RFD Washington

So many beer choices here.
A double wall of on tap beers stands alongside a refrigerator packed with bottles and cans from all over the world.
A Molson tastes great any day of the week.
The staff are pretty chill and when I was there I had a bowl of chili alongside my beers. It was thick and pretty good. Drizzled lightly with sour cream and jalapeños.
Mood and atmosphere are all bar.
A nice switch from the stuffy places over at center city.

Great time watching NFL at RFD, our waitress Rachel M was great took the time to make suggestions made us feel welcome and served 10 people without a hiccup.

Great chill spot during a BLIZZARD!!!#oneoffonlyplacesopen… Great service and deep beer selection

Expansive dining rooms. All fully equipped with their own bar and exits/​entrances to the main kitchen. This is definitely a sports bar. But, it has a funky set up as far as interior design. You can have private parties in their seperate dining rooms. It’s a perfect appointment for those who want a local location, privacy, and amenity. Bang for your buck is standard American Bar food. The drinks are fine. They have a large beer list. A lot of Pilsners and Ales.

I had no idea what I wanted for lunch on a rainy day. I came here and got the special, which was a bbq chicken sandwich and fries. It’s a simple meal, but it hit the spot! Good price too!

Do not. Under any circumstances. Order food from here. EVERYTHING is terrible. I see you, eyeballing those tots. Don’t do it. Walk down to Safeway and buy some frozen tots to microwave if you have a real hankering.
That said, beer selection is top notch, of course. But you can get the same quality beer elsewhere in Chinatown. Maybe not as extensive, but do you really notice any appreciable difference between this Maryland-​based saison you’re familiar with and that obscure one from Colorado? And will that difference really translate into higher satisfaction? No.
On the other hand, if you’re looking for a no-​frills outing in a musty bar, this is the spot for you.

One of the deepest collection of beers I have seen in cans and bottles. If you want to go around the world and around the beer style dance floor, this is the place. I was also happy with my food. Bar food, but got the fish and chips and fish had a great taste, batter was light, and chips were good. This place is not fancy, more of a college bar atmosphere, but product is solid.

Great selection of beers, both draft and bottles!
Prices are pretty OK.
I went there late at night. The late-​night menu wasn’t super diverse (especially for vegetarians). I took the Hummus and the sweet potatoes.
Both plates were pretty big — the hummus came with pita bread and vegetables (but the humus itself wasn’t very good…), and the sweet potatoes came with spicy aioli — it was yami!
Our waitress was very nice and friendly!

Came here before a book event, and was pretty disappointed with the atmosphere and food. Only got a beer and an appetizer — the flatbread pizza. It sounded interesting since it had squash and bacon, but it was soggy and unpleasant. Some people in the group ordered chili fries, which also looked like a soggy mess. Maybe it was an off day in the kitchen, but I wouldn’t go back to this place again. Typical sports bar, and not one of the hidden gem types unfortunately.

Worst. Nachos. EVER.
I hope you’ve come for their beer selection by the food is sub-​par.

The beer list is extensive but there are no descriptions aside from the styles.
Wednesday is the night to go if you like whiskey and/​or wings.
The buffalo wings are super meaty and tasty. The truffle burger was a bit of a disappointment. The fries had no salt on them I’m fairly certain.
Good god those TVs are loud. Really kills the mood for me. Ah well. I have great beer in my fridge at home, too.

You come to RFD for their extensive beer selection or you might come to grab a quick drink or bite before or after an event at the verizon center. Our latest venture had some really good and not some not so good.
The Really Good
–Staff was very accommodating in helping us get a TV with the game that we wanted. They changed the channel for us, not every place would do that.
–Beer selection is second to none, we found a schafly’s pumpkin beer that tasted like pumpkin pie.
The Not so Good
–The tuna tartar did not reassemble something that should be served (looked like canned tuna with mayo). I know we shouldnt have ordered it here but they shouldn’t be serving what they served us. We returned it and they removed it from the bill
–The Nachos resemble paper thin tortillas topped with cheese sauce similar to what you’d find at a 7 – 11. The braised pork had good flavor and the pica de gallo, and jalapenos were good but I woudn’t get this again.
–We went during a super busy college football day and the service reassembled that. Server was very nice when we got him, but he was clearly spread thin.
I have been to RFD many times in the past and I had a much better experience with their burgers. I will go back and likely boost them to 4 stars in the future.

Sports bar atmosphere with loud bro’s, mediocre bar food, and a rude bouncer.

After roaming around downtown, we stumbled upon RFD hoping for a good beer and a nice lunch. The hostess was inviting, the place had plenty of seating and the AC was nice and cold.
There were several of us including adults and younger kids. We started with some local DC beers. I had a 3 Stars saison which was very nice. We then ordered food including nachos, pear salad, buffalo burger, mac & cheese and chicken sandwiches from a special barbecue menu. I had a chicken sandwich which was barbecued chicken thigh with spicy slaw and fried onions on a roll. It was fantastic!
RFD provided exactly what I was looking for… A good beer and a nice meal where the whole family could enjoy our visit. And while the prices are high on some items, they had some great deals too.

