Rater Comments
These comments express the opinions of individual Restaurant Raters, not those of Washington City Paper.
Review by discojing on September 3, 2009
After hearing about EatBar via the Washingtonian (both touting their marvelous hush puppies and in the 'Burger Brackets'), we made it our mission to sample both the 'puppies and their burger.
We seated ourselves in the bar/lounge area and waited a while to be served. Service was spotty, but not much can be expected from a venue of this sort. I'm sure that everything was just a little nicer next door at Tallula, the parent restaurant. Now, it may just be due to the couple of drinks I had up the street at Clarendon Ballroom, but the hush puppies were good. Not as good as the ones I've had at Outer Banks, but they were pretty good. The burger was good as well-in fact I didn't even care about smearing ketchup all over my face in order to shove all parts of it into my mouth in each bite.
But, the bottom line is, I've had better versions of everything here somewhere else before. I'd rather eat french fries at Farrah Olivia or Sweetwater Tavern, and rather have the burger from Palena Cafe or Central.
I had 'The Rock Star', a super bubbly drink that still had a strong taste of wine. The area that EatBar is located in is far from the metro and is not a very attractive one at that. The decor is very confusing. I can't decide if it's Gothic-gastropub-chic or a weird mash-up of things that reminds me of the inside of a funeral home or a psychic/tarot reader in the country.
Glad I went, but not going again. Especially since the crowd that seemed to be around us was... "special". Not the kind of ambiance I'm looking for in a place.
Review by dcgurgitator on March 5, 2007
We really enjoyed the food at Eat Bar when it finally arrived, but noted that it wasn't anything above and beyond what should have been expected. The french fries were everyone's favorite, a unique version of a bar food staple.
The wait for a table was minimal, but the service was absolutely horrible. We had not one, but two unfriendly and aloof servers. The majority of our appetizers arrived after the entrees, and glasses sat empty for the majority of our stay. Missing Silverware, condiments, and missing orders had to be requested numerous times.
If it weren't for the dreadful service, this may have been a nice evening out. Instead it was much more frustrating than enjoyable.