1025 First St SE

Washington, DC  20003

(202) 652-1009

Justin’s Café is finally open for business everyone! Sip ‘N’ Tell has waited six long months for this moment to arrive. They opened about a week ago and have been booming ever since. The café is located at the bottom of the Velocity, a condo building that’s pretty much empty and still trying to sell, and just a few short blocks from the Navy Yard metro on the green line. Super easy to access and there’s tons of parking… when there isn’t a Nats game.

It’s a cute, cozy café and has the potential to turn into a sports bar very quickly despite only having one television located at the bar. We know it can be everything you want it to be; a date spot, a place to watch the game with the boys or the café across the street to grab a bite to eat when you’re too lazy to make dinner yourself. With reasonable prices, it’s definitely a place where regulars can hang out.

Having only opened a short week ago, the servers are still a little nervous and do make mistakes, but don’t be fooled, they’re super friendly and eager to please. Our server, Hunter, even made some conversation with us and gave us a bit of his background. We ordered lots of food and enjoyed the hell out of it. The rundown is as follows:

Moultrie salad is awesome. Wentworth pizza is finger-lickin good. Both the Rutledge and Radcliffe sandwiches were served with over-cooked, dry chicken but the concept for the sandwiches makes you want to try them again. Overall, the food is definitely worth trying out and delicious and we’d like to categorize it as, healthy drunk food, which means you can really eat it anytime, day or night.

We love that when you’re not sure about a beer, the servers are more than willing to give you a taste test to make sure you’re getting the right drink. We’re sad about the small liquor selection (there was no Malibu rum). The bartenders still need a little help mixing drinks, but we’re going to give you guys a pass anyway because of how new you are. We know that with those baseball crowds pouring in, you’ll get the hang of it in no time. For those of you that like to get cash back from your credit cards, don’t count on using your Discover here; they don’t accept it yet. But, if you’re looking for a sweet spot to write that paper or catch up on your online reading, Justin provides you with free wi-fi.

And this brings us to Justin, the owner. Justin is super cool. Right off the bat you can tell he’s down-to-earth and just wants to get to know his customers and keep them happy. This is his first restaurant, but he’s had lots of experience prior to this. The guy knows what he’s doing. Stay tuned for new things to come to Justin’s Café, like next week with their new happy hour from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Rating: La, with the potential for Oooh-la-la

2121 14th Street Northwest

Washington, DC 20009
(202) 332-9672

Sip ‘N’ Tell made reservations for 5 and we showed up a bit late, but we were still seated in a prime booth in a very timely fashion. Right from the jump we had a good vibe about this place.

As most do, we ordered drinks upon being seated. We tested out the “Lavender lemonade,” which hits you straight in the jaw; it’s strong in a sour way. The “Grown and Sexy” martini is excellent, a bit like a cosmopolitan. The sweet tea is perfect. The non-alcoholic beverages come in quaint canning jars.

GabbyLa ordered the steak and our server, Keira (who was awesome by the way, very attentive) recommended red wines in an informative manner and helped her pick a good choice. The steak meal is cooked to order. We also tried out the muscles, which had sand in them, but were cooked perfectly. The garlic bread is a little overpowering, but if garlic is your thing, go for it. The corn bread is light and fluffy, but needs its own original butter. The fried chicken meal is good, standard. And their mac and cheese, well, its to die for. We were completely overwhelmed by it, happy and in absolute bliss. The shrimp creole is excellent. As you can tell, we were beyond pleased with everything we ordered. So good in fact that we wanted doggy bags, when this is typically not the case.

The food is very Louisiana, Creole, southern-style cooking, instead of the expected Florida vibe. The music was too loud making it difficult for Sip ‘N’ Tell to have a conversation in our booth. It’s not the ideal place to meet people for the first time because of the noise factor, but if you’re coming with a group of friends who have voices that can carry, this is your spot.

Our only real complaint, aside from the noise, is that their napkins are tacky. They look like kitchen towels, but you know that when we’re taking the time to complain about napkins, in fact, there wasn’t much to complain about at all.

