P.J. Clarke’s DC — Restaurant in Washington

I would like to start this off by saying that I got into the whole reviewing hobby to check out new places and to help promote great locations when they deserve it. I hardly ever like to come on here with negative reviews unless something bad happens that I feel as though needs to be addressed on public forum.

I came to D.C for a football game and to see the White House. I threw a dart on the maps and P.J Clarke’s looked to be a great place to go. I had no idea it would more on the pricey side but I really didn’t mind as well as everything reflected appropriately. We got a table pretty quickly so off to a good start. Our waitress then takes about 5-10 minutes to get our drinks which then prompts another waitress to get our drink order. The original waitress comes back and attempts to get our drink order we just placed, so clearly some miscommunication which also resulted in my burger coming out at my partner’s temperature and vice versa.

The food was good but nothing too special and I was a fan of their drinks and what was on tap. I will say I loved the pumpkin pie but not the 16 dollar price tag on the dessert. This will ultimately be the only positive thing I take away from this experience and I will gladly explain why.

There was a table of about ten people in front of us and one couple in particularly were being distributive and borderline unruly. They were being loud but again it’s a restaurant and everyone seems to be having a good time. UNTIL! We go to leave and a guest from their party thought it was appropriate to chase my partner to the exit of the restaurant as we were leaving. He was accusing her of videoing them when in fact she wasn’t. She was actually getting a good picture of the decor for this review. This decor was behind them and my partners back was to them as she took the photo. They were no where near any camera frame. This whole time this has happened, not one employee came to intervene or even ask the guests to calm down the first time they got loud in the dinning area. The accuser was clearly over intoxicated and if there wasn’t a train for me to catch, I would’ve called the cops. A grown man chasing after a 20 year old woman to harass her isn’t just wrong but it’s also a traumatic experience to have to endure. Especially being a veteran, married and most likely having kids you should be ashamed of yourself!!

So I go home and decide to call the manager the following day. Mind you the incident happened on March 30th. Gigi was very empathetic to what happened to us and was determined to make it right. She even informed me the guests were veterans and this wasn’t their first time causing trouble. I have theories that they are either over served or know an owner personally to be able to get away with their behavior. They offered me a gift card to try at a different location and I thought it would be a great redo idea for my partner, who was ultimately the victim in all of this. I was checking the mail all week and nothing came but got an email from Gigi a week later saying she got behind. I’m sorry but at that point I’ve just had enough with the whole ordeal and dragging it out with my partner, so at that point I requested a total refund. That request had to be pushed to corporate where Bill reached out to me on April 26th. I missed his call but returned it a few days later. I was able to get my refund but it took almost an entire month to resolve this issue. I feel like for the money I spent that all of this was completely unacceptable. Please consider dining elsewhere, but if you come here and see a table of older people on a Sunday please get away from them or they might try to harass you as well.

This is not a personal attack on Gigi or Bill. Thank you for resolving this issue but It should’ve been resolved...

Genuinely one of the worst restaurant experiences I have ever had in my life. Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong. I was there Sunday night May 21st. Our waiter was a nice person and attentive, but in the restaurant there seemed to be complete chaos.

I ordered a frozen margarita, 10 minutes go by and they come back and tell me they actually cant make those right now. No problem, I get a beer. I order the French Dip sandwich, I wait ten minutes and they tell us that thats only on the lunch menu, which was left on the table for us by mistake.

We order some bread and an appetizer. 45 minutes go by before we receive anything to drink or our appetizer. Our appetizer and bread was given to another table by mistake and it had to be reordered.

At this point we've already been there past closing, by the time my steak finally came it was nearly well done when I had ordered medium. When I complained to the manager and asked to have some of our items comped (I thought this to be very fair, as we waited almost an hour before being given anything at all) the manager accused us of trying to scam the restaurant. If I wanted to scam a restaurant, believe me, I'd pick somewhere that could make a margarita or not burn a steak lol.

Please don't waste your time with PJ Clarke's in DC, you'll regret it. I have never had a restaurant experience like this and I doubt. I...

Solid spot for classic British and American fare located just a few blocks away from the White House. I visited P.J. Clarke's for lunch on a workday and had a great time. There were a few other tables, but it was otherwise pretty quiet and relaxed. The ambiance is quite quaint, with their slightly retro red-and-white checkered tablecloths, and old-fashioned black-and-white photos hanging from the walls. The staff is super friendly and did a great job handling our group of 10 people.

I ordered the salmon salad, which was delightful. The salad was super fresh and crunchy with a variety of finely chopped veggies, including cabbage, peas, cucumber, and celery...all of which gave the salad a ton of texture and made it far more fun to eat than a normal bowl of lettuce. The chopped salad was topped with a generous fillet of salmon, which had a lovely crispy skin. It was very slightly overcooked, so it wasn't quite as tender and flaky as I would have liked, but it wasn't to the point that it was entirely dried out.

The food is solid, but definitely does run quite expensive. While I enjoyed my salad, I did not think that it was quite worth $30; I think there are better places a few blocks further from the White House where you can get a similar quality of food for...