jondagle

Hello!  Just making some updates to the Really Good Coffee map...

-Really Good: Cameo (promoted), Ceremony Bethesda, For Five Alexandria & Arlington, Sweet Science (Arlington)

-Closed: Blüprint, Java Shack (see Sweet Science), Little Pear (closed for coffee)

-Watch: Artifact (Baltimore), Grape & Bean (meh? coffee program?), Misha's (Old Town Waterfront)

If anyone knows of listed places that are closed, please post here.

This is interesting. Not familiar with Trager Bros. but I do buy coffee at WF. :)

In Old Town they carry a few verities from Ceremony, based in Annapolis, 32 miles away. (It’s excellent, BTW) in Pentagon City, they don’t carry Ceremony, but have many types of Commonwealth Joe coffee, based in Arlington. They also carry Mayorga, which is based somewhere in Maryland (Rockville, Silver Spring, or ??).

So I guess their excuse doesn’t really float, although their stock is “influenced” by locality. 

Misha’s moved to 917a King St on 31 May. The old location is closed up a city hearing notice for change of restaurant ownership. 

The new location is an upgrade, though some will not like it over the kitchy original. The new one is larger, has some outdoor seating and a rear entrance by the new roaster. There is some counter space along the walls suitable for individuals. The communal table is now a high top toward the back. 

Had a nice iced latte. 

Well done. As traumatic as that was, at least subsequent viewers won’t be teased by the possibility of still going! 

Hey, @DonRocks, I see that Black Rooster is still listed on the dining guide (un-closed, that is). 

Has anyone had experience at Gregory Coffee, with a couple of locations in DC? I’ve been to some in NYC and it was pretty decent. Was not impressed with two visits to the locations near 19th & M NW.

Went to Bourbon for my second or third visit. Just had a Cortado. Acceptable, nothing to remark about beyond that it was superior to Compass. 😉

I’ve been pretty disappointed with Compass of late. Of all DC “good coffee” places they are the worst. After a string (3) of successful cortado visits at the Rosslyn location, they couldn’t duplicate. They made it three tries and it was still poor. Never had anything more than mediocre at Gallery Place location. 

Wondering whether they deserve a downgrade. I might give an independent shop a pass but Compass is a (local) chain with big investors $$$. Any thoughts? 

Got a mailer for the new Bistro Sancerre last week, so I walked over to check it out. I knew there was activity in the space some months ago, but somehow missed that it had opened already. This may be telling. I walk by this area to Whole Foods frequently, but not this secluded plaza. The restaurant faces onto a plaza with fountain which is the side of the Embassy Suites. Inside, the dining space steps up 2 levels, with a private dining room and art display, extending all the way to the Duke St side of the building. 

I only ate in the bar. A few beers on tap, but good ones. Extensive beer bottles/cans selection. But I think the wine is more important. The bar seats about 10+ 3 or 4 high-tops for 2 people, and one for maybe 4 people. It looks nice but a bit hard (lots of stone), not much character. Had some sliders and winter squash soup. Sliders were pretty tasty. Good beef and brioche buns. The soup was a little gelatinous. Good flavor. The bartender said it was made with emulsified fish (cod? don't remember now). I'm pretty sure I heard that correctly. Anyway, it looks like the place is worth a try for a real dinner. Maybe this week... 

Looks like they specialize in steaks. Some pics attached.

I guess the Prince St location didn't go anywhere. Honestly, I missed this until now. However I did see this at 917 King St yesterday...

Unfortunately, they've removed their application from the BAR docket, so nothing happening on Dec 19... 

http://alexandria.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=57

We'll be watching Colony Club and Cafe Kindred. Looking for endorsements from anyone else... 

On 11/28/2018 at 10:02 AM, Bob Wells said:

I keep getting a "too many redirects" error message  when I try to view the map.

I’ve tried a number of ways and have not problem: logged in/out,  private browsing, Firefox, Safari, mobile... no other reports of problems.  🤷‍♂️ 

1 hour ago, DonRocks said:

I saw a Compass Coffee at-or-near where the old Caffe Aficionado space was in Rosslyn.

You're right. But the Compass is in the new CEB Building across from Metro, not the old CEB/Deloitte building on Ft Myer Drive. 

They do alright. Not as good as CA was but then I guess they aren't skimming cards, so there's that!

Hello all. I'd like to announce some updates to the Really Good Coffee Map. View the map here: Really Good Coffee - The Map

I'm helping @porcupine update the map and we're rolling out some new "features."

First, the Map description now references this thread as a place to discuss the Map. Discuss.

Second, the Map now has three layers: "Really Good Coffee" with green, blue, and red markers for consistently good coffee or espresso experiences; "The Watch List" with places (yellow) under consideration for RCG or places where we're still evaluating consistency, etc; and "Closed" will feature places (gray) removed from the RGC list when no longer in operation. 

