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Againn, Downtown - British-American Gastropub Downtown with GM Romeo Santos - Closed


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We took the kids on Saturday afternoon for an early dinner. Not as good this time; fish and chips (kids meal) were inordinately heavy (battered) and soggy, as were the fries (um, unbattered.) Wife's lentils dish was pretty good, topped with sauteed spinach and a soft-boiled egg. My olive-oil poached salmon salad came on a nice bed of greens, topped with anchovies and green olives.

Our server-in-training missed a couple side dishes, but to be fair, we weren't going to eat them, she was profusely apologetic, and she did mention she was in training. Other staff members came around to fill water, check on us, etc., so kudos for the effort.

One of these days we'll get around to the desserts.

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I took my parents to the new Rockville location and found that it is far more casual, and the offerings quite a bit simpler than the New York Ave location. The brightest spot of the evening (and there were many, including the wonderful job of the wait staff and Jimmy in particular) was the corn soup – this was the essence of summer, the flavor of corn was not over powered by its inherent sweetness, and the additional of just a little finely diced tomato small shards of bacon added the perfect complement to the dish. The PEI Mussels were as good as I have ever had, and my wife said the same about her Cobb salad. If you have any tomato fans in your party, I suggest getting the heirloom tomato salad which would also make a great side to share. It appears that the Rockville Againn is attempting to keep things simple and they are excelling at it, the roasted chicken is a shining example, this was the plain white wedding dress of entrees, there was no way to hide any mistakes, no glitter, pearls or frills, just simple, and while not as complex as Palena’s the quality of the cooking was every bit its equal.

Had this still been Houston’s there would have been people waiting outside on the benches to get in to eat food that was barely pedestrian, now with rave worthy food the restaurant sat less than half full – I guess there really is no accounting for taste.

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Had this still been Houston’s there would have been people waiting outside on the benches to get in to eat food that was barely pedestrian, now with rave worthy food the restaurant sat less than half full – I guess there really is no accounting for taste.

I couldn't agree more with your enthusiasm--we had a very nice, relaxing meal at the Rockville location on Friday evening. The restaurant is huge, which may at least partially account for the fact that it was only about half full at prime time. The chilled tomato soup was great, as was the caesar. Our mains were huge portions of the ribs (not a bbq joint preparation, by any means, but just right) and the fish and chips (I didn't try this, but it got raves from my partner). The service was very good, and both the service and the management seemed very interested in getting it right.

The restaurant is nicely decorated, and very comfortable. We look forward to a return visit soon.

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Dear Againn DC,

Screw you. I have never been motivated to trash a restaurant on this board, or elsewhere, but you deserve it. I was in your establishment for over 50 minutes last night and none of those minutes was even remotely pleasant. Your staff managed to do absolutely everything wrong. From the 10 minutes I was at the host stand before anyone said a word to me, through the 15 additional minutes it took to get our menus, to the 15 minutes it took to get two average beers, to the two separate times my dining companion tried to order an appetizer, only to be told that the kitchen was out of it, through the 10 further minutes I waited for a manager who never came (which I was forced by my server to do when I asked for my check). All of these I could let pass because, when I finally begged my server for the check saying “I will literally pay you anything you want if I can get out of this restaurant” she told us to just go (no food was ever ordered). But, now you have reported me to Opentable as a no-show. So I feel compelled to report you to this community, Againn DC, as a no-show. Apparently your management has all decamped for Rockville.

Sincerely,

Never Againn.

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How weird!

I'll defend AGAINN DC, then. We had a really pleasant first meal at AGAINN the next day, on Thursday night. We were led directly to our table. The serving staff was pleasant, attentive, and very helpful throughout. The food was wonderful, we enjoyed everything we had (mussels, benton ham, country pate, pork confit, hanger steak, sticky toffee pudding and English trifle). Everything was expertly cooked and plated. It sounds like your bad experience was due to one really incompetent server, that really sucks!

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How weird!

I'll defend AGAINN DC, then. We had a really pleasant first meal at AGAINN the next day, on Thursday night. We were led directly to our table. The serving staff was pleasant, attentive, and very helpful throughout. The food was wonderful, we enjoyed everything we had (mussels, benton ham, country pate, pork confit, hanger steak, sticky toffee pudding and English trifle). Everything was expertly cooked and plated. It sounds like your bad experience was due to one really incompetent server, that really sucks!

