Top of the Gate at The Watergate Hotel

The restaurant took the open table reservation, but when we arrived 15 minutes later, they were closed due to weather and had been closed for hours. Open Table wouldn’t let us cancel our reservation and the restaurant was closed.

Outstanding views, lovely customer service and delicious cocktails and nibbles.

The food and atmosphere were great, however our server was inappropriate when he returned the credit card we used upon arrival by handing me the credit card back. My girlfriend was treating me that night due to it being my birthday, but I didn’t feel like I needed to explain that to my server. He felt the need to make it apparent that he knew she was paying for our drinks and food. Our order came out wrong. We had ordered a cheese board and the tuna tartare. The tuna came out and was delicious, however the cheese board never came. Instead, a rice bowl was brought out. Things happen, I get it. We let our server know, and after an hour had passed our server stopped by the table to let us know that the cheese board would be out momentarily. I just decided to tell him to cancel it.

Excellent service.. wonderful location. I did not like the fact that they serve these expensive drinks in plastic glasses!! Why would they do that?? For the price range they have, they ought to have good glasses for cocktails!!

Beautiful views. Food was quite good. It was very chilly and windy though and we wished we had brought jackets!

We enjoyed our time very much although it was after a big rain so not many people. We thought you appetizers were a little chintzy given what you charged and the hype, but the location and ambience was fabulous as were the cocktails!

The drinks were too expensive for what they made. The lamb was very good. Tuna tartare was good but only four pieces of small toast to put it on, for 20 dollars, come on .
The view was great. The $50.00 min per person is ridiculous. But my lady and I had a good time while there.

Great service and WONDERFUL cocktails. Oh, and the food was was great as well!

Great service, very nice people making you feel very welcome

It was a little cool not to have heaters out. Overall my wife and I were pleased. Dave went above and beyond for us. We would recommend friends to check it out.

I gave 3 stars for food because it was just mainly hor d'oeuvres. We were expecting to eat a dinner meal but they had finger foods. I should have checked beforehand. The finger foods were great though.

I had to go to the hostess to request service after 15-20 minutes of sitting at our table. The service was great once we finally got a server. Our server Dave was very attentive. I do wish you could actually eat dinner up there but I guess they don't have the demand for full meals. I would definitely recommend going to top of the gate.

The view was beautiful but the service was terrible even by DC standards. $200 to sit on cheap furniture and be ignored isn’t my idea of a good time and I wouldn’t come back. The hummus was amazing though. Order it at the bar and skip the pretentious reservations.

Made a reservation in advance as hoped to have a nice view of the sunset, however we were seated on the opposite side of the sunset literally behind a concrete wall. The other entire side was roped off for a private party. When making the reservation they should inform you that half (the desirable half) of the restaurant will be closed for a private event.

My husband and I had a friend in town and wanted to do something different with water views.

Top of the Gate is a great place. It has great views and really nice cocktails and appetizers.

We arrived at 4 pm on Saturday and stayed until little after 7 so we could see the sunset. It was a great afternoon.

One thing to know: there is a minimum of $50 per person. It’s not hard to reach that after a couple drinks and appetizers but if you are just planning on a single drink you might be disappointed.

The service was attentive. We were celebrating my daughter's 21st birthday and they sent out a special drink and dessert for her! The only thing I say was negative was where our group sat. It would have been nice to enjoy the view but we were right behind the host station. There were so many open areas for us to go to.

Wonderful at atmosphere with a view of the city over the river. The food was delicious too!!

Go there for a drink to watch sunset. However we ordered Mango Mule and Aperol Spritz. One word - disappointing! Also the rest of the menu. Try Rooftop at Kennedy Art Center instead. It is a very good alternative.

My daughter had a wonderful time celebrating her 21st Birthday here. Gorgeous views on a beautiful day, and thank you for the surprise cake!

I would think that with the reputation that Watergate Hotel has, the food at their roof top bar would be very good. I would also expect that the bathroom would be kept up and not look like it was not cleaned in quite a while with no things one needs in the bathroom available. I had to look for our server several times when we wanted to order more food or drink. The lamb and humus was fair. The view is stunning. The drinks were very good. I expected more from Watergate.

It’s one of the best rooftop locations in the city with the river view. The service was great too! The food as usual is pretty terrible. And they really should try to clean the floors and seating every once in a while.

