Bart

There's a third Han Palace on Barracks Row that has been open for a couple of months. The place is very small so I'm better that carts are not an option. They have two different all you can eat menus that are available anytime or any day. One sticks to dim sum type items, the other covers the entire menu.

I forgot to mention that the chef told us they also plan to open for breakfast and brunch! He specifically mentioned breakfast, so I'm assuming that means days other than weekend days. He also said if there's a dish that we want to see on the menu, we can just ask them to add it!!

I popped into the East Capitol location last night and give it two thumbs up. The space is (currently) small but very nice looking and warm and inviting. They have the basement and ground floor open for dining including seats at the bar and they plan to open the upstairs once they get a permit for something. There were no tables open so we grabbed bar seats, but then went back to the hostess and said we'd just have a drink and wait for a table to open up. Something was off with the bar seats: either the stools are too short, or the bar is too tall! Either way it was sort of uncomfortable to sit there. Food and service was very good for a place that's only been open for a week or two. We split the Pacci's Salad, Linguine Ai Frutti Di Mare, and Capricciosa pizza (and took home about half the pizza!). Two out of the three dishes were recommended by people on either side of us, and we picked the pizza ourselves. The menu which is only posted on their facebook page looks very appetizing and it was hard to narrow down our picks. The guy next to us gave us an unsolicited rave on the seafood linguine, and while he may have overhyped it a little, it was still a very good dish. The sauce was lighter than a lot of those type sauces tend to be and was a welcome change. The Limoncello Cake was quite yummy too! I'm looking forward to returning and trying more.

Can elaborate Eric? I think I'm missing your point. Is it that this place is serving everything under the sun instead of doing one thing very well?

Back in the Spring of 2021 they had the grand opening of the Penn Quarter farmers market and the full staff of Zaytinya was out there doing a photo shoot/promotional event. Somehow I got a chance to talk to the Chef Costa and asked him about the shorter menu (aka begged him to bring back the larger menu and some of my favorite dishes!). He said there's nothing he'd rather do than bring back the full menu but the staffing shortages prevented it. I'm surprised and saddened that nearly two years later, it seems they are still having staffing issues. (Or maybe it's just easier/more economical to keep the shorter menu?) ETA: I just checked the online menu and it looks quite a bit larger than it was the last time I visited in the Spring of 2021, so that's a good sign!

Some of the guests at the restaurant in the movie, "The Menu" come to mind when reading that link.

That Post article was interesting with the fact that they lost a "Vermeer" painting when they determined it wasn't his!

I had no idea there were only 37 of his paintings kicking around.

I wonder if you can call a "Tock" restaurant and make a reservation over the phone to avoid the fee. Assuming that the restaurant actually has a phone of course!

