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Monocle On Capitol Hill
Rating Details »
Category: Restaurants [Edit]
Neighborhood: Capitol Hill/Northeast107 D St NE
Washington, DC 20002
(202) 546-4488
- Nearest Transit:
-
Union Station (Red)
- Attire:
- Dressy
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Price Range:
-
$$$
- Good for Groups:
- No
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Take-out:
- No
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- No
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good for:
- Lunch
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
13 reviews for Monocle On Capitol Hill
"If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog"
Other cute and insightful sayings adorn some of the walls of this clubby restaurant sitting almost in the shadow of some of the most powerful governmental institutions in the United States. There is surely a genre of these kinds of resaurants and bars across the nation ... in state capitals and county seats everywhere. If you are not part of that world, and I am not, then it is a treat to get to visit such spots. This is reputedly a common dining and drinking stop for legislators, staffers, lobbyists, and a host of others involved in the business of governing the nation.
The restaurant sits in an unpretentious brick building, perhaps Federal style, on D Street (see pics). Inside the atmosphere is comfortable and low key. One enters to a small foyer with a cloak room dead ahead. There is a small bar with perhaps 10 seats and four or five small tables for groups to sit and have a drink. Dining tables and booths of various sizes situated in cozy alcoves and open spaces occupy the remainder of the restaurant. The service was good ... courteous and matter of fact. There were no undercurrents of fawning and no haughty behavior either. For me, as an average customer, It had a very nice feel.
The menu options seem reasonably standard for a restaurant of this sort ... steak, crab, and other mainline dishes. Entrees run from $20 to $30 plus, with appetizers and desserts in the $8 to $10 range. One attractive option, which many in my part chose, was the restaurant's fixed plate menu. For $35, diners have their choice of several appetizers (perhaps three), two or three entres (depending on the night), several dessert options, and coffee.
This was an excellent choice and I opted for it. I chose the house salad -- a standard romaine lettuce salad, but nicely enhanced with avocados and heart of palms. For the main course, I went for crab cakes (two rather smallish ones) with an excellent red pepper sauch on the side. I rarely eat crab, or crab cakes, so I have little to compare them with as far a quality. They seemed fine, but the reader will need more of an expert in this realm to know if they are really good or not..
Dessert was super ... "creme brulee" ... or as I prefer to call it "Crema Catalana". Whatever you call it , it was excellent here. A large bowl with tasty carmelized sugar crusted on top and an creamy treat below. For me it was perhaps the best Crema Catalana (creme brulee) I have had outside of Spain ... and frankly it beats most of what I have eaten there.
To drink .. tap water and house Merlot @ $7.50 a glass at the bar, a very fair price for the setting.
I enjoyed this spot (20 Feb. 2009). The food was fine, the service was relaxed and comfortable, and the atmosphere is superb. And most likely it is the atmosphere of the place, visited by the well known, the powerful, the connected, and those who are less so and want to be all of the above, that draws us outsiders to come here for dinner or lunch.
I have been going to the Monocle for over 20 years now. It is a family owned business and is the staple of who's who in politics, lobbying and the Supreme Court. I believe they have the best steaks in town and they are consistently good. Their salads are fantastic and large. The salmon is tender, moist and a great sauce. I also highly recommend their pork chop when it is served as a special. And the jewel side dish are their scalloped potatoes, it just doesn't get any better. Don't look for new and hip decor here, it is in an old historic building and inside is cozy with pictures of Members of Congress who frequent there and famous political quotes line the top of the burgundy and gold walls. The staff is friendly and the atmosphere is buzzing with anything political. When you go, as for Nick the Manager who has worked there for over 30 years, he'll give you a good story or two from the past with a good laugh.
I think the Monocle is a place you don't just go to for the food. It's location on Capitol Hill makes it a popular place for legislators to eat, along with tons of lobbyists. It's a place you could run into political celebrities at any time. It's very cozy inside, and has a traditional looking bar serving up classic cocktails.
The food was fine. It's typical steak/seafood fare. The crab cakes were certainly a step above the average cakes, and the steak was excellent. The desserts are standard also, nothing special. It's also expensive, but not insanely expensive. It's a good place to wow out of towners with the location and the political quotes on the wall. I'd say it's a quintessential DC place.
Come for the ambience, stay for the average food.
I don't know what to say-- nobody comes for the food, and you shouldn't either.
People either come to people-watch (pick a weekday lunch and hope to get lucky) or because they're going with one of the people that others like to watch (you will know who these are). Either way, just embrace the latter and do the best you can with the food. The salads are decent, albeit humongous.
This place gets four stars not for the food, which can sometimes be lackluster.... Its not bad, just not awesome. I do recommend the calamari with red pepper aioli as an appetizer and the tenderloin of steak salad with blue cheese for an entrée at lunch. But the Monocle is in an ideal location for lunch or dinner after a round of Hill lobbying visits or testifying before a Congressional Committee. If you are from out of town and are conducting business in the Capitol...go!
Absolutely unimpressed, that is the best way to sum up my experience at Monocle.
The food was just fine, got amazing, not bad - but certainly not what I was expecting. I felt rushed through the entire meal - especially when the dinner came out on top of the appetizers (something I would not expect for a restaurant of this caliber).