Please discuss the list here. Looking for new places to visit and information about places on the list -- both good and bad. We'll try to keep the Map up to date. 

As a reminder, the metric here is "good coffee quality" and not necessarily "a good business" or "a good place to hang out."

I will set aside the "banked" issue, and address the food/beverages. I was excited to drive by BL's "West End" location on a recent business trip into DC. My wife and I visited a location in Hoboken last year. It was a "café" location vs "coffee shop" per their web site. We had no prior knowledge of Bluestone, and no idea the were "Australian" inspired.

The food was great--one of us got an avocado toast (yes, it's everywhere, but it seemed, in fact, quite good). The other thing I don't recall. We had a cappuccino or cortado. That was fine. On par with "good" coffee locations in DC; perhaps not with the "best". I don't recall whether we had coffee or not. 

Overall, our experience was rather good. This wouldn't be the first time something was ruined by "cash inflow". The report of the poor coffee is sad and unfortunate. I'll have to give it a try, but it's been knocked down from my "soon" list.

That does sound plausible. Airports and such often are “licensed locations” vs company owned. Cool. 

Interestingly, the Taylor Gourmet in DCA is still open today. Huh.

The closure is a loss for employees and customers. They made good samiches. Sounds like they were much better than owner. 

Cool.

I'm really thankful for your map. 

Map Updates: Sad to say 202 Donuts & Coffee and their sibling restaurants all closed last month, according to Eater. And Habit is also closed in April 2016. 

https://dc.eater.com/2018/8/13/17683426/202-donuts-roche-brothers-closing-bethesda

https://www.popville.com/2016/04/habit-cafe-closed-in-mount-pleasant-april-3rd/

@porcupine Are you still updating the map? I'd be happy to help out.   

PS: I see 202 closing was posted in separate thread....

Does anyone have an update on this place? I stopped in to pick up a menu back around the time they opened. No one was there. Recently though I’ve noticed that every time I drive or walk by the place looks packed. It seems like maybe they’re doing something right.

On 7/9/2018 at 10:14 AM, lekkerwijn said:

Another option would  be to visit their sister restaurant Atla. To be honest, I prefer Atla which has an all day menu, tons of outdoor seating and a more relaxed atmosphere. The menu is stylistically similar but much less expensive. 

Atla (not to be confused with 'Alta') looks great. Definitely will try that next time. Thanks for brunch tip too.

Made a reservation after seeing Chef's Table on Netflix. (I'm sure these restaurants featured *love* this kind of thing--probably boosts attendance considerably) The duck carnitas are still very good. Never saw such a pice of duck. Also the herbed guacamole is excellent. Probably the best I've had anywhere. So fresh and flavorful. There is an amazing Mexican granache on the by-the-glass menu (not appearing in the online menu), though I cannot recall the name. It was quite a find. We were told it's produced specially for Cosme. 

I'm not sure this is the best value at the price point, but we loved it. 

On 6/28/2018 at 1:47 PM, JBag57 said:

SFD is owned by the same folks (mainly Mango Mike, I guess) who own Pork Barrel BBQ in Del Ray.  I understood that, initially, it would be the same BBQ in both places, but I am not sure that this was or continues to be the case.  I have had their sausage and chicken gumbo (listed as a special on a sign at the cash register, but seemingly always available) several times, and it hasn't disappointed yet. 

Thanks for this info. I didn’t know the connection. We just had SFD’s delivered last night! I was thinking then that I might prefer driving to PBBBQ for take out. I have had a sense that I preferred  PBBBQ  to SFD. After sampling the sauces last night, they seem similar, but my recollection is that PB has the edge. At least in my memory. I could be completely wrong. Both are very good though.  

Don, did you ever buy a grinder?

Thanks. Perhaps you have a point about my expectation (Had my drink tasted off, I wouldn't call for a manager, I'd discuss it with our waiter.) I didn't know about the Bellini until our group started comparing notes late into the dinner. Someone noticed the Belini was hardly touched. Perhaps you've dined with others who don't want to make waves. I'm unlikely to complain on behalf of someone else's taste, and the incident is related here as part of my overall experience at Mia's.

What prevented us from calling for the manager?  Well, perhaps a group consensus that it wasn't merited. A desire to retire? In any case, that's what we did. However, the group didn't write my post. I had a day to reflect on the dinner, and email the general manager about the experience. As I said, I genuinely wanted to provide feedback. Perhaps it's inappropriate to think a Bellini should be comp'ed. I don't think that changes the overall character of a below-average experience. If a poor plate is served, does it only taste badly if one lodges a complaint?  

