This place is really pretty in a very nice location.  I went to meet a friend who was with a group  from all over the country in town for a conference.
I normally do not drink wine so was dissapointed when they did not have the processo I really wanted. Â The sparkling white the bartender recommended was a bit too dry for my liking.
The people I met there were ready to go by the time my drink arrived since they felt as though the establishment was a bit prejudice.
Koral
After enjoying a glass of the Boxwood Vineyard rose at Blue Duck Tavern, I'd been curious to try their other wines. Somehow, I never could seem to catch the Middleburg tasting location when it was open. So when a friend tipped me off about this convenient Friendship Heights location, I was stoked.
We came for some after-work drinks and were very impressed. The service here was top notch and the (very patient) bartender/waiter walked us through the self-serve wine pour equipment, even giving us gratis samples when we were stymied by all the options.
Since I am a total lightweight and can't drink on an empty stomach, food was in order. In a place that so clearly focuses on the wine, I wasn't sure what to expect from the food. Our cheese plate and salads were surprisingly good.
The wine selection here is splendidly curated - neither of us tasted a single lackluster wine. We lacked the constitution to taste everything, of course, but fully intend to go back and sample more.
Very pleasant place to come and enjoy a glass of wine.
Owned by the same people who own Boxwood Vineyard in Virginia, so they feature those wines - they also sell a few beers. We were there in the wonderful qwuiet of a weekday afternoon - a very pleasant treat indeed.
It gets a little busy in the evenings. They offer Madeira by the glass, and that is worth a try if you have yet to taste it.
Pleasant enough. Â Came in right after it opened for the night. Â Just wanted a quick bite and a couple of glasses of wine. Â One guy was out front, and he was pretty attentive without being overbearing--though, being the only customers in the joint at the time, that would be expected. Â The wine was tasty, and the food was pretty average. Â But it was basically what we were looking for. Â I'm sure that there are better options around that area, but we thought it was a-ok for what we needed. Â Not above average, not exemplary, not bad.
Review Source:Waiters were very knowledegable about the wines. All the wines I tried were delish. We also had a wonderful cheese and hummus platter. I am giving it 4 stars only because I had to get up to find my server a couple times for a refill. He was busy chatting with people at the bar. Wasn't too crowded- went on a Wednesday night. Will be back!
Review Source:I have walked by this place many times and thought that I must get around to trying it. It is in an awkward location and might suffer a bit by not being open to the main courtyard which the coffee place (Tynan) has access to. Anyway, two of us ordered the light flight and the staff did allow modifications of the standard flight to suit individual tastes. That was nice. Wee ordered a happy hour cheese plate as well. All in all everything was nice. I thought that the happy hour specials could be a bit more plentiful but the cheese was nice and the wine in the flight was a lot of fun. Isn't that what wine is all about.
Review Source:The Tasting Room essentially specializes in independent wine vendors that sell less than 10K units a year-- which would explain why most of the reviewers complaints about the varietals are coming from a place of ignorance. You don't go to the Tasting Room to be comfortable-- you go to try new things.
I like the staff, I love that they regularly have gentle indie rock playing, and its usually either news or sports on TV. I stop here regularly for a new experience.
This place takes naming very seriously. It is, quite literally, a room where one can taste wines. Â
I came in with my out-of-town father, a lover of all things vino, to sip and talk. It was good for that. I found the wine list to be fairly substantial, though it was missing a couple of key varietals (like a Willamette Valley Pinot Noir, my personal favorite). Â Price also seemed reasonable for a nice-r place: $7-$10 per glass was average. You don't get a huge pour for that, though.
I enjoyed my KungFu Girl, but I knew I would, as I have yet to meet a Pacific Northwest wine I don't like. My father sampled the local wine and found it too sweet, but chose another selection, a Petite Syrah, and liked it.
