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The Hamilton, Metro Center - A Massive Concert Venue from the Clyde's Group


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Not sure if they ever get completely "full", but I know walking through the Hamilton at lunch (I work in the building so I'll enter through the back) that it certainly looks full, or at least very close to full (not counting the downstairs). And I know that's the case often on weeknights as well for dinner. All three bars will get slammed, and reservations can be impossible to get.

I essentially never seek out dining at the Hamilton, but it's extremely convenient, it is way better than the other option in my building, and the food is acceptable to a wide range of diners, which makes it work well with clients.

The half price sushi from 3-6 is also a fantastic deal, and is great if I had to skip lunch.

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I recently heard that someone couldn't get a weekend reservation at Range.

The only possible thing I can think of is that they just don't have the staff (either BOH or FOH) to handle it, despite empty seats in the house. I can't picture either of these two restaurants actually being "full."

That might explain the really lousy service at Range -- not enough wait staff.

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Given that the World Cup has started up, I'll recommend the Hamilton as a place to eat lunch (or a late lunch or early dinner for the 3 pm or 6 pm matches) at watch the games. It isn't ideal viewing, but particularly if you're able to enjoy half priced sushi it's not a bad deal at all.

Also, in cases of emergency, like last night for me, it's substantially less crowded than more traditional venues, and as a result can work as a place where you stand perfectly still and have trouble breathing for 80 minutes of game time while Ghana places the American goal under siege.

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Enjoyed The Baseball Project at The Hamilton last night. The food was pretty good -- leaps and bounds over what you can get at the Birchmere, and the venue is a lot nicer. Started with the special -- gazpacho. Really delicious, with chunks of lump crab. The edamame was a generous portion, with ample sea salt sprinkled all over, and the bento trio featured beautiful sashimi. Also had the pizza carbonara with an egg, and it was better than you would expect from such a venue.

I was surprised that the full menu upstairs wasn't available in the music venue. That's unlike most Clyde's, where everything is usually available everywhere. The upstairs bars were hopping on a Thursday night, so between the Old Ebbitt Grill and The Hamilton, Clyde's is rolling in revenue along this little chunk of F Street territory...

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Enjoyed The Baseball Project at The Hamilton last night. The food was pretty good -- leaps and bounds over what you can get at the Birchmere, and the venue is a lot nicer. Started with the special -- gazpacho. Really delicious, with chunks of lump crab. The edamame was a generous portion, with ample sea salt sprinkled all over, and the bento trio featured beautiful sashimi.

I agree. I went to the Hamilton for the first time several weeks ago and pleasantly surprised by the good quality and tastiness of the bento box. The desserts were decadent and good too. Nice venue and pretty good food for decent prices - definitely worth a visit.

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May be going to The Hamilton for concert this week - has anyone had the crab cake?  I would normally avoid it in a music venue, but since they're a Clyde's restaurant, I'm guessing it will be good.

The Crab Cakes I've had in the past here have been as good as the other Clyde's, and I've found the presentation/sides are more interesting than the standard Tom's Potatoes and Corn Chesapeake at many other locations.  Side note - I've been told they recently started doing crab cakes in smaller batches to avoid what had become a problem - the fresh cakes were great but many tasted a bit stale.  Hopefully that will rectify the problem.

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The Crab Cakes I've had in the past here have been as good as the other Clyde's, and I've found the presentation/sides are more interesting than the standard Tom's Potatoes and Corn Chesapeake at many other locations.  Side note - I've been told they recently started doing crab cakes in smaller batches to avoid what had become a problem - the fresh cakes were great but many tasted a bit stale.  Hopefully that will rectify the problem.

 

Thank you!!

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May be going to The Hamilton for concert this week - has anyone had the crab cake?  I would normally avoid it in a music venue, but since they're a Clyde's restaurant, I'm guessing it will be good.

The music venue has a much smaller menu than the restaurant. The crabcake sandwich is on it, and it's fairly typical of a Clydes. The maki sushi actually isn't bad, though I wouldn't send anyone there for sushi. You can skip the pizza.

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I knew the music venue's kitchen had a much smaller menu.  I've heard the sushi is actually pretty good, but I only do California rolls or things with cooked shrimp or eel, so would probably go for the crabcake.  Blackberry and peach salad with spinach and goat cheese and marcona almonds sounds good to me too.

