The Smith – Penn Quarter, Washington, D.C

Simply said, I was not impressed with the chicken and waffles.

Excellent, attentive service.

The restaurant week menu was so nice and refreshing!

Unbelievable decibel levels. Literally shouted across the table with my dining companion and still couldn’t understand or hear each other.

Service was friendly and attentive, but food was mediocre and ambiance dated.

So many more desirable options for any occasion. Don’t bother with Smith.

It's OK to spend a meal unable to hear one's companions when they speak if the meal is very good. Not to be able to converse while eating a poor meal is just plain penance. The Smith is a penitential place. I will never go back.

Great. Really good service and food

Seated 20 min late. Frustrating when holding an interview and having confirmed the reservation. Additionally, the seater was a bit rude.

my wife's food came out different from what she ordered, but the staff went over and above to make things right. Great service.

Great food ! Can’t wait to come back

Service was wonderful. I enjoyed all the courses. My only issue is that the table was so small that it made having bread, water & appetizers tough to enjoy without being very careful.

Great for a pre-game meal, happy hour or social outing. Service is typically solid, but our server (Maria K.) was outstanding and went above and beyond to note food allergies of somebody in our party as well as providing excellent options. It can get loud in there, but well worth the stop.

The Smith offers comfort food of a very high level and some spins on familiar apps that don't always work. It is hard to complain about the potato chips drenched in blue cheese dressing, but the zucchini "rings" taste mostly of breading and little of veg.

They make a pretty good hamburger in two styles—a California smash style with two thin patties and a lot of bun or a more traditional steakhouse style. The rest of the menu shows a nice variety of choices from salmon to brick-pressed chicken. There are also steaks and pasta, although I haven't sampled these.

There are good choices for vegetarians and vegans on the menu. The best I tried was the Vegetable Bibimbap, an unusual menu choice that proves how far the Korean staple has become part of American menus.

Don't expect fine dining but do expect well-prepared fast-casual fare a step above the chains.

Delicious, every time!

Great menu with great choices. Friendly service and attentive even though a busy Sunday brunch. Timely arrival of food. Omelette was cooked moist. Rare accomplishment for a restaurant Doug scale. French toast a little dry but kids loved it so that’s what counts. Le Diplomate has a moister one.
Coffee truly world class. Out of NYC I was told.

Great experience. Will become a regular.

Servers were great when we could get their attention. Food came fast. It was pretty standard brunch fare. Good, not great. The Bloody Mary was watery, with not enough tomato flavour, and overall subpar. The hall is pretty busy noise wise, but set up in a way that you’re able to hear everyone at your table. Decor/design of the restaurant is lovely and fun.

The food and service were excellent for brunch! I ordered a burger and fries that were really delicious. My reservation was for 8 people, and they were able to seat us on time. The servers were kind and flexible and able to serve us drinks, bread, and appetizers until my entire party arrived. The only downside was that there were no bottomless beverage options.

We had a great bruch experience, food and service were amazing.

Had a birthday brunch for a party of 16. They were really accommodating as my entire party arrived after the 2pm reservation. Prior to the party arriving, my husband and I sat at the bar, service was excellent! Don’t recall the young lady name but she was amazing! Ok so finally we are seated and the service went downhill from there. My husband ordered chicken and waffles. However the chicken on his plate had pieces of Calamari in it. Clearly they fry everything in the same grease. Couple other guest complained about the mystery piece of chicken as well. They’re was so much uncooked meat it was horrible. I asked to speak to a manager and they never showed. Well correction they only came to one side of the table. While the server was really slow the party started to order drinks from the bar. I mean it was much quicker than waiting for the server to return. Well about the 2nd trip to the bar we were told that we had to order the drinks from the table. Well how do you order from the table if the server never came back? Not to mention she went to the manager to advise money was being taken from her because we kept ordering from the bar. Girlfriend got a hell of a tip and provided the worse customer service ever. She attended to about 5 guest of a party of 16🥺. Maybe the large party was too much but I don’t think we will be returning.

Very professional service and tasty salad. Great for a business lunch - reasonable sound level.

Food was excellent and ambiance great. Wish they had actual wine glasses rather than juice glasses but overall great experience. Bathrooms are very nice and clean!

Birthday celebration

Great food coupled with great service! Perfect place to catch up with old friends. A must while in DC

Terrible experience with service. Server put in one kid’s meal and forgot adults order. We waited for 45 minutes without server checking in on us and/or updating us on food order. Server came back and said that the pasta would take long but didn’t bother to let us know in advance.

Manager came out without asking and put some chips on the table without asking our preference. Manager offered dessert on them but we didn’t want it. Manager didn’t even offer to discount the bill.

Terrible service with so so food.

Food was fantastic. Best steak I've had in a very long time. However the service was very very slow.

The food was good as always but the service was bad

NYE party had good food deal, awesome open bar, favors and champagne

Seated in section where approximately 12 tables. At least 5 of them were unoccupied and uncleared after diners had left. Plates, half full glasses, receipt/check still on table. No effort by servers/bussers to clear and reset section and the place looked like a mess. Took a while for server to arrive/greet us. He was slow. His colleague brought a mis-prepared cocktail. Bussers finally came to clear tables and made a lot of noise stacking plates, glasses, gathering silver, etc. and observed as a confused and disorganized effort. Painful to watch. Ordered the double burger and was told that b/c of size/preparation, the temperature would have to be be medium well, it came medium rare/undercooked.

Overall the place seemed incredible short staffed and was staffed with low-quality personnel who really didn't know what they're doing and seemed hesitant with no knowledge of basic service skills/menu, etc.

And, finally, please give the staff "real" sized trays rather than good looking tiny metal ones. As a former DC waiter/bartender/busser and backwaiter, it is painful to watch the bad attempts at drink service using such useless trays.

I’ve been here multiple times and have always had a pleasant experience until now. Service was incredibly slow, other tables around us complained of similar issues, wrong orders, etc.

awesome mac & cheese!

Really stellar quash, arugula and goat cheese salad.

We always enjoy brunch at The Smith! And they’re always able to accept reservations for large groups, which we really like as a convenience.

However, service was extremely subpar with our group of 10. We have accepted that less than ideal service is part of the dining experience here (for better or worse), but we were very surprised by how bad it was this time. We had to ask anyone passing by to help with an incorrect order, get condiments, cocktail and coffee refills, and the check. Despite this, we had a positive experience, everyone enjoyed the meal, and we enjoyed being together.

I think it says a lot that we like it so much despite the bad service, but I’m not sure it’s for everyone.

Service was a little slow but they where super kind and helpful. Food was delicious, I had the gnocchi and it was the best dish at the table

Poor service and very loud restaurant

Next time I would avoid an evening when the Caps were playing the restaurant was filled with loud fans in a hurry to get to the game. We were seated promptly with a reservation and received attentive service so. Enjoyed the menu choices

Great food. Great service. Great ambiance. Close to Capital Arena. We will be back!

Good food and good service - a bit on the pricey side but we will not go away hungry.

The service at the Smith is always outstanding. The menu is varied enough to please all types of palates.

What a great spot to grab and burger and a beer before heading into Capital One Arena. The food was great and our server was attentive but not to overbearing.

Food was excellent.

Food was not up to quality