CRISP Kitchen + Bar

I’ve had to downgrade my initial review… and it has nothing to do with the food but everything to do with the service. I met a friend there on Tuesday night. She got there at 6:10 and I got there at 6:15. We ordered immediately as we were both starved and knew what we wanted (it’s not hard with a menu option of chicken, a burger and sides). In the interim drinks were ordered. We did not get our meal until 7:22 (yep I checked the time)… and by 7:25 I had to pack most of it to go as I had to leave… I would normally have let this slide but this is the third time this has happened in the last three weeks at Crisp. I’ve been there and had to wait over 45 – 50 mins to get food to come out (now heck if there were appetizers whilst the entrée was coming out it might be fine but to sit there for an hour for any food at all is a bit ridiculous especially in the early hours of the evening. I am not sure what’s been going on there lately — did not look like they were short staffed. We kept asking about the food and told it would be ‘right out’… and when I said look it’s 7:15 I have to leave soon being told «we’ll pack it for you». if I wanted takeout I would not have come to a sit down restaurant. I hope they fix this — it’s not Eric Rippert himself preparing it to make it worth my while to wait… ;-)

We came tonight and we loved it, but I still had the feeling with everything we ate that it was *almost* there. I had an iceberg salad, okra and tomatoes, and mac and cheese. The salad was simple, but good– just lettuce, cucumbers, and carrots with a dill dressing. The okra was amazing, however, I am a firm believer in serving rice or grits with it– otherwise, it’s just a lot of tomato juice with a few pieces of okra! The mac and cheese was good as well, but it definitely lacked cheese… Almost like Alfredo instead of macaroni and cheese! Also, we sat inside because the patio was full and it was a bit warm for me with no a/​c on– it’s June!
Did I eat it and love it? Yes. Did my fiancé love his patty melt more than all of the others he’s had? Yes! The prices were great and the chicken looked amazing from what we could see. (we had just eaten fried chicken earlier, so I was really there for the sides!) Overall, I would go back after I’ve tried everything else I’ve wanted to in DC!

CRISP has an excellent happy hour, with ALL drinks costing $ 5, including cocktails, EVERY DAY from 5−8pm. Honestly, though, I’d go with ordering well drinks because the cocktails are overly sweet — no wonder they were $ 5. They aren’t exactly mixology masterpieces but instead fairly simple. I had the «Are You My Tinder Date?» (tequila, lime, watermelon purée, basil, ginger syrup, soda) and «Not on U Street» (vodka, blackberry syrup, lime, soda) which were both fine. I’d rather spend my calories on the hearty OG chicken sandwich, and I say this as someone who is not a huge fried chicken fan. I split that sandwich, as well as sides of collard greens/​mac n’ cheese, with a friend, which was plenty. The pickles on the sandwich were DIVINE. We then proceeded to take $ 5 shots of the housemade cinnamon whiskey shots, which were basically identical to my beloved Fireball. Excellent.
The bar is pretty small, so we were #blessed to be able to grab a table on the backyard patio at 7pm on a Friday. Granted, it felt a bit like a wet swamp where I would contract Zika, but I was happy to be sitting down. The inside was so crowded that it took me over 10 minutes to get our second rounds of drinks — I wish they could hire another bartender. It was a madhouse. On the plus side, since it was so jam-​packed, my friend met a nice young man while waiting to order her drinks and with whom she exchanged numbers. Aw.
On the down side, they only accept horizontal drivers’ licenses — which meant that my friend who had a vertical one couldn’t get any drinks, which I thought was a crock of ****. Not sure why they felt the need to implement that rule, which I’ve only encountered at one other place in DC in my years living here (that place was Panas in Dupont).

My friends and I came here for dinner and drinks on a weeknight happy hour. After debating whether to sit downstairs for the full menu or upstairs for happy hour, we decided on upstairs and grabbed a table right next to the bar. We ordered our first drink quickly as well as three hot chicken sandwiches. We waited over 30 minutes for our food, and never managed to flag a bartender or waiter for a second drink. Our dirty plates sat on the table for a good thirty minutes as well. I generally don’t mind if bar service gets a bit slow when busy, but we all left frustrated and went to another neighborhood spot to enjoy the rest of our evening. Will give it one more shot and sit downstairs.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yessssssss
OG chicken– fuckkkkk yesssssss. Exceptional; every way.
Mac and cheese– same. Fuckin incredible.
Kale– dear. Lord. Save. My tastebuds. From this overflow of joy!!!
Drinks– goooooooodddd. Omg and all dunks $ 5 in HAPPY Hour!!! Crayyyyy
Con: they don’t accept horizontal IDs… But hey, mine is horizontal so heyyyyy all good

