SW Waterfront

“the whole enterprise is turning into a no-go zone for anyone but tourists with cash to burn”

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoPville,

Had a Gilt City voucher for brunch at the Brighton (more on that later), so we ordered a carafe of mimosas and two entrees. The English breakfast was okay, a bit flavorless, and only had two pieces of mushrooms (not even a whole mushroom) even though it is one of the several main components of the dish. The salmon bagel seemed okay as well, but nothing on the menu jumped out at us, so we played it safe. The 1-liter carafe of mimosas seemed to be 90% orange juice and hardly any bubbly at all. For $27, that’s ripoff territory.

Our server, Lyndsay, was wonderful and warm and treated us well. The management needs a bit of work though. Our Gilt City voucher had expired two days earlier, but, as various laws and rules dictate and as written in the fine print (confirmed to me by Gilt themselves), the Vendor (i.e. the restaurant) is obligated to honor the face value of the voucher ($40 in this case) as part of the payment for the bill. First level manager brought it to the second level manager, and finally to a third manager who tried to tell us that we were wrong, Gilt is wrong, and they would not have anything to do with the voucher. Basically told us to pay the full bill and try to get our money back from Gilt themselves.

Besides being wrong and in violation of Gilt’s terms, the final manager was abrupt and unhelpful, bordering on rude. Lucky for us, Gilt did apologize to us for the incident and gave us a refund for the voucher. Plus, we never need to set foot in the Brighton ever again — Mediocre food I can forgive, but price gouging and bad management I cannot.

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Leaving the restaurant stone-sober (but with lots of Vitamin C!), we headed over to the Kirwan for a pint and to check it out for future reference. (more…)

“As I tried to explain our reasoning and discomfort with her ways, she said I was being hostile and told us to leave the restaurant.”

By Prince Of Petworth

Update: You can read a story in Washingtonian with the restaurant’s side of the story including:

Armstrong says the manager handled the situation with professionalism as she was trained. He says when she asked the friends to leave, they said, ‘We’re not leaving, you’ll have to drag us out of here.'”

“We had no choice but to call the police,” says Armstrong. Since opening Restaurant Eve in Alexandria 15 years ago, he says it’s the first time the authorities have gotten involved with a customer.

“Dear PoPville,

It was 80 degrees in DC so it was only right to grab dinner and drinks with a friends. My girlfriend just moved to Southwest so it was a great chance to check out her new digs and then head out for bites and libations. As we were cruising the new Wharf boardwalk, she mentioned that there’s a new Thai restaurant. Since I just returned from Thailand, I said yes let’s continue the celebration.

We walked through the busy doors of Kaliwa, a Filipino, Korean and Thai fusion restaurant and found a seat at the bar. We sat down to one drink menu and one food menu slapped on the counter. After sitting there for 15 minutes, I asked the bartender if we could order food. He took our order that included a noodle dish and their signature whole fried fish. Once our food arrived, we noticed that the noodle dish was more of a soup and we were expecting a food item similar to pad thai or lo mein.

My friend asked one of the employees, who turned out to be the manager if we were able to get additional noodles but she stated that we would be charged the same price as the meal since the noodles are handmade. I told her nevermind and we continued to chow down while catching up on our recent trips aboard. As we continued our conversation, this woman “manager” offered an additional pour of wine for the lack of noodles in the dish. Such a nice gesture so we thought.

As we continued to indulge, I noticed that my friend staring at our shared meal while pulling out a long strand of black hair from the fish entree that we were eating. In our disgusts, We called over one of the servers to show him. He took the plate to show the woman manager. After a few minutes of reviewing the hair, she came over to address our issue. We were not trying to make a big deal of the situation and was just expecting a simple apology but before the expected “I am sorry but…,” she looked at my friend and say “this looks like your hair.” (more…)

“Flooding is expected for the unprotected areas on the Southwest Waterfront at the DC Seafood Market and Hains Point”

By Prince Of Petworth


Photo by PoPville flickr user John Sonderman

From Alert DC:

“The National Weather Service has issued a Coastal Flood Warning until 4 PM for the southwest water front in the District of Columbia, Arlington County, and the City of Alexandria. Tides are expected to be 2-3 feet above normal at high tide which is approximately 12:00 noon.

District of Columbia Impact: Flooding is expected for the unprotected areas on the Southwest Waterfront at the DC Seafood Market and Hains Point.”

Mi Vida Opens at The Wharf; More Coming in March

By Prince Of Petworth


98 District Square, SW

From a press release:

“WHAT:

KNEAD Hospitality + Design founder, Jason Berry and Michael Reginbogin, in partnership with celebrated chef Roberto Santibañez (Chef/owner of NYC’s acclaimed Fonda restaurants) open Mi Vida today at 5pm in Washington, DC’s District Wharf, a new waterfront development located on the Southwest Waterfront overlooking the Potomac River. Santibañez, who created the menu for Mi Vida, is a native of Mexico City and one of the most respected authorities on Mexican Cuisine in the US.

CUSINE: (more…)

UPDATE: Milk Bar Opening at The Wharf Delayed – Logan Circle Location Opening “Later this year”

By Prince Of Petworth


49 District Square, SW

“Very Soon” indeed!! From a press release:

“Milk Bar, the award-winning bakery and dessert brand founded by two-time James Beard Award-winning pastry chef and CEO Christina Tosi, announces its second location in Washington, D.C. will open at 12 p.m. ET on Friday, February 23 at The Wharf.

On opening day, Tosi will be on site from 12 to 2 p.m to welcome the neighborhood into the newest Milk Bar store. The store will offer $1 soft serve all day on Friday, including its iconic cereal milk® and chocolate pretzel flavors. In addition, the first 100 guests will receive birthday cake truffles on the house. (more…)

“To me this seems like a lack of support on the part of the Wharf for the fish market”

By Prince Of Petworth

“Dear PoPville,

I was rather surprised by my experience today going to the fish market and parking. Colonial Parking’s sign (attached) shows the first hour costing $2 instead of $10 with fish market validation. I stayed for just over an hour and a half and was charged the full price of two hours ($17) with no discount for validation. For a visit less than two hours, one would naturally assume that $8 would be taken off the overall price based on the pricing structure. (more…)

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