Tap & Parlour

Food is solidly okay. I had the chicken and waffles and wasn’t unhappy. Service is very slow. $ 7 bottomless is the best part. Can’t be beat.

I wanted badly to like this place, but the fact that I haven’t even gotten there yet and I’m less than impressed by their service should say something. I’ve been trying to make a reservation for brunch for a week and a half. The website says to send an email to make a reservation. So I did. Three times. Thinking something went wrong with the email. No one answers the phone. What else can I do?
Mostly drawn to this place by its good looking menu and ridiculously cheap bottomless deal, my friends and I will be taking our business elsewhere and telling everyone to avoid Tap and Parlour since they probably won’t be able to get a reservation anyway.

I went here for happy hour with friends on a Friday night and the drinks were extremely cheap. We each had 3 – 4 drinks and only ended up paying $ 11.
As for the quality of the drinks… my friend go the tequila breeze or something like that and I tried it and it was pretty good so I ordered it as my next drink and jesus christ. It tasted like straight liquor. My first drink was pretty strong too but not in a good way. I like a good cocktail, not straight liquor with a bit juice for after taste.

Everytime I visit DC I HAVE to stop here for the Sunday Brunch. Seating is limited so there’s usually a line in the summer. But I just visited here the Sunday after NYE and we were seated right away. The place is set up mostly for groups so they have a lot of lounge seating. Smaller groups tend to be kinda close to other small groups, but it’s never a problem, everyone is really nice. The mimosas are really good. And so is the black bean burger. The chicken & waffles are average, and I think they raised the price recently. I’ll def go back tho.

Once you get past the rough looking interior, the food was great, the service was awesome. I ate the chicken and waffles (white meat) great serving size and very tasty! It was busy but our server Princess kept our glasses full and was very attentive. I’d come back for sure!

Stopped in for brunch with a buddy and I have to say I was not disappointed at all. As someone that has never had chicken and waffles before… I didn’t know what to expect. Needless to say, the waffles were on point, and the two pieces of chicken I received were cooked perfectly.
The prices were not that expensive either. You could eat here on a budget, in my opinion.
And the bottomless mimosas… well I’ll just leave that right there.

My co-​workers and I came here on our off day for the brunch. It was fairly empty for a 11am seating, but granted it was Thanksgiving weekend, everyone was probably out of town or with family. Seating and décor, definitely hipsterish, if anything a little rustic. Our table of 5 was seated by the couches, but one of my friend’s has back problems so they moved us to a larger farm table in the back. It was little hard to hear everyone talking over the speakers, but our voices got loud enough with more mimosas.
This place, they’re not kidding when they say bottomless. I don’t think I ever saw the bottom of my glass until I decided to (drunkenly) place a napkin over my glass like the brazilian bbq places. We would literally take a sip and the staff was back around refilling. At one point they even came back to my end of the table to refill my refill!
Food was not too bad. Of course I ordered the chicken and waffles. No gravy, just syrup so I was a little sad. But chicken was done nicely, otherwise the waffles were standard. I wasn’t too impressed by the food.
But the BOTTOMLESS MIMOSAS are bomb-​ass enough to warrant 5 stars alone, but I’ll ding them for the mediocre food. I would still come back and try their other dishes though!

As you can see, the good reviews of this place are coming from those who went for Sunday brunch. Yep, that was fine, BUT every single time I went for dinner or the weekend old school party, it was thoroughly egregious. It’s more old school hip hop. I finally went this weekend, stayed 2 hours, and heard only old school hip hop. What about the other genres of «urban» music that constitute «old school music»???
And the service while eating is horrid… Two chicks at the door chillin and talking instead of asking if we need to be seated… young light-​skinned waitress straight chillin not stopping by and putting in order wrong despite specific instructions,… OK food, yes… but abbbbsolutely HORRIBLE service that’ll make ya wanna cuss. I’m NOT exaggerating.