One server? Although a play-by-play of another person's restaurant experience can be hearsay calling the rumor an echo, RWBooneJr's narrative seemed to involve at least:

Host/Hostess, at least 1

Management, at least 1

Server, 1

(againn's name still tempts me)

(to change the pronunciation of mine to)

(kman-gwen-go)

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now you have reported me to Opentable as a no-show. So I feel compelled to report you to this community, Againn DC, as a no-show. Apparently your management has all decamped for Rockville.

This over $1? And the wait person said go ahead, just leave, don't pay for the beers and I'll explain to management why there's a walk-out because I'm grossly incompetent and can't take their orders within 30 minutes?

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10 minute wait for a host is problematic, though I've dealt with AWOL or unpleasant hosts at restaurants and then went on to have a good meal. We don't know if the management was called at all by the waitperson. I'm not trying to excuse AGAINN, since for all I know my (1) good experience could be the aberration rather than RWBooneJr's. All I can say is that we were promptly seated, kindly and patiently waited on, the food came out at the right time and our waitress checked in several times to make sure everything was okay. The folks around us also seem to have a good time. The restaurant was about half full when we went, so maybe that made a difference.

I can't imagine all the AGAINN management went AWOL. There's always a chance of hit and miss with front of the house, but the back of the house was definitely on top of their game. Our food was consistently good.

The proper pronounciation is EGG-won..

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10 minute wait for a host is problematic, though I've dealt with AWOL or unpleasant hosts at restaurants and then went on to have a good meal. We don't know if the management was called at all by the waitperson. I'm not trying to excuse AGAINN, since for all I know my (1) good experience could be the aberration rather than RWBooneJr's. All I can say is that we were promptly seated, kindly and patiently waited on, the food came out at the right time and our waitress checked in several times to make sure everything was okay. The folks around us also seem to have a good time. The restaurant was about half full when we went, so maybe that made a difference.

I can't imagine all the AGAINN management went AWOL. There's always a chance of hit and miss with front of the house, but the back of the house was definitely on top of their game. Our food was consistently good.

The proper pronounciation is EGG-won..

Can anyone explain or defend Againn's action in reporting RWBooneJr as a no-show? In reading the post, that appears to have been the straw that broke the camel's back.

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I've only been to Againn once so far, but had no issues with the service. If anything, they went out of their way to make sure everything was good - complete with the manager stopping by the table and "forcing" comment cards.

As far as opentable - just email them and explain what happened. I use opentable all the time and about 25% of the time restaurants mark as no-show. I don't know if they are trying to get out of paying a fee, or if it's an oversight on behalf of the host ... but opentable is usually very good about correcting it.

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I went to Againn DC a few weeks ago to take advantage of that Livingsocial coupon ($25 off $50) and had a really great time. The service was right on and I was quite surprised to receive so much attention because I was all by myself and the tables were virtually empty. The food was very good: a tangy pickled vegetable salad, a sweet "pint of prawns," and a nice piece of salmon with crispy skin in a ratatouille with chili oil.

I was so impressed that I pulled the manager aside and said nice things about the restaurant. Normally all you hear is negatives in that biz so I thought he would like to hear some nice things instead. After hearing my compliments, he gave me a dessert on the house! (hey, there's no dessert up here!) Initially I was very embarrassed because I wanted to write about the trip here but felt like my integrity might be questioned due to the freebie.

However, Mr. Boone's experience led me to share my positive experience in contrast to his. Maybe the management is stretched thin like Mr. Boone suggested and I got the luck of the draw when it came to managers....

Rob

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I had a frustrating service experience at dinner on Thursday. Our waiter gave the specials, including a roast chicken, which I ordered. He didn't mention the accompaniments. A few minutes after I ordered, he came over and said "you do know that it's a whole chicken?" and I replied no, I hadn't, but that it was fine.

I made the assumption that the special was priced and portioned for one person, perhaps a young chicken.

When a quartered roaster came out on a large platter, with a big salad and a side of four ears of corn, I was pissed. The server could have mentioned (as he did when we inquired after the chicken was served), that the entree was intended for 2 or 3 people, that it came with four ears of corn, and that it cost $42.

Delicious chicken, though. Even the breast meat moist and flavorful, the skin not quite crispy but certainly not flabby/flaccid, and everyone at the table got some... in addition to their entrees.

