Any Day Now — Restaurant in Washington

Delightful cafe in Navy Yard with incredible vibes, gorgeous decor, and delicious food! A friend and I popped by Any Day Now for a late Saturday brunch before a long afternoon of wandering the Rubell Museum a few blocks away (highly recommend this full itinerary if you're looking for chill weekend plans). We were drawn in by a few Instagram ads about their breakfast scallion pancake sandwiches, and Any Day Now most certainly did not disappoint!

We both got their kimchi sandwich, which came with a generous slice of steamed egg, American cheese, kimchi, and a bona fide heap of chili crisp. Both the flavors and textures were in perfect harmony -- the fragrant scallion pancakes paired beautifully with the umami and slight spice of the kimchi and chili crisp. The pancakes were also super crispy and flaky, which was a great contrast against the soft steamed egg and melty cheese. Overall, it was a phenomenal twist on a classic breakfast sandwich! It did get pretty messy, as the scallion pancake was a bit greasy and didn't have the best structural integrity, so it's not a sandwich I'd recommend taking for the road. The side of chili crisp only adds to the mess, but it's such a game-changer -- the sandwich is good on its own, but the deep umami punch from the chili crisp takes it to the next level.

But it's probably better that we can't take the sandwich to go -- beyond the food, I loved just spending time in this place! The decorations were so quaint and bright, and I just loved how much natural light they got from the giant, floor-to-ceiling windows! It's the perfect place to work or read.

If you're not in the mood for some good food, they also have a solid drink menu. I had their matcha latte and my friend snagged their Vietnamese iced coffee with ube. Both were solid, but nothing particularly outstanding -- the matcha latte wasn't overly sweet and had a noticeable matcha flavor, but the Vietnamese coffee was a bit lacking in ube flavor (although it did have a gorgeous purple hue).

Overall, Any Day Now is a gorgeous space for working, reading, or just hanging out. Their breakfast scallion pancake sandwiches are a great way to start the day, and, while their drinks are solid, they're not the star...

Beautiful and welcoming interior with cozy vibes and comfortable eating/seating arrangements. I could see myself spending some time in here with my laptop similar to others.

Simple counter service, although it looks like they might be doing table service too on occasion. Paper menus to look at while waiting in line, the energy was friendly and lively.

Don't take my word for it, but people had their dogs inside which makes me think this is a dog friendly restaurant, but I would check with the staff. The restaurant also appears to have a direct opening with an apartment building that is dog friendly and naturally residents had their dogs in there.

The menu had many interesting options, but I was here for the scallion pancake breakfast sandwich. I ordered the maple sausage variety as well as a large drip coffee. The cashier was friendly as as normal as any other cashier and made sure to ask if I needed room for cream in the coffee. They took my name and then a short wait they had the coffee followed by the sandwich.

The sandwich looks really appetizing, crispy scallion exterior with a well proportioned amount of each ingredient.

The coffee was excellent, strong flavor, bold in house beans, as good of a coffee as you would expect.

The sandwich was an amazing flavor with all the ingredients and the chili crisp was the perfect accompaniment, HOWEVER, there was one thing that may or may not have been intentional. Upon biting the sandwich I could tell there was some cold ingredient in the sandwich. At first I thought the spicy mayo was cold, but as I continued to eat I realized, the eggs were cold! I am not sure if this was intentional. I've had steamed eggs before, I know when they are fresh they are so soft that they hardly have any ability to stand up and hold their form. Also steamed eggs can overcook easily so it makes sense that they would likely keep the steamed eggs in either a chilled area or room temperature and then cut them to serve. Regardless, I wish the steamed egg was not cold. I am not sure what the solution is but I will be back to see if they give a cold steamed egg again. Everything else about the sandwich...

Sadly a good concept and restaurant at opening has fallen to the lows. First off the atmosphere is all nice and good but the service and food are what we all are coming for and that is the worst.

The sandwiches used to be delicious, crispy, and so exciting but the last few times I have given them a chance they have been either burnt or rock hard and with zero taste! The chili oil is the blandest thing ever and is seriously lacking any sort of flavor outside of an unnecessary oil to make the extremely dry sandwich moist enough to be edible.

The coffee, ehh not great at all either and don’t even think about getting a chai here, zero taste and nothing but milk. I even have had to ask them to remake my drinks because they have served me nothing but milk with the tiniest drop of tea or coffee.

Now the service… horrible! No acknowledgment or welcome when walking in and trying to order. Then you feel rushed while being asked what you want as you’re leaning over a dirty cramped counter reading a card stock menu that’s been handled and dirtied by everyone. Should be the first red flag for what’s to come out of the kitchen. Then you’re having to stand in the cramped space with everyone else waiting for your order to be called which takes forever to assemble a simple and tasteless sandwich or mix some concentrate with your choice of milk. Then the best of luck to you if you have a large order and need assistance taking it to your table, it’s going to be multiple trips as the employees stand behind the counter doing nothing while watching you make several trips while ask trying to navigate the cramped and maze like area.

Sure it’s a cool concept and the first time we went when they first opened we thought it was amazing but slowly each time back it has fallen further down our list of go tos to the point we will go out of our way to avoid it unless we have the hankering to give them another chance but keep being...