Matchbox, Verizon Center and now Barracks Row Miniburgers and Pizza on 8th & H NW and now 8th & E SE
#1
Posted 10 May 2005 - 09:21 PM
#2
Posted 10 May 2005 - 09:58 PM
Come to think of it, my second favorite Matchbox pizza leaves me guzzling water too: Matchbox Meat.
Hmm, a trend. Beer makes it better.
#4
Posted 11 May 2005 - 08:58 AM
Homer J.
#5
Posted 14 May 2005 - 09:09 PM
W.C. Fields
#6
Posted 08 June 2005 - 02:51 PM
two of us split 6 mini-burgers and a small pizza - try as I might I could not convince my dining partner to order the choc chip bread pudding (I will thank her tonight as I weigh myself)
burgers were ok - they've been better and were more well done than the requested medium - sure we could have sent em back but its lunch and everyone's in a hurry
then had the portobello and artichoke white pizza - quite good, probably not as good as the white proscuitto pizza but not bad - drinking loadsa water this afternoon
our server was delightful
$32 incl tip and one soda
oh, and the expansion seems to be progressing well - when I queried, they said it should be ready in 5 months
What Am I Listening To?
#7
Posted 12 July 2005 - 09:22 AM
Boulevardier
Bon Vivant
Besotted
Epistemological optimist
"I would like to take you seriously, but to do so would affront your intelligence."
"You too can have the soothing feeling of nature's own baby-soft wool being pulled over your resting eyes." - Herb Block
#8
Posted 12 July 2005 - 04:47 PM
When they first opened, one of the owners (his name escapes me, sadly) told me that their brick ovens are heated to 800 degrees, or 200 degrees hotter than most pizza ovens, which accounts for the bubbling-effect of the cheese.
The mini-burgers are really good because they are made with a terrific grade of beef. Some friends I know call these things "sliders".
Matchbox has a terrific array of draught beers, with excellent microbrews (such as Dogfish Head) and imports, and their wine selection is better than decent if unremarkable.
Try to avoid the place on an event-night at the MCI Center, as the place will be packed, and deservedly so. On-street parking is a bear, naturally, but there are some large garages right nearby.
It is a fun place to go, and I've taken lots of friends from out of town there, especially if they like beer.
Ace Beverage
Washington, DC
www.AceBevDC.com
COAL PASS poster boy. (Donations for a cure gratefully accepted.)
The BEST cocktail in Washington, D.C., courtesy of Tom Brown at The Passenger
Visit my Nats blog, which will surely be updated someday! Nationals Power
#9
Posted 22 July 2005 - 10:44 PM
Also of note is the excellent selection of draft beers at Matchbox. I had a couple of Magic Hat No. 9's. Also on tap is Chimay, a Dogfish Head IPA, Anchor Steam lager, Rogue Shakespeare stout and Allagash White ale just to name a few.
#10
Posted 18 August 2005 - 02:22 PM
W.C. Fields
#11
Posted 27 September 2005 - 10:14 PM
Cheers,
Rocks.
#12
Posted 29 September 2005 - 09:28 AM
Al Dente, on May 10 2005, 09:21 PM, said:
#13
Posted 05 November 2005 - 07:35 AM

They look so light and non-caloric. right. Anyway, we also shared a large spicy meatball pizza which was >insert alternative adjective for scrumptious< and heavy on the fresh garlic:

and each tried several brews to tide us over during the game. Magic Hat #9, Dogfish Head, Chimay, something else that was definitely not Amstel Light. In and out in less than an hour, got there in time to watch Bondra score against
This post has been edited by crackers: 05 November 2005 - 07:48 AM
#14
Posted 08 November 2005 - 10:11 PM
The onion strings were sweet and not quite falling apart, rather than overly crisp as those things tend to be...
As for the pizza, it was sweet sausage and portobella with mozzarella and marinara. The flavor combination was exceptional, and overall for a thiner, more gooey-crusted pizza, it's the best I've had in sometime. Good to see a place that's so packed doing a better job than the last time.
And nice shots, crackers!
#15
Posted 10 November 2005 - 10:24 PM
"She knew shortbread fingers like the back of her hand and upside-down cakes back to front."
BFITL!
