DPop

Nick + Stef's had a lot of things wrong with it, but sucky food was not one of them. Sure it was overpriced and painfully elitist, but they did good meat and had a passable bar. Also, not sure if you have been to Rosa lately, but they are not winning any RAMMYs any time soon. They've been nothing more than Baja Fresh with fancier names and a little better guacamole for the 2 years they've been there, but you still have to have a 10 minute fight to get your way to the bar for a $9 margerita on any given night. My question is, why can't this formula be reproduced right across the street? Edit: Danny beat me to it!

I don't understand why the 6th and F location cannot seem to be successful. You would think that would be a goldmine much like Rosa Mexicano is right across the street, but neither place in the past 5 years has been able to keep up.

What is the seasoning on the cashews? I've been trying to place it for a while and can't quite figure it out.

Do yourself a favor and don't ever let a server talk to you like that again. Even if you were wrong (which you definitely were not), they should remain polite and immediately go back to make sure the food is cooked to your liking. It is inexcusable for them to do anything different. The poor service seems to be par for the course at this place, eh? I have only been once and the food was pretty good (southern Italian in this area always seems to leave something to be desired), but the service will almost certainly keep me from coming back any time soon.

I've been 3 times now and I keep hoping that this place is going to get decent bread, but it appears like that will not happen. I do not understand why someone would take the time and care to get good quality, fresh meat to fill their sandwiches but insist on putting it on store-bought hamburger buns, doughy ciabatta bread, or paper-thin wraps. It must be a price issue, but I wish he would just add $1 to the price of the sandwich and get something good. Also, the aforementioned lack of seasoning is kind of odd, but fixable after a couple packets of salt and pepper and some Old Bay. I would be in heaven if I could get the meat from Earl's and put it on the bread from Italian Store. That would be a damn good sandwich.

What Michael explained is pretty much what Heather said above. The kitchen at RTC was designed and staffed to grill steaks, not fry chicken the way that he wants it to be done.

In my opinion, the quality of food offered in this place has plummeted in the last 6 months. I would say the same about the seating/service, which appears to be everyone else's beef, but that was never good to start with. 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.

To listen to Michael explain why it was gone it sounded like it would probably never be back. He told me that it had gotten so much hype that it was becoming a bit of a burden on the kitchen to try to fry that much chicken in a night. He did not explicitly say that it would not be back, so I'm not sure, but one would think that it probably will not be back (at least for the near future).

Loved the experience last night, although I was terribly disappointed to hear that the chicken was no longer available (after Michael explained to us the reason, however, it made sense). We started with the deviled eggs (thanks for that recommendation, canuck, they were great) and the lentil soup, which was the best soup I have had in a while. It was heavy like everyone has said, but had great flavor and the perfect meat to compliment the consistency of the lentils. I had the venison and the little lady had the prawns diablo, which was outstanding. I liked the venison, it was cooked perfectly, but I'm not sure I would ever order it again as I thought the flavor was a little bland as compared to past cuts I have had. It also could be that I have been spoiled by my past experiences at RTS, which has the best red meat I have ever had, so having something that was just "good" was a bit (unfairly) disappointing. We had the au gratin and mac and cheese for sides (I asked our waiter if angioplasties were available as well, but I don't think he got it). The au gratin was exceptional, perfectly cooked and great choice of cheese. The mac and cheese was just pretty good, I think it was a little soupy and maybe had one or too cheeses too many. I would have been happy with just gruyere rather than all 4, but that's just my opinion. Dessert was very good, the chocolate cake was moist and the right touch to end the meal. The thing I was most impressed with at RTC, though, was "Ray" himself. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the maniacal looking, blood-smeared-smock-wearing version of Michael when he was at RTS exclusively a while back, but I really enjoyed the suit and social polish that he appears to now have (his new PR person must be great ). He worked the room quite well last night, stopping by everywhere to talk and popped over to our table twice to see how everything is going. Things appear to be going very well, which was nice to see.

Josh/Dave, Any plans for another beer tasting at any point soon? Thanks

Fabio, I have never had anything but an outstanding experience at your restaurant, I think it is the best restaurant in the DC area that no one seems to talk much about. I especially love your work with fish, it is unique and inspiring, amazing me each time I have had the pleasure of dining at Maestro. I was shocked to read the above post you referenced, I cannot imagine anything but a wonderful experience at Maestro. I look forward to dining there again at some point soon!

I went to the Italian Store once again hoping that I would get a sub of the quality that everyone I know continually raves about, and once again, I left extremely disappointed. The prosciutto is always dry and tough to break apart, the danish ham is over salted, and their "special dressing" is flavorless. Maybe I'm a bit of a sandwich snob coming from the NY/Philly area, but does everyone like this place simply because there are really no other passable sub places in the area? Or am I missing something? The pizza is very good, however, I recommend the white pizza with chicken and roasted red pepper flakes. Delicious.

Trekking out to RTC for the first time tonight, and from the sounds of it the chicken is a must, as is the calette (although it sounds like it will be gone by 8 when my reservation is). Any new appetizers/sides that I should be trying?