update: Wow — prompt response from business owners thoughtfully addressing my review! That’s pretty rare. I appreciated that a lot and will check back to see if they do go ahead with more dietary labeling on the menu — which would be great!
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I thought the music in this place was too loud :/​I want to be able to hear the people I’m with and not have to shout over music to try to be heard! (Update: The owner says this is a concern for him too and they are working on volume control!)
I also wish they would label their menu better. Is their veggie burger vegan or could be made vegan? It’s easy enough to put:
V = vegetarian
VV = vegan or could be made vegan
This matters to me because I don’t want to have to ask the waiter because:
#1) The waiter may not have memorized every ingredient in every dish and can give me a confident answer instantly
#2) It slows down my table and the waiter, and I don’t want have a back-​and-​forth over ingredients, I just want to place an order
#3) The labeling shows the restaurant knows what vegan is, and I can feel comfortable ordering it instead of thinking they’ll just tell me something is vegan to placate me.
I will certainly come back and upgrade my review if they label the menu a little better!

RFD’s delivers American bar food and beer the exact why you want it – not frills, straight up.
Known for the infinite beer selection, this Cleveland Browns /​University of Michigan Alumni bar has quickly become one of my Chinatown spots not for its great location to the Verizon Center for pre-​gamming a Caps or Wizards game but their Night Trivia! Every Monday evening at 7:30, RFD’s back room hosts District Trivia for 5 rounds of intensely fun trivia madness.
With over 300 options of beer, there is no shortage of options. When it comes to food, I’ve become a firm believer in their Turkey Club. You really can’t go wrong with bacon and avocado on a turkey sandwich. The pretzel with cheese is always a good choice with an ice cold beer. And I couldn’t go with out mentioning the loaded tots. They are a greasy ball of cheesy goodness.
The service can be hit or miss, but for a good place to come with a large group — you really can’t beat it.

I cannot figure out why this place has such a mid to low rating. I was in DC for 10 days and I went here 3 times. It’s a bar and grill. Beer, and good BEER, and tasty treats like WINGS, and beer and wings and burgers and beer. I got Sriracha wings that changed my life. They were super spicy with this unique and amazing sweet dip along with the ranch. That combined with my pale ale… Uh… Delight. I’ve been all around the country and this is one of my favorite places to grab a drink and some messy food. They fall in my top ten of places to get wings. If you’re not up for a drink and some greasy food, and sports, and noise, and lots of people, then this isn’t your joint.

Its a nice place to go when you are pregaming or for happy hour. They have a huge selection of beer on tap.
The place doesn’t show too well in the daylight, its pretty dark and dingy in there, the outdoor patio is squeezed between another buildings so dont plan on getting a nice bustling view of the city when you go.
The food was average. Its what you would expect of american bar food. Nachos had a heavy cheese sauce (reminded me of ⁷⁄₁₁ cheese sauce), chili, pickled jalapeños, and some tomatoes on there. We got the avocado cream and Chipotle cream on the side. The nachos were a bit too salty.
I got a house salad as my meal. It wasnt bad — you can never mess up a salad though. The greens, cucumber, tomato and onion were good and pretty fresh.
Bf got the bison burger. It was okay too. The sweet potato fries were a bit limp from the grease.
We also got margaritas that had waaayyy too much sour mix and you could barely taste the tequila.
Our service wasnt bad. Server was nice and attentive.
Overall average place. Looks like more of a beer person place with all the options for beer. I wouldn’t be back for a dining experience, especially with plenty of other options in that area.

Located across the street from Hooters in the Chinatown district is this bar.
I came here on an Anaheim Ducks road trip, with a group of 30 other Anaheim Ducks fans for a watch party, as our team was in Nashville, and wasn’t playing the Caps until the next day.
The restaurant gave us the front area to watch our game. It wasn’t the biggest tv, and we didn’t have sound, but beggars can’t be picky when looking for a Ducks game in Washington.
Our Ducks staff catered appetizer foods: Pork sliders with spicy slaw, 2 types of chicken wings (BBQ and a dry rub), 2 salads (mixed green and Caesar) and a Penne pasta with bacon. The food was very tasty and was perfect for a watch party. For dessert we had chocolate chip cookies, which were store bought, but still a nice touch.
We had one assigned server covering our group, so we had to be patient while he worked the room. For the most part, he got our drink orders correct, and even helped our group with suggestions on what to drink.
I am on the fence about giving them 4 stars, as the service and food was excellent, but I was a bit taken aback when I ordered 2 t-​shirts from my server and was slapped a 20% gratuity! I was going to tip him for the drinks (even though the Ducks were paying for it) but when I saw on my bill an $ 8 additional charge for merchandise, I was a bit pissed.
So, his tip came out of the t shirt order, and I’ll leave it at a 4 very generous star review.
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Update: I was contacted by the owner who apologized the tip was added onto my t-​shirt bill. It wasn’t supposed to have been on there. I did respond that I questioned my server and the front desk staff, and so I thought it sounded like it was the norm in DC. Anyway, my server got a very generous added tip (as I am sure the Ducks staff tipped him generously as well).

RFD is an OK place to grab a bite and a drink pre-​caps game or for Sunday Football. You’ll find a huge list of beers on tap, an even bigger list of bottles and pretty standard pub fair for food. I have found the servers to be very friendly, with service typically being at a leisurely pace, so you will want to plan accordingly.
They have a large patio out back too with several TVs and tables that are often highly occupied in the warmer months.