Everything was great. We really enjoyed the view and the service.

in general everything very well, the atmosphere and the spectacular view, the very good food and the attention of a young Central American girl lived up to it, very friendly and very attentive, we were contemplating for hours that wonderful sunset until nightfall !!

The view is the best in Washington! The seating in the reserved section is comfortable and fun. The food plates are good, but not generous. The server was under 21, so could not open or pour our wine--just brought the bottle over and we waited for another server.
An upgrade in service would be welcome--The place is not inexpensive--but worth it.

While the view is nice, the food was of very poor quality and priced very high. I will say the hummus was nice, but the vegetables in the platter were of poor quality, the rice dish was flavorless and the cucumbers were soggy. The wines were also of low quality considering the price point. In my opinion, there are much nicer places to go in DC for the cost. The view is nice, but I would recommend a quick trip to the bar rather than a reservation for dinner and drinks with a $50 spend per person.

It was astounding that a place that has a $50 per person minimum for table seating does not provide table umbrellas in the sweltering 92° heat of August from 5-7 pm. There is ONE table umbrella in the entire venue and it only covers a few guests at the non-$50 per person area!! Otherwise you are given a hand umbrella which is ridiculous to manage if you are eating and drinking. When we asked our waitress if we could have one of the floor fans pointed in our party's direction, we were told that the fan was broken!! Absolutely poor management of a venue that deserves more attention due to its stunning views.

We were really looking forward to this special occasion experience at the Watergate. The rooftop was lovely and the views are great. However our service was terrible. We waited over 30 minutes for anyone to come over and take our drink orders. We were missing food items still when people came over to bus our plates. When we finally got the drinks they all tasted watered down. I will say the food was excellent. Overall I would not come back. There are many other rooftops to explore in DC that I'm sure are better.

Great place for drinks.

Great place for after work.

Go for the view. The drinks were expensive and not that great. The food was also expensive but was good quality and tasted great.

It took 30 minutes for waitress to come out and take our order and we had 10 o’clock reservations. The food was cold. The view was beautiful.

reserved seats for myself and famliy (3) persons (one minor child) only to find out there is a $150 minimum for table service (6PM, btw). Completely open areas but did not budge on seating us. We left and won't be back.

Great view. Way overpriced. Below average service.

The view is great and food was delicious! Did not love the "mist" machine that blew water droplets on us. Also -- not great to allow cigar smoking. We moved tables which gave us less optimal placement, but at least we didn't have cigar smoke blowing our way!

Don’t go if rain is coming! They hand out umbrellas - otherwise no where to shelter.

Chairs don’t have decent backs.

First time, and we had a lovely time! It even started raining, but the staff was well-prepared. Good drinks and good appetizers. You really go for the service and the view. Will definitely go again!

Great venue! Great staff! Perfect view! The sunset was spectacular!

Okay so this restaurant definitely has an advantage given the location with jaw dropping rooftop views, but the food and service were equal in quality. The drinks were refreshing and evenly balanced. I got a sangria and it was pretty on point. I tried my husbands mango mule, it was not too sweet as I’ve found some mules to be. I was a bit put off by the $50/per person minimum, but figured we’d reach that with a $15 drink, etc. Plus I really wanted to see the view. It was definitely worth it, and I came to realize it was nice to have a bit more exclusivity on the side with lounge seating vs the more crowded bar area.

The food exceeded my expectations. The menu isn’t huge, but what they have to offer was all delicious. We ordered the tuna tartare (personal fav) , lamb kabobs, hummus (delish), and the eggplant dish(light but still filling). My husband is half Persian, and his friend full, and they both said the kabobs were pretty bomb for it not being a Persian joint. Would’ve liked to try a few more things, but all of the food was filling enough for 4 people on a hot summer day.

Our server Tony was excellent, and very accommodating to our needs. We went on a relatively hot summer Tuesday, and once the sun started setting we asked him if we could move to a better location to see the sunset. He happily helped us move our things to the new seats. He refilled our waters promptly, and the food came out quickly.

Will definitely be back. If you want good views of DC waterfront, these are probably some of the best in the city. Go for sunset.

I cannot recommend this bar. The view is great, but there's a $50 minimum PER PERSON; the drinks are overpriced; and there were cigar butts on the ground.

Great drinks nice people. Food is average.

The overall Watergate experience was fantastic. Top of the Gate is amazing. I have already recommended it to others and will go back myself. Great view, cool vibe, great staff.