#16
Posted 10 November 2005 - 10:51 PM
CrescentFresh, on Nov 10 2005, 10:24 PM, said:
I was at Matchbox earlier this week, and am really happy to report that the miniburgers, onion straws, and pizza were as good as they've ever been in my ten-or-so visits.
(I'm also delighted to read about Tom's experiences at Obelisk and Vidalia. Coincidentally, I was a gnat's eyelash away from going to Vidalia this evening, deciding instead to veer towards Palena. And! A trusted friend told me tonight that his lunch at Bistro Bis this week was "noteworthy." It's a good week!
#17
Posted 01 December 2005 - 12:30 AM
We got a small order of the mini-burgers, which were delicious and served up about medium. The onion rings were a bit cool, but nice, stringy, not overly greasy. I almost want to say someone sprinkled parmesan cheese over them, but I'm not sure. Either way, they were good. And with Widmer Heifeweizen on tap? Near perfect.
Couldn't resist the pizzas, so we ordered 2 small ones thinking leftovers would make an excellent lunch the next day. The spicy meatball pizza my date got was good, but not great- the meatballs weren't terribly flavorful. I did a make your own with prosciutto, bacon and roasted pureed garlic (how on earth can one resist THAT?) with tomato sauce/mozzarella. Um, yum. Everything about the pizza was great and I'm currently pondering pizza for breakfast...
Even though the restaurant was loud and crowded, service was attentive and pleasant. A return trip will definitely be in order, but maybe a little earlier to nab a seat at the bar and take advantage of the happy hour specials.
#18
Posted 01 December 2005 - 10:48 AM
Last night, I had the interesting experience of witnessing the owner (I believe) throwing out a couple of complete jerks that were throwing money around to try to get ahead on the waiting list for tables (or something similar, my details are fuzzy because the matter was being handled rather discreetly). Not only was Matchbox not going to permit them to jump ahead, they didn't want their business at all after they proved themselves to be so rude. Apparantly, these same individuals had come several times before and treated the staff poorly. I was happy to see an establishment sticking up for its staff and customers in this manner!
#19
Posted 02 December 2005 - 11:31 AM
Skysplitter, on Dec 1 2005, 01:30 AM, said:
Yes, the onion rings are sprinkled with Parmesan.
Five people are in a restaurant, and the bill comes to £112.48. If two people had starters but no wine, one person has had wine but no dessert, one person is moaning that they had the vegetarian and that was cheaper, another person had no starter or dessert, but ordered an extra bottle of wine without asking anyone else, calculate the number of different Switch/Visa/Carbon/Delta cards you can hand the waiter before they kill you.
#20
Posted 02 December 2005 - 12:04 PM
#21
Posted 23 February 2006 - 11:32 PM
http://www.matchboxdc.com/
#22
Posted 24 February 2006 - 08:56 PM
#23
Posted 24 February 2006 - 09:19 PM
#24
Posted 23 March 2006 - 10:49 AM
Three of us split their Bistro Salad (crisp greens and frisee, with fresh pears, warm goat cheese croutons in a basil vinaigrette). Not bad, but nothing to write home about.
For my entree I ordered the Prosciutto White Pizza (prosciutto, kalamata olives, fresh garlic, ricotta cheese, extra virgin olive oil & mozzarella) but I asked for no olives. The waitress asked if I wanted to substitute something else so I settled on fresh basil. Well, when my pizza came out, there was indeed basil on it, but no prosciutto. When I pointed it out to the waitress she was apologetic and took my pizza away to fix it. Less than 3 minutes later my same pizza was brought back with a few slices of prosciutto laid across it.
The actual pizza (white with ricotta, garlic and basil) was pretty good, although half the pizza's outer crust was pretty burnt, but the prosciutto was fairly tasteless. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't just recently eaten at 2 Amy's and had what could only be described as the best prosciutto pizza I think I've ever had.
I would definitely go back to Matchbox, to try a different salad or pizza and also the miniburgers I've heard so much about, but I think I might avoid the prosciutto in the future.
"Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie. ~Jim Davis, Garfield"
#25
Posted 06 July 2006 - 03:16 PM
Matchbox at lunch was about half full and I had my best meal there so far, though I didn't stray from my favorites: mini-burgers and pizza, because this was an All-American day afterall. The mini-burgs were perfectly medium rare, compared to the cooked through and through we had the last two times I tried them. Those onion frizzles are beyond addictive. We also had the sausage and onion pizza, with anchovies, also very good, although with a bit too much orange grease pocking the cheese. Good fuel for museum wandering.
#26
Posted 06 July 2006 - 03:36 PM
#27
Posted 07 July 2006 - 12:39 PM
W.C. Fields
#28
Posted 30 September 2006 - 12:56 PM
#29
Posted 30 September 2006 - 01:00 PM
#30
Posted 30 September 2006 - 01:53 PM
#31
Posted 23 January 2007 - 09:45 AM
We had the spicy meatball and prosciutto white pizzas after the mini-burgers for an app. The pizzas were good and the crusts were nice and crisp. There was a nice bit of spice on mine, but the meatballs were pretty dry. The slice of the white that I had was good, although I think less olives would be a plus. I liked the fact that they did not cook the prosciutto with the pizza and placed it atop the already cooked pie.
#32
Posted 23 January 2007 - 11:21 AM
Anyway, I am sad that my first post has to be negative in nature, but since I was just there on Saturday evening, I feel that I have to make my feelings known...
Why did Matchbox even bother expanding their space? Don't get me wrong, the expansion is nice, the new space is really cool, but why have it if you refuse to use it? This is the fourth time that I have been there since they completed the expansion and it is the fourth time that I have seen masses of people waiting for tables and dozens of tables open in the new space. Do they just not have enough servers to man the sections? Is their kitchen space too small to keep up with the orders? Or, do they just want to create a crowd so people that walk by see it and say, "This must be a cool place to hang out, why don't we just jam ourselves into this tiny bar and make everyone more miserable!?"
No matter what the reason, it doesn't make any sense to me. Is it that hard to get wait staff? Is it difficult to build a bigger kitchen when you had plenty of space to build out the tables? And, could a restaurant these days really think that it is a good idea to make people wait for no reason at all? Didn't that trend end like five years ago?
Anyway, it makes me upset to say it, because I have always liked Matchbox (their food, their drinks, their atmosphere), but I cannot imagine going back again. Only once during those four trips did we wait for a table, which happened to be this Saturday because I had to make a work phone call and the others didn't mind waiting in a space like canned sardines, so they missed out on huge bills three times simply because they are unable to seat people. I hope that things change there or at least someone can explain to me why they can't fill dozens of empty tables with people waiting to eat.
#33
Posted 23 January 2007 - 11:26 AM
jiveturk21, on Jan 23 2007, 11:21 AM, said:
Anyway, I am sad that my first post has to be negative in nature, but since I was just there on Saturday evening, I feel that I have to make my feelings known...
Why did Matchbox even bother expanding their space? Don't get me wrong, the expansion is nice, the new space is really cool, but why have it if you refuse to use it? This is the fourth time that I have been there since they completed the expansion and it is the fourth time that I have seen masses of people waiting for tables and dozens of tables open in the new space. Do they just not have enough servers to man the sections? Is their kitchen space too small to keep up with the orders? Or, do they just want to create a crowd so people that walk by see it and say, "This must be a cool place to hang out, why don't we just jam ourselves into this tiny bar and make everyone more miserable!?"
No matter what the reason, it doesn't make any sense to me. Is it that hard to get wait staff? Is it difficult to build a bigger kitchen when you had plenty of space to build out the tables? And, could a restaurant these days really think that it is a good idea to make people wait for no reason at all? Didn't that trend end like five years ago?
Anyway, it makes me upset to say it, because I have always liked Matchbox (their food, their drinks, their atmosphere), but I cannot imagine going back again. Only once during those four trips did we wait for a table, which happened to be this Saturday because I had to make a work phone call and the others didn't mind waiting in a space like canned sardines, so they missed out on huge bills three times simply because they are unable to seat people. I hope that things change there or at least someone can explain to me why they can't fill dozens of empty tables with people waiting to eat.
Welcome! I saw the new space when I was there Saturday afternoon, but it looked like it has never been used. I guess I was right.
Not shutting up should not be a problem here.
