Sixth & I — Attraction in Washington

So, I am pretty shocked at the excellent reviews of this venue. Obviously they didn’t sit in the second floor. Now, as a person who builds stuff for a living I can clearly see how ridiculous the second floor seating is constructed. With huge ceilings, there is plenty of room to allow for a more steep seating area and allow for the poor people who showed up 30 minutes early to simply.....see the stage. I mean, how can you justify selling tickets to an event where a good portion of the seats don’t even have a view of the performance? I am surrounded by people staring off into space..... I literally can not see a single inch of the stage. No, there is no giant sitting in front of me, no pole, Just normal people.

Secondly, no assigned seating? Seriously? What is this, the bus from Forrest Gump? There is a reason a lot of people hate Southwest Airlines. Can you say, “seat taken?” We walk in and there are more purses and coats saving seats than there are people in the pews. Way up in the nose bleeds, there is a lady who literally was still saving a seat thirty minutes into the show. She turned down a late comer, 30 minutes in....... There is a reason almost every other venue has assigned seating.

Now, not everything is terrible. Sound is fine, staff is fine, performer is fine. Architecture is cool, place is clean. But ultimately, what does any of that matter when you CAN’T SEE ANYTHING!

Please, rebuild the risers, or stop selling tickets to seats that don’t have any view.......

Lastly, I had trout for dinner, and the salmon color on the walls is off putting. Too much fish in one day.

P.S. Any first year architect student can fix your line of...

I've been an enthusiastic supporter and participant with this historic synagogue's programs for the past 20 years since its re-founding so I give a 2-star rating with deep regrets. While the administration of years past did utmost to have inclusive programs to encourage diverse participation consistent with Jewish values of inclusion, the current staff and Rabbis have made the unfortunate and definitive choice to focus almost exclusively on the Gen Z 20s and 30s segment at the EXCLUSION and ALIENATION of those of us in the matured older demographics. Their event descriptions across the board state the emphasis on "20s & 30s Programming" as does their website overview, and holiday and Shabbat events I've attended in recent years have been clearly dominated by this segment. Yet they make general token references to inclusiveness and I continue to receive requests for donations to support programming that explicitly shows blatant age discrimination. I've left messages for months including directly to Rabbi Aaron Potek, the Director, and my messages continue to be ignored. I'm deeply disappointed with the direction of this once inclusive and vibrant synagogue that I'd gladly traveled an hour to attend, and along with their decidedly liberal leftist leanings, discourages plurality and inclusiveness running fully counter to the best of Jewish values. This synagogue's current administration has demonstrated flagrant hypocrisy for essential Jewish values that I for one will no longer...

The venue itself is very beautiful and there is lots of security on site.

The knowledge and general coordination of the venue staff, however, could use some work. I purchased VIP tickets to a show here where my party and I were able to sit in on the band's sound check. As we entered, security didn't tell us any specifics of where to go or what will be happening during the VIP event. Once the sound check ended, we were kicked out on the street and forced to wait 45 minutes (in December) just to come back in with the rest of general admission - repeating the entire security check. This didn't make much sense because there was a lobby with several seats that could have easily held the dozen or so VIP members that paid $100 per ticket while we waited for doors to open.

But I digress. Once inside again, our specific VIP tickets wouldn't scan in their system, so we had to spend time with a manager getting new tickets that also for some reason wouldn't scan; but that was pretty much the last speed bump we encountered. Overall, the venue and show were great, but there were some debatable decisions made for the venue's VIP guests and some lack of...