I feel like I had to have come on an off night. I was so unimpressed/​disappointed by this meal, after having high expectations following my experience at McCoy’s Alfies the night before and reviews here.
We started in the bar upstairs for HH. Decent $ 5 deal for anything. The cocktails are ok, standard cocktails light on alcohol, heavy on cheap ingredients. Good for the price I guess. I did find that they had some decent alcohol from our server (I feel like these were hidden so people wouldn’t order), but they have bulleit and dickel back there, and I switched to bulleit rocks after my first cocktail.
After having a few drinks, we headed downstairs for dinner (they serve all food except for the hot chicken at the bar). It’s a pretty small dining room, and the max table they can seat is 6. The server was friendly enough and service was ok, except when it got a little busy and we had to get up and get our own water containers after waiting and asking too many times.
Now to the food where it all went downhill. After we ordered, we were notified that the kitchen was backed up and that the chicken would take 45 minutes to cook. There had to be a max of 24 seats in the dining room, and we were 6 of them… was the kitchen really that backed up? Anyway, we opted to have our sides come out first.
Mac and cheese — pretty good, would ideally like it to be more cheesy and less liquidy, but I liked the large shells. Also some pieces of pork belly or bacon would go perfect in here.
Collard kale — these was good, had good flavor and chunks of turkey in it.
Yams — these were pretty good, but also pretty standard.
baked beans — these could’ve come out of a can for all I know.
For entrees, we ordered a hot chicken, very hot chicken, fried chicken, hot catfish, and an og sandwich. Honestly, the very hot chicken isn’t overwhelming at all with the spice. The fried chicken is very plain in flavor, but you get two small sides with it, that the hot chicken doesn’t have. The hot chicken plates are served on a piece of toast, with dill ranch sauce, some raw onions, and pickles. The sauce, toast and chicken worked very well together. The pickles were fresh and delicious. The chicken was the problem here. All of our chicken was so overcooked and just bad. Very dry, the skin had 0 flavor, outside of the extremely burnt taste. Some of the skin was so hard it was like biting hard candy. When I eat fried chicken, I clean everything, and there is definitely no skin left. I did not do that here. The catfish was the best plate of the night, as the entire thing was edible. There were some bones in there though which we weren’t expecting.
Not sure why we decided to continue eating, but we ordered desserts as well. «World’s greatest banana pudding» and a slice of lemon chess pie. Both underwhelming. The banana pudding was more bread pudding than anything, with chunks of banana. The banana flavor got lost in the bread pudding and it was very plain. The lemon chess pie was also lacking flavor. I love lemon desserts and this just didn’t hold up very well. The crust was good, but the actual pie was just ok.
Long story short, the food is ok (sides are ok, chicken is not), the drinks are weak, HH everyday from 5 – 8 upstairs with $ 5 drinks, service is standard.

FIVEEEEEE STARS.
And all because the chicken sandwich is the best dang chicken I’ve ever had.
Now on to the review…
We get to the restaurant around 5:30 and were asked if we wanted to sit down stairs or upstairs at the bar. The down stairs wasn’t really packed yet, so we decided to sit up stairs. The bar area only has about 2 – 3 tables, then has the actual bar where you can sit at. We weren’t planning on drinking, but then we were told that happy hour was 5 dollars anything poured…5 dollars for everything… we definitely had a drink.
We ordered the «farmers market» drink. It came in a huge glass and was delicious, again…5 dollars, so we ordered another.
Happy hour is 5 – 7.
For an appetizer we ordered the mom’s Mac and cheese… seriously, the best. We almost ordered another one it was so good. Extremely cheesy, just how I like it!
For my main dish I ordered the OG chicken sandwich… I can’t tell you how much I loved the sandwich. One word, TASTY. The pickled veggies, garlic mayo, along with the onions and hot chicken is seriously the best taste ever! I can’t wait to go back just because of this sandwich. It’s also huge, so no worries on NOT getting full. You’ll be one happy person when you leave. We didn’t have any room for desert, so I’ll update the review once I go back and try one!
The lady that served us in the bar area was AMAZING, which made our visit so much better.
Loved this place, I’ll be back!

Came in for drinks wishing I had brought my appetite with me.
This place was a hip, cozy, one of a kind spot with the bar upstairs and dining area downstairs. From the vintage framed projector screen to edison bulbs over the bar this place has a lot of charm.
With craft cocktails, funky décor and personable staff, CRISP could easily be a place of refuge after work.
Though I didn’t get to try the food what I saw looked and smelled great definitely leaving an impression and I’ll be back to try it out.