Being a student at Howard University, I hear a lot about places to eat on U street. Especially since it’s a 5 minute walk from my dorm. On Sunday afternoon, my boyfriend and a close friend of mine went to have brunch at Tap & Parlor.
Upon arrival to the restaurant, we had to wait to be asked if we wanted a seat. The hostess was not at the post. After she asked us how many were in our party, she told us there would be a wait. We asked her how long the wait would be and she seemed to be very distraught and confused. I didn’t understand why she couldn’t tell us a time or how many people were in front of us.
This was the first time we visited Tap & Parlor for food (we usually get drinks at the bar on Friday nights). It was a completely different atmosphere.
After we had been seated in the couches they provide as seating, we placed our orders. I was not fond of the seating arrangement they had seat up. It was way too relaxed for a restaurant.
I ordered the shrimp and grits with a side of eggs sunny side up, which were amazing! The only thing I would change is the amount of grits. There were way too many grits for there not to be a proportional number of shrimp. The grits overload made the dish very soupy, but tasty indeed! My boyfriend had The Delightful, which he devoured. Not only that, how can you go wrong with $ 7 unlimited mimosas?! However, my boyfriend did complain that his glass had a strange taste to it that was sickening to him.
I would definitely check out the brunch again, just not during prime brunch time because it was EXTREMELY noisy in there. I had to scream to talk to the people next to me.

On the million man march weekend… the Friday of… they were out of several liquor choices.
They took about an hour for two pieces of chicken and a waffle. Service was slow.
They are black owned and i hate to bash a black owned business but they need to step their game up. like they need to take several steps up…

After brunch today I would say it was my first and last experience at Tap & Parlour. Sure there’s cheap bottomless mimosas but is that a reason to pay for sub-​par food? No way.
The service was quick, efficient, and really pleasant. Our waiter never let our glasses get empty and really couldn’t have been better.
When it comes to the food though I think we have all had better. I had the steak and eggs, and for $ 18 it seemed pretty mediocre. The steak was well seasoned but overcooked when I ordered Medium Rare, the sunny-​side up eggs and potatoes were also decent but not seasoned at all. The presentation also was careless – my sunny-​side up eggs were definitely more plate-​down in actuality. The silver ware, plates, and plastic containers were also disappointing.
Not sure how Tap & Parlour competes with other similarly priced options in the area. One thing though is that the interior is very nice, lots of character. But ultimately it’s the food that makes the place.

I went here today for brunch with one of my best friends for a catch-​up brunch date after church. I’ve been here for drinks (on a bar crawl) but I’ve never been here for brunch. The reviews here made me a weeee bit anxious, but I was lured by the promise of $ 7 bottomless mimosas!
Pros:
–My glass was NEVER empty! (excepts after I got the bill… then magically they stopped but I still got my last one in lol)
–Waffle was delicious so I basically inhaled it in 5 seconds
–Great vibe and atmosphere
–Great service – they checked on us like every 10 minutes or so!
Cons:
–The food took FOREVER to come out — let’s be real: you know you have a big ol’ batch of friend chicken waiting in the kitchen so what took so long?
I would definitely come back here for those bottomless mimosas – but I’ll hold off on the chicken.

My friends and I decided to go here for one of their birthdays, for brunch. I made a reservation for 10 but when we arrived, they only had available seating for 8. So the rest of the party had to sit at a table adjacent to us. Not a big deal, so we went with the flow.
It took about 10 minutes for a server to come over to order waters and we placed our food orders as well during this time. It look a whole hour for the food to come out! The only plus were the bottomless mimosas, that were okay.
The kicker was after we were done with brunch, she brought one check stating she couldn’t split it. Why didn’t she think this information would be helpful when we were placing the orders?
We then proceeded to have to split the bill on a napkin and write down the prices ourselves. She then came back and said our math was wrong and was missing $ 2.45. So no biggie. But then I have her $ 20 for my $ 14 bill and she didn’t bring back my change…
Needless to say, the food was mediocre, the service wasn’t completely terrible, but I won’t be coming again.

Well it’s been about 40 minutes and we are just getting our drink when the place is basically empty, they are out of certain drinks on the menu (tap beer) on a Saturday.
I will not return to this place and it also smells like feet. I do hope we didn’t get the special customer surprise tap beer…
Plus here is the best part. All glasses had residue and they were all dirty as hell… it was a mistake they over looked the dirty glass…
Never will I be back…

I wouldn’t trust the other Unilocalers. For brunch, this is a decently priced place. The food was tasty, the service was great. My bottomless mimosa never hit the bottom.
I got an omelette, my friend got the French toast. Both were ample sizes, tasted great, and reasonably priced.
It’s nothing fancy, but if you just want a decent brunch, I recommend it.

