Rooftop Recess — Restaurant in Arlington

Do not come here! The whole night it took at least 15 minutes to get our drinks (that were not good) each time we ordered them. Our “appetizers” came out 30 mins after we ordered them and not all of them were there/sides we ordered came out?? We were a party of 6 and when the entrees finally came, 2 of them were missing. The waiter didn’t come over to us for over 15 minutes to check in/so we could tell him we didn’t get our food. He then went to the get drinks he forgot about and said he would check with the kitchen. Brought the drinks back 10 mins later and THEN said he was said he was checking with the kitchen. About 20-30 more minutes went by before we got our food and the rest of our party was finished with theirs. I politely asked that mine and my friend’s food be comped since we waited over 40 minutes total for it. He said he would “check with the manager” and when the check was finally brought out, our waiter came back and told us our two meals were comped so we trusted him. We didn’t feel like splitting the check with all of the hassle, but come to find out our meals that were 1. Not good and 2. Took over 40 mins after our friends got theirs WERE ONLY HALF COMPED. If you don’t want bad service, extremely long wait times and greedy staff then do...

It's not a great brunch spot. Maybe it would be better for happy hour. I had an unfortunately average brunch with really poor service. It's not the fault of the servers who were clearly understaffed. Our one waitress was handling about 18 tables, and that was just inside. I felt very bad for her, but she never mentioned that she was overwhelmed or things were backed up until they were, well, way past backed up. That's poor management...if the restaurant didn't have enough staff, they should have turned customers away. Everyone waited a very long time for everything. Tables on either side of us were complaining and repeating their orders. And maybe if the food had been spectacular, I would still give this a higher rating, but the food was OK. Good, but nothing interesting or particularly complex (the challah toast and bacon were the winners)--but, we waited 50 minutes for good eggs and toast. The restaurant manager did comp our meals, which was nice, but by that point, we were still frustrated, late, and unhappy about the whole experience. Here are the positives -$2 mimosas, what looks like good happy hour deals, and a rooftop option, although I never went. Skip this place for brunch, but maybe a nice rooftop...

I came to Recess Rooftop for brunch this past weekend. The rooftop looked really pretty, the service was good (which can be hard to come by in the DMV, so it was definitely appreciated), and the food was around a 7.5/10.

The issue was the rooftop setup. It was a windy day, and the umbrellas were flying everywhere. One empty table at the corner of the rooftop nearly had its umbrella launch into the street. Thankfully, a guest at a different table jumped up and was able to stop it just in time.

At our table, the umbrella already looked a little unstable. My boyfriend was holding it steady just to be safe. As soon as he let go to take a sip of his drink, the wind blew the top part of the umbrella out of the stand. It hit him in the face and shoulder, hard enough to cut his shoulder and draw blood. If he hadn’t caught it after impact, the umbrella would’ve gone over the edge and into the street.

We didn’t make a scene, but this was extremely dangerous. These are heavy umbrellas, and they could’ve seriously injured someone.

We came for mimosas, not to leave with an open wound. Definitely not what you expect from a...