Stars & Stripes Cafe

Their salad was overpriced and wasn’t fresh. Chicken was hard and croutons were soft.

You go in thinking it’s just a food court, but the food its actually good! First of all I got the duck and it was delicious. My companions got bbp chicken and pulled pork sandwiches. Everyone said that their food was good. Now it might be a smidgen overpriced but I liked it. Some standalone restaurants aren’t even that good! I’ll come back happily next time I visit.

I think this is a nice, simple and very convenient café. My friend and I split a roasted veggie wrap and a cup of soup. The total was $ 14 so seven bucks each we got a half sandwich and a small cup of soup. It was very tasty and I think very reasonably priced. Would definitely stop in here rather than walking six blocks to get to the nearest restaurant if you’re in between museums. The Moroccan lentil soup is very good btw.

In general, I don’t expect food courts at attractions like this to be 5 star restaurants. After all, you are probably there because you have limited options.
But, I would recommend walking and skipping this one.
It is way overpriced, and the food was not good. The cheeseburger was burnt, the fries were okay, and I paid $ 8 for my child to have a juice box, Apple, and a PBJ. That’s on me.
Next time, we will eat somewhere else.

When the museum is open until 5:30, why would the café close at 3pm? Especially on a summer weekend. Very disappointed.

My expectations were not so high coming here because you know that the prices are going to be inflated but it was a welcome break to the heat. It is very nice and cool inside and I think that deserves some credit when your trying to enjoy your lunch. The food itself is ok. Nothing that really jumps out you as being great but they do have enough of a variety of your willing to pay the price.
The burgers that we ordered were not bad but not great. The fries were pretty good because they had just the right amount of seasoning. When looking at the kids meal I did notice that they had a few options but no hamburger/​cheeseburger kids meal which I thought was ridiculous. What business does not have a burger kids meal? So I had to settle for buying her a regular sized cheeseburger instead. I guess they’ll get you every time but then again you know what your getting yourself into when you come here. The staff was friendly though.

Food exceeded my expectations– there was much more than burgers, fries and pizzas. The salad bar was fresh, full of options, and delicious. Soups, wraps, and veggie-​burgers were also offered presenting lots of options for the vegetarians in our party. They even sell beer and wine… awesome for parents who have spent half a day with tired kids. The only draw back is the price… $ 75 for my family of 5!

Our sandwich and salad was surprisingly good but the line to checkout was incredibly slow. The prices were exorbitant for what you get. For $ 15 for one person, I expect more but it’s a tourist attraction so they have you captive.

The burgers are ok and the fries.
Pizza wasn’t good.
You can get fountain soda, with free refills.

Well where do I start!
1^st — this has nothing to do with the exhibits. We went to the cafeteria to get some food. The cafeteria has some different selections but if you are coming with a group of kids and they get vouchers. Expect to eat card board pizza, dried up hamburgers and just plain nasty hot dogs. If you want fries or onions rings, you might pay and extra $ 10. The service now is even better. Not only that the food is good enough for animals you get expect to be treated like a child and expect to get screamed at. Do ask for help and make sure your order is what you want even if they make mistakes. I ended up buying my own food there and I paid $ 40+ and I got water. Just a plain rip off by another government building. I would love to see if they care and contact me but I doubt they do.

Many options from wraps to salads to bbq to burgers to pizza and plenty of seating. I am giving this a low review because the grilled chicken sandwich gave me horrible food poisoning later in the night. My friend had a burger and was fine.

Avoid. My healthy 12-​year-​old son got food poisoning today from the burger and fries he had at this café. I have taken him to China, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam without any stomach problems. Six hours after eating here, boom! Adding insult to injury, my pulled pork sandwich was dripping in grease and was over seasoned with liquid smoke. Yuck.

Personally, I got an excellent meal for $ 9 of soup and salad, cheaper than Panera! And better chicken noodle. Oh their Amish chicken noodle is excellent. They give you large portions, so while it’s pricey, if you neglect the dessert bar and byo bottled water, you can get a good meal for a decent price.
Their food is all locally grown as well, with classic fare like burgers and dogs, but also excellent pulled pork and Mediterranean vegetarian options.
Two reasons this wasn’t higher rated:
My brother got a cold, pink burger.
Their salad bar is deceptive! $.70/​oz or $ 12/​lbs, but they give you maaaaassive bowls and heavy eggs to make you get more and overpay.
So, results may vary. I enjoyed my visit, but I don’t recommend this with children or picky eaters.