Love this place for the following reasons:
1) Where else in DC is everything behind the bar only $ 5 during happy hour? NOWHERE
2) Everything behind the bar only $ 5 during happy hour including cocktails (this counts as two reasons)
3) HH lasts until 8. BOOM.
4) The cocktails Lugo makes: amazeballs. I tried all of them and still trying to decide whether my fave is «Make This Cocktail Great Again» or the «New Fashioned». On point.
5) there’s a rooftop, so you get to sit outside (if you arrive early).
6) HH includes food (Patty Melt Burger, yum)
7) the Staff is really nice.
Will go back.

This has easily become one of my favorite neighborhood bars not located in my neighborhood. I find myself here, at least, once a week because it’s pretty awesome.
There are 2 floors with a small outdoor patio area on the 2^nd level. The first floor is solely for dining and the 2^nd floor is where the bar is housed. Side note: the menu is slightly different based on the level you’re on. You can get the platters downstairs only. Trust me I’ve tried EVERYtime I’ve gone to get the fish upstairs and have been shot down EVERYtime. Don’t let that discourage you!
Anyhoo…of the menu items I’ve had the baked beans (ok), the collared kale (yum yum), the Mac n cheese (amaaaazing), the OG chicken sandwich (yummers), and the Hot Fish (plentiful but I desired more seasoning). Yet another side note: if you like pickles… get the garlic dill slices.
While the food is good and I’ll definitely go back for more, what really keeps me coming back is the $ 5 happy hour. Yep, you read that right…$ 5 for anything behind the bar, everyday, from 5−8pm. I almost didn’t want to type that for fear my fav spot will be crowded during my next visit. But you should enjoy too. If you’re into mixed drinks and bourbon, try the Farmer’s Market — delish!
I’m almost done but one more thing… the people who work there, especially upstairs, are also pretty awesome. You’ll have a good time, just go.

I love this neighborhood gem that is super affordable.
There was about a 20 minute wait on a Friday night so we headed upstairs to catch the end of happy hour. The drinks were not consistent — one had more blueberry flavor than the other but neither had much liquor. Three drinks in and I was still sober… lol. And I’m not a lush.
But, enough about the drinks. The FOOD! AMAZING! I got the hot chicken sandwich… super plump, perfectly CRISP chicken with «hot» seasoning. This seasoning is not for the faint of heart. My nose was a little runny… lol. My friend had the chicken which was huge! She also loved her Kale greens.
I love that we also were given some chips to nibble on as we waited on our food.
Staff was super attentive.
Bathroom super clean.
I will so be returning… maybe not for the drinks but for the food! Also, they don’t do Pick-​Up orders here… such a shame since I am always on the go and don’t have time to sit sometimes. I will be back!

I really really really wanted my first time at CRISP to be better. After having seen some of the great reviews on Unilocal I decided to meet up with a friend and check it out. It’s on the cozier side with a downstairs dining area and a bar with more seating upstairs. I beat my friend by about 10 minutes and spoke with the hostess about grabbing a seat downstairs. Unfortunately there was a 45 minute wait. I saw at least a few empty tables and the place was far from packed. I do respect places that hold reservations, so not a huge deal but still weird to me (my friend also thought the same) but anyway… I was able to grab a couple seats at the bar upstairs and I was ready to give this hot chicken a try. Unfortunately the menu for the upstairs bar is different than the downstairs dining area and when my friend ordered the chicken they were all out… ahhh… okay.
It’s cool, I’m in a cocktail phase and they have plenty of whiskey cocktails on the menu. I tried 3 of their cocktails. The CRISP old fashioned, the Farmer’s Market and the Do You Have An Iphone 7 Charger. My favorite was the Farmer’s Market, nice balance of ginger beer and bourbon however I did feel like the cocktails were on the sweeter, more juice side. The CRISP old fashioned was the strongest but still not quite like the other old fashioned’s I normally drink. Also my friend ordered a Farmer’s market but got A Not on U Street. I think the drink was fine and their second drink was fine so again… ahhhh…okay.
Aside from a little shade from the hostess the customer service was with a smile and attentive. For me my friends made the experience more than the restaurant but I’m willing to give CRISP another shot but this first experience for me was just… ahhhh…okay.

