Roof Terrace Restaurant & Bar

Horrible quieres comer comida fría y de mal gusto vengan aqui donde el mesero nunca se acercó el busser hispano fue el que hizo todo el trabajo

Absolutely incredible. Great views, amazing food and exceptional service. The Roof Terrace is always a great meal and super convenient before a show :) Thank you!

While the food was edible it lacked the flavor you would expect from an iconic location.

Service was awful. Don’t go if you’re planning on also attending a show. You’ll feel rushed and only focus on making your show.

Expensive but still wonderful place to eat. Great before a performance. We will return soon.

We had an abominable episode. We were delayed by traffic. I attempted to call the restaurant 6 times to let them know were were still coming. Each tome (on three different number) the call was answered by voicemail telling me the restaurant would be closed Sept. 8-10. We arrived and were seated a 6 for our 5:45 reservation. We had an 8 PM curtain downstairs so we ordered promptly and advised our server. Our entrees arrived at 7:25. By that time several adjacent tables had left before their dinners arrived because they had 7:30 curtains. Complaints to the server were met by the response that the kitchen could not keep up. Really! Yes, it was Valentine's Day, but the restaurant had to expect to be busy. When we complained to the hostess about the voicemail, she shrugged her shoulders and said, "Sorry about that".

Nice views and convenient if your going to a show. Food was okay but devices was a bit off.

I would only go there if I was going to a show and wanted to save a little time . Service was amazing ! Food was great ! .. A little overpriced in my opinion. I will definitely go back when the occasion calls .

The food is excellent - consistently delicious with frequent updates. Staff is professional and magically they always get you out before showtime!

Perfect place to grab a light meal before a performance. Friendly, efficient service and a menu that has something for everyone.

While the food was wonderful, the waiter was very put out that we didn’t pick out our food fast enough. He really seamed to dislike his job and the patrons.

Very poor service, had to flag our waiter down multiple times for refills, napkins etc. Food was great, but service is what will stop me from returning.

I haven’t been to the rooftop terrace restaurant for a Sunday brunch in years. Booking the reservation through “open table“ made it very easy. I arrived early had an excellent Sunday brunch, what more can be said? It wasn’t long till other attendees arrived and then it became a very festive scene! It was an Excellent and Enjoyable Sunday afternoon. I would always recommend this as the “Gold Standard” to anyone seeking an Excellent Sunday Brunch.

Sunday brunch. Convenient to have a nice restaurant in the same building as the Kennedy Center. Beautiful views from the rooftop! Sights wrap around the building. Waiters and chefs were very professional and attentive to our needs. Food was delicious and presentation was spot on! Ambience was top notch. Been there 3 times and every visit is just as special as the first time. Will definitely come back. Doing something nice for patrons celebrating Birthdays would be great.

Excellent pre-show dinner. Arrived 75 minutes before showtime and service was super efficient without making it seem rushed. Plenty of time for 3 courses, including an outstanding steak and root vegetable. Perfect winter fare.

The location is beautiful. Great view over the water. However, the food leaves a lot to be desired. The seafood smelled old. The truffles were inedible. The only thing I enjoyed was the meat board and the cheese board, but I was disappointed that the “pickle vegetables” were just a couple of charred peppers. Also, the cocktail list comprises of only two drinks. Overall, it was a let down.

The Roof Terrace is a very convenient place to dine before a performance. Just as important, it is also a very competent restaurant: the food is as tasty and fulfilling as it is attractively presented. On the Saturday night we most recently went, the clientele was a little boisterous, making conversation difficult. I spent the time I wasn't trying to communicate to have dessert.

The overall experience was excellent and just what I was looking for. The scallop entree was not up to expectations as a part of the experience.

The staff were very friendly from the moment we walked in. Although we showed up five minutes for our reservation, they immediately took us to our table. The server was polite, kind, and helpful. The food came out super quick about 5-10 minutes after I ordered. I was suspicious and paranoid about how quickly it came out. But it tasted great, so I have nothing to complain about.

Roof Terrace doesn't have a lot of selections on the menu. May also want to consider some other options for children.

Great night before a concert. Definitely coming back again.

Our waiter, who was from Peru, was terrific. I apologise for not remembering his name.

