Atrium Café — Restaurant in Washington

After a long day exploring the area, we were looking for good food options near the museum so we were eager to see what the fuss was about. Walking in. I was thinking I was about to fuel my brain with some culture while enjoying the museum. Boy was I wrong. Buckle your seatbelt folks. First, the prices. $4 for a can of water? I expected a gold tooth from T-Rex to be included in the can. We paid $8 for two cans of water. Must be those “minerals added” that spikes up the price. Oh, they also weight the plates and charge per pound so be cautious. Throw in a few pieces of pineapple and call your bank to transfer from your emergency savings. The line was long and confusing. Multiple arrows in multiple directions, no guidance, etc. It felt like my first day of high school all over again. Condiments, however, were a shining beacon in the darkness. The ketchup packets were like tiny sachets of joy in a desert of disappointment. I slathered them on like they were gold dust, because honestly, without them, the food would have probably tried to eat me first. Regardless of that, I am sure my bathroom will be very unhappy after this meal. Just bring a sandwich and water from home and save yourself the existential trauma. A diaper just in case would probably also be beneficial. Actually, just bring a full “museum cafe rescue kit with you to be safe”. But actually that probably won’t be too helpful so just accept your fate and get through it lime...

DO NOT EAT HERE. The food is absolutely atrocious: stale, cold and tasteless. We had "pizza" (two slices of stale cheese-covered bread stacked on top of one another) and a burger (cold, greasy burger patty on a sopping wet bun) with two drinks, which cost us an eye-watering $58. The soda fountains were broken, so that meant we could choose only between plain soda water or orange soda. The burger was so disgusting that I threw it away after one bite, fearing for food poisoning. The "pizza" was also awful, and they serve the two slices stacked on top of one another on a small dinner plate, so they all melt together into a glob of bread and cheese.

The cash registers were broken, so it was taking them 3-4 minutes per person to actually pay for your cold, disgusting food.

What an absolute RIPOFF. I went back to complain and ask for a refund and they couldn't have cared less, nor did they refund me. The Smithsonian should be ASHAMED to offer this level of service and quality of food in this world-renowned...

the food looked amazing at first, i was super excited but as soon as we got up to the register we weighed our food and we’re like okay let’s get the money out that they gave us (traveling with worldstrides on a school trip) but we had $15 each in our group, the total for 3 meals was $80.79!! absolutely ridiculous, the food wasn’t even good at the end! no flavor, food was cold by the time we were ready to eat, and the mac and cheese was straight milk. the drinks were $4.20 each, a monster was $6.50, a minute maid lemonade was $4.50, and a cookie was $7!!! the food was ridiculously priced for it to be terrible. the gift shops were very expensive also, how can you buy anything from the gift shop when all your money went to the food? the lady at the register for the food was very rude, she didn’t know her english very well and was very very rude no matter what. overall. v expensive food, rude service, and...