The Official-ish DC Thread

[nevaeh]

What is the mid-brown herringbone at the bottom??

That’s the Carlo Barbera blue-grey in bad lighting. I wish I had that in brown, though!

 

[TheSuitBurnsBetter]

That’s the Carlo Barbera blue-grey in bad lighting. I wish I had that in brown, though!

Either bad lighting or I'm really color blind.

 

[Joffrey]

28 dollars for a cheeseburger 💀. Plus an automatic 20% gratuity for a non luxury hotel restaurant? You’re better off at imperfecto, ris, or rasika. There’s even a Spanish tapas bar under the ritz.

As far as Georgetown is concerned, osteria mozza just opened. There’s always fiola mare on the water. And there’s villa yara for Lebanese food, cut for a steakhouse. Cafe milano (whose owner has his clothes made in napoli),

I wasn't aware automatic gratuity was reserved for certain categories of restaurants. I'd consider it a convenience as one less thing to do when paying my bill. I second Villa Yara as a recommendation.

 

[Black Lotus]

Plus an automatic 20% gratuity

Was it actually gratuity, or was it the "service fee" restaurants are charging nowadays?

 

[Keyser_Söze]

Was it actually gratuity, or was it the "service fee" restaurants are charging nowadays?

They are basically the same thing now.

 

[Shoeguy57]

I ate at Rasika West End tonight and they had a note on the menu that they were adding the 20% service charge which all goes to the staff to allow them to pay higher wages. It then said an extra gratuity was not necessary but appreciated. I don’t eat downtown much and was unsure how much to add as an extra tip (ended up adding another 7.5%). What is customary in that type of restaurant?

 

[jonathanS]

Was it actually gratuity, or was it the "service fee" restaurants are charging nowadays?

I ate at Rasika West End tonight and they had a note on the menu that they were adding the 20% service charge which all goes to the staff to allow them to pay higher wages. It then said an extra gratuity was not necessary but appreciated. I don’t eat downtown much and was unsure how much to add as an extra tip (ended up adding another 7.5%). What is customary in that type of restaurant?

I’m not sure because I haven’t lived in DC in a while (in town sometimes). But, if so, that’s a variation from what I remembered years ago. Rasika west end must’ve changed their policy.

It’s weird to charge an extra 20% (not insignificant!!) when they could just raise their prices to being priced appropriately (it’s like here’s the menu, oh but we are charging you an extra 20%).

Also. DC restaurant tax is 10%. So an entree now costs 37.5% more than the menu price.