Bistro Bohem

Recently I had the pleasure to meet some friends for dinner at bistro bohem. All of us had previously been to the Czech Republic, and had lived before in other parts of Eastern Europe, so we were excited to try the fare.
The happy hour drinks and appetizers got us started on the right foot and it only got better from there. We tried several things on their menu — the goulash, pork, and portabella burger and they were all excellent. I’d say of those three the goulash was by far the best and some of the best I’ve had. We also tried the strudel and pear crepes, both of which were good, but not great. The strudel should have had more apples and the crêpe could have been thinner. I would certainly come back here again, but skip the desert.

We were very pleased with our brunch here one rainy Sunday as the French press decaffeinated coffee was excellent and our meals were terrific; NY strip steak with two eggs and gluten free toast was just right and the lentil kale soup was spiced right. Service was friendly and the atmosphere very Bohemian (ha ha) even if a bit loud. This place is wheelchair accessible (unlike nearby place). Parked on a side street nearby as there is no parking lot for this place.

Bistro Bohem is a great spot to get a fancy cocktail with your dog while eating perogis and bratwurst outside. I had the pork medallions for my main dish and really enjoyed it although I had food envy over the gnocchi. I also liked my drink which was the Beetstro– it incorporated beet-​infused vodka which they make in house. Overall, the food was good, the service was a little slow, but the patio totally makes it worth a visit. Oh and did I mention the perogis? Yum.

Was looking for a place last minute for a brunch on Sunday and they had availability and bottomless mimosas. I’m in. We had cauliflower and zucchini and gnocchi sauerkraut as appetizers. Not what we expected but very good. I had the portabella burger which was okay. Spinach and mushroom crepes, kale salad, potato pancakes and schnitzel and waffle all got great reviews from our group. Service was super slow which made the experience disappointing.
TL:DR
Good food, bottomless mimosa Sunday’s, cute place, super slow service

I had a perfect little brunch here this weekend. We were able to snag the last two person table on the patio with zero wait. I had the omelet with ham and mushrooms that came with a tasty multigrain toast on the side. I also tried some of my boyfriend’s steak and eggs which was a decent portion and cooked medium. Iced tea was unsweetened but so flavorful. Our neighbor’s chicken schnitzel and waffles and the burger looked amazing, so I’ll probably be back to try those. Prices were reasonable; steak and eggs were $ 16. Highly recommend for brunch in the area!

30 min just to get espresso, bartenders ladies are literally sleeping alive.
Fa cagare

I usually love it here, but my recent experience wasn’t enjoyable. I had a Beet Salad that had little salad and all beet. Additionally, service was slow and my server was not very helpful when asking her for menu suggestions. Bread came half way through our meal. She pressured us to order but then disappeared until we called her over to ask for our check. Was a little bummed that the experience didn’t represent what I know to be true of this place – that it has great food and great service.

Initially, I had my doubts that a Czech bistro could survive in Washington, DC. Until recently, the only things I knew that came out of the Czech Republic were Pilsner Urquell and Martina Navratilova. But Bistro Bohem has become a Shaw mainstay and its uniqueness is a breath of fresh air from the «American Gastropub» that seems more and more ubiquitous these days.
The pastika (Czech pâté) is rich and flavorful. Highly recommended for anybody with an iron deficiency. It comes with walnuts for crunch and incredibly delicious bread.
The star here for me is the schnitzel. Available in either pork or chicken, it’s a winner regardless of how it’s served — with a side of potato salad, inside a sandwich, or covered in mulch (just kidding, this is not an option). The pork shank is also good — albeit slightly dry — but pockets of fat which I guiltless-​ly consumed helped to add moisture.
The interior is twee and staff is very friendly. There’s also a really muscular manager who looks like he was probably on the Czech Olympic team, which really adds to the ambiance.

What a fantastic find! Came here for brunch one weekend and I will DEFINITELY be back.
A few things:
* NO WAIT! And it was brunch time in DC on a weekend. Big win!
* Lots of windows, which allowed so much sunshine into the restaurant. Loved it.
* Bloody Mary was excellent!
* The food. OMG the FOOD! I ordered the omelet while my brunch date ordered the chicken and waffles — SO GOOD! Best chicken and waffles I’ve had in DC (and I’ve had a LOT of chicken and waffles).
* Wait staff was courteous and professional.
* Food prices were very reasonable.
Definitely give this place a try — you will not be disappointed!