Tl;dr – This place could have potential, but currently it’s a mess, and I hope they right the ship before they go out of business. Summary: This is a newish place (at least 4 months old according to yelp reviews) that seems to have multiple personalities and is not sure what it wants to be. On one hand it’s a “bar and grill” serving chicken wings, steaks and sliders in front of a giant wall of TVs next to a bar, on the other hand, it’s a beautiful, modern looking place with white tablecloths where you would go for an elegant evening (except for the horribly amateurish abstract art on the walls and the TVs), and on the third hand it’s an interesting and intriguing Afro-Caribbean restaurant serving lots of dishes I have no familiarity with. Whatever it is, it needs help! I went last night to check out some of those Afro-Caribbean dishes but came up short. Big time. The restaurant: It’s very cool looking on the inside and out. The whole building is lit in these purplish lights that make it stand out when you’re walking or driving by. It’s striking and inviting. The inside is very nicely done and modern. It looks like the setting for an elegant cocktail party or dinner. But all of that comes to screeching halt as you are assaulted with a giant wall of TVs that are impossible to avoid. We decided to sit upstairs to get away from the TVs, but there was another giant wall of TVs up there too. They were completely out of place and so distracting, it was hard to maintain a conversation. The staff: Everyone was very nice and friendly and my date was even given a rose when we entered, but our server was absolutely horrible. I don’t blame her. She was a young woman who probably didn’t know any better and wasn’t well trained. Or maybe just wasn’t trained at all. One of the yelp reviews from four months ago had the same comment, which is troubling. Our server was also kind of timid and awkward which made every interaction much harder than it had to be. When I declined alcohol (dry January), she noted that they have non-alcoholic drinks which I checked out. Turns out there all sodas/juices and nothing interesting. I said I’d try the hibiscus drink just because it sounded good and weird, and I’ve never had it before. We then somehow got into a strange conversation whether I wanted hibiscus lemonade or just hibiscus, and as it went on and on, I had less and less confidence in her answers or the drink so decided to just stick with water. How is it possible that I was unable to successfully order straight juice off the menu??!?!? The food: As soon as we sat down, we were informed they were out of oxtail and goat. WTF!?!? How can you not be serving any of your signature items?!? That pretty much eliminated the entire part of the menu we were interested in. In retrospect, we should have left then, but we soldiered on and ordered off the regular part of the menu. We split a Caesars Salad which was fine and perhaps the highpoint of the night. She got the salmon, medium rare, and I got the lamb, medium rare. The salmon came out overcooked and about five minutes before my dish came out. And mind you, we were the only people upstairs and there were a couple of people at the bar downstairs, so it’s not like the kitchen was slammed. Our nice, but oblivious waitress actually asked how “we” were enjoying the food while I was sitting there with an empty plate! Naturally, when the lamb arrived there was no steak knife accompanying it. When I asked if I could get a steak knife, her answer was, “Um, let me check”, as if this was a bizarre question that they might not be able to fulfill. Wut. The lamb was also not cooked to medium rare, but it was nowhere near as overdone as the salmon was and was actually pretty good, if a very small portion. The menu listed it as Rack Lamb, but there were only three small pieces on the bone. For $38, I was expecting a little more. Both dishes had (almost) the same sides. The menu said the entrees come with seasonal vegetables and roasted potatoes. The salmon came with broccoli, grilled peppers and roasted potatoes. For the lamb, they neglected to include the peppers. All the vegetables were pedestrian and boring. It was essentially buffet food, no doubt frozen and simply reheated. I ate all the broccoli where the main flavor was butter, but ignored most of the potatoes. Even though I was hungry, I couldn’t bring myself to eat them. I’d bet that the Olive Garden or Chilis has more interesting sides. The other stuff (putting on my Tom Sietsema hat): - As I mentioned, the TVs are an assault to your senses and totally ruined what could have been some nice ambience - The gaudy and amateurish abstract art on the walls was incongruous with the otherwise very attractive space - Our tablecloth had stains on it and was wrinkled. (about half the tablecloths were smooth and half were wrinkled) - They had those little battery-operated candles on most of the tables, but none of them were turned on. This is hardly a deal breaker, but more of sign of lack of attention to detail. - Our plates were mismatched. She had a small serving plate, and I had a similar sized coffee saucer. A scan of the other tables revealed similar mismatches. - Our silverware was also mismatched. Between the two of us, we had three different types of spoons! (Soup spoon, tablespoon, and teaspoon, from two silverware changes) The bill came to $110 for two entrees, one salad and one glass of wine which seems steep even if everything was good and interesting. This was mostly mediocre and boring. All of that being said, I want this place to succeed as it’s a neighborhood place that allegedly serves uncommon and interesting food and I will go back, but I’ll be sure to call first to ensure they are actually serving the uncommon and interesting food. But they really need a competent manager to address the multiple flaws, and either lower their prices, or up the quality. PS – What’s with the name?!?! DC Capitol Square Bar and Grill!?!?? It’s misleading and boring. What the hell is Capitol Square?!? Why not emphasize the African and Caribbean food in the restaurant name!?!? Why not take advantage of the cool street they’re on and call it the "East Capitol something something" ?!?!? OK, rant over.

Some photos from twitter.

Do those guys have any local places left?!?! Does Bryan work in the area any more?

I took my kids here for a Christmas dinner/belated birthday a week or so before Christmas and, shocker, it was a fantastic and sublime as it always has been. The menu seemed almost all completely new and different from the last time we were in (other than than staples of course) and everything we got was just fantastic. It's kind of astonishing at how frequently the dishes change, but still remain such high quality. As I seem to tell my kids every time we eat here, "We're so lucky to live in an area that has a restaurant of this caliber".

Even you must admit that is a bit tacky. If you do the "all in" meal, it's $1025 per person, before tax and tip. To add $2.50 to that is beyond insulting. It's like, "The joke's on you, sucker!". It reminds me of the movie "The Menu" which, if you haven't seen it, you should! It's great. One tip: Read nothing about the movie before you see it. Going in cold makes for the best experience.