Alex

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I had a frustrating service experience at dinner on Thursday. Our waiter gave the specials, including a roast chicken, which I ordered. He didn't mention the accompaniments. A few minutes after I ordered, he came over and said "you do know that it's a whole chicken?" and I replied no, I hadn't, but that it was fine.

I made the assumption that the special was priced and portioned for one person, perhaps a young chicken.

When a quartered roaster came out on a large platter, with a big salad and a side of four ears of corn, I was pissed. The server could have mentioned (as he did when we inquired after the chicken was served), that the entree was intended for 2 or 3 people, that it came with four ears of corn, and that it cost $42.

Delicious chicken, though. Even the breast meat moist and flavorful, the skin not quite crispy but certainly not flabby/flaccid, and everyone at the table got some... in addition to their entrees.

Alex

I'm a firm believer that not mentioning the price straight away, even if not prompted, is a dirty trick, but what you experienced is at best clueless, more likely ill-intentioned, and at worst downright malicious.

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I'm a firm believer that not mentioning the price straight away, even if not prompted, is a dirty trick, but what you experienced is at best clueless, more likely ill-intentioned, and at worst downright malicious.

This sounds like a job for the manager. Actually, have you talked to them after the fact? I think that an apology is due to you at the very least. $42 is not chump change, at least to me.

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I have a discount coupon so I'm checking out their menu. $18 for 6 oysters? That's how much they cost at DBGB in NYC, Lyon Hall in Arlington only charges $12. A dozen at Againn is $32, the same is $20 at Lyon Hall. DBGB charges $35 for a small seafood platter while Againn charges $60 (there's more variety of seafood at DBGB). Oceanaire also doesn't charge $3 per oyster. $12 for pate? :( I'm surprised none of the negative reviews lately focused on value vs. quality of food.

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Hubby and I had lunch at Againn Rockville on Saturday afternoon. We arrived a little after 2 pm; it was close to 4 when we left. Not because we were having a delightful time and felt like lingering over our lunch....but because this is how long one salad and two entrees take on a Saturday afternon with exactly 4 tables in the restaurant and 2 servers on duty!

It started well, we were met immediately upon entering the restaurant by a pleasant hostess and shown to our table. Waiter #1 came over quickly to take our drink order. A moment later, Waiter #2 came over to take our drink order....well as you might guess, both asked us what we wanted, but neither one brought our drinks! It seems they each thought the other would get it handled. Hubby had asked for a beer and I had asked for a tall glass of ice water with "extra" lemon. After 10 minutes, and three "your drinks will be right out", Hubby finally got his beer. My water was another 10 minutes behind.

Between Hubby's beer and my water, Waiter #1 brought out the salad special we ordered, a duck confit salad that was really quite nice. A large portion and plenty to share if you're having something else. Things were looking up...

Waiter #1, upon clearing our salad plates announced "your food will be right up". Great! Or so we thought...we proceeded to watch for the next 20 minutes both waiters clean up the wait staff line, discuss the hanging of a new clock, chit chat with each of the other three tables while carefully avoiding eye contact with us. The tables that were seated when we arrived finished their meals and left. The table that arrived after us had been served appetizers and entrees and were moving on to dessert...but still our food wasn't making a showing and no one would even speak to us!

Finally, a manager came over to tell us my sandwhich had been burned and they were making a new one (it was a grilled cheese folks...they could have made 10 of them in this time). We asked that Hubby's meal be brought out since we assumed it was getting cold while it awaited my sandwhich, but we were told it was "still in the oven".

Eventually, our food did arrive...It was okay, nothing to write home about. Hubby got the shepard's pie. It looked good, but he didn't like the topping. He was expecting a mashed potato topping and this had more of a baked custard topping on it. The grilled ham and cheese sadwhich was okay, but seemed overly salty. I tasted a piece of the ham alone, thinking that's where all the salt was coming from...but really, it was the cheese that was overly salty.

Needless to say, we probably won't be gracing the doors of Againn again.

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I have not been the to Rockville location, but I have been to the location in DC several times, most recently a few weeks ago, and I have always enjoyed my visits. I have never strayed away from the bar into the dining room, but I have always felt that the bartenders were very friendly and helpful, if needed, and that the food and drinks were always solid.