So you want $ 7 bottomless mimosas? Ok, but what price are you REALLY paying for those mimosas?
You will (I can almost guarantee this) have terrible service. You will wait an inordinate amount of time for basic requests (my friends and I clocked 10 minutes for water). You may or may not have lipstick residue left on your mimosa glass (I advise checking), when you ask for a replacement glass, the waitress will take her merry time (Yes. It will most definitely be a woman and, yes, she will insult your intelligence by thinking her cleavage compensates for terrible service. It does not. So tip accordingly). She will come back empty-​handed because they will be out of clean glasses. It will honestly feel like work to get anything out of your waitress.
You will not enjoy your food – I would call it mediocre if I hadn’t had better meals prepared by my 10 year old cousin. At least she knows how to stir the Bisquick mix completely so there is no flour left after you fry it (take notes Tap and Parlour chefs) and knows that a dash of vanilla goes a long way to augment the otherwise bland flavor.
At the end of the day, you will spend 2 hours essentially trying to manage your waitress then overpay 20-​fold for frozen food aisle-​quality fare.
Remember. Your time is very valuable. If you are the standard DC yuppie that would venture here, then you probably make at least $ 25/​hour (unless, of course, you are a hill staffer). So really, that $ 7 mimosa + the $ 15 entrée + the 2 hours of your time they wasted just cost you a total of $ 72 (plus tax and tip, of course).
Don’t waste your time.

Food was mediocre, prices were okay. The bottomless mimosa deal is what initially brought us here but I was disappointed with the taste. The OJ tasted warm and a bit like Sunny D.

Wha better way to spend a Sunday morning following the best fight ever?! Of course, at Tap n’ Parlour you can relax on their eclectic seating area, out on the patio/​sidewalk or at the bar for $ 7.00 bottomless mimosas — duh!
Great service, shout out to Sweetie Pie who was our bartender and kept our glasses full while we sat partaking in a great meal of chicken n’ waffles. Some wait time if you want a table, not much wait time if you get a place at the bar. Note: if you start the mimosas out at the bar and then move to the table you will be charged separately as it does not carry to your table bill…7.00 at the bar and additionally 7.00 at the table. Otherwise, great metro accessible location, awesome service and great mimosas

This is one of those rare instances where I strongly disagree with the Unilocal consensus. Sure, there are plenty of three to four star places that I think are more like five or two. But when it comes to the extremes – really poorly reviewed places and spots that average 4+ stars – I feel like Unilocal is almost always spot on.
For weekend brunch at least, this is a notable exception. Even with the two-​hour limit, at $ 7, T&P is arguably the cheapest bottomless spot in town. AFAIK, only Irish Whiskey in the Foggy Bottom/​Dupont area rivals it (yep, their $ 1 bottles of champagne are a steal).
For what it is during the day on the weekends (a dirt cheap bottomless mimosa brunch spot), this place is excellent. The service has always been flawless and I rarely look down and see an empty glass of mimosa when I’m here. While the furniture is a bit dated (and not really in a charming way), the couches and big chairs are comfortable and make for a cozy, intimate meal with friends.
Despite the bad reviews, it can get quite crowded so I don’t like coming here with a big group. With just one or two friends, though, this is my go-​to.
While T&P checks all the boxes for a reliable, cheap brunch, it’s not without its blemishes.
–I most recently came here on Saturday and both my friend and I thought the orange juice to champagne ratio was way too high. We left before our two hours was up just because we couldn’t handle so much juice. This might just be an issue with consistency, though, and not a recurring problem – it’s the first time I’ve noticed it.
–As other reviews indicate, the food is nothing special. I only get the chicken and waffles here. This weekend, the waffles were prepared perfectly but the chicken was a mess. Two visits ago, the chicken was nice and crispy but the waffles were hard as a rock. So yea, the food seems very hit-​or-​miss.

Grab a chair and get ready to BRUNCH!
This is one of the most chill, relaxed, and delightful brunches in DC. For you drinkers, $ 7 Mimosas. For you eaters, $ 14 Chicken and Waffles. I don’t think it can get much better than this.
Grub:
The Delightful ($ 11). A+
3 Eggs, home fries, pork sausage patties, and a biscuit. Tons of food you won’t be able to finish yet every bite is simply… delightful.
Chicken and Waffles ($ 14). A
The cheapest chicken and waffles in the city that’s still quality! If I’m craving the southern classic but ain’t got no money, you better bet I’m going here honey.
So if you can’t tell, I think I’m in love with Tap & Parlour’s brunch. Can’t wait to go back.