The Midlands Beer Garden — Restaurant in Washington

Short story: this place is so "popular" that the staff doesn't care about your patronage. I'd recommend to Hook Hall across the street instead.

Long story: Today (Saturday, January 9th) I tried making a reservation for 2 on Midlands' preferred platform, Resy. I knew they would be busy because it's a sunny day, and they're one of the few spots in Petworth with outdoor seating. On the Midlands' website for reservations, Resy showed a few times available between 6 and 8pm. I tried making reserving one of those spots, but for every time showed as "available" an error message would pop up saying that "this time is no longer available". Yet, when I returned to the site to check the other open times, they still gave the same message.

SO we decided to stop by in person, and see if we could make the reservation in person or at least get put on the waitlist. We wait our turn for the hostess, and when we ask about the waitlist, she says they're busy until 6pm. She told us she couldn't put us on the waitlist. We said "ok, so can we make a reservation for later instead?" She told us that we would have to go on the Resy site, so we told her AND SHOWED her that the site wasn't working. She told us that it's not her problem, that it's a problem with Resy, and that she "can't do anything about it." We asked if she could book us in from her end manually: "no", so we asked if she could put our name on the waitlist for after 6pm "no, because the system isn't working."

When we asked to speak with Midlands management, she declined and said they would tell us the exact same thing. We said: "ok, so what do we need to do to get put on the waitlist or get a reservation?" This hostess made it sound like it was impossible. She told us that we will have to come back at 6pm and try our luck then. She also said to keep trying the Resy system (even though we showed her it's not working), and that again - not their problem. I was shocked, because I've never had bad service here. Why didn't management figure out a new way to book people when their primary system isn't working? Seems like Midlands is indifferent to whether or not you...

Went to MID-lands to watch the final game of the Premier League with my best friend. We walked in behind a family with children who were not carded, but we were swiftly carded by an extremely overzealous security guard. He claimed that we, two 28 year olds from North Carolina, did not have acceptable ID's because mine "didn't feel right" and when he used his ID scanner, our ID's both cleared just fine. So, when that story didn't add up, he went around the room trying to get various employees to look at it and back him up because his argument was so flimsy.

I told the bartender the doorguy had pulled aside plainly "hey, can you get your boy? he's doing way too much. we just want to watch the game" and then the security guard took to LOOMING over me, threatening me saying that I'm not allowed to call him "boy" since he's black. I wasn't being racial, I was just arguing with multiple people pointlessly at this point all for this door man's massive ego.

Keep in mind this was at 11am on a Sunday, and there were approximately 30 children on the patio running around. My friend and I are both almost 30 but because my ID "didn't feel right" I deserved to have my time wasted and ended up just watching the game at home on the couch and saving my money.

I legitimately work at HOOK HALL across the street and have been to Midlands several times, but I will never be back. Terrible and shameful. You make...

I love midlands. My SO took me here two years ago and we’ve been back for dates and with friend groups many many times since. Their selection of draft beer is great, there’s always something for everyone.

The food is awesome. My favorite are the chili cheese dogs- I can crush a couple of those and not feel the gross kind of full. The chili has such good flavor, better than you would expect. The cheese sauce has killer flavor too, and it all sets/coagulates a touch so that it doesn’t turn into a sloppy joe situation when you’re eating the dogs. Definitely my favorite hot dogs in the city.

The Buffalo chicken nachos are great too, and you can never go wrong with the chips and chili cheese dip. One request I would make on the food front is to go back to the OG way of making the smothered rib eye. They stopped tossing the sauce in with the steak and instead topping the sandwich with it. That results in dry steak underneath instead of the ooey gooey gorgeousness I know it can be/has been.

Other than that, this is an excellent place to catch a game or just have a couple of rounds with friends. And don’t forget to hit up the darts! They’ve got a great nook for a...