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My party of four went here for dinner Friday night. We were seated on time, which is good. Service was very good. Food was decent, but I can't say I would go back. I had the Shepherd's pie which I enjoyed and was fairly priced at 18. My husband had a cod dish that he thought was too small and over salted. Our friends had the beef stew special and the chicken leg, both were good. I really don't have any complaints, I just feel you can do better for the money. Wine was very expensive, like 15 for a glass. I had a fabulous dessert though. Bonafee Pie which was a banana concoction that was really excellent.

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Mr. BLB steadfastly refused to believe this was a viable option to for dinner with his parents and the BLPreschooler. So we had a crappy day after Thanksgiving meal at Bonefish instead.

So Friday night, I persuaded him to try Againn for dinner sans little person.

It was terrific. Probably the best meal we have had in Montgomery County, Ray's the Classics exempted.

We started with the cauliflower soup, the potted pork and the chicken rilletes. All were excellent and the potted pork was elevated by a terrific onion marmalade.

Mr. BLB had the burger as his main course and I tried the pork belly. He thought it was an amazing burger--one that he said was better than the Palena burger he had last month for his birthday. I thought the pork belly was good but the cider glaze was a smidgen too sweet. Sides of brussel sprouts and creamed spinach rounded out the meal.

He still isn't sure his parents would get the menu but he is contemplating it for their next visit. We will definitely return with BLPreschooler in tow soon.

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Went to the downtown location last night. I thought the restaurant looked beautiful but a raw bar with little on it seemed out of place. Anyhow, I wasn't too excited by their selection of low cholesterol appetizer offering so we started with two sides of Brussels sprouts and fingerling potatoes (the sprouts were good because it was cooked with bacon, the potatoes were what we thought they were, nothing exciting). I had the branzino special at $32, which was a whole fish, butterfly filleted (deboned and splayed out on top of broccoli rabe) and pan seared with the head on. The skin was lightly seasoned with salt and very crispy. I thought it was simple yet tasty (perfectly cooked) but I did not touch the yellow (presumably butternut squash) sauce that covered half of my plate. My wife thought her fish and chips were terrific but she couldn't understand why the fish was served on top of the house-made tartar sauce which she thought was too watery and not very good. I didn't try the fish and chips since I already had a plateful of fish.

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Dinner at the Rockville location tonight with the kids. I was constructing a grand review in my mind, but when I sat down at the keyboard, our very nice meal and service was reduced to one thought:

Scotch Egg: $8.

ONE egg.

Eight dollars.

Hey, look, they're under $100 a dozen. And they're bigger than caviar. Stop complaining!

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We went to the Rockville location for lunch on Saturday and came away unimpressed. The prices were quite high and not justified by the quality or quantity of the food. None of it was bad, but none of it was good either. We had the special prime rib sandwich (muddled flavor and overcooked), mussels (bland, small, and overcooked), and shrimp and grits (3x the price of Marvin’s dish and maybe half as good). Maybe it would be a better experience if it wasn’t Saturday lunch and someone other than the junior fry cook was manning the kitchen, but they really should do consistently better at their price level.

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Dinner at the Rockville location tonight with the kids. I was constructing a grand review in my mind, but when I sat down at the keyboard, our very nice meal and service was reduced to one thought:

Scotch Egg: $8.

ONE egg.

Eight dollars.

Wow. I got this during Happy Hour for $5 and thought it was kinda steep then. I can't imagine paying $8 for one -- I assumed you'd get two if you order of the regular menu. That being said, it is a very good Scotch Egg, but now I know to get it only during HH.

I've only ever eaten in the bar area here, but all my meals so far have been very good. I've stuck mostly with the "pub fare" and have yet to try any of the "mains" on the Rockville menu. I am especially fond of the burger and shepherd's pie. The potted pork is great too. I just hope they add some more items from the DC location, like the blood pudding...

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We also ordered off the pub menu. But, while the fish and chips and shepherd's pie were both good, they were also overpriced at $16.

Note: my daughter ordered the kids plate of fish & chips, and it was about 90% the size of the adult portion, at half the price.

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[i'd like to point out to the people who read this website about once a week, and comment about once a month, that this so-called "sacred cow" is being excoriated for their Scotch Egg, with no pushback whatsoever from members. Read a little more closely next time before bringing up the false notion of "sacred cow" which is utter (pun intended) bull (pun intended) shit. Yes, there is slack being cut here, and even some "oh golly gee, Michael," etc. because savvy restaurateurs wisely engage and embrace the community, but, well ... duh.]

