The Tasting Room Wine Bar & Shop

Our group of 11 people had a reservation at 5:30pm, and agreed we would clear out before a private event that would begin at 7. The first wave of us arrived at 5:25, and we were turned away because for some reason ‘we should have been there at 5:15′. None of us had heard we needed to be there earlier, but the manager refused to acknowledge or negotiate with us and locked us out.
Easy solution, we walked next door to Bond 45 and had a great dinner. My company often sends lots of people to events nearby, and I will never do business with the Tasting Room again. Didn’t have to be this way.

Terrible service. There were only 2 waiters. Our waiter was very rude to our party and we just couldn’t understand why. I arrived there to meet a party. She noticed I joined to party and checked my ID. There was already a wine and food menu at my seat and she decided to collect the food menu from everyone. When I asked for it back she said I had a menu already but the menu was for wines. When I told her that she stared at me, then gave me back the food menu. I placed my Order for food and a glass of wine. 40 mins later she came back asking me what I ordered. I was so disappointed but I continued to wait. After another 15 mins my food & wine still didn’t come out so I cancelled my order. Then asked me if my food never came out. Not to mention I wasn’t offered water. I had to ask a few times. Terrible

We came here because we heard they had bottomless mimosas until 3 on Saturdays. Turns out it was until 2. Just missed it. Fortunately they have a decent wine list available. Unfortunately the service is terrible and unfriendly. I couldn’t quite get the gist of this place. There was signage and marketing all over the place for Boxwood winery, which I have personally been to. They also offered maybe 3 – 5 wines from Boxwood, as well as some small plates. But then they had a plethora of other wines and beers from around the country and world. And it’s a winebar named ‘The Tasting Room’. I was pretty confused by this and insist they somehow marry the name or the concept of the winery with the winebar. I would have asked questions to the bartender but she was very unfriendly and unhelpful.
I noticed they also had that wine dispenser system I recently reviewed about at Oby Lee. I don’t like these gimmicky things. A 5 oz pour from that system vs what you will get at a normal place is much different. And I don’t want to buy a card or keep getting up to get a glass of wine. This place has too much going on and suffers from an identity crisis. Why not name yourself Boxwood Wine Bar? Why not get some staff who know a thing or two about wine and who are actually friendly? Also, lose the wine dispenser. It’s not chic. It screams cheap and gimmicky.
Overall, when I hear tasting room, I think amazing and knowledgeable service. I think wine-​focused establishment that offers flights, pairings and a rich assortment of varied and quality wine labels. This place struggles from desperately wanting to be a trendy national harbor restaurant with pretending to know anything about wine. I’m not convinced. The owners out in Middleburg need to pay a visit to see that it’s basically been relegated to a place for cheap mimosas and bad service.

Kudos to the staff (Marcus) & event coordinator (Jenny). This past weekend I hosted a bridal shower for a dear friend from college of over 16years at the Tasting Room wine bar at the National Harbor. The level of service, attention to detail & professionalism received was STELLAR from beginning to end! Any questions I had about the amount of food to order, & creating a unique menu that fits needs of our guest. The Tasting room far exceeded our expectations. The bride to be Loooooved this place & truly had a wonderful time. I can not thank you enough.
Signed a happy Matron of Honor

We found the tasting room when we went to check out the National Harbor. It was okay. It has an interesting concept of self-​serve wine tasting that charges a card depending on the wine and ounces. It wasn’t what I expected at all. It’s a small spot, so we definitely felt like we were intruding when we got there since folks were already settled in. We stayed for one glass of wine and didn’t order any food since the menu was pretty basic. It definitely seemed like a spot you should stick to wine and get food at one of the neighboring restos in the area.

I don’t mind running up a $ 200 tab on drinks with a friend, but I don’t like crappy service. My friend and I were having drinks to celebrate and the rude wait staff was sort of a buzz kill. We were buying bottles of their wine to have fun and enjoy the atmosphere (rather than going to the super market across the street and buying the same bottles for $ 12… we really should have, all things considered) but there seemed to be some type of conflict occurring between the two employees. The crab cake was solid, but if you can’t keep it professional, don’t take out your nasty attitude on guests.

Service is terrible, food is minimal and they should really consider making a sangria.

Dont even want to give a star. I went to visit this place as i am a wine drinker and when i went inside and was asking the bar tender abt sampling wines so i would know which bottle to buy and the black guy with the long dreads act like i was bothering him. Excuse me! I left and refuse to spend my $. Highly piss b/​c i arrived at the harbor at 1 and was looking to 4pm just for this place and the main reason i came.

My waitresses was awesome. She suggested a wine that suited my pallet well. I was also able to attend Jazz on the patio since it was a Sunday. It was so relaxing.

I love this cute spot and the wine selection is great! However, the service was mediocre. I asked the waiter a few questions about their wine selection, and he was not helpful at all. He looked at me at one point as if I were bothering him. I’ll give this place another go only because I won’t let his service deter me from going back. However, I hope the service is better next go round.

After the service being hit or miss on previous visits, today it was outstanding. Only one server (with one person in the kitchenette) was working early in the afternoon and she had a large party, but still did a great job of taking care of me and a couple other people who were not with the group. She was friendly and helpful despite being crushed.
A nice place to drink wine near the water. Enotech machines provide a «do it yourself» tasting experience of 36 wines, tastes, half-​glass, and full glass pours of 1, 3, and 6 ounces. They also sell wine by the bottle. Mostly Boxwood vineyards of Virginia, but also a decent selection of wines from California, Germany, France, and elsewhere.
Prices run from $ 28 to $ 58 a bottle, or $ 7 to $ 14.50 a glass. Service averages to being average. One server was very helpful and friendly. The other didn’t seem to want to be working the day I was there.
The cheese and charcuterie plate is very good and has large portions.
Smoking, including cigars, is allowed out on the patio.
No wi-​fi for customers.
Live jazz on Sunday afternoons.
Closed on Mondays – even on Labor Day, which seems pretty foolish with the huge crowd at National Harbor on that day.

