The Queen Vic — Restaurant in Washington

Tl;dr-an awesome birthday dinner that blew my expectations out of the water- our waitress, the chef the whiskey guys, the Scot, the support staff, legit awesome service.

looking at Facebook events, I came across The Burns supper. Scotch tasting dinner, Scottish food, etc. A quick Google showed this place has good reviews-but 80 something each? For Haggis and scotch? Slightly confused I went for it since tickets looked like they were going to sale out.

The atmosphere- We were seated and introductions made, the chef, a whiskey expert, a whiskey rep, and a Scot gave a brief overview of what to expect and Robert Burns. I was so relieved to have poetry read and actually get the haggis presented. We even had a toast to the lasses, sang a song etc.

The scotch- We were given a bonus tasting of Glenlivet 14 as an appetizer that got us off to a good start. The othing tasting were Arbelour? 12/16/18/Abulah with 16 being my favorite. Each whiskey was paired with an entree, and we learned about the different amount of times they spend in each Barrell.

The food- (all had various scotch ingredients)

The first course was, and I'm not kidding, the BEST soup that I have ever had. I say this as someone has worked in restaurants, both front and back, for 15 years. I've worked at varying price points, I've tried tons of food-this was the best soup IN MY LIFE. I don't like prunes but somehow this soup left me speechless. The second coarse was a scotch egg with a blood pudding coating-and I thoroughly enjoyed the sausage over the traditional oat blood pudding. This coarse was wayyy better than usual, but it's just not my favorite. The HAGGIS-potentially the most important, and usually sloppy, was awesome. Everyone got a house made meat ball* served over a parsnip/potato blend with a sweet onion scotch gravy. The haggis should be and was the shining star of the Burns night. It was addressed and then stabbed properly * (it's more like a 20 ingredient blend of mushrooms, scotch, beef, lamb, gamey things traditionally in haggis, barley, wrapped in some sort of fat that soaked over the gamey meat and left a delicious taste) The desert-soaked scotch and honey oats, the traditional Scottish berry blend (though I couldn't tell if the berries were from Scotland) and a scotch salted whip cream-this parfait was seriously inching up on a mouthgasm-sweet,smokey,salty, and a little umami feel was a...

Mind you this place can get crazy on busy nights but that still doesn't stop me from party my bollocks off here when I get the chance. In fact, the day I got back from Ireland I came here with a friend and we both had some good ol' "cure for a hangover' breakfasts. It's a very European style breakfast with fat pieces of ham, beans, eggs, sausage etc. Soooo good. Anyways, to explain the friendliness of this place I'll break into a story. After we ate our breakfast we started conversing with the Irish bartender that was working there on this particular morning. I was wearing my new Ireland jacket on and he asked me about it and I explained that I had just got off the plane about 2 hours prior and was here to say Hi to my buddy I hadn't seen in 2 weeks. He then asks about where I went...[shortening for time]...then he asks if I poured my own beer while I was at Guinness, which I did. He then asks me if I'd like to pour my own and taunted me that it had to be a perfect pour b/c I was "certified." I walked back there and I was kind of nervous since the bar was watching me but I poured and waited, walked back behind the bar to finish the pour and I actually did it better there than I did at St. James Gate. He said I did a good job and I'm pretty sure he didn't charge me for that one. We continued to hang out until roughly 3pm just chatting and drinking and having a blast! I think my total tab was about 40 dollars but at that point we had more than 3 bartenders help us out so I can't thank him but rather I thanked the entire establishment.

Go here, support them, have a good time, and tip well! It's worth it. Also, check out the new back deck. Heaters and a TV back there make the winter...

A literal hole-in-the-wall dark heavy wood pub. A long bar and a couple of tables. The service was spectacular with friendly and attentive staff. Sadly, the food didn't quite live up to that.

The poutine with pork belly comes in appetizer or entree size. The fries were thick fresh cut. The pork belly was tender and scrumptious. The cheese curds were a delicious compliment. Sadly, I found the gravy a disappointment. It tasted as though someone diluted a demiglaze concentrate. It lacked the complexity and richness of a beef gravy made from slow roasting. It was one note and not a compliment to the other ingredients.

Fish & Chips. I order this everywhere. An English pub, I saw it and didn't even keep reading. What came was an absolute unit of beautifully fried white fish. On a bed of fresh cut chips. On the side, mushy peas and tarter sauce. This time, the fries/chips were a touch under cooked but well seasoned. The fish was an ideal doneness- tender, flaky, and moist. I use malted vinegar for the fish. The breading came off easily but I think that's the nature of frying wet items. I use tarter sauce for my fries/chips. I didn't care for this one. Mustard is a pretty standard ingredient in tarter sauce. This one used a whole grain mustard. I found it overwhelming bitter and so mustard-y that I couldn't eat it. Sadly I couldn't get that bitterness out of my mouth afterward. I would give this place another try but I left much less wow'd than expected from other reviews. Side Note: I didn't order an alcoholic drink but the table next to me had many pints of Guinness. They seemed pleased and the pints had nice but not...