| Address | 707 7th St., Washington, DC 20001 |
|---|---|
| Phone | (202) 349-3700 |
My experience at Clyde's was pretty decent. I will admit that I had heard about it a few times through friends and had gained high hopes about eating here. Not to say that my hopes weren't fulfilled they just weren't anything to rave about. The food was good, your typical American cuisine. The service was just okay, we had to wait a long time for our check and our waiter only came over once to see how we were doing. The restaurant itself is a very nice establishment, very clean, and nice atmosphere. A place I would suggest for late night drinks or just to go out.
This is a beautiful restaurant. Quite inviting with a large diverse crowd. Although it is constantly busy you can have a nice time with a date, secluded and personal. Setting is relaxing with good food.
On a recent Sunday night, we went to Clyde's in Chinatown for my husband's birthday. We chose it because we thought they'd be able to handle our group of 10 and because of their reputation for consistency and good service. When I made my reservation, I let them know it was for a birthday party and asked if I could bring in a cake (I could, for a fee).
When we met our friends at the bar I realized that we were expecting 11 people (my fault). My husband said, "That won't be a problem -- this is Clyde's! They'll do anything for you." I told the host we might have an extra guest. He said the table would be too crowded with 11 and that they would not be able to seat all of us together. This ended up not being an issue because we had one unexpected no-show. But I was disappointed with the young host's lack of interest in my problem.
I had handed over the cake to the host, who said it would go in the fridge and that my server would be told about it.
Our orders for appetizers and entrees were taken and served in a timely fashion. But no one ever, even once, checked on us to see if everything was okay. Things weren't okay. My salad was overdressed and my husband's steak wasn't cooked to order -- but we would not have sent them back anyway. More importantly, we wanted drinks. I had to wave down the server to get a second glass of wine. Had the server been at all attentive, he probably could have sold us about 20 more drinks.
Halfway through entrees, I decided to get up and go find the server to ask him privately about the cake, to head off any problems. He hadn't heard about the cake.
Then we sat. And sat. Waited until it became awkward and I was frankly angry. Our server hadn't been within sight for more than a half hour. No one came to clear the dishes that remained on the table. My husband got up to try to find a manager. Finally the cake came. But no silverware to eat it with. The server brought plates -- but they were too small (saucers rather than dessert plates). It became a comedy. I picked up the carafe of water -- surprise! no water!
Here's the best part: The manager breezed by. He was utterly perfunctory. I explained to him that we'd waited a long time for the cake. He explained that they hadn't been able to find the cake! They'd been trying to track it down! One of our friends made a jokey comment that he'd also been waiting a long time for a beer. The manager smirked and said, "Sounds like you should be at the bar!" Then he went away.
We were dumbstruck. Did he actually say that? Yes, he did. After some moments of contemplation, my husband, who used to manage restaurants, went after the manager and explained to him that the proper response was to get our friend a beer. And apologize.
When I received the check, I saw that the four beers that our party of ten had consumed had been taken off the bill. In addition, they did not charge me the $3.50 per person corkage-type fee for serving the cake. This was fine, but we don't raise ruckus at restaurants to get items taken off the check.
We tipped 20 percent, because I felt that many things went into our crappy experience, our inattentive waiter being a part. (It's Clyde's fault that he is poorly trained.)
We and our friends have all worked or still work in the service industry. Any restaurant should be glad to have us. I didn't have any wild expectations -- I just wanted our special occasion to feel special. Instead we were treated like poop.
I conclude that Clyde's has no respect for its customers at its Chinatown location.
I like to simply rate a restaurant with all of my senses within it's genre of course.
The decor and ambience were very good (4).The quality and taste of the food were good also well as the presentation (3). I heard music , good conversation, and laughter. Not too much and not a bore (4). Overall, Nice! I'll go again as you can't judge a cook by one entree.
When I called to make a reservation for 6:00 they siad that there was no availability and that we had to come at 5:45. When we got there we had to wait for 15-20 minutes anyway. I have eates at Clyde's before and had pretty good food, but this time was disappointing. We all ordered from the sandwich side (burgers and other things) and the food was mediocre. Good service though.
My wife and I came for the lobster special: 2 lobsters for $28. They came as advertized and were very good. The rest of the meal was competent, no more and no less. The $8 iceberg salad was overpriced and uninspired. The slaw that came with the meal was not bad, but completely forgettable. The wine list was fairly large, fairly thought out, and fairly priced. The dining rooms are ENORMOUS. It is a very comfortable place to sit and eat.
This new Clyde's leaves a knockout first impression. Everything is big here. Big bar, big dining rooms with high ceilings, big silver loving cups, big tables and cushions. Also big, roaring crowds but plenty of room in this large place. No events were ongoing that night at the neighboring MCI/Verizon Center.
I dined upstairs in the room with the big windows and Tiffany-like chandeliers. It was pleasantly quiet away from the noisy bar areas. A couple families with young kids were among the diners. A big draft beer was a very good value. The oysters casino with shrimp appetizer looked beautiful and had bold flavor and my salmon entree with lentils, spinach and a reduction was a savory delight.
My dining partner's strip steak was a total bore.
But the apple brown Betty dessert brought smiles to our faces. A real hit at the end of a memorable experience.
We just went for dessert and drinks before our movie. All our desserts came out yummy and I definitely recommend trying their "adult" version hot cocoa!!!
