October 28, 2009
Went for lunch on a weekday, the place was packed, had to wait about 15 minutes for a table. Had great service, very friendly and attentive. Food was good and they give you free soft pretzels for an appetizer. Pretty good selection of beers, Fuel was awesome. This was a very nice place in the city and will definitely go back.

October 15, 2009
This was a really cool brewpub on the inside. I nice size bar with TV’s. The bartenders were very friendly, informative, and willing to give samples. Overall, a nice place.

July 25, 2009
Very friendly staff, large comfortable bar, lots of TVs. Decent food, nothing special. Rotating selection of brews, most are good. More cozy and friendly than the Capitol area location, but not as impressive interior.

May 16, 2009
Pretty nice looking place, selection and quality of beers in general is low, except the Saison was interesting. Overall ok, didn’t have the food so who knows. My mom had a grasshopper which was made thing.

April 27, 2009
While in DC this winter I stopped in a few times at the downtown location at various times and saw a pretty good spectrum of selection and crowds. The ambiance here doesn’t do much for me--it’s very business-like and clean, often slammed with patrons after work hours downtown. The service is friendly but no one knew too much about the beer, and they don’t even know the abv on most of the stuff. The food is decent but pretty boring. Besides their four core beers, which are average to solid, they would usually have about three seasonals that were pretty broad in their quality range. Nothing they had ever really impressed me, though their pale ale and coffee stout were definitely nothing to complain about. If you want to go to a brewpub in the city, this is worth a stop, though the Capitol Hill location has a better atmosphere and usually a couple different seasonals on.

January 2, 2009
After a few hours on at the Smithsonian I swung by here for appetizers and beers. The sampler tray contained very few interesting beers though the glasses were quite novel. Stylistically they do a great job - I just do not like lighter styles such as kolsch and pale ale that much. The special offerings were hit and miss. I tried the Inaugur-ale which was mediocre. The Fuel (imperial stout) on the other hand was well done for a brewpub. While not fantastic it was done well enough that I would have ordered another pint. Since I was there during a lull it was fairly dead. I can imagine at peak hours it gets crowded and noisy so if you can try to schedule a visit in the early afternoon.

December 9, 2008
My wife and I stopped by here on our ’date to D.C." She got the porter and I tried the sampler which included their Kolsch, porter, Pale Rider IPA, hefeweizen, and Amber waves amber. All of the beers were pretty strictly mediocre which is unfortunate. I didn’t get to try the Belgian dubbel which sort of peaked my interest, but after the 5 samples and a very uninteresting hamburger, my stomach couldn’t have handled a full pint of dubbel. Ah well. Chances are I won’t be going back to this place. It’s unfortunate that these "brewpubs" seem like they’re trying to cater to the lowest common denominator as far as beer drinkers go. I think many beer drinkers, especially those who seek out brewpubs, aren’t afraid of a little innovation. Put something interesting on the menu. Service was great though.

December 7, 2008
Visited this location on April 14th, 2008. The pub is huge and well decorated, very typical chain decor. The beer was good, no default, albeit the sampler was a bit expansive. I did manage to substitute a crap beer by the Fuel imperial stout. Monday to Friday, they have an half price appetizer and 2.50$ pint Happy Hour from 4 to 7PM, which is really worth it. Looking forward to my trip here.

July 1, 2008
Terrible brewpub. Typical sports bar atmosphere, with almost no one in it on a Saturday night. Beer is horrendous, selection is poor, and they dont give you anything but the crap in their expensive sampler with no substitutions available.

June 20, 2008
Popular place, had to wait 15 minutes for a table on an average Thursday night. Noisy, normal brewpub-type atmosphere. Had a Kolsch, which was good, and a Belgian Gold, which was better and pretty respectable. Food was ok, normal pub fare. A pretty decent place for a meal and some good beer.