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Blue Duck Tavern

Blue Duck Tavern

1201 24th Street Northwest, Washington, 20037, United States Of America, 20037-1104, Washington, D.C.

Steak • Brunch • Terrace • American


"It can be quite the task to find the perfect restaurant to take my ex-chef father to for special occasions, an adventure that was further complicated by the pressures of the ever-stressful Father’s Day Dinner. Thank goodness for Blue Duck Tavern in Foggy Bottom! The menu boasts fresh, local ingredients, simplistic dishes, and phenomenal flavors that hit the spot. It can bring ex-chefs to their knees. The restaurant is gorgeous – high ceiling, aesthetically pleasing interior architecture, large windows that allow a lot of light inside, and a very quaint and beautiful outdoor seating area. Reservations are recommended for any day of the week but parking is amazingly not too difficult so it’s totally worth the trip. Blue Duck is affiliated with the Hyatt hotel, so expect a mix of tourists and locals looking for an excellent dining experience. On to the food! I’ve heard rave reviews about the signature Pear Martinis…but I could not pass up the opportunity to order a Cucumber-Ginger Martini. Super satisfying and surprisingly not too sweet for my palette! The ginger really balanced out the drink and gave it a perfect kick. Will probably not please everyone – my mom made quite the face after having a sip of my drink – but I thought it was pretty fantastic (I had two. ‘Nough said! Blue Duck has an extensive wine list and a plethora of other signature drinks and a large beer selection so there’s a little something for everyone. The dishes are tapas-style, even the entrees. For example, crab cakes are served without any type of garnish, just two cakes in pan with some type of tartar sauce on the side. I would definitely recommend ordering side dishes to supplement the meal, since you won’t get much with the entrée! All that foodie hype sure lived up to expectations. Not to overuse my current favorite obsession..but the crab cakes (what else would I order?! were delicious and were very meaty, they did not taste too fried, weren’t greasy/full of mayonnaise, and weren’t overwhelmed by breading. They were the perfect temperature and very evenly cooked. Enough to share…though go the selfish route and eating them all for yourself! I recommend ordering a couple of side dishes in addition to entrees in order to have a more complete meal. My favorites were the roasted mushrooms (an assortment of shitakes, black truffle, porcini and the daily harvest vegetable. I lucked out and had sugar snap peas sauteed in chipotle chile butter…excellent flavors. And be sure to save room for dessert : We opted for banana chocolate chip sorbet, which consisted of three incredibly generous scoops, and the signature apple pie, which really is more of an apple cake. Plenty to share, though to be fair I refused to let the banana sorbet stray too far from my spoon. Service was wonderful, and I loved how all the food was carried to the tables – the runners/servers all knew who ordered what! Waiter offered great suggestions (especially for dessert! and was attentive and knowledgable. The menu is relatively limited regarding number of offerings but that is not to say it’s at all limited in flavors!…other intriguing dishes include cuttlefish ravioli, smoked sturgeon, and marinated sheep’s milk cheese with fava beans. Brunch breakfast menus looked excellent as well, all the more motivation to go back!"

The Grill Room

The Grill Room

1050 31st St. NWDC 20007, Washington, D.C., United States

Wine • Coffee • American • Breakfast


"I 'm so conflicted. My bf took me here for birthday dinner last year and it was one of the greatest steaks I 've ever had in my life. Today for brunch was overpriced, sub-par, and exceptionally rude service from our main server. My pastrami sandwich was fine, but the pastrami should have been the star and instead it was drowned out by the cheese, slaw, egg and dressing, and the egg was way overcooked. The fried pickles were good, but overkill with the potato salad that had a pickly taste to it already. And btw, the potato salad was good, but I 've had much better. For $24, I expected more from this dish. The duck egg burger was just alright, nothing special, including the fries, but the best dish by far was the shakshouka. The labneh really set it off. However, the egg was supposed to be poached, and for all three people who got this dish, the egg was overcooked and solid instead of runny. Again, I expect the quality to be a lot better at a place like this. For drinks, the green juice was delicious, but my mom, a ****** mary connoisseur, said it wasn 't that good at all, and that was a $16 ****** mary. Finally, when the check came, I noticed they charged us for water, and with three bottles at $9 each, I had to say something. For a drink that 's supposed to be free be $27, that definitely should have been communicated to us. I nicely told the server that and she replied with the rudest, nastiest, ok, what do you want me to do about it? attitude. She returned with the water taken off, but the attitude that came with it was completely uncalled for. It 's a shame that the brunch experience was nowhere near the quality of the dinner experience a couple years ago. For that, I 'm not sure that I can return without heavy convincing from trusted sources that it 's safe to go to again."

Salt Stone

Salt Stone

75 S West TempleUT 84101-1590, Salt Lake City, United States

Coffee • Cheese • American • Sandwiches


"Hmm. So Valentines Day was interesting. Went out with friends and decided to give Salt Stone a try because there were lots of available reservations and we were booking at the last minute. Walking in, the place looked cozy: dark wood, fireplace, cool chandelier. But it all went downhill from there. The hostess asked us if we would like some water, then never brought it. We waited for almost min before asking if we could get a server. Now keep in mind...we were fully enjoying each other’s company and were feeling generous and patient because it was Valentines Day and we expected a little craziness. Any other day we probably would have walked out at that point. When we asked for a server, the man at the table next to us stood up and said “good luck. I ordered min ago and I still haven’t gotten my food.” He left. Still we persisted. Our server was a nice girl and very apologetic about our wait...however after taking our drink order it took another min before we finally saw her again and got our drinks. Ordering food was another ordeal. One friend had her heart set on the Valentines special (cowboy steak) but they were out. She decided to have the ribeye. Also out. So we asked the server what she would recommend that they had. She said the prime rib dip. Great! We all ordered it. She came back a few minutes later with the news...yep...out. We switched to chicken and a panini. After finally placing our order, our hummus appetizer came really quickly. It was good. But we were starving so not super picky at that point. Our drinks ran dry and again we waited. And waited. Thankfully our friends continued to be delightful and our kids were at home, so we were happy to sit there...even though we were growing increasingly hungry. Long story short(I’m running out of words) our food finally came two hours after we arrived. Yay! They compensated us with free desserts and the food was all decent. But SHEESH!!! We won’t be back"