the salad which was definitely missing. I assume this was their take on a crouton. It was a pretty basic wedge without much flare. I also ordered the Hand Cut Steak Tartare after asking our server’s opinion on it (he seemed excited about it). He came back after taking our order to let me know they were out. He should have known they were out prior to taking my order (a count should have been put into their point of sale system or some verbal communication should have happened between kitchen to server). I had to request a menu to pick something new, he did not come back with one upon delivering the message. I was trying to look for something that would cook quickly since we were further behind now and chose the Crispy Fried Oysters for $14. Six perfectly fried oysters came atop a “slaw” that was drenched in blue cheese and was sauerkraut-like. It was visually unappealing, but the flavor was nice and the oysters were a good size (a two-biter). A disappointment to me was that we were charged for bread, which the server offered us, we did not request it. There is a menu offering for $3 of a Pretzel Baguette with Beer Mustard Butter but I did not think that was what we were going to be given, and it was. The server should have either mentioned there’d be a charge and/or this was their only option for bread. Frankly, I would have declined it because a pretzel loaf is a pretzel loaf. The butter riff was a cute idea but was underwhelming. I felt like that was a cheap shot at a guest to add an extra $3 to a check.
Would I rush back to this restaurant? No. Would I try it again? Yes and possibly for Happy Hour or their weekend brunch.
Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
Girls That Nosh 