I look at this as  "new opening" experience, but not a good one. Mia's had been open about 10 days when I dined there last Sunday evening. It retains the layout established by Carluccio's: The bar is in the back left of the 1st floor, with dining tables at the front. The former bakery area is now a pizza oven and "bar style" seating for dining. The main kitchen and a dining area on the second floor. Overall, I liked the decor and interior look and feel. The menu looks great, though our food was a mixed bag, as was the service. They have a number of issues to work out in these early days. 

We arrived for a 7:30 reservation at 7:21 and were told (unapologetically) it would be a few minutes before we could be seated. The place was busy, but I didn't feel welcomed at all by the host. (Perhaps he was trying to accentuate an air of exclusivity and buzz. Hmmm.) I initially thought the bar was in the front by the host stand -- and it was full. But this is bar seating at the pizza oven. There's no bartender there. So we left and had a drink at Pizzeria Paradiso, to return in a little while. When we returned we were seated with our party.

Where to begin? The service was ok, with exceptions. The food was a mixed bag, as were the drinks. Definitely a lot to process here -- for me and for Mia's. They have a nice cocktail and wine list. I enjoyed their camomile tea-infused Negroni and  we ordered a nice bottle of wine (delivered by a manager with radio in her ear and on her hip). But the Bellini was a problem for one of our companions. They had eaten at the bar a few days before and enjoyed Bellini's there. But this one was different. The menu lists "prosecco, peach purée, orange juice, lavender bitters." They believed the original was either missing the bitters or had much less. And the same for the orange juice. They found this one disappointing. 

The four of us ordered a spinach salad and capresse to share, with 2 pastas, eggplant parm, and a pizza (which looked like a "flat bread" to me). First the salad arrived. We saw a Capresse coming at the same time, but it wasn't delivered to our table. It was ~10 min before we asked about the capresse almost as one was arriving. The spinach salad was fine; solid. The Capresse has some of the best mozzarella I've tasted. Very fresh and delicious. But it was served with grape tomatoes, and not enough of them for the generous cheese slices. I could swear I saw slices of tomato on the first Capresse I saw, but not sure. 

About the same time as the Capresse arrived, the pizza arrived. The pizza's are rectangular and cut diagonally thought the center, and perhaps two more times--I didn't really study it.. Again, it seemed like a flatbread, though I didn't taste. (I'm not familiar with rectangular Italian pizza, maybe that's a thing.) Unfortunately, that meant that one us had his dinner too early. I ordered a "spicy" shrimp Diavolo with fettuccine (the online menu shows this as "LOBSTER FRA DIAVOLO"--that was not on offer). Other meals included RIGATONI ALLA CALABRESE, and EGGPLANT & PORCINI “POLPETTA”. The house made pastas are delicious. My pasta was light and delicate, despite the wide noodle. The Calabrese was a very tasty sauce and the pasta was a bit more al dente but delicious. I liked the eggplant, though I'm not much of a connoisseur in that department; our companion found the portion too large and the breading a little too much. Now back to the shrimp. It was devoid of spice. The only hint of spice was the red pepper I shook onto it. The tomato sauce was flavorful and fresh tasting, but the chef forgot to add several spices I suspect. That was another disappointment. The pasta dishes were still tasty enough that we took home what we didn't eat. 

When our waiter came back we chatted with her about all of these observations and we got nothing more than "oh, sorry" this and that, as well as an exaplainaton that the pizza kitchen is separate from the main, so food might come out differently. Uh, ok, it's still a poor experience. What annoys me is that after trying to give genuine, helpful feedback we go no acknowledgement. We should have been comped the Bellini at a minimum. Maybe offered a discount on the check or on a future visit. The manager should have been called to talk with us (they were NOT remotely busy by this point). We were told how the staff had trained for a month before opening. I think they missed a few things in training. I also wonder what the management trained on. 

I also have to mention that the seating is too tight in the tables by 1st floor windows. There is barely enough room for waitstaff to get between the tables perpendicular to the windows and the chairs of patrons seated in the tables parallel to the windows. I was bumped at least twice, my sweater was brushed off the back of the chair, as was my wife's coat. I looked a the layout and wondered what the managers were thinking. I saw staff struggling to get through the gauntlet of patrons' chairs and window tables with less than 3 feet of clearance. The divider between dining and bar should be moved 2-3 feet toward the bar. 

I want Mia's to succeed and I'm generally a fan of Alexandria Restaurant Group's efforts and what they bring to the community. This location has a history of being difficult -- it's sad to think about how long it's been vacant over the past 15 years. I note that there are several Italian restaurants on this block (Il Porto, Landini Bothers) and a pizza restaurant (Pizzaria Paradiso). So I have to wonder whether an Italian kitchen is what the 100 block of King St needed. Is this a slap in the face? The gauntlet thrown down? I'll leave that for others to decide.