Barrel — Restaurant in Washington

Although Harold & Black get the hype, the Elixir bar downstairs is the true hidden gem. It has a great industrial feel with fun cocktails names bursting with flavor.

My fiancee and I ordered 1/2 the cocktails on their drink menu, some were hits while others were misses. My favorites were "Bees are Dying at an Alarming Rate" which was on the sweeter side relative to the other cocktails (none of them were really sweet). I liked the pop of flavor from the honey and lavender and gin works best with citrus drinks. I enjoyed the "Teenage Anarchist" with sweetness from strawberry and mint, bold flavor of applejack, and strong kick of cynar 70. I wasn't a fan of the Milky Punch or Serious Business, which was like a Manhattan. They weren't bad cocktails, just not for my palette.

The drinks are made in premixed batches without alcohol, which is then added later. The bartenders were nice and let me sample a couple of the premixes.

I recommend not making any adjustments to the drinks. Afraid that the Teenage Anarchist cocktail would be too strong, I told the bartender to make the drink light, which wasn't strong enough and then when I asked for full throttle, it was too strong. My fiancee ordered the same cocktail as is and it was quite good. No adjustments were needed. I noticed the female and male bartenders had some flirty banter, which just elevated the experience.

I was impressed with the bar food. I ravenously devoured the oven-baked mac and cheese. My fiancee enjoyed his burger and fries, they were so goood!

After dropping $100 on cocktails and dinner, I had a great time and would come back if I'm in the area (they don't take any reservations). Fun causal atmosphere with...

On the eve of my birthday, me friends took me out to Capitol Hill's newest restaurant and bar. Before we went, I did a little research and found out the owner of Barrel also owns Union Pub near Union Station. Since everyone knows only tools go to Union Pub, I was trying really hard not to judge Barrel before giving it a try (to avoid being a tool myself).

There's an upstairs and a downstairs both with their own bars. The downstairs looked cooler than the upstairs, but the tables were too big so we went upstairs. We each ordered a drink. I got the Raspberry Elyx Mule and it was just okay. If you like spirit forward drinks, you'll love the Bucket and the Greenpoint.

For an appetizer, I ordered their baked beans and it was amazing! Then out came our main dishes and that is when we started to get confused. For a restaurant/ bar that looks very manly, the dishes were tiny! I ordered the BBQ pulled pork buns and three very small sliders came out. My friend ordered the scallops and they should change the name to scallop because there was literally just one of them. All the food tasted good, but we were all still hungry afterwards. And we waited, and waited, and waited for our server to finally come by and ask us if we were done (There's grace for new servers).

Warning: If you do not like smokey flavored food, don't go here. Many of their dishes have a hint of the taste of a campfire.

I give this place a three. I'm glad it's on the Hill and it is definitely unique, but they seem like a teenager- not really sure who they are just yet.

UPDATE: I have since been back a few times for their fries and they have surprisingly...

I wish they had more of a selection of mixed drinks. Went for brunch, the food was pretty good, we plan to go back to try dinner/lunch. The apples that came with the waffle were too sweet, it felt more like a reduction of apple preserves than what it was supposed to be. I enjoyed The basil candy on top, it was a delightful addition! We also ordered a chicken biscuit it was a very nice biscuit, needed more of that honey butter, but still tasty. The bananas foster French toast was the absolute bomb! But it's more like a dessert, and should be shared. The friend chicken was fried well it was nice and crispy, BUT was under seasoned. And the best part is, it's fried boneless thighs!! My mother ordered grits and was expecting them to come in a bowl, but they came in the form of over toasted grit cakes. The lighting was pretty low but they looked like polenta to me and my husband. My husband ordered the bacon, it came with the rind and in broken pieces. Everyone enjoyed their food. The server was friendly, attentive, and helpful. According to the receipt his name was Conner M. I LOVE their selection of whiskey's and bourbons! Bourbon is one of my favorites!

I'm another visit we tried the sour on tap and it was good then we came back another time and it was gone 😢. We tried another one and it was gross. One of my tablemates had ordered the burrito and it was supposed to be carnitas but it looked and tasted more like chicharron. It was crunchy and burnt! The brunchy fried rice was good, kinda spicy and I don't remember that in the description, also the chicken in that...