Bluejacket — Restaurant in Washington

YOU CANNOT TAKE DRINKS FROM THE RESTAURANT BAR TO YOUR TABLE. THEY WILL CONFISCATE THEM UPON REACHING THE TABLE. If you plan on drinking AND eating, you have to buy the same drink at the table from the waiter since the table drinks are more expensive than the bar drinks.

This was my first experience at the restaurant, but not the first experience for others in my party. My party of five got to the restaurant around 4pm on a Saturday, so the 45-minute table wait time for five people was not out of the ordinary. Plus, the tables cleared quicker than we expected so the wait time was significantly less. The hostess was very kind and helpful, and directed us to the restaurant bar and outdoor seating area while we waited. At the bar, we were offered three options: a smaller glass of beer, a larger glass of beer, and a pack of four cans. With the number of people in the party, we decided to get the four cans. We sat outside on the patio with no trouble what-so-ever. The food was fantastic, and the beer selection was great. However, for the reasons following I will not be returning. After sitting on the patio and drinking for around 25 minutes, our name was called for our table. We were seated at the table for about five minutes before the hostess came by and stated that we were not able to have our beverages (which were purchased at the bar inside the restaurant), and that she would have to confiscate them. Understandably, she offered to get the manager for us so he could better explain why they sold us beverages that we could not drink. About ten minutes later, another waiter came by and said he would have to take our drinks until the manager could make it to the table, and with that they took the beer away from our table. Then, after another ten minutes, the manager came by with our canned drinks poured into a solo cup that he gave back to us. He apologized for the delay, and stated that the drinks in the restaurant are significantly more expensive, so they did not want us taking our drinks from the bar to the table. While slightly unreasonable, if they would have explained that to us at the bar, we would have waited to get the up-charged drinks at the table to avoid having our drinks confiscated. Also, our drinks were OUT OF OUR SIGHT for at least ten minutes, and then changed containers without us seeing them do so. The chain of custody was extremely concerning and I was highly uncomfortable with the idea that we could not confirm what happened to those drinks in that time. If this happened to me while I was alone or even in a smaller group, I would have left immediately because we should NEVER lose sight of our drinks for our OWN PERSONAL SAFETY. Especially since the containers were changed, because this screams that something else happened to the original container. Then after another ten minutes, the waiter came to give us water and take our order. The service was poor for both treatment and wait-time. Lastly, all of the toilet paper in the women’s bathroom was also placed on the floor due to none of the stalls having the bar to hold the toilet paper in the holder. Overall the experience was poor and dangerous. If the drinks weren’t mishandled to the point of making us sick, then the unclean nature of the restroom would certainly cause an illness or infection. Also keep in mind, there is a service fee so that you are required to tip the waiters, which I am usually ok with, but I would have reduced the tip to reflect the...

Every time I go here, I swear that I’ll never return, and yet, here I am... again, disappointed.

My wife and I were out running errands as she works on the Navy yard just next door. For context, I am former Navy guy and a home brewer, so you’d think that I would love this place, especially as many Navy luncheons etc are held here.

So we popped in for lunch using their outside dining (due to covid) on a beautiful sunny and not too hot DC day. Outdoor seating was fine, but other than bringing a growler of water and your food to the table, there is NO service. You order thru an app, input your credit card info and never talk w a person. No opportunity to ask “what’s good or what do you recommend?” Nothing.

But of course, as you order, the app defaults to a 20% tip. So NO SERVICE, no food yet, and a default 20% tip. (And if you navigate away from the final bill, it defaults again to 20% - again before you’ve received a crum or one iota of service, you’re asked to pay premium for it?!)

Let’s start w the good: my wife ordered the lamb roll and it looked pretty tasty! See pics. Her one criticism was that it would have been 100% better if she could have a side salad instead of chips - again without a server, this small but reasonable request is impossible.

Sitting ten feet from their huge and highly used BBQ pit, I thought I’d order the pulled pork sandwich. IT WAS BAD. As soon as I picked it up off the tin plate, a big clump of mush slopped out and went splat. It was reminiscent of that scene from National Lampoons Vacation, when they’re serving the hamburger helper, without any meat... and then I tasted it. It simply had NO taste. Just sloppy wetness on a bun, no BBQ sauce, no smokiness, no nothing. I asked for BBQ sauce and Tabasco, it was still unsalvageable, so three bites in, I asked to send it back.

The young guy (bar back/ cleaner) didn’t know what to do, but just said, order something else and we’ll refund this. So that’s what I did. I ordered their burger and it was good - a big 1/2 pound bar burger on a homemade bun with great and hot fries. It’s what earned them the three star rating (instead of a single star which the bbq sandwich deserved.)

At the very end (after I asked and flagged the guy down) the manager came over and gave me a print out showing that they had refunded the BBQ sandwich via the app. I hope that’s the end of the story.

I know these places are suffering during COVID and I’m trying to patronize local (not chain) restaurants, but covid is no excuse for bad food; nor should I be asked (expected) to tip - at premium rates - for nonexistent service.

I’m going on record: I...

Ordered from here a couple nights ago, I got the chicken wings (sweet & smoky dry rub) and the beet salad. Chicken wings, while pricey for six wings and two sticks of celery, were very meaty, tender and juicy with a nice crisped skin, similar to rotisserie or peruvian chicken. Also came with two cups of dipping sauce! Especially most places get so stingy with the little cups of dipping sauce, this felt generous. The dry rub was too sweet for me personally. While the app did say it was a sweet&smoky dry rub, I thought it would be more like a hint of sweet but it was overwhelming for me. My boyfriend tried it too and also agreed it was really sweet, and he's big into sweets and sweet on meat. I would be willing to try other wings, but that seems to be their only dry rub and since I don't like saucy or battered chicken I wouldn't order any wings again myself. I sent my boyfriend home with them, he said he would eat them, so these would work for some people and is going to come down to personal taste, nothing against them.

The beet salad had a nice amount of beets, orange slices and goat cheese! The hazelnuts were peppered throughout, and the shallots were just enough to be there without being overwhelming. They were more generous with toppings. The salad got tossed around in delivery but I tried to bring up the toppings so you can see how much there was. But, it didn't have any dressing, without it the arugula was just plain and bitter. I shook the container to try and coat the greens with moisture from the beets, orange and goat cheese and could have some forkfuls of arugula with the toppings, but once I was done with the toppings it was just a container of dry arugula. Arugula still had some goat cheese sticking to it and a bit of moisture from the other toppings but def was no dressing. I also sent the boyfriend home with the leftover dry arugula because he has salad dressing and such so it'll go to use.

It was a bit expensive but the fact most places are really skimpy with things like salad toppings... or will give you twice as many wings with just one cup of dipping sauce... PLUS the fact they were open later and weren't trash food, I can't complain much. Even though the dressing seemed to missing, I'd order the salad again (would just add a note to please include dressing!) I'm really pleased with the chunks of beets in it, and want to try the pretzel next or maybe...