19th

Horrible service and dishonest bartenders

All I can say is I am happy this place shut down.

Usually I start reviews with hard or easy it is to get here driving or using the metro, followed by parking etc. Won’t even be needed here because I suggest you don’t even make the attempt to go here. This place is so bad, every time someone suggests a bar on I St, I immediately think of this place and decline. Sorry other businesses on I St. They have changed owners a few times, changed décor, changed names, offered living social deals, groupon deals, still with no luck. The bartenders are friendly. That’s about the only plus I could think of. The food reminds me of kindergarten class cooking. Like when you let the kids open a can of pillsbury biscuits, have them spread them out, add some ragu tomato sauce, some hormel pepperonis, and some shredded mozzarella cheese and call it pizza. The drinks, while cheap, will probably taste like college frat party if you could capture that in a drink. Note, said drink will probably make you sick later. Like plastic bottle bottom shelf liquor with a lot of sugar to mask the taste and something for color. The place is empty the 3 times I’ve tried it. I tried it once to see, twice to give a second chance, and the third was because I forgot how bad it was the second time.

High turnover at a bar is never a good sign and 19^th exhibits that perfectly. Always new managers and staff. Food is almost inedible, drinks are whatever and sometimes really cheap and the place is often dead because of it’s location smack in the middle of downtown. I’ve heard there is a rush for lunch but I’ve never witnessed it firsthand. After work/​late night, the place is usually dead.

This place is horrible with the worst management and customer service I’ve seen in downtown DC!
It was a very cold winter night when I decided to join some friends out at 19^th; with that said, they left the front door WIDE open all night! It was freezing in the whole front half of the bar. I understand you guys are trying to cool the place down… BUT use modern day air conditioning techniques rather than leaving the doors wide open!
Horrible layout of the bar… takes forever to get to the bathrooms when it is moderately crowded and takes forever to get to a bar tender (I stood for about 15 – 20 min at one point).
On top of all this (this is the worst part) — I was charged for someone else’s tab with a «similar» name to mine (as the bartender/​manager said). This tab was waaaay more than mine. They assured me many many times that the card was not charged and I would be charged for my true amount (which I was honest enough to give them!). Sure enough, after all charges got past pending — I was charged for not only my true portion but ALSO the huge bar tab (and them some tip!) of this other dude with a «similar name» to mine. I called to speak with someone about this and they literally told me they can’t do anything and the best way to get it fixed would be to make claim/​dispute with my credit card. HORRIBLE! What kind of business does this?! So now YOUR mistake and problem somehow turns back around to be my (THE CUSTOMER!) mistake and problem.
DO NOT GO HERE.

I’ve been here to experience «brunch» with my boyfriend after we purchased groupons for it. Having to wait quite a long time for a server to come over (when there weren’t that many people in the bar to begin with), we finally ordered our food. While we were waiting for that to arrive, we were given our mimosas (part of the groupon deal). After finishing the first round, still with no food, we tried to track down the single waitress working that day to ask for a refill while we waited. No luck.
Finally the food came out and it was nothing special. My «home fries» were simply french fries cut up into teeny-​tiny pieces. I couldn’t even eat them with a fork. There was no ketchup around and we had to ask again. She returned with a small dish full of ketchup. Random. My omlette was rubbery and my boyfriend’s sandwich was plain and not appetizing. I don’t think I’ll be returning for any food here anytime soon. I just don’t think they should be offering brunch if they do not have the wait staff nor the quality food to do so. I’m glad I didn’t pay full price for my meal!

This was the worst place I have eaten I think EVER. Bought «6» KGB deals for a brunch for two separate occasions.
Upon arrival we should have run. We were the only three people in the place, a nice prime location in DC completely empty! The place has an odor and the furniture is old and tattered. Tables uneven, etc. We thought about leaving but said, we should give it a change. The food was so far below restaurant quality. Everything on the plate was the same color, the french toast was flat, the home fries were french fries that were half burnt, have frozen with charred flakes from a dirty grill. The bacon which we ordered «well done» was ½ cooked. Had not even made it to rare and it was COLD. Oh, and the water seems to be a bit cloudy. Bathrooms — dark and dank. Noway we were using those!
The only thing I think was good was the bloody mary.
I will be posting pictures of the meal. I can’t stress enough how disappointed I am that I wasted $ 72 on a brunch that I will never recoup!
I am actually pretty pissed off at KGB Deals as well They should investigate their venues as other similar sights do!