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Most of the food at the Hamilton looks better, both on the menu and on the plate, than it tastes. That said, you won't get anything actively bad here. If you like the crabcake at Clyde's I'm sure it will be basically the same, whether downstairs or upstairs. 

Mostly true, although way out in front of other music venues like the Birchmere. When the same quality of act starts coming to the Hamilton that currently goes to the Birchmere, the Birchmere will likely be marginalized.

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The Hamilton was very nice last night. We were quite impressed with the limited menu. Our 3 cheese plate and especially the carbonara pizza were excellent and after requesting the much larger upstairs wine list (excellent!), managing director David Moran decanted the Priorat I ordered. This was a first in a concert setting. My spouse ordered one of the sushi offerings-Yellow Tail-which tasted just ok to me as it could have been fresher. However, this is a minor quibble. Eliane Elias put on a brilliant performance so an extremely pleasant evening.

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I want to give a shout-out to Hamilton management for dealing with my alleged food poisoning incident in January.  Somebody contacted me a few days after - they have a food safety consultant.  She had discussed my case with the kitchen and although there were 30+ servings of my dish the same night, nobody reported being sick.  She chalked it up to norovirus.  I was impressed with their follow-through after an email I sent.  I think many other restaurants would have just ignored me.

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The lunch menu comes up for me.  Maybe it was just offline for a while?

Yes, it comes up for me now, too (the dinner menu wasn't coming up for me before, either). Hopefully we pointed out a problem and helped them; most likely, the website was simply being updated or undergoing maintenance.

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About once or twice a year I end up at a large business lunch at the Hamilton and today was the day for 2016. I have food allergies and I like to look at menus in advance to either pick something allergen free, or so that I can call in advance and get something altered (if it's an easy thing to do).

Because I could not see the menu before I went, I opted for sushi (no allergens there, ever) and i really liked it!  And yes, I was surprised. the name of the place is "Hamilton" like American Leader Hamilton.

Anyway, it was fresh, interesting, had some fun flavors and the coke was good.

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I met with a former co-worker for a pre-job interview lunch at The Hamilton earlier this week. I had only been here twice before, once for a lack luster post Cherry Blossom Ten Miler brunch and once for a raucus happy hour, so my expectations were pretty low. There was a lot to choose from, but I ended up going with the Blackened Blue Catfish Sandwich ($11). I was surprised sides didn't come with the entree but I would have rather saved a few dollars over getting some fries I didn't really need. The sandwich itself was a substantial size and was quite filling. The catfish was seasoned cooked well and served on a potato bun with lettuce, "pickle back" mayo, red onions, and tomato. The only unfortunate part was that the catfish did not stay inside the sandwich and made for messy eating. I ended up using a knife and fork. Fortunately, I was with a friend and not on a business lunch or that would have been embarrassing. 

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I had not previously been to The Hamilton for lunch, but I was invited there today....I have been on a search for the best octopus in town, and the lunch appetizer was surprisingly good. I accompanied it with a wedge salad, also good, and I can safely assert that I will enjoy both again. Hopefully soon.

The octopus did not appear to be the scant tentacle that most places offer as the appetizer. There were several meaty char-grilled chunks, assembled with fingerling potatoes and a tangy tomato sauce. The wedge had nice chunks of bacon and a very rich blue cheese dressing. 

The lunch crowd was on the massive side, and service was sharp. This lunch was a solid B+ on a scale of 10.

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It's a good spot for private events, FWIW. I went to a birthday party there in December, one of the few times I've been in the presence of a lot of people at one time without masks on in quite a long time. Food (buffet) was fine. Service was good.

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Steak Frites at the Hamilton last night was about as good as it gets. Very nicely executed for a place that does a few hundred covers every day. The strip steak was a perfect medium rare, and the fries were right out of the fryer crispy. Not sure what to make of the clump of cress that accompanied the dish, but I ate half of it and it provided a palate cleanse between bites. For a cavernous restaurant such as this, I'm surprised at the quality of individual plates. Around our table was a strip steak entree, with a side of brussels sprouts, a few sushi rolls, and plenty of beverages. Pretty good meal, all in all.

At the front of the house, we had a bit of an issue as I arrived and asked for our reserved table....the deafening noise at the bar inside the main door was headache-inducing, and the hostess' attempt to stuff us into a booth was thwarted by my protestations. She wanted to wait for our party to arrive before seating us at a table, and I told her I couldn't wait right there and have my eardrums shattered by the jet-engine-level noise. Luckily, we were seated before I lost my hearing and my temper.

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