#34
Posted 23 January 2007 - 11:39 AM
mdt, on Jan 23 2007, 11:26 AM, said:
W.C. Fields
#35
Posted 23 January 2007 - 11:44 AM
#36
Posted 23 January 2007 - 01:10 PM
jiveturk21, on Jan 23 2007, 11:44 AM, said:
I noticed this on Friday night as well. The new section is very nice, however it seems that you are at a disadvantage if you are a party of two; most of the tables seem to be for large parties. We got there at 6 and was told it would be only 30 min. for a table but it took an hour before we were seated. I only waited because my wife really wanted mini burgers and I already had some skin in the game after waiting the first 30! It also seems as if the the quality of the pizza is not what is used to be, and the mini-burgers were way over salted!
#37
Posted 23 January 2007 - 04:08 PM
#38
Posted 23 January 2007 - 11:26 PM
I also noticed the tables are numbered for 2-tops... but often if there's a group of 3 or more, they will move tables together to seat the party.... so I don't know if you're necessarily at a disadvantage.
#39
Posted 05 March 2007 - 01:03 PM
Cursed Lent, no mini-burgers for me. Next time!
#40
Posted 05 March 2007 - 02:41 PM
With the expansion of the dining room area, one might have expected that the issues with seating people and thus not making the bar area a cluttered mess would help things. For whatever reason, it has not helped at all. Matchbox is still poorly managed and remains a nightmare to be seated during lunch, happy hour, or dinner. Even after you are seated, you are lucky to get an attentive server and fresh food.
With all that said, it used to be worth it to go and wait the 20 minutes or so to be seated because the mini burgers, pizza, and beer selection were the best you could find in a casual atmosphere in the downtown area. Unfortunately, it appears those days are gone, what with Fado's offering better mini-burgers and beer selection a couple doors down and the pizza seeming to get greasier and overcooked every time I have been there. I noticed this starting during the summer, but I have given the place a chance several more times just to make sure that my favorite lunch/happy hour spot by work hadn't officially jumped the shark. It really looks like it has, which is a damn shame.
#41
Posted 06 March 2007 - 10:46 PM
I must agree with the above statement...I went yesterday and thought it was just not memorable in any way. It used to be great, but it has just been in steady decline the last few times I went. I wrote a quick bit about it at dcbites.blogspot.com
dcbites
#42
Posted 07 March 2007 - 03:42 PM
pbgrill, on Mar 6 2007, 10:46 PM, said:
I must agree with the above statement...I went yesterday and thought it was just not memorable in any way. It used to be great, but it has just been in steady decline the last few times I went. I wrote a quick bit about it at dcbites.blogspot.com
dcbites
Really? Maybe they're becoming inconsistent, but that last couple of times I have been there the food has been great. I just tried the fire and smoke pizza and highly recommend it. As always, the spicy meatball was delicious.
#43
Posted 05 April 2007 - 03:12 PM
After a morning of touristing with my wife and lively 6 and 4 year old boys, a lunch of mini burgers with the onion straws and a large pizza with oven roasted tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella really hit the spot. Trust me, having a great draft beer selection and good service was much appreciated by the wife and me after dealing with the scrum of the Air and Space Museum. Luckily we were seated in one of the oversize booths on the 3rd floor so we didn't add that much to the din of the place. As I said, I'm just a rube now but I definitely added this to the list of places that I can enjoy both with/without kids. Parents out there know that can be a very short list indeed.
#44
Posted 05 April 2007 - 05:25 PM
#45
Posted 06 April 2007 - 08:52 AM
Also, they're searching for a solution to the gas fire pit over the sidewalk downtown. The city forced them to shut it down after a few weeks over the winter.
#46
Posted 06 April 2007 - 09:03 AM
wdcbrucefan, on Apr 6 2007, 09:52 AM, said:
Also, they're searching for a solution to the gas fire pit over the sidewalk downtown. The city forced them to shut it down after a few weeks over the winter.
What is this gas fire pit?
#47
Posted 06 April 2007 - 09:25 AM
Cheers,
Rocks.
#48
#49
Posted 03 June 2007 - 02:17 PM
#50
Posted 10 June 2007 - 03:40 PM


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