This bar does not really have a good sense of itself. Inside they seem to go for the lounge feel: leather couches, long tables for socializing, dimly lit for an intimate feel. Then BAM, somebody must have fed the jukebox because that 10 minutes of silence is cut with blasting dubstep! Now you can’t hear yourself think, much less talk to your friends. This cycling between dead silence and jet engine-​like music is reminiscent of sleep deprivation torture. So we decided to head out to the patio.
That side door must be a teleportation device, because I was just in a downtown bar and now I’m in back of a JMU frat house. They apparently offer beer pong outside on those all too familiar 6 ft fold out tables and serve pitchers of beer in what looks like the container I use when changing my car’s oil. But we wander past the pastel polos and Sperrys to a table in the corner of the patio. And besides the occasional pong ball rolling under our table, it is a very nice night out.
But hold on, we’re not done with you yet. There is a private party inside and the people renting it out have decided that they don’t want ANYONE else inside for ANY reason. So as the rest of the customers have to squeeze onto the back patio like its the last life boat on the Titanic, we find some space along the side. This is about as much as we can handle so we try to close out. Didn’t you get the memo, NO ONE INSIDE FOR ANY REASON! Not even to close our tabs. We have to get a waitress, this poor, unfortunate woman who now must serve all of the angry people on the patio EVERYTHING, to close our tabs for us.
As much as I like getting chased around like a Tom and Jerry cartoon, I don’t think I will be returning to 19^th.

The website is completely misleading. After looking at the Friday night drink special and ordering it at the bar I was informed after my credit card was charged that it is «not actually a special because we no longer use that website.»
Not going to 19^th bar again.

They could do so much with this place… but just can’t execute. I know they have been going through some huge management changes as of late, with some sketchy reasons behind it, but I’ll take the high road.
They had a new food menu, where they stole the flatbreads from BlackFinn, down the street, but it’s pretty decent food. It’s better than their hotdog menu they used to have.
If you happen to be in the area, it’s not terrible. But there are easily better places to go in the area.

This is a cursed property! It’s constantly changing names, management, etc.
I’m not a huge fan of restaurants turning into bars or clubs at night. The large windows that are appealing to diners are off-​putting to drinkers/​partiers. For example a friend invited me to a «beach party» they were hosting, but I certainly wasn’t liking the idea of dressing up and people staring at me from the window all night– mood killer!
The couple times I have gone here I was not paying for my own drinks. Once I did and was charged $ 12 for a glass of house white wine! Wtf? How is this place in business?

For a mid-​town happy hour bar, it is surprisingly packed on the weekends. Or maybe not. Both times that I’ve actually ventured here were for parties on Saturday evenings. I think because of the location, it’s an affordable option for hosting private parties on the weekend.
Music is could be improved, and possibly some shades should be installed for the windows. Somehow they think fun 80s and current hits played concomitantly with crazy beats and techno sounds is fun to dance to. But I guess that by the time people start dancing, they don’t care about the schitz music or being exposed to the outside through the big glass windows.
The staff is slow but very friendly, and I give their chef props for being nice enough to slice and place cupcakes on a platter for my friends birthday.
Unfortunately, I am not sure what it’s like on a normal night.

This place really sucked.
My boyfriend and I went for brunch today because we had a special coupon for an entrée each and bottomless mimosas. We were very disappointed in that it took FOREVER for us to get our omelets, which arrived on a paper plate and were definitely nothing to write home about. Furthermore, they ran out of orange juice while we were waiting. The Caps game was on and it took them 20 minutes to change the channel for us to watch the game after we asked politely. They tried to make up for their shortcomings by bringing us free shots, but that just meant that we were pretty much hammered [too hammered] by the time we left the place.
Overall, a very bad experience. Would’ve been extremely pissed if we hadn’t had our special coupon.

This review is for the beer brunch. Definitely, not doing that again. I’ve been here during HH and it was an OK experience.
Back to the brunch. I had a groupon deal so I figured I would check it out before it expired. The place had a good amount of people, but it definitely was not crowded. The waitress was quick to take down what we wanted for drinks and food, however, the experience went straight downhill after that.
Our waitress was sure to fill up my friend’s mimosa glass when it was empty, but after the first glass, we were positive that the rest of the glasses were either pure orange juice or at times when we were lucky had a splash or champagne. His limit was four or five glasses, after he had to stop because he really couldn’t drink anymore straight orange juice in anticipation whether it would have champagne in it.
The worst part of our brunch experience, which was a big part, was that it took an hour to get our food, and there was no updates on whether when our food would be ready. I was starving and annoyed. After we got our plate (plastic, the kind you hand out kid parties), I got a chicken omelet which had no flavor. I would have rather had a piece of plain toast. I know the food isn’t very expensive there, but c’mon…
My home fries were also burned and most of them were so stale I had to spit it out. I threw out my fries and layered ketchup (kinda gross, I know) on the top of my omelet so I could eat it and then head out in the cold and find another place to eat.
Total waste of my Sunday morning/​noon. Save yourself the time and money and head somewhere else for brunch.

So I feel like I have to come to the defense of this bar, especially after Kristin’s review (I was one of the lady friends). It was my idea. I took a date here and was served by Jason who was AWESOME (and is unfortunately no longer there I found out). So I decided I was going to make this my bar and brought people. It was some weird ass event with presumed escorts and seedy old men, but the drinks are HUGE and strong, and there are delicious $ 0.50 wings during Monday Night Football. Dorian is the nicest bartender ever and I will definitely be back.