This is a cafeteria in the basement of the American History museum with four different stations for prepared food and a salad bar in the middle. There are pizza, burgers, sandwiches, and BBQ.
My family choose the BBQ section, much to my dismay. Coming from Kansas City, it’s natural to have a fairly high expectation of BBQ, even if it’s in an overpriced tourist cafeteria. I had the chicken sandwich and «Kansas City» BBQ beans. The chicken definitely had more of a southern sauce on it… More of a mustard base, I think. The beans were in possibly a brown sugar based sauce, but not sure what Kansas City they might come from. Possibly there is a different Kansas City.
It’s really not their fault that the BBQ is disappointing and overpriced. They don’t know any better, in Washington. I could also mention that prior to my trip to DC, I ate at Jack Stack and also at Smokey’s BBQ. Two very different experiences, but both typical of the high standards of Kansas City BBQ. My taste buds were just slightly offended that I put them through that Stars and Stripes attempt at chicken and beans.
Two stars for the BBQ. Two stars for the pricing ($ 15 per person for lunch). Three stars for some very nice people and three stars for the fact that there were outlets to charge our phones and one kid’s DS. Because when you are visiting the Smithsonian with your family, apparently you need a charged DS.

Smithsonian eateries are always overpriced, but I definitely had to try this one out at least once. I got a BBQ pork burger with baked beans, cole slaw and sweet tea. Overall the quality was ok, but I’m from the South, so of course I’ve had better. I probably won’t eat here again just because it is very expensive for what you’re getting.

Very good but pricey!
After a daunting day of touristy fun in DC I decided to let my family wander around the American History museum while I cooled off and ate lunch in the café (they opted for some dirty water dogs at a street vendor).
The place is relatively clean.
I ordered a BBQ pork loin slice, two sides, and a fountain drink. It was a whopping $ 20! I thought that there must have been some sort of error but looking at the prices on my receipt the only «error» to speak of was my own negligence in not looking at how much the food cost before I bought it.
The food, however, was delicious. My sides were Mac and Cheese (a small bit of oil from the cheese rested at the bottom of the bowl) and collard greens (not too crunchy but not boiled into paste either). The pork was delicious with a tangy vinegar based thick bbq sauce.
The drinks were confusing. Apparently anything within the actual food court area is non-​refillable (brewed sweet tea and lemonade) but there are several soda fountains (Coke), tea (gold peak) and coffee dispensers near the seating area where you can get free refills.
I give it three stars because of the price. They have a somewhat captive audience and charge accordingly. For more reasonable prices I would have given four stars. Also, at the time of my writing this, if you keep your receipt anything you buy again after 2pm is 10% off.

Save your money and don’t buy food from here. Go across the street and get a $ 2 chicken hotdog or $ 3 regular hotdog. TRUST ME. It’s actually really worth it compared to paying $ 17 for a bland tuna salad and bottled water.
Never again.

We stopped in before a tour of the museum (we only had an hour and a half and the café upstairs left a lot to be desired). I got the veggie pizza and fries. the veggie pizza was the best looking veggie pizza I’ve ever seen, and almost as good tasting (looks– 10/​10, taste– ⁸⁄₁₀). There were your typical veggies and some atypical, very good. the fries were great as well. Price wise, it wasn’t horrible.

We stopped in for lunch on a Sunday, the place was not very busy, we got a turkey sandwich on cranberry bread, a pulled pork sandwich with two sides, and an order of fried cheese curds split between three people, which came out to 30 $ since we opted for water.
Turkey sandwich with cranberry bread– the bread was very hard which was slightly sad seeing as the flavor was great. The sandwich turkey portion was deli style, lots of meat in a small condensed area.
The pulled pork was tasty, and there were 3 sauces to enjoy, although one was a clear liquid, not sure what it was supposed to be so we skipped it. The vidalia onion was my favorite.
The two sides we got were potato salad and mac and cheese, as many others mentioned the mac and cheese was very oily, and there was so much cheese! The actual pasta and sauce were very flavorful, but almost half the bowl was cheese.
The potato salad was standard, it had eggs and red potato, my boyfriend and sister enjoyed it.
The cheese curds were cold, sadly, I am a Canadian cheese curd fan, so I wasn’t expecting how cheddar like the curds would be, but the concept is neat and it was interesting to try.
I really think the potential for this place is missing, the theme was correct but execution was a bit lacking. I also think that they should have special meals to tie into the exhibits, i.e. Julia child dish, tv dinners, presidential favorites, or other historical meal connections. I wish museums would take the time to make their cafeterias an integral part of the experience, as the food exhibit indicated, food has a tremendous impact on American culture and this was a missed opportunity to continue to educate and inform museum visitors of some American history.

I went over a month ago so I don’t recall each plate that my sister and I took. Two things, however, stand out in my memory.
1) Mac and Cheese is SUPER oily. Make sure pour the oil out.
2) Honestly one of my FAVORITE french fries. I remember taking a bite and telling my sister, very seriously, «I think this might be my favorite french fries of all time!» Just the right amount of saltiness and lovely crunchy exterior.
Craving French fries now and wondering when I’ll be around National Mall next!