Service was slow. Several people were on staff, but only one girl was working. She was juggling a party of six and other assorted tables of 1-2 (it's not a huge space, but tough to give your attention to everyone). My father's reds were also poured with foam on top - like he was drinking Franzia - I found that to be sloppy.
I'd probably go back for an interesting start to a night out, but I wasn't wildly overwhelmed with the place.
Two friends and I walked to the Tasting Room for our first visit to the neighborhood wine bar. We arrived to find a note on the door that said "Closed for Private Party, 6-8 pm." As it was 8:05, we went inside assuming the party was now over, as indicated by the sign. Within 2 minutes we were asked to leave in a fairly ungracious, unapologetic way. None of the three of us will go back and are all disappointed that it won't be a neighborhood option for us.
Review Source:I liked the novel (to me) experience of being able to sample different types of wine in one glass. In the words of another reviewer, the atmosphere was indeed sterile. We went on a night with live music, but they had the TV on mute right above the musicians, which was a little rude and killed any mood the music was supposed to create. The outdoor patio seemed like it would be nice.
Review Source:I've gone there twice now, and I thought the fact that I didn't find any wines that I liked was a fluke. Â I mean, with 20 wines to choose from, how could that be?
So I returned to try it again. Everything I tried was too sweet, too tannic, too bitter. Â A lot of the wines are from the company's own vineyard Boxwood Winery.
All I can say is that I'm not impressed with the selection, an the food menu is minuscule. Â I don't see any reason to go back.
There's nothing exactly wrong with this place; there are just a lot of better options in the area for a similar experience at a similar (or lower) price point. Â The wine is just adequate. Â Very sterile atmosphere and TOO quiet to enjoy a conversation without feeling like your voices are echoing through the whole place. Â The staff wasn't rude but they also weren't helpful or talkative in a way I've come to expect at wine bars. Â There was supposedly live music the night we were there, but I saw no signs of it. Â
As a side note, I did use a Living Social voucher here without any problems.
I would not go back. The place is way overpriced for the quality of wine they serve, and the cheese plate was made up of cheese you get at Giant's. I will give it two stars because it's a nice place to have a conversation and they have live music some nights. I would rather walk over to Clyde's for some wine and decent food on their patio. And definitely don't try to use any sort of livingsocial voucher here. They will give you a hard time about it saying things like "You have to present it before you order" (doesn't say that on the voucher), and "It's not valid on flights or full glasses of wine" (the voucher clearly states it's valid for tastings and full glasses of wine), and my favorite "We don't make the vouchers, living social does. Those are the rules." Wow. I can't wait to never come back!
Review Source:Yeah, really, meh....
Apparently I am close to having sampled most wine bars in DC. Â Not that I am actually trying to do it but with one being at every other corner somehow I stumble into them on a regular basis... this one we did not really stumble into we went there because it was close to were we had had a meeting so it was convenient and there is the garage "attached" to it...
This wine bar is owned by a VA vintner - Boxwood Vineyards - supposedly the wealthy daughter of Jack Kent Cooke (but I cannot vouch for the veracity of that piece of information). They serve their own wines and others. However the selection is not as wide as in many of the other wine bars in town. Â The nifty thing they have is these wine tasting "carousels" for lack of a better term. You get a card of a certain value - looks like a credit card - and take a glass to the "carousels" stick your card in, hold your glass under the "spigot" of whichever wine you want, select the button that represents the "size" of pour you would like ... and wine is dispensed. Â Self-serve wine I guess. Well, most wine bars have flights or do "tasting sizes" poured by the bartender so it is not like you cannot get that anywhere else...
They do have a small limited menu of nuts, olives some cheeses but not the selection of other DC wine bars.
We were at the Tasting Room on a Thursday and were basically on our own. The ambience is a bit sterile and as my friend pointed out that this may work better during the day for the wealthy Chevy Chase shopper who pop in for a glass ...
So it was OK but I am highly unlikely to come here again. There are so many other wine bars with much more character and selection this is really at the bottom of my list of DC wine bars.
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