Menomale NoMa — Restaurant in Washington

Unfortunately, this was not a great dining experience despite the nice things I had heard about the place. When we arrived, we were seated and then left to our own devices for about fifteen minutes, without water or anyone taking our order. There were only two servers taking care of the large dining room, so this might explain it.

Finally, we got some water and ordered a calzone and a vegetarian cheese ravioli. We were never asked about drinks and by this point so no point in asking for them. The server brought us the wrong ravioli (tomato-based, not cheese) - and asked us if we were fine with this. He had given the wrong order to the kitchen. In fairness, he did ask us if we were sure and offered to replace it. It having been about 40 minutes since our arrival, we accepted it. The problem was that we found what were clearly bits of sausage in the ravioli, and my friend is vegetarian (hence our earlier vegetarian order). This was absolutely unacceptable, and we mentioned this to our server and returned the plate. It is not a pleasant experience for a vegetarian to consume meat, intentionally or unintentionally. We were offered a replacement, but we denied it. The ravioli was taken off the check, which was a nice gesture but besides the point.

The calzone that we ordered was of a good quality, but nothing beyond that of standard Napolitan or New Haven-style pizza. By no means did the ingredients or texture jump out as unique. But it was tasty, and perfectly good for a weeknight dinner.

I completely understand overworked restaurants and honest mistakes. I am sympathetic to busy servers and oversights, and I'm willing to be very patient in busy restaurants. But to bring the wrong dish, and change it from vegetarian to non-vegetarian, does not make for a...

So I came to Menomale to pickup a too good to go order at the assigned time, and to say I was beyond disappointed in what I received wouldn't be going far enough. They way it works you get what's left at the end of the night, right before the restaurant closes, and they give you food. You pay through the app in advance, not knowing what you're going to get then show up at your assigned time. I've been to the Brookland Menomale location before, and the food was amazing, so when they showed up as an option I was super excited and jumped at the opportunity. I arrived around 930 and let the hostess know I was here to pick up a too good to go order and she went back to the kitchen to prepare my order while I waited near the bar. She came out, handed me a white bag and I returned to my car to head home. I opened the bag to see what was inside, thinking it was pizza or garlic knots...but no, the bag contained the small loaf of bread you see pictured...for $6. I called back and asked if they had made a mistake..but no they had not. The employee that answered the phone told me the bread was all they had left, but I could come pickup a side of marinara sauce if I wanted to but I declined. I've ordered from the Too good to go app many times, and have even had restaurants cancel because they didn't have any extra food left over at the end of the night, and this is the first time I've had such a bad experience. I'm annoyed that the restaurant was okay with selling a stale mini loaf that is probably given to diners for free while they wait for their entrées for $6, so I definitely wouldn't recommend them as an option with the app, and it's highly unlikely I'll order from there in the future because I feel taken advantage of and hope Menomale thinks the $6...

Our waiter came over to take our orders, we said we weren't ready because we had some questions. He responded with an ok and immediately walked away, so we had to wave him back over to us since our questions were for him.

When we were ready to order I pointed to the pizza I wanted on the menu as it seemed we already established that he didn't understand us well. I thus expected to receive the pizza with roasted zucchini, roasted eggplant, etc. but received one with anchovies and whole olives, neither of which I can eat.

We were hurried through dinner by the water coming to ask if we were done when we'd only gotten through a few pieces, then soon after he came back asking if we were ready for the check. I saw him leave the restaurant just a few minutes after we paid, so we must have been one of his last tables and he wanted to be done working. I understand that, I look forward to leaving work. But when you're job is in the service industry, that's just...