From a native Nashvillian, this place is pretty good! Definitely the best effort I’ve seen at hot chicken in DC.
The chicken tastes great. Crisp, hot, well-​seasoned. It is not as spicy as authentic hot chicken, but it is still a good effort.
For those in the know:
Crisp «hot» ~ Prince’s mild
Crisp «extra hot» ~ Prince’s medium
Which is to say, this chicken has a good kick, much spicier than any other «hot» chicken I’ve tried in town — but it’s still a couple notches below the real thing. It will make you sweat, but it won’t make you cry. I see why they’ve advertised it as «hot», though — because no one in DC knows how spicy «mild» hot chicken is unless they’ve eaten it before.
I’d love to see a quarter chicken portion. Half a chicken is way too much. The salad was good if a bit too heavy on the radishes, and the chess pie was just okay (too custardy with a thick, dry crust). The old fashioned on the cocktail menu was too watery. But the beer was nice and cold :)

I was planning my sister’s bachelorette party for Nashville when my other sister did a bait and switch on me and decided on Austin instead. Which was all fine and dandy but my heart and tummy was craving some world-​famous Nashville hot chicken something terrible.
Even Colonel Sanders has jumped on the hot chicken bandwagon but I heard that CRISP makes the best in the city so off I went!
+ Dranks: Cocktails for five ducks at the bar during happy hour. With names like «Do You Have an IPhone 7 Charger?» it’s hard not to crack a smile as soon as you sit down.
+ Duck Poutine: This came out a bit lukewarm and bland but complaining about french fries, gravy, duck shards and cheese curds is like complaining about a copay when you get free healthcare. Out of everything this was my least favorite but in the whole spectrum of life it was pretty good.
+ Mac and Cheese: This was so cheesy I’m pretty sure I got trapped in a cheese string three way with my two dining partners.
+ Nashville Hot Chicken: Half a chicken died to provide for this delicious meal. It’s humongous! I ended up bringing half home to share with my white meat loving husband. It is traditionally served on top a piece of white bread drizzled with ranch for coolness and pickles on top. I don’t like pickles or ranch so I ate it naked except for their secret spices and guess what… I should have gotten extra hot! The heat was there (trust me I felt it when I accidentally scratched my eye later) but it was subtle and complex. The skin puts Popeye’s extra crispy to shame… and that’s saying something!
+ Collard Greens: Super legit
+ Okra and Tomatoes: I love how they stewed this instead of frying it up. It tasted almost exactly like my beloved bhindi masala except without the Indian spices. If I wasn’t being super fat that day, I probably would have just eaten this alone.
Our server was super friendly and helpful and it was only his second day!

This chicken… this chicken… LAWD!
This hot fried chicken makes you wanna…
: Evacuate the dance floor
: Shout out «Daaaaannnnnnnnnggggg bbboooooiiiiiii» at the top of your lungs
: Slap yo mamma (just a saying… never hurt your Mother… she gave birth to you)
: Pull the rope attached to a ceiling net full of confetti. #BucketList
: Steal a cop car and drive it down the street with the sirens blaring in addition to the song «What a feeling»
: Jump off a trampoline into a swimming pool full of dippin’ dots
I mean… this B is HOT!
First of all, there is an option for the hot fried chicken: hot or very hot.
I got the hot —
So I’m assuming that the «very hot» is for people who are reenacting Fiddy Shades Of Grey. ya know, the part where Christian feeds Ana a piece of Nashville hot chicken.
That being said… it’s D-​licious! It’s dance with the devil good.
This skin on the chicken is so crispy, it’s like eatin’ runts from one of those dirty glass little quarter vending machines at the front of old grocery stores. It’s crispy as all get up.
The pickles are definitely either housemade or local. They are soooooo good.
Chicken comes with ranch sauce, cause uh huh.
The macaroni and cheese was the shiz. It was soooo good. Creamy sauce, served with large shells, wonderful cheesy flavor, gooey drippiness, like mac and cheese should be.
I wasn’t a terribly big fan of their poutine TBH. Even though they did use real cheese curds (which props to that), I think the gravy could use a little more depth. #Preten-​ch
The collard greens are FOR REAL though! Literally, my favorite collard greens I’ve had outside of Aunt Angie’s Collards (my friend’s Aunt). They have smoked turkey leg/​neck in the greens; like greens should have! The flavor is on point!
Service was friendly (so much so he actually reminded me a good friend of mine), but a little choppy towards the end when more people flooded into the restaurant. Though, for his self proclaimed second day, he was able to recommend several things on the menu, explain the true spiciness of the chicken, and also did politely apologize when he got a little bit weeded. Overall, a great service.
Can’t wait to go back.

