Sequoia DC — Restaurant in Washington

DO NOT COME TO THIS RESTAURANT UNLESS YOU WANT TO WAIT TWO HOURS FOR YOUR FOOD. WORST MANAGER EVER.

After weeks of searching for the perfect restaurant for my prom itinerary, I decided to settle on the Sequoia. Going off from the google reviews and social media content about this restaurant, me and my friends were excited to enjoy our evening here for our special prom night. Even as far as suggesting it to my other friends and making another reservation for their group.

However, when we arrived, we got seated at approximately 8:00 pm. We sat. Ordered our drinks. A few minutes later we ordered our meals and appetizers.

~9:25 pm we finally received our drinks after AN HOUR AND A HALF. Drinks alone. Between 8:00 pm to 9:25 pm we consistently asked the waitresses if our drinks were ready, if any waitress were to ever come by because our assigned waitress never came to check up on us ONCE. All of the drinks we ordered were soft drinks, as we are underaged. We were told after AN HOUR that our “drinks would come soon”, two minutes later our waitress informed us that our “drinks had a delay” ???

10:00 pm we received our meals after TWO HOURS. The food came cold, steaks came EXTRA RARE (when a friend of mine ordered medium), and our expectations were not reached for this restaurant. From 9:25 pm to 10:00 pm we again, consistently waited and asked our waitress for our meal, to no avail we were consistently neglected.

Not once have our waitress checkup on us.

After hours of consistent neglect and unexplainable service, we began to feel irritated, hungry, and displeased with our experience, and asked for the manager. The manager, with a dark blue collar shirt and colorful tie, who first came up to us was plain rude, immature, and childish. When we confronted him about our food taking over two hours, he said “so what, so did everyone else ” exactly those words in a rude and disrespectful manner. DO NOT COME TO THIS ESTABLISHMENT UNLESS YOU WANT TO WAIT TWO HOURS FOE YOUR FOOD. Beside that manager was a hostess who laughed at one of my friends and called him embarrassing. Never have I ever experienced such RUDE behavior from anyone in the restaurant industry.

Never coming here again.

Thankfully another manager, Manager Rachel, came over, apologized for the other manager’s behavior, and paid for our meals.

For this restaurant to hire managers and staff that provide such horrible and negligent services, represents the type of establishment they are. Do not come here. Even from a perspective of someone who has worked in many customer service fields, including restaurants. I have never seen this type of...

Sequoia, it pains me to have to highlight such basic issues with your very expensive brunch offering. You have so much potential for something great. However, the food preparation is not at all up to par. I will freely provide you 3 recommendations that will instantly and measurably improve your offerings with very minimal capital outlay.

#1: The Raw Bar: Oh boy...where to start...You CANNOT boil your snow crab legs. It is just as easy to steam them. When I tried cracking them, the meat was destroyed, tasteless, inedible. The legs were a good size yet the meat is waterlogged and goes to waste. The plate and my hands are dripping with water that is pouring out with each crack. It ruins the guest experience as well. It's honestly a crime. I read that they can be served warmed as opposed to chilled, by request. When I inquired with the server he mentioned "50% of the time they come out good" because they microwave them and its uneven cooking. Microwave? Seriously? And the mignonettes presentation was far more appetizing than the sad looking oysters I was so looking forward to and did not have the confidence to try. Put them aside, separately, on ice, than languishing next to a pile of crab.

#2: You CANNOT put fried chicken in a closed, heated serving casserole. You are now steam/poaching "the artist formerly known as fried chicken." The chicken must be allowed to breathe. (See KFC/Popeye's warming approaches if you don't believe me.) It was inedible soggy breading.

#3. The upstairs section should honestly just be closed for brunch, or reserved exclusively for large groups. The 2 minute walk through the back of house, and down and up 2 flights of stairs to fill your plate EACH time, realllyyy challenges the "upscale" experience that you guys purport to offer and your prices reflect.

The service is very well intended and attentive, if a bit overbearing/intrusive. The highlights, by far, are the made-to-order crab cakes and the made-to-order tacos, for the very obvious and aforementioned reason, but its not what most folks are paying the high prices for. The lox bar and omelet station was also lovely. Desserts were fine, if a bit infantile. The restaurant itself, views, and location are AMAZING, which makes this such a larger fail. I regret having come here for a special occasion that had me treking soupy crab across half a DC block each time to eat. Sequoia, I hope you respond to this and make these easy changes, cause you could be so...

Dinner at Sequoia is approachable fine dining. From the moment we walked up via the river side entrance and encountered a smiling hostess, who opened the door and greeted us as we approached, we felt very welcome. We had a reservation for an early dinner and there was ample seating, so a reservation would not have been required; however I'm sure they are busy during peak hours and would still recommend a reservation. We were promptly seated and our servers, yes, multiple, introduced themselves and gave us time to look at the menu after discussing the daily specials and asking the type of water we prefer. We opted for sparkling water and placed our drink orders as well as requesting the bread sampler. I ordered the blossom martini to compliment the spring season and my husband ordered the smoked old fashioned, which they smoked at our table. Both cocktails were delicous. The blossom martini contains lychee, which was a perfect flavor for someone like me who doesn't typically drink martinis, but does enjoy lychee. Very light and refreshing cocktail. The bread basket is awesome by the way, and everyone who loves bread should definitely order it. Soft and warm bread....delish. For dinner we ordered the steak specials. I opted for the filet and my husband for the New York strip. Medium rare because that is the best way to eat steak. We also both ordered the crab cake upgrade. The dishes arrived fairly quickly and looked great. The important part, taste, for the steak and crab cakes were both really good. I will say the portions are generous, so come hungry. I had to take some home in a to-go box and unfortunately, was too full for dessert, but I did see the dessert ordered by a nearby couple and it also looked tasty. We'll have to comeback another time to sample their dessert and perhaps some wine or cocktails. They have fairly diverse wine and beer options and plenty of cocktail choices. Overall, Sequoia has a great menu, perfect views of the Potomac River, high quality food and very friendly and professional people on their team. George, Zach and the lady, who I apologize for not recalling her name, gave us a great dining experience and we would definitely...