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[i'd like to point out to the people who read this website about once a week, and comment about once a month, that this so-called "sacred cow" is being excoriated for their Scotch Egg, with no pushback whatsoever from members. Read a little more closely next time before bringing up the false notion of "sacred cow" which is utter (pun intended) bull (pun intended) shit. Yes, there is slack being cut here, and even some "oh golly gee, Michael," etc. because savvy restaurateurs wisely engage and embrace the community, but, well ... duh.]

To pile on a little bit...

The lack of pushback also has a great deal to do with the respect accorded someone who has been here from the start and whose track record can be seen over 3000 + posts. And that's not even getting into having a reasonable complaint. :)

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Never really struck me that Againn had risen to the Pantheon of sacred cowdom, yes it certainly has its defenders, but with one or two exceptions there really has been no Colesque fawning and kowtowing that I would expect to come with being awarded with that idiom.

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Never really struck me that Againn had risen to the Pantheon of sacred cowdom, yes it certainly has its defenders, but with one or two exceptions there really has been no Colesque fawning and kowtowing that I would expect to come with being awarded with that idiom.

I apologize for nothing.

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Never really struck me that Againn had risen to the Pantheon of sacred cowdom, yes it certainly has its defenders, but with one or two exceptions there really has been no Colesque fawning and kowtowing that I would expect to come with being awarded with that idiom.

SacredCow.gif

Where are the original two sacred cow spokespeople?

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All of the follow-ups seem a lot harsher than my original review.

Food was good, service was attentive (though the server seemed pretty green). One item was outrageously expensive, the rest a little overpriced. I'd probably go back if I was in the mood for pub food.

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All of the follow-ups seem a lot harsher than my original review.

Food was good, service was attentive (though the server seemed pretty green). One item was outrageously expensive, the rest a little overpriced. I'd probably go back if I was in the mood for pub food.

Pub food=Royal Mile...still good last time I went. Prices higher than previous, but probably less expensive than Againn.

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We went to the Rockville location for lunch on Saturday and came away unimpressed. The prices were quite high and not justified by the quality or quantity of the food. None of it was bad, but none of it was good either. We had the special prime rib sandwich (muddled flavor and overcooked), mussels (bland, small, and overcooked), and shrimp and grits (3x the price of Marvin’s dish and maybe half as good). Maybe it would be a better experience if it wasn’t Saturday lunch and someone other than the junior fry cook was manning the kitchen, but they really should do consistently better at their price level.

Amen, I couldn't agree more.

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When Living Social offered a $50 coupon to the downtown Againn for $25, it seemed to me that this was the perfect opportunity to try out a new (for me) dining option. The coupon was set to expire on January 19 and was not usable during Restaurant Week, so I made an OpenTable reservation for my wife and I for a 6:30 pm seating Saturday night. Maybe it was the combination of the discount coupon,the OpenTable reservation and the folks dining before a Capitals game, but my experience seems to show how easily what should been enjoyable dining experience can fall short.

We arrived on time for our reservation, but the hostesses couldn't seem to find it in their database. I had even brought my email confirmation, but since they couldn't find my name, they 'made do' by seating us right against the outside window on a two-top only partially set. I am not normally bothered by a cool room, but by the time our orders had been taken and my drink had arrived, my wife had put on her heavy coat. I eventually had to follow suit a few minutes later.

What was remarkable was that no-one - not the waiter or the floor manager, who came over right after we were served our entree to "see if we were enjoying our food", seemed to see anything out of the ordinary about our actions. At that point I was so annoyed that I decided not to say anything, but to just finish the meal and leave. Perhaps I should have insisted on another table, but I was concerned that my complaining would just make an unsatisfactory situation worse. I mean, how can service staff not at least be curious when people who have taken their coats off decide in the middle of a meal to dress as if they were going to a football game?

We ate the food we ordered. It was OK, considering I had gotten a discount on the meal. Service, aside from studiously ignoring out obvious discomfort, was efficient, if somewhat distracted by the rapidly filling room. This is probably not the usual experience of diners at Againn, but it was mine. I see no reason to go back.

TSchaad

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