Bistro Bohem is the best place in the Shaw area. I come here pretty often and I even was here celebrating my bachelorette party with my girlfriends. We had awesome dishes, tasty wine and great service.
I love this place!!!

This restaurant draws a certain corduroy pants, suede shoes wearing crowd. Between listening to «Stand by Me» and an endless stream of the Beatles and John Lennon you get hopelessly lost in the mellow atmosphere.
The food isn’t the highlight though it’s not bad. It’s the ambience and the service that makes this place special. If you’re in no hurry to get anywhere, this is a great place to unwind for brunch. There was no line to get in as opposed to the hour to two wait at other brunch locations so that’s definitely a plus as well.

We had a family dinner here of about 6 people and were seated quickly for a Friday night. We all ordered alcohol and were satisfied with our drinks. We had pierogis for an appetizer and they were delicious (pork was the filling — as this changes… daily I think) I had the gnocchi with the blue cheese sauce as my entrée. This was good but salty and buttery — ok for a treat meal. I was eating my leftovers earlier today and thought «This would be great with some bacon in it.» Others at the table had beef goulas and the lentil salad. Both were delicious as well. This restaurant had dishes to fit any diet!

I like this place. I have come once each for brunch and dinner and have not been disappointed in either. Probably one of the best things about it is that it seldom is packed to the point where there is a long wait/​you generally don’t need a reservation here. It has a cute, simple inside and I’ve experienced decent service/​had no issues.
Food-​wise it is one of the few places in DC that serves authentic central European dishes. I had the stuffed peppers with pomodoro sauce and pasta. This was a delicious dish that I’d recommend to anyone– reminds me of stuffed cabbage but without the cabbage, and was a good amount of filling. My friends enjoyed their dishes as well, including sausage, bread pudding, sauerkraut, tender pork, and potato pancakes. When I come back i’d like to try the pierogies/​borsch options.

Excellent food that represents my Slovak heritage. I’ve been here twice, and the food was outstanding both times.
The first time was a few months ago and the service was slow and lacking. This time the service was spot on. The food and drinks were out fast, and multiple wait staff members checked on us multiple times. After seeing other reviews, it’s clear they have made some changes.
Will return!

I hope during the brief time BB closed earlier this year that the staff got some much needed customer service training, Used to love this place but every recent visit has been marred by horrendous service.
I can take incompetent service as long as it’s friendly. I cannot tolerate rude service. Unfortunately couple of BB’s servers fall into both categories and I can no longer justify spending any more of my money here. Not even for a coffee.

10 minutes to order coffee. Restaurant not even half full. Staff milling around not doing much of anything. Still no coffee 15 minutes after we ordered it. Finally caught our waitress’ attention and asked if it was coming. «It’s coming!» SHe told us, apparently annoyed at the imposition. 5 minutes later no coffee. Rude waitress returns to tell us she forgot to put the order in. «Whole order or just the coffee order?» «The whole order.»
See ya later Bistro. Your food’s pretty good, but not worth the incompetent and indifferent service that is becoming the norm. This last visit was the last straw. Just thankful the Royal has opened in the neighborhood.

**** 3 ½ Stars***
My friend is gluten free (not by choice, for health reasons) and his research led us to Bistro Bohem. They serve Czech inspired food, which goes with thier overall theme. From the décor, to the drinks, and food, they take care to stay within their theme.
We all ordered a round of drinks. My husband ordered a beer and I ordered the cocktail of the day. It consisted of pear purée and St. Germain. Perfect drink for a fall evening. I then ordered perogies to share. The perogies consisted of beef, mushroom, and cheese. They are bigger than perogies that I am used to, definitely able to be shared. The beef filling was moist and tender, and the mushrooms and cheese were a nice touch.
The restaurant is filled with funky artwork and they kept the layout of the rowhouse. Prices are average but the service was really good. Our server made excellent suggestions for food and drinks as well as attentive to our group.

