The Roost - A Dining and Drinking Consortium by Neighborhood Restaurant Group at 1401 Pennsylvania Ave SE

[Tweaked]

We went to The Roost several times over the holiday break to catch up with friends.

The Roost has 10 different eating and shopping concepts, including Caruso's Grocery, which is a stand alone restaurant and covered elsewhere on DR.  This is more about the eating spaces actually in The Roost.

The setup is a little more upscale that say Union Market, which has more of an open market food hall setup.  The Roost has various seating areas, nooks and crannies, ranging from cafe tables to lounge seating to more restaurant feeling seating.  You can also sit bar style at each specific food vendor.  The space does work well for everything from working during the day to getting a drink after work to group get togethers. 

Once seated you can scan the QR code and then scroll and order from any of the vendors, as well as pay as you go or set up a tab and pay at the end.  It takes a moment to get use to the ordering setup, but once you figure it out, it's quite simple and convenient.  Most of the food vendors open at 4pm on weekdays, so if you go for a weekday lunch, offerings are limited.

So far, I've tried food from:

Yoko & Kota:  Pan Asian from Eric Bruner-Yang.  Good pork wontons with chili oil.  The mushroom curry buns were bland.  The fried pork gyoza were terrible, could have been a pack of deep fried pork gyoza from Trader Joes.  The Cambodian Noodle Salad was fine, but I wasn't a fan of the citrus chili peanut sauce.     

AKO by Kenaki:  The menu is primarily Makimono plus a couple of donburi bowls.  Their offerings won't blow away a sushi connoisseur but it does the trick for a sushi fix.

Hi/Fi Taco:  Tacos, obviously, plus nachos and quesadilla.  The crispy avocado taco is really good.  The orange soda braised carnitas was a greasy mess.

Shelter:  The main bar, with 50 beers on tap, cocktails and a small wine selection.  Shelter specializes in low alcohol session beers below 5% ABV.  

All in all, The Roost is a decent concept and a good addition to the Hill, especially for casual dining or for a group setting with varied appetites.   

 

[Pat]

I mostly go to Cameo for coffee and Slice Joint for pizza, but I like the Red Apron as well. They have a bodega with breakfast tacos, etc. early in the day but I haven't tried that. It's a pretty good mix of places. Lots of people camp there during the day working on their computers. Definitely a notable addition to the Hill.

(I have trouble with my phone, vision, and QR codes, so that aspect can be a problem for me. I've had no problem getting an employee to use their Toast app terminals to order me a pizza, though.)

[ICD]

On 1/3/2023 at 10:55 AM, Tweaked said:

Once seated you can scan the QR code and then scroll and order from any of the vendors, as well as pay as you go or set up a tab and pay at the end.  It takes a moment to get use to the ordering setup, but once you figure it out, it's quite simple and convenient.  Most of the food vendors open at 4pm on weekdays, so if you go for a weekday lunch, offerings are limited.

It's important to know that they bring your food to where you scan the QR code. I screwed it up by thinking that it was just a QR code for the menu and then ended up looking for my food after I sat with my wife in a different seat.

[Pat]

I'm trying, it seems rather fruitlessly, to get a DR meetup set up. I put a poll in events. If anyone is interested in a meetup at the Roost/Shelter this month, please reply here.

At this point there are three of us, and I think I removed the end date from the poll. Trying to find more people. Sigh.

[Escoffier]

12 hours ago, Pat said:

I'm trying, it seems rather fruitlessly, to get a DR meetup set up. I put a poll in events. If anyone is interested in a meetup at the Roost/Shelter this month, please reply here.

At this point there are three of us, and I think I removed the end date from the poll. Trying to find more people. Sigh.

Unfortunately, this seems endemic.  The demise of "independents"  and the rise of programs like Facebook and TikTok and that ilk are destroying sites.