YES another hot chicken place! I think they only serve it in the dining room so make sure you sit where they have hot chicken because hot chicken is the only chicken.
The dining room is small, and the décor is dark and a little divey. The tables are slightly awkwardly placed so it’s hard to get in and out without brushing against your neighbor’s tables, and I felt like I was wedged in weirdly against a protruding side wall, but who cares because they have hot chicken.
My friend and I were way overambitious and both got the chicken platter. Unless you’re SUPER hungry, you probably don’t need a full chicken platter to yourself for one meal. We could’ve easily split one order and a side or starter. We also got the mac and cheese, which was truffly but not the most memorable. The hot chicken though. My mouth was happy. I got the extra hot, and if you’ve had real Nashville hot chicken, it’s like the medium at Prince’s. If you love spicy food, be brave and do extra hot. You can definitely handle it. The spices were really spot on. I’d say a shade better than at Due South, but it wasn’t quite as juicy as the hot chicken sandwich there. The ranch on the bread wasn’t bad, but I could’ve skipped that and just gotten a billion pickles on there instead.
Ok just writing this is making me crave for hot chicken. Thanks, Obama.

There’s a chance that Crisp has the best happy hour in DC. Everyday from 5−8pm everything behind the bar is $ 5. Everything. If you put in the work and graze from 5 – 8 then first off, impressive, but second, that means you can fill up on good food.
Their burger is pretty solid, for a single patty with potato chips it’s $ 7, which imo is a pretty good deal. You can sub in fries for an extra $ 3 to bring that total up to $ 10, which in DC is still a pretty solid deal. The burger there is pretty good, but you can jazz it up with extras like bacon of course.
The bar staff is also extremely friendly, more so than most bars. I guess the small amount of seating helps foster that, so if you do decide to go during HH I’d say arrive on the early side to make sure you get a seat. While Crisp isn’t the worst place for groups it’s also not the most conducive either.
Additionally, they have two TVs and they’ll put on a game if you ask. I sometimes watch the Capitals play there, and it seems that a few of the staff are also fans too.
So, cheap booze, good food, and they’ll put on hockey if you request it. That all makes this place a winner, not just for me, but for everyone.

i finally came to a trendy, new DC restaurant for the first time in MONTHS.
came here on a friday night and it was bumpin. great atmosphere and great crowd. my friend and i wanted to enjoy the awesome happy hour ($ 5 cocktails 5−8pm!!!) before dinner so we had 2 drinks each. paying $ 11 for two cocktails in DC that were also delicious seems illegal. i highly suggest the «crisp new fashioned» if you’re a whiskey fan.
for dinner, my friend and i both had the same thing because just looking at the name made our mouths water: the OG chicken sandwich — fried hot chicken, shaved onion, pickled veggies, shaved lettuce and garlic mayo (+ i added coleslaw for $ 3) AND it was only $ 10 … so after two drinks and a hearty dinner, i spent roughly $ 30. the sandwich was so flavorful (and very spicy!) and every bite was actually … crisp. and delicious.
service and ambience were great, and i will definitely be back. even though chicken is my least favorite meat, this place was amazing.

Great drinks (strong and tasty), great prices, great food (og chicken sandwich. bomb; banana pudding. foodgasmic!), great happy hour (the price is right until 8 or 9)… just the type of small eatery and bar any neighborhood needs! (greeted every step of the way; outdoor deck area…)
Notice I say neighborhood (Bloomingdale– 2^nd &Rhode Is. Ave, in a row house?) and not a shopping or business district. You’ll get here for the bar and not much else. I haven’t dined here yet, (only happy hour) but I imagine it’s difficult on a Friday night with about 8 tables tops. Basically if you don’t live in this area and want to drive here. slight nightmare. It’s in a residential area where there’s cramped zoning for residents only. If I’m driving in the city, I may make a special trip, even über for special friends like Mara J. who recommended this place to me. Thanks!

CRISP Kitchen + Bar just opened today.
The place has a really cool atmosphere with stone walls and a dimly lit dining area and bar. You can tell that a lot of effort was put into the renovations and interior design to get this place looking like this. Playlist included some old school rap when I was there. The restaurant is downstairs and you have to walk through a few tables to take the stairs to the bar upstairs. The bar is really nice.
I’m excited to go back for the happy hour — $ 5 for any drink, including cocktails!
Their menu focuses on «hot chicken,» sandwiches and other things. I had a burger that was really good. $ 7 for the burger with a single patty. $ 4 more for a second patty and $ 3 more to add a side like fries or veggies instead of potato chips.
Bloomingdale is getting all the cool spots… I might need to move closer…