I have to say I was surprised with the low rankings/​poor reviews because I really liked this place.
Whats not to like about $ 2 beers at happy hour right in downtown dc? I don’t know of anywhere else in the vicinity where you can get those prices. The appetizers on the menu were fairly cheap too, and an order of mozzerella sticks was satisfyingly and easily split between 3. Our waitress was nice and attentive, and there were TVs with sports games on all over. The patio looked nice but already full by the time we got there around 545.
I’ll have to agree with earlier reviewers on one complaint. They ran out of Miller Highlife, didn’t have Miller Lite, and I had to go with Natty Lite instead. Not a big deal as there isnt much taste difference. But still, it is strange that they actually ran out of such a common staple drink.
Lastly, and this can be a negative or a postive, the clientele is a little strange. For me, this was a positive. We were watching a Sarah Palin lookalike making out with an ugly Fabio lookalike with big earrings and trying to figure out the background there. There were some other Fabios and awkward groups sitting outside, and some guys having some type of bachelor party were dancing around with some tubby stripper types. It was fun to watch, and it was all topped off with some guy singing enthusiastic, drunk karaōke. Good experience, and I actually would like to go back! I think that the prices can’t be beat and I like the people.
ps– I didn’t realize it was golf themed until I went to the bathroom and saw a golfer woman on the wall. In terms of theme decorations it was pretty meh. My suggestion for some improvement: have the entrance carpet made out of green turf like you are on a green! They could do a lot more to go with this golf theme that they are apparently trying to push.

This place was better than I expected, but frankly, wasn’t expecting much after reading the revues people had posted. I know the area and you need a good happy hour special, some decent pub food, and friendly service to make it around there. Oh wait, that’s the magical mix we received at 19^th when we went there for happy hour the other day!
Although my club sandwich came on a kaiser roll, the food itself was done right – fries were piping hot, there were thick slabs of bacon on my sandwich, and they had a great tiered happy hour pricing (cheap beer for people who want to cheap beer, a mid-​level beer, and then a glass of wine, all depending on your mood or price point).
Two other things that surprised me about the place – one good and one bad – were the fact that they had a number of sports teams you could follow there (good, if you’re into that kind of thing), and then there’s the fact that the men’s room doesn’t have a toilet. Let me follow that with there are only urinals; you have to go next door to the unisex bathroom if you need to poop. Odd.

Went here for lunch with a coworker at noon. We only had an hour but 19^th was pretty empty, so we figured we’d give it a shot. The inside was cute — golf themed — but we decided to sit outside because it was a beautiful day. We were told to take a table and someone would come outside with menus.
We waited for a while, and then my friend went in to get the menus because no one came to help us. Our waitress brought us waters, and then we didn’t see her for 15 minutes. When she returned, my friend ordered a hot dog. I got a basic turkey sandwich because I was worried the panini would take too long.
And then we waited. And waited. And waited. We went in several times to ask where our food was, and kept getting reassured that it was at the window and about to come out. Finally we asked them if they could just box up our food because it was already 1pm. They agreed.
By 1:20pm my friend went back inside. We were told that the manager was going to bring out our food and comp it. At 1:39 our waitress came out with our food in a bag. She said «sorry girls» and dumped it on our table before running away.
Sure, it took almost an hour and forty-​five minutes to get a hot dog and a turkey sandwich, but it was free. The turkey sandwich was extremely plain — we’re talking turkey, lettuce and tomato on a hamburger bun. The chips were the best part of the meal (I think they were lay’s originals).
Don’t go here unless you have a lot of time and patience on your hands.

Ahh, yes. The magic of re-​branding and marketing.
Change paint from bright blue to olive.
Add pub style seating arrangements.
Show games.
Voila. Skye Lounge is now 19^th.
And quite frankly, other than the obvious fact that this lounge now has patrons, I like it no more than I did prior. The bartenders have always been nice. The music, usually upbeat.
It’s just green and woody now. With beer specials.

Ahh, I’m the second review for this place! Haa zaaa!
Showed up here on a Saturday night to meet up with some zany friends (Magnum P.I. themed dress-​up). This place has changed names many times in the past few years, and it’s latest incarnation has the potential for success. Seeing as there are very few bar options in that area (Blackfinn being the closest) it fills a niche in that sleepy part of town. The DJ, perched high above the dance floor right at the door, was handling the tunes, spinning mostly top 40 with some 80’s and 90’s classics mixed in (and taking requests). There were a couple of party buses that pulled up, so the place went from empty to hop’n in a matter of seconds. The bar staff were attentive and fast, prices a little high, but what can we expect. All and all, I’d go back if i was in the neighborhood post-​dinner or something.
There website says they have an unlimited brunch on Saturday and Sundays, but then says they are «closed for golf» on Sundays, which might just be a pun on their restaurant name! I’d definitely try out the brunch some day soon, especially since they have outside seating!