Restaurant Finder

Comet Ping Pong

Cuisine: Pizza Neighborhood:

Based on 5 reviews.

Address	5037 Connecticut Ave., Washington, DC 20008
Phone	(202) 364-0404

Rater Comments

These comments express the opinions of individual Restaurant Raters, not those of Washington City Paper.

Review by next-in-the-city on December 24, 2006

I really wanted to like Comet Ping Pong. What better combination could there be than pizza and ping pong? But it was more than terrible. The pizza arrived luke warm (like it was sitting on the counter for a while), and it looked little better than it tasted. "Blech" was everyone in our party of seven's reaction.

I wanted to like the service-- the waitress, with an armful of tatoos, seemed like she could be really cool. But she was incompetent. She totally ignored us and made stupid comments. The only cool thing about this place is their back room, which doubles as a ping pong area and small concert area, and the bathrooms, the doors of which look like a log cabin. Despite it's vast potential, the food was definitely a distant afterthought. Unless you like completely wasting your money, this earns a "must miss" rating from me.

Review by jfrohman on December 4, 2006

The place was packed - with a lot of families. We were seated - but that's all I can say about that. There was no menu given to us and when a waiter FINALLY came to us he automatically assumed we had been there before (its been open only weeks... maybe a bit early to assume that!) So all they serve is pizza and salad. A fine idea, but there are no prices anywhere and very few choices for toppings. We were told that the pizzas are more personal pizzas and to order two. When I asked how big they were - the waiter couldn't tell me. Weird since all they serve is one size.

The food comes and it was - ok, but entirely NOT filling. The pizzas were oblong and about 9" but came with hardly any toppings on them, poor quality cheese, and about two inch crust all around the whole thing!

Here is the kicker... for two pizzas, with two toppings a piece and two bottles of root beer (remember there is no price listed... you order blind!) the price was a whopping 31.90 with tax!!! That's $9 a mini pie and $1-2 a topping!!! Thats insane!!!

We were so very very disappointed. The waitstaff was less than friendly, the service was slow, and we left hungry... a very expensive hungry. I hate to put down a new local business like this, but I feel I need to warn others expecting a fun pizza place that this is a huge rip off and very disappointing. And to think we were just looking for other fun hang outs...

Review by lisagsch on November 23, 2006

the restaurant is a cool idea ... but the people running it don't know what they're doing

Review by Drew Shaw on November 13, 2006

I waited years for this thing to morph from the Thai Room to Comet Ping Pong. So, I understand, did its owner. But now that it's here, the pizza's pretty good. A nice crisp crust. Fresh, flavorful toppings. And, at nine dollars a pie and a buck a topping, pretty reasonable for D.C.

The place does have a few minor drawbacks. People not in on the concept will be confused by the lack of menu (It's over the bar.). There really isn't a lot of variety. Maybe 10 toppings. A caesar salad. Beer, wine and soft drinks. That's about it. Maybe the selections will broaden over time.

The final quirk IS the concept. As I said, this place took some years to come into being and, once you see the inside, you wonder why. And the wait staff the opening week seemed straining for artiness but somewhat less interested in service.

Nevertheless, a good start.

Review by Spyboy on October 30, 2006

Comet is new and may get better. We shared a salad and an "individual" pizza, kept the bar tab to two beers and got out for $35. The pizza, from a wood oven, is pretty good. But if the ping pong tables are full while you're waiting for your pie, you might find it interesting - once - to order the house salad for $6.95, contemplate the bowl, and ask, "Why?"