The Kennedy Center Roof Terrace is a big room filled with people who all have the same deadline, so the restaurant confronts an enormous wave effect. Despite that, the food is good, if not ambitious. I can recommend the lobster tempura appetizer, which my wife and I both took. It's good, well prepared, and not terribly distinctive. My wife had the diver scallops, I had the striped bass, and I would say we both enjoyed our meals, which were well prepared but not that distinctive. The dessert, "The William", named for a previous chef, was excellent - I recommend it. One page wine list, a bit pricey and mostly staples. Our server was excellent. And after arriving at 5:45 we finished in plenty of time for a 7:30 performance.

The only great thing about Rooftop is its location proximate to the performances. Otherwise, the menu is stale; the quality of the food is spotty, overall average; the ambiance is nice but nothing special; service was good this time. It’s still quite expensive, even with my member discount. It just doesn’t compare favorably with other similarly priced restaurants in DC.

The Restaurant is ideal for before curtain events in the building, and a patron is able to arrive at their seat in 10 minutes. The upscale American cuisine is excellent and moderately priced.

yes, because of convenience and food good.
the ambiance very disappointing. minimalist. could be so much better. felt like a convention hotel ballroom with cheap tables put up.
service just adequate, again minimal

Excellent experience from start to finish. The view is unparalleled and the seafood bar is an excellent value. Most all you can eat and drink places serve crappy food and mimosas, but everything was top shelf and delicious! We would absolutely come back.

We routinely eat the buffet brunch before a show and were disappointed that a few of the regular dishes - the prime rib, potatoes and eggs benedict, were not up to their normal standards. However, there is a wide selection of other dishes like the unlimited bacon and seafood bar, plus new dishes to try such as the farro salad to make up for it.

Usually we are very happy with the Roof Terrace but this past Saturday was rather disappointing. The lobster tempura was soggy at best and rather tasteless. The lamb chops were so rare that one did not look completely cooked. There was nosteak type knife provided to slice the lamb. I was not asked by the server how I wanted the lamb. It just arrived at my table.
We had tickets for the ballet for which we are subscribers so we were not able to complain about the dinner.
The waiter was not very helpful or attentive. I will need to assess whether or not we will be dining here during the remaining ballets.

The roasted vegetables could have been cooked
a bit longer.

The Roof Terrace is very convenient if you have a performance at the Kennedy Center and want a full service meal. The food is good but the service can be erratic and sometimes rude.

I wish there was a little more space between tables. Was placed right between two couples so made it feel as if we were eating as a group but never the less the food was wonderful and our server was the sweetest!

My only negative about the dinner was the extreme price of $18.00 for a glass of chardonnay. The menu prices were in line with other upscale restaurants. The food was very good.

The quality of the food was very good, including the lobster tempura, rack of lamb, scallops, french fries, creme brûlée and wine, but not a gastronomic tour de force. The service was friendly and attentive. Not unexpectedly it was pricey but worth the convenience of being close to the concert hall.

The food and service was excellent

It was like eating in a cafeteria at the train station!!!

Our favorite place to eat when we have tickets to a show at the Kennedy Center. Delicious, fun, easy and the service is always excellent.

I really want to love the experience at this restaurant but sadly I was a bit disappointed even with the food. Sadly, KC Cafeteria is actually a lot better. Lesson learned.

My friend and I arrived at 5:20pm to an almost empty restaurant for a 5:30 table, yet were shown to a middle table - presumably because we were women. We asked for one the plentiful window tables, and after a pause, we were shown to a second row table. Such is the lot of two women, even if one pushes.
The dish we both chose was a sea bass with clams, mushrooms and grains. It was quite tasteless, not poorly cooked, but devoid of interest. we asked for lemon, and three thin wedges were supplied. It was too boring to finish and we told the waiter we were most disappointed. He appeared, after a while, not with the chef but with an offer of a second glass of wine, which we accepted although didn't really want.
It was a very disappointing experience. When the choice is between the cafeteria, where one busses one's own expensive meal in a noisy, crowded and pretty miserable environment, and the uninteresting meal we had, we will probably go back to eating first at home. We thought we would give the Roof Terrace another chance after a long hiatus, but will not go back.

Most convenient place to grab a bite to eat before a performance. Ambiance is lovely with river views. Service was slow but food comes out quickly. The menu gets refreshed on a regular basis which is good. Would appreciate more light fare options.