This is really off-putting. I have no problem dropping major coin on a meal, but to be charged an extra $24 to get the sauces you assumed were an integral part of the dish that the chef designed, smacks of tackiness, a bait-and-switch scam, or both. And you don't mention it in the review, but why do I assume that the server simply said, "And what sauces would you like this evening?" as if you were choosing options for sides at regular restaurant, without mentioning they were not included in the price of the entrée? How long before they list the price for a bottle of wine, and then charge you $20 per (empty) glass, to drink it in, because "glass fee" was buried in small print on the 23rd page of the wine list? I'm having flashbacks to the $650 tasting menu at Jont where they have the gall to add a $2 service charge to take the reservation.

This is such a turn-off. Whether it was the waitress trying to shake you down, or truly the restaurant's policy, it's really lame and the polar opposite of hospitality. I was at Primrose recently and we ordered a couple of starter dishes and then told the server we would be sharing the fish dish for our entrée. He and kitchen took it upon themselves to split the dish and bring it out on two separate plates. The meal was fine, but what I really remember from that night was this kind gesture. Probably similar but opposite to your memory of the night.

I hate the name of this restaurant. But I guess it's better than "Supposibly" or "For All Intensive Purposes"

@eatruneat - I took your advice up thread and ordered a Detroit style pizza last Friday. I think you may be right about my earlier ordering problems, because when I placed my order around 5:30 pm, there was a 80-90 minute wait, so I suspect when I tried to order the previous week, they were swamped and paused all incoming orders. Anyhow, the Detroit style was good, but damn! was it thick!! The dough was pretty fluffy and light, but it was tough to get it in my mouth without knocking off some of the toppings! 😂 Next time I'll try the the next thinnest one.

How did you place the order? I attempted to order something last friday night and their website/app simultaneously said they were "taking online orders" and "NOT taking online orders"! Then I pivoted to trying to order something from Wise Guys and found out that you had to use THEIR app to order. I didn't feel like downloading an app that only works at one place so I had a frozen pizza instead. 😉

This might not be far enough along for you, but Bistro L'Hermitage in Woodbridge might be a nice stop. I haven't been there in ~15 years, but I have fond memories. Very French! http://m.bistrolhermitage.com/

I took my kids (low 20s) here for our Thanksgiving meal on Tuesday with mixed results. Some dishes were great, others were ok and one was just ok and gimmicky. After a long delay to get drinks and put our first round of food on order, things came out very quickly. It was almost like being at a tapas place or a dim sum joint. My advice would be to order a few dishes at a time, and not put in your entire order at once (unless everyone is getting an individual dish). They had QR codes on the table, but I asked for an actual menu which they supplied. Unfortunately it was a simple 8 and half by 11 sheet of paper that had been clearly used and abused many times before: there were both food stains, and drink stains on them. One had been used as a coaster so it was sort of warped where the previous glass left a water mark/condensation on the paper. This seemed a little low rent for a place where we dropped three hundred bucks. The Dry Fry Vegetables ($18) were excellent. They had that hot and numbing mala spice on them and I would definitely reorder this dish. The Charred Eggplant Chili ($16) was also very good. The eggplant itself was the star (duh!), but it also had three dollops of foam in the bowl which I guess was tofu foam(?). Tofu was listed on the menu and the foam was the only place where I assume it went. Would order this again. The Scallop Shrimp Toast ($18) was also very good and I'd order it again. There were three pieces of the toast so it was perfect for us. The Sesame Eel ($24) was ordered by denied by the kitchen because the quality of the eel they had wasn't up to their standards for serving. I thought that was very kind of them to do, until I looked at the receipt (just now as I'm writing this) and noticed they charged me for it. Argh! These days I'm so focused on searching for a "service charge" in order to avoid a 50% tip that I didn't look at the upper part of the bill! We got the Pig Terrine ($16) on the advice of the server and didn't really care for it. The presentation was nice: 7 little layered cubes of meat and gel with some nice garnish, but the flavor and frankly the texture didn't do it for me. Would not order again. The Clam Flat Noodles ($24) rounded out our first order into the kitchen. These were fantastic. It had wide, flat noodles, which I'm a sucker for, and had great flavor including pork and garlic butter. Would order again. As we finished the first round and our plates were cleared, I went into a mini panic because I realized we hadn't ordered the second round yet and we were sitting at an empty table, but just like the first round, the food came out very quickly so there was no issue or down time. For round two, we ordered the Crab XO Fried Rice ($24), because my kids are fried rice fanatics. While there was nothing wrong with this dish, there wasn't anything particularly interesting or note worthy about it, especially at this price. Would not order again. Based on Tom's review, I wanted to get the Prawns, Scallop and Fish Ball Curry (with scallion bubble pancake) $38. Tom raved about the scallion bubble pancake which is reminiscent of the bread they serve at Zaytinya for dipping into oil. It's basically a piece of pita bread that is inflated and hollow in the middle and looks like a big balloon atop the dish. I thought or assumed that you'd rip it open to reveal the dish below, but it actually just sat on top of the seafood in the dish. I thought it was weird and not in a good way. Other than the dramatic presentation, it didn't really add much. In fact it seemed out of place or unrelated to the actual dish. It seemed like a gimmick to me that more about style than substance. But I guess it worked, because I ordered it. The seafood itself was just ok and the curry wasn't particularly noteworthy. Would not order again, and probably the biggest disappointment of the night (other than paying for the Sesame Eel and not getting it! 😉 Since the Dry Fry Veggies were so good, we ordered the Dry Fry Seafood ($32). This was a bit of disappointment. It didn't have any of the mala spice on it like the veggies did and it just looked like a pile of tempura or fried calamari, only not as good tasting. I guess the difference was this was dry fried rather than deep fried, but it just didn't seem that interesting or memorable. It might be because we were pretty stuffed by then, but I wouldn't order this again. All in all it was a nice meal, but I'm not going to immediately rush back. Here's the seafood dish with the inflated scallion bubble pancake:

Wow! This is surprising. I was there on Sunday night for a show at the 9:30 club and had a different experience. I do agree that the QR code menu is lame and annoying and has no place in a restaurant when you're dropping $150 per person. And as you noted, it's not the most user friendly menu - the hand written scribbles and the Japanese words required me to lean heavily on the server for advice. A couple items that I really wanted to get "weren't on the menu", but they actually were......written in Japanese, so it was lost on me until I asked. One of the highlights for me was the eggplant dish. It was so good, I ordered a second plate! On the menu it's listed as Nasu Agebitashi and I needed the servers help to find it. The price was not listed on the menu, but it was a relative bargain at $8.50. The other dish that I knew I wanted to get was the "twice cooked fish" that Mark Bitman wrote about a few years ago. The serve you a whole fish with cut up sashimi style fish inside it, and when you're done with that, they take the empty fish body back to the kitchen to deep fry it, and then you eat the deep fried bones. This was another one that I had to ask about because it wasn't apparent to me on the menu, and the name that Bitman used to describe it was different than what was on the menu. The thing I ordered was called Ajita Taki ($27) and it was good and weird and unique! Photos below (Dish as served, garnish removed, being eaten, the deep fried bones) Another highlight that was suggested by the server was the Hokkaido Scallop Carpaccio for $18.50. There is no description on the menu but the server highlighted the sauce which was made with apple and pear and herbs and other things I can't remember, but it was very subtle and very good. I wish they had a better write up of this dish (and every other dish for that matter!) Like Kibbee Nayee, I got the Hamachi Kama (yellowtail collar) for $25.50 at the recommendation of the server and it was good, but not as good or interesting as some other dishes. I was there alone so I could pick it up and chew the meat off the bones without having to worry about trying to divide it up and share. But yes, my fingers were a sticky mess after that dish and really needed a wet nap or something similar. This was a dish that I probably wouldn't order again at that price. My other dish was the Uni for $27. You get a bowl full of uni with an egg yolk to mix in. Super decadent and super good! For me it was a much better value than the Hamachi Kama. For drinks, I got the cheapest carafe of sake they had and followed it up with a canned beer. Had to save money somewhere! 😉 My bill was $160 before tip and just shy of $200 after tip. 😬

Tragic. What a loss. Hopefully they will change their minds someday. In the meantime, it would be nice if they would open up for dine-in Happy Gyro meals. 🙏

That's exactly the reason he got rid of the stars......to force people to read the review to get the true story he's trying to convey, rather than just look at the star rating and move on. I liked the stars as well, but it gets messy when you are rating a super high end place on the same scale that you rate a tiny mom and pop place. He was going for "value" this time. He was trying to read the room I suppose. Inflation, higher restaurant bills, lots of changes due to the pandemic, etc. He had some $100+ places included because he felt they gave a lot of bang for the buck.

Just read the receipt carefully! I was here a few months ago they add a 20% service charge to the bill. It was listed on the menu, but the server never mentioned it and we ended up leaving something like a 45% tip! Hopefully they are mentioning the charge when they present the bill nowadays.