Duke's Grocery — Restaurant in Washington

Great experience at Duke’s Grocery Foggy Bottom in February 2022.

SUMMARY: Outstanding customer service from Luis at the bar and a perfectly executed burger and fries were just what I needed to chase away the mid-winter blues.

Details:

Service:

Luis went above and beyond by carefully asking how I wanted my burger cooked and expediting its completion. I opted to get the burger to go, telling Luis that I would eat it in Duke’s portion of the Foggy Bottom food court (note: there is also seating inside the restaurant.) Luis directed me to a table and brought the order out to me. 10 minutes later, Luis checked back with me to inquire if my burger and fries were to my liking. Wow! Luis went above and beyond, making me feel as if I were in a 5-star restaurant. Yes!

Food

I’ve been reading about Duke’s burgers for years. Tom Sietsema of the Washington Post deems them the best in Washington. My experience pretty much supports Sietsema’s judgment: -The burger was cooked perfectly. I asked for very rare, which is difficult to do with 2 thin patties, so I wasn’t expecting much. But Duke’s delivered. That shows care and excellence in the kitchen. -Toppings were flavorful, and the side sauce (looks like Russian dressing) had a nice kick. -Because this was an encounter with an esteemed DC burger, I opted to get a side of fries (extra charge.) This turned out to be a gargantuan order of perfectly executed sweet potato fries. If you like sweet potato fries, Duke’s deserves your attention. -Will Duke’s be the zenith of your DC burger experience? Definitely yes, if you prefer thin burgers. Duke’s burger is an upscale riff on the Big Mac and gets the details right. If, on the other hand, you are a fan of the thick, chophouse burger, an establishment that specializes in that style will be more to your liking. (If so, see my review of Hunter’s Bar and Grill in Potomac, MD.) -One last detail: Duke’s burger is filled with toppings and is served on a soft bun. It’s prudent to have a knife and fork and plenty of napkins handy, because...

Had an absolutely awful experience here for brunch. We were there for nearly two hours and only had one round of drinks and entrees-- no bottomless, no appetizers, nothing special. Other than them dropping down a big brand new water pitcher on the table, drinks never got refilled. The waiter came once in the beginning and then hardly ever came back; we had to flag him down to order and pay. After finally ordering about 45 minutes after sitting down, we had to wait another 45 minutes or so for food. We didn't have any silverware and one entree never came out. The waiter didn't realize it at first, then had some story about how the ticket got switched up and it would only be 4 or 5 minutes. Ten minutes pass, no food. Our clueless waiter comes back over to see if everything is "good" and doesn't even notice there's a missing entree still-- we had to point it out. He acted surprised that the entree never came out. We told him to just take it off as everyone was done eating at this point. He came back out a few minutes later (at least 15 minutes have passed at this point since everyone else's food came out) and said that "the kitchen was almost done with it" and wanted to know if we still wanted it. Told him the same thing-- no, take it off. If the kitchen truly had already made it, he should have brought it out in a to-go box and taken it off the check. Much of the food that did come out wasn't good-- the shakshuka was flavorless and came with flimsy, soggy naan bread. The whole dish tasted like it came right out of a Sysco catalog. Another entree (sandwich with pork belly) went half uneaten because it came out cold and bland. To add insult to injury, a 20% tip was slapped on top of everything since we were a group of 6 and we could not split the check. Completely undeserving of any gratuity, never mind the overpriced entrees. Will absolutely not return. Go...

We decided to try this place while visiting DC. Arrived in the evening with 8 of us (5 adults and 3 toddlers). We sat outside on the benches. Ordered a bunch of proper burgers, a portobello sandwich, truffle mac cheese and butter noodles.

From the get go the service was poor. The girl with the brunette hair didn't seem like she was interested in serving us. No recommendations for food or drinks. We ordered what we wanted and the food came. The food tasted pretty good, but the server never once checked in with us to see how the food was or if we needed something. We had to ask multiple times for utensils and plates, I mean that should be basic service.

In the end, we ate our food, paid our bill, provided a tip (even though the service was absolute garbage) and decided to leave. Before we left, we needed a few take out containers to pack up some food. We saw the same server and asked her for two takeout containers and she acknowledged. Instead of getting us the take out containers to allow us to leave, she decided to empty her cooler in the street and take it inside the restaurant. She then came out and emptied another container and took it inside the restaurant as well. She then came out and brought out a drink for another customer. All this while knowing we were waiting for some containers. At this point, we were a bit frustrated for how long it was taking to get us a few containers, and so we decided to go inside and get the take out containers ourselves and left.

It was an unpleasant experience to an otherwise good trip to DC. This particular server definitely needs some basic training on...