I took in Bistro late on the weekend and fortunately they were still serving. I had the pork shank and while it was probably one of the last ones they had, it was still flavorful and fall off the bone. However, given it had slowed toward the end of the night, I should have gotten better service. So that is a disappointment given the other high marks from other reviewers.
It’s still a great spot to enjoy a meal and or drink.

Bistro Bohem is a great unique addition to the Shaw/​U street neighborhood. There are only a handful of dinner options I really entertain in that area and this is now on my list. My party of three and I started with perogis a and a bottle of red wine and then for my main course I got the parsley schnitzel with frites. The food, atmosphere and location all get an A but I will say for a quiet Thursday night with not a lot of customers our service was pretty slow. We weren’t in a huge rush and it was nice to leisurely enjoy food, wine and conversation but if we had been in a rush this would have been slightly annoying. All in all, I think Bistro Bohem is very charming and I’ll definitely be back.

Back when we tried Rustik Tavern, we walked past Bistro Bohem and it caught my eye. When we got home, I checked out their website and the Unilocal reviews. Both convinced us to give it a try.
We were here on a Saturday when they opened for dinner at 5 p.m. A server greeted and seated us in a small alcove next to the bar. The bartender then brought us some water that was served in a mason jar. Being near the bar meant that it got a bit loud as more customers came in. When a server came to take our order, we found ourselves asking him to repeat himself and he did the same with us.
We started off with drinks. I decided to try a Slivovitza Julep, which was described as being sweet and sour. This drink had muddled mint and lime in it. To me, it tasted more bitter than sweet and sour. There were only slight hints of sweetness plus it wasn’t very strong. If we were to eat here again, I would try a different drink. My husband decided to try a Czech beer on tap and chose Krusovice Imperial. He liked this beer and said he would have it again.
We decided to get an appetizer and were considering pierogies. Apparently everyday, the pierogie filling is different. We asked what it was today and were told «bacon». Also the appetizer consisted of 3 of them. So we decided to order them. Figuring that they would be small, we were quite surprised to see how big they were — they almost reminded me of empanadas LOL! They came to the table piping hot along with a small cup of sour cream which nicely complimented them. The filling had potato plus a generous amount of bacon bits in it plus we noticed hints of onion.
For our main courses, we both chose schnitzel. I chose chicken schnitzel served «classic» style while my husband chose pork schnitzel also served «classic» style. Classic style consists of capers and lemon. A generous amount of capers are placed on the cooked schnitzel and a quarter of a lemon is provided to squeeze on top of the meat.
Each schnitzel meal comes with one side. My husband chose sauerkraut while I told the server that I wanted potato salad. At that point, the bar area had gotten louder (plus the server didn’t write down the order). The server repeated back our order to my husband and said something about mashed potatoes. I thought that he was telling my husband that his plate also had that on it. Instead, when the meals came, I was given mashed potatoes instead of potato salad, I debated bringing this up to the server but decided not to because he had made himself scarce. So I let it be.
We both enjoyed the schnitzel. In true fashion, the meat was pounded very thinly, breaded and nicely fried. The capers and lemon went well with the meat. The mashed potatoes were homemade and flavorful. In fact, my husband liked them so much that he ate quite a bit of mine. As for his sauerkraut, we both liked it. Surprisingly, it was more on the sweet side instead of being tangy. There were plenty of caraway seeds, some garlic and bacon bits. It was some of the best sauerkraut that we ever had!
We had room for dessert and decided to share an apple streudel. This, also, came to the table piping hot with a dollop of homemade whipped cream and some bright red, fresh strawberry slices. The top was dusted with confectioner’s sugar. The filling was generous with in addition to apples, plenty of raisins. All in all, a tasty concoction! They only drawback — the server gave us tiny forks to eat it with – but we somehow managed!
While we thoroughly enjoyed our meal, we found the service to be lackadaisical — which is tolerable if you aren’t in a hurry. As a side note, the restaurant is located on a busy intersection which can be noisy. They have outdoor seating and customers availed themselves of it but to me, I found that eating indoors was a lot quieter.
Before the tip, dinner cost $ 64+ change. Overall, we both enjoyed our foray into Czech dining and would go again.