The atmosphere was nice, the restaurant is very cozy and has great political quotes around the sides of the room which is fun. It's really the only reason I gave this place two stars as opposed to one... There are also pictures of members of the House and Senate, which is always fun - but I can't for the life of me imagine why they would actually dine at this place.
The service was by far the worst part of the experience. Our waiter was downright rude and was arguing with different members of my party about their orders. When we refused to tip him at 20% (he actually added up the receipts as we were walking out the door), he asked us why not as if he expected it.
Overall - steer clear unless you happen to like overpaying for mediocre food and bad service.
This is a classic Senate restaurant. Adorned with signed portraits of Senators and other Washington Illuminati, the wood paneled walls exude a sense of importance, if not pretense. Mei Wah, the legendary Chinese restaurant on M street, has a similar decor, but it feels different -- more playful than Monocle. But hey, the place is named after the Penguin's defining facial prop, so what do you expect? Indeed, important people eat here. For example, meeting a friend for a late weekday lunch, I found myself seated at a table next to Michael Bolton. For better or worse, he didn't sing.
The food was fine, but unexceptional. I ordered the "chicken paradise salad": grilled chicken, atop lettuce, hearts of palm, mushrooms, and cherry tomatoes, served with a vinaigrette dressing on the side. The portion was large, which was good given its price. My friend had a steak salad. These two main salads, plus two iced teas, ran us $40 before tip. The bread was quite good, as was the salty butter it came with.
All in all, it was fine -- nothing to rave about. A bit stuffy, but very Senatorial.
"So, do you have to wear a Monocle while you're eating at the Monocle?" I asked my SVP as we walked over there for our lunch meeting. (My SVP scares me and I use humor to deal with uncomfortable situations. Bad humor at that)
Anyway, I have to be honest and say that I wasn't all that impressed. The building is extremely old (or maybe antique is the word) and it is cozy. I love old buildings so bonus points there. But it seemed stuffy, and clearly I forgot that I'm supposed to have my blackberry roller glued to my thumb. This is definitely the place for self important people.
The food was mediocre at best. For those prices, it should dance for you on the table, not have zero flavor. I started with the soup of the day which was a Corn Chowder. Now when I hear corn chowder, I'm thinking thick and creamy, potatoes, onions...oh and CORN. The watery soup I got should have been called "green pepper chowder" or "celery chowder" or better yet, NOT CHOWDER. I think there were 3 corn kernels in it. Moving on then...
I chose the shrimp and asparagus orzo for my meal. BIG mistake. This dish had no flavor. At all. I ended up asking for lemons to squeeze over it. The shrimp hadn't been seasoned at all, and there were like 4 little chopped pieces of asparagus over a completely flavorless mound of creamy orzo. I was really disappointed because orzo and shrimp can be so good.
The service was decent and the bread was interesting. It was piping hot out of the oven, so they get some points for that. Throughout the meal, I kept wondering what Ted Kennedy or Steny Hoyer or Orrin Hatch ate here that made it worth them signing a photo endorsing the joint. Overall, this was very disappointing considering this is the old school place to go for Capitol Hill power brokers and the like.
I was pleasantly surprised by the Mononcle this last Saturday night. A friend suggested the Monocle for dinner since they've just started offering a fixed price dinner on Friday's and Saturday's for $17. How could you lose for that price?
Now the Monocle has been a political institution on the Hill for years and definitely has that red leather, scotch on the rocks, we would smoke cigars in here if we could feel. So I wasn't expecting much from the food. But to my pleasure, the salmon with a bernaise sauce was lovely and my dinner companion's steak with a sherry wine sauce was mighty tasty as well. Add to that killer drinks (I love my Manhattans) and good service, and I'm back. $17 for a nice dinner and a good bartender? The Monocle is now on my list.
The Monocle is a DC institution. This is place is known to be a preferred power-lunch venue for lobbyists, DC elites, and members of Congress-- and look closely when you're eating there, you will see plenty of the lapel pins that the congressmen and congresswomen wear, or you may recognize a senator or two!
As for the food, it's a fairly expensive lunch but in general you're paying for the ambiance and location. The walls are covered in photos, newspaper clipping, and other historical documents. I had a pasta dish which was tasty, but nothing amazing. Especially for political junkies and people watchers, the Monocle provides a good excursion for showing visitors a taste of the "inside the beltway" lifestyle!
I came here after a day of lobbying in Capitol Hill with the national president of my Sorority and other Greek members. Basically, it is a must for anyone wanting the hob-nob feel of DC.
Politicians frequent Monocle because it is close to the center of it all.
The food was good, but the atmosphere is where it is at. The energy was just sky high with political buzzing, and everyone had a great time.
My husband & I just ate lunch here for restaurant week and our experience started out disappointing. If you go to the Monocle's website and click on their restaurant week menu it shows their entire menu. Therefore, we assumed they were offering their entire menu. Well, they are not and it is extremely limited. The food itself is average. Portions are large though. I am not personally a fan of the ambience as a previous poster mentioned. Old Ebbitt Grill is cheaper, better and offers more ambience. Bottom line, restaurant week is designed to lure new customers in and hopefully keep them coming. Needless to say we won't be going back.
Don't go to the Monocle for food, go for the martinis. They are large and delicious and totally worth the money. Nick the Greek has been the maitre d' there since 70s easily. Ask him for some scandalous stories from the good ol' days. This place has serious history of the tawdry DC kind.
