The Sovereign — Restaurant in Washington

We dined here Sunday night 9/23. My husband and I were celebrating our anniversary a few days early (the restaurant would not have known this) and we did have a reservation. I chose this place as we are both crafter beer drinkers and I knew my husband would love the selection they offered (he did). The place was empty on a Sunday night. There were maybe four other tables occupied at any given time during our two hours there. Nonetheless, we were sat at a small two-person table in the corner, so it was essentially up against a half wall. There was no space to move around and when I tried to open the beer “book” (aka list) my elbow was hitting the wall and it was overall very cramped and uncomfortable. Add some appetizers and food to the table, it was 5x worse. Given we even had an advance reservation I’m not sure why they couldn’t have spared a booth. The service was excellent. Our waitress was wonderful and made helpful food recommendations. All of the food was also excellent. My husband’s medium steak was not cooked medium, but rather medium-rare. He sent it back and they cooked him a whole new steak, which was still borderline medium, but slightly better. They brought him a pour of a beer at no cost to make up for the steak, which was a very nice gesture. My salmon was excellent along with our meatball appetizer. The one qualm we both had was when we ordered a $55 bottle of a Casey beer – it was brought to our table to confirm it was the right selection (it was), and the waitress proceeded to pour it in what were basically water glasses?!? For a restaurant that prides itself on being a mecca of beer, and mostly fine beers, this left us speechless and confused. This beer should have been served in a tulip, hands down. Later on we ordered a Cantillon that was poured from a wicker bottle basket into proper tulip glasses. It seemed they pulled out all the stops for this beer, but not the Casey. Just so odd, it left a (figurative) bad taste in our mouth about the experience. Overall, I would definitely return as the food was excellent and the beer selection was second to none. I would just be sure to request a better seating arrangement...

I went to The Sovereign for the first time last weekend. I had the steak frites and husband had the pork chop. The steak was good, but not $36 for a sirloin good. The fries had a delicious flavor, kind of a mild garlic and when eaten with their ketchup made for a nice meld of flavors. The husband said his porkchop was great and the veggies, too. The portions were huge. We also had the Pot de Creme with Chantilly cream. It's basically chocolate mousse. It was probably one of the best desserts I've had in awhile. If you have any lactose intolerance issues definitely don't get it. Ha.

I tried the 4oz Tired Hands French beer. It was very tart with a bit if a sweet flavor. It kind of gave the effect of a sour patch kid. The husband had the Blue jacket. It was a wheat, barley, oat beer. It had a more ale type taste. Not anything like the Tired Hands beer. I honestly liked it a lot better.

The service was impeccable. They even asked if we had any food allergies they needed to know about, which we don't, but that was nice of them to ask. Our glasses never emptied. The waitress was extremely nice and attentive. My husband actually left a way more generous tip than normal, that says a lot for the service.

The atmosphere was dim and cozy. The detractor was how close they have people's tables to each other. I felt like I couldn't talk to my husband without being heard. I could literally hear the conversations at tables near us. I learned a ton about the table to our left's financial dealings and investments. How well they were doing and if he was going to pull out of the market. The table to the right was going on about the rare beer they had ordered on a recommendation. I will give the place 4 stars only because of how cramped the atmosphere was. Other than that it was a good experience with great service. It is a little hard to find. It's in an alley, which we ended up late for our reservation. We couldn't find it. Just something to...

I really enjoyed the beer and vibe of the restaurant, but I’ve never experienced a more rude experience with a server. Upon ordering as our first time, my friend and I accidentally ordered the beer by the brewery name and not by the beer name. Our server Greys immediately corrected us in a very condescending way. All of the people in our party immediately felt uncomfortable. We ordered the rest of our drinks and food and had an enjoyable night. The server seemed to notice our discomfort and offered us free drinks as a sign that she realized she was rude to us. While this was appreciated, later in the night our server swiftly delivered our bill and let us know the restaurant was closing soon. We were fine with this and payed our bill while continuing to finish the drinks we were served with plenty of people still in the restaurant. Our waitress came back in a bit to let us know they had closed the dining room ten minutes earlier (we had no idea since restaurant hours on google are til 1am) and said she’d only stay if “we gave her 100 or 200 dollars”. We took this as a joke and proceeded to leave when she approached us and confronted us about the 16% tip we left her. She said exactly “Just so you know, you tipped me 16% which is way below 20%, the industry standard “. Never have I ever dined at a restaurant where a server has approached me afterwards concerning the tip I left her. It’s absolutely rude and unacceptable, especially based on her service. The members of my party were absolutely flabbergasted and left after. It’s really a shame because the manager and other servers seem delightful, but I will not be returning and will be warning others who go to this establishment...