Florida Avenue Grill — Restaurant in Washington

Visited on a recent trip to DC since it’s billed as the “oldest soul food restaurant in the world.” While it was an experience, it was not one I would return for. The good is that the pancakes are excellent especially with cinnamon and sugar and the fruit punch and lemonade (mixed) is deliciously reminiscent of 1980s kool-aid and highly addictive. The not so good is plenty. The staff seems disorganized and ill prepared to handle a full restaurant. We had to get up and ask for a menu after sitting patiently with no service. When the orders were finally taken (by a woman screaming out to various tables from behind the counter), order of arrival was not taken into account so we were the first ones in and last ones to order. They ran out of grits (thankfully ours made the cut) and told patrons no more would be made. The woman behind the counter ran customers out of the restaurant by telling them she wasn’t sure if she could accommodate them and if they didn’t already have a drink they needed to leave. As for the food, my pancakes came without cinnamon or sugar despite ordering them with, and when pointed out, a canister of each was placed on the table (I guess it’s DIY). The cheese options for eggs are American or Monterey (no cheddar) - ended up ordering with Monterey but I couldn’t tell what was runny eggs vs cheese. The bacon was half burned and the grits tasted like they were straight out the box. Let’s just say I was less than impressed. The final straw was no check was provided. My partner went up to the cashier and was given a total which they paid, only for us to discover later we were overcharged by about 30% - for what we don’t know since no itemized receipt was given. Overall this place has so much potential but seemed to struggle with the basics - they could use someone like Gordon Ramsey to whip them into shape. If so, I’d return and give it...

Finally tried Florida Ave grill and it was ok. The potatoes were over cooked. I absolutely loved the pancakes. The eggs were good and the vegan sausage was good. This place is ran basically by one person on the front and the back kitchen staff. The woman running the front was extremely busy, friendly but matter-of-fact lol. She used all her time wisely and multitasked to get everyone taken care off. The diner is not updated at all and sometimes you may walk in to sit down at table that hasn’t been cleaned off just yet. Just be patient with this location and come in knowing what you want. When I went, they didn’t have many of the menu items which was a turn off of my spouse but not for me since I only wanted breakfast. My spouse ended up getting greens, sweet potatoes, Mac & cheese, and chicken. Overall, it’s a cool spot to order banging pancakes and eggs, however, I wouldn’t recommend their Mac & cheese. The sweet potatoes tasted like apples (which may be tasty to some people) and their greens/chicken were just ok. I was able to find street parking relatively easy but be mindful of the street signs because they cops were ticketing in the neighborhood. I would like to return to at least try their grits and get another delicious round of pancakes.

Also… the front door is hard to open. Many people tried to open it and started peeking through the glass to see if the place was open due to the door being difficult to open. Use your arm strength to pull the door open.

Another note: they do not answer the phone so don’t bother calling. The lady working the front is too busy to take phone orders (literally she was working extremely hard in the front alone while I was there). Also, the posted hours online are different from the actual hours and the online menu is not updated. Just come in and see...

My buddy and I decided to give this humble hole in the wall a try this morning... And it was definitely an experience. When we walked in, we were sat at a table in the side nook by the hostess rather quickly, which was about the only nice thing about the experience. She seemed to have forgotten the fact that we would need menus as she walked off. Our waiter finally came and gave us menus, along with attitude the entire duration of our stay here. I have a feeling he had a stint or two behind bars from his demeanor. I would tell you his name, but he never bothered introducing himself before asking what we wanted. You can't miss him: he's the one with the disinterested face and the throwback New Orleans Hornets colored sneakers.

We started off with sweet tea... Then quickly returned it and opted for water. The aftertaste of bottom-of-the-barrel tea and artificial sweeteners was staggering. The food was no better. Literally everything that my friend and I ordered looked like something out of the frozen food isle; and it tasted even worse. From consistency, to flavor, to presentation, literally everything on our table was lackluster at best. I would go into detail about each particular item, but nobody would want to read that book. On top of that, the waiter forgot bits of our meal and acted inconvenienced whenever we asked for them (guess chatting with coworkers was more important at the time).

Long story short, for a "soul food" establishment that's been around this long, the service should have been cultivated already, the food should've been perfected already, and the atmosphere should be much more homie than this joint. We were thoroughly disappointed by our experience here. It's safe to say they won't be getting anymore of our money...