I visited this restaurant to just get a snack and a glass of wine. The bartender at first did not even acknowledge me. He gave me two menus, one wine, and one food. I was on the phone, but I still acknowledged him and began reading the menu. With so many options I was indecisive, but once I made up my mind and make eye contact he came over, snatched away the other food menu and said «Can I get you anything? We close at 9:00 p.m.» This was not expected as most places close later in this area. He seened impatient and although, I was on the phone I wasn’t handed a menu right when I sat down and I was paying attention to what I wanted to order.
I was about to select a wine, but I decided that this place did not deserve my money. I replied, «that’s okay. I dont want to rush. It was 8:40 p.m.» He said okay and grabbed the other menu. I walked out.
I have been here before and I had reversed charges on my credit card and then it was charged again a month later. I called several times to ask about, but I did not get a valid answer-​meaning no one could explain why I was charged, it dropped, and hen recharged a month later. Just made no sense.
I think my experience with this place is enough to say I will not return. Bad service.

I LOVE hitting the Tasting Room when I am at the Harbor. It is small inside, but when the weather is good, it is great to sit out on the patio and enjoy the wines. I usually just get the minimum ($ 10) on my card and sample a few of the sweet ones, then order a glass of the one I like best. The bartender is great. He has given me the end of the almost empty bottles when he is changing them out as not to waste wine. I like that! He knows I like the sweet ones.
I hope they bring back the live music on Fridays and Saturdays when the summer hits!

My low rating is more for the business itself than the service.
I came here on a Wednesday evening with a friend as we were looking for a new spot for wines. I’ve heard of The Tasting Room and have always wanted to try it. The idea sounds amazing — you get a reloadable card, grab a glass, and get your own wine in 1-​, 3-​, or 5-​ounce pours. Prices vary greatly, and you can definitely go overboard and end up spending a bunch.
First, though, we walked into the space and were surprised at how small it was. Based on photos, we were expecting a large room with wine taps and tables everywhere. The bar itself could only seat about 8, and there were about 4 tables. If the space was larger, I think more people would stop by. The ladies behind the bar were a tad distracted, and didn’t say anything to us even though we sat right in front of them. After they were done with their story-​telling, they were friendly and helpful. However, they didn’t give us a food menu, which I think is a bad sales move. If a customer is drinking wine, he/​she is bound to want to eat at some point.
We grabbed our glasses and started pouring. We ended up spending quite a bit. I’m glad you can get multiple glasses (so you could do one for red wines and another for white). It was so quiet and empty in there; we pretty much had the taps to ourselves. The wine selection was alright, but nothing truly stood out to me as being amazing. The Riesling was probably the best. I ended up asking for a food menu, and we got the bread and spread plate. It was a good size for two people, and it was actually pretty tasty. Another couple got the meat and cheese plate; it seemed huge, and it was pricey. I wish they would offer cheese separately.
Bottom line: this place is like every other place on the Harbor — unnecessarily expensive for the consumer. It’s fun to try once, but then you realize how not worth it the place is. It’s disappointing!

It was a nice place to go and spend a nice evening with my husband. Unfortunately two women were very drunk and threw up in the lounge. No fault of the waitress but we left after that.

As part of a new position at my firm, I had to put together an event on time and on budget. Jenny and Marcus performed above and beyond my expectations.
Please visit the review on my Unilocal Corporate Profile here:

Staff is friendly. Atmosphere is pretty chill. My husband and I enjoyed the outside setting, especially since we got to people watch while drinking. Prices are normal for a touristy area. I did tastings of most of the white wines and did a full glass of their Riesling, which was nice with a hint of sweetness. They also offer food but we only opted for the wine.

I really really want to give this place four starts because I love the concept of being able to sample different wines at a reasonable price. I have to agree however with the other reviewers who mentioned how sub-​par the service was and that is why I’m only able to give three stars. The waiter was very knowledgeable of the different wines but he seemed to get annoyed because we were asking so many questions. DUUUUUUH! that’s what people do when they’ve never been to an establishment such as this and they want to know more about the different selections of wines! He didn’t check on us periodically to see if we needed anything or if we were enjoying ourselves. It took extremely long for the food to come as well. All we ordered were chicken quesadillas; I mean really, how long does it take to make a quesadilla???
The good part about this place is again the concept. The selections of wines is great. If you like sweet, dry, red, white… dont worry they’ve got it! I just wish the customer service wasn’t so mediocre. I think I will try this place again just to give them a second chance. Maybe it was just a bad night.

I absolutely lover this place. The self serve wine is a fantastic idea and the weekend sangria & mimosas are outstanding. I’m definitely going to become a regular here.

Oh. what to do on a Sunday night when you have a red eye flight at 5 am back to SFO.
Seeing how I had an morning, my friends suggested this one last stop by the National Harbor. I must say, it was absolutely a dead zombie zone when we got there (around 9 pm), but just an hour earlier it was packed. The owner that we talked to was extremely sociable and friendly; if not for a Sunday night I can definitely see this as a popular place after work hours or on Saturday nights.
Has a trendy, hip, loungy feel to the whole place. All around beautiful scenic view if you want to sit outside as well. I didn’t spend much time here, but it is definitly one of the hidden gems!