The patrons are happy, the servers are nice. Even management stopped by our table to check on us. What more could we ask for?

Rating: Oooh-La-La

1432 Pennsylvania Avenue Southeast

Washington DC, DC 20003

(202) 543-2323

We showed up to Wisdom at about 10 pm on a Friday night. We’d been looking for somewhere to go in the neighborhood (Navy Yard/Eastern Market) for about a solid hour and stumbled upon Wisdom’s Web site and decided to go give it a shot. We arrived to discover there was excellent parking and no line pouring out the door. (Note: the Potomac Avenue Metro is only one block away.) The bar is extremely dark, but this lends a serene vibe to the place. The host showed us to our own little booth where we sat down to examine the extensive drink menu.

We discovered in our own personal little booth, that we were able to control the volume of the house music, which was great, because if you’re trying to have a conversation across a table, you don’t want to be shouting. Though, we won’t fool you, the bench seating in these booths, is less than comfortable.

Wisdom’s libation map is tricky. They’ve created a system to explain the dryness or the sweetness, the intensity, etc. of all of their drinks. We had a little bit of trouble following it, so we more or less ordered blindly with a recommendation from our awesome server, Brandon. Below are the three drinks we ordered and our quick reviews:

Captain Jacks Green Sparrow = very licorice-y

Pears of Wisdom = very peary, comes with a large pear slice (though in this case it seemed to be rotten)

Wealthy Missionary = tasty, awesome (this was hands-down our favorite)

We also ordered some munch-ems. LexiLa opted for the Portabella Panini, which she says is to die for if you like mushrooms. We noticed that the majority of the menu is vegetarian friendly.

Wisdom has a coffee shop essence about it. Antique furniture lines the walls. We felt that it would be a good place for a second date. We were also big fans of the music, handpicked by the buff bartender. There is also a house dog, named Abby, who wanders the establishment. She belongs to the owner and very friendly, though she’s a bit shy. It’s the perfect ladies night spot for a chill evening with no greasy guys hit to on you. Our biggest qualm? The bathroom was not so clean. Also, if you’re in the mood for a late night snack, and we mean you’re dying for something juicy to put in your stomach, there’s a Chinese carry-out next door.

Thursday night’s at 8 p.m. Wisdom hosts Trivia with giveaways for the winning and the losing teams!

Rating: Oooh-la-la

229 Pennsylvania Ave
Washington, DC 20003-1107
202-547-2098

Located one block from the Capitol and two-and-a-half blocks from Eastern Market Metro, this dive bar offers a place to hang out for the mixed crowd. We got lucky on a Friday night as parking is abundant in this area.

Our initial impressions are very blah. It’s a very typical bar with a mix of old and young. The atmosphere is over-stimulating as the music is too loud and the chatter is even louder. This definitely seemed to be an after work hangout spot. It’s definitely a “boys club” kind of place. If you’re the type of girl who is “one of the guys,” you’ll definitely feel comfortable here. There’s no need to get all dolled up. And, if you’re looking for your prince charming, you probably won’t find him here.

The music is controlled by a jukebox with an incredibly lame selection. The walls are adorned with Americana artwork. An American flag serves as the doorway to the kitchen.

The Friday night special is the “Belgian Invasion” which offers $2 off select Belgian brews.

We opted to try the nachos and fries. They were tasty enough, though we could’ve easily made the nachos at home, but the fries were well seasoned, so it wasn’t a total loss. Also, if you’re one for the finer things in life, the water comes with a lemon wedge, no asking.

Our take-home impression of the Capitol Lounge was that it was boring. But, right before we left we discovered that there was a secret hideaway at this place. The “Losers Lounge” is located downstairs and is way chill. It boasts a much calmer atmosphere for the conversationalist in you.

Unfortunately, we felt the Capitol Lounge was not picture worthy, therefore we cannot provide you anything for your viewing pleasure this time. Also to note, we had bad service.

Rating: Blah.