I used to come here ALL the time. Recently, I happy hour'd here with Vonetta Y. and it was just as I remember! Jane is still the bartender, and a wonderful one at that. The drinks are still potent and tasty. The fries are still out of this world. Add in the warm decor and friendly servers and I'm pleased as punch! I'm definitely a fan of Circle Bistro and will work it back into my commute just to have more experiences like this. read more

This is a classic case of a restaurant with 4 star food and 2 star service. In the bar before, our waiter seemed to come like a whirlwind, and if we weren't precisely ready with an order he'd be gone, ne'er to be seen for another 20 minutes (even when we wanted to pay the bill). And let's be clear, it was not a crowded night. There were 2 other groups. In the restaurant, the waiter seemed to know the menu well, but then they had a busboy (girl actually) serve the food and she had no idea what she was doing. She'd reach all the way across the table in front of and over my parents to deliver/get my dishes. And then at the end, when my dad was finishing his dessert, they came and took away everyone else's dishes. I'm sure it makes the waitstaff's night slightly easier to get some dirties back to the kitchen early, but I downright HATE this. It's tantamount to saying "Hurry up, slowpoke, we're waiting for you to finish". And again, it's not like the restaurant was crowded. read more

We had just checked into our hotel and were so tired we wanted something to eat without having to go very far. We realized this bistro was downstairs so we decided to give it a try. When we arrived they were still serving breakfast so we ordered an omelet and french toast. Both came out pretty quick and we were satisfied with our meals. Five stars for the convenience of not having to go very far and for the food and service. read more

Went to dinner with girlfriend before show at Kennedy Center. Got the pre theatre menu. Everything, but the cheeses is available to make your 3 course meal. Had mussels and oysters for appetizers, followed by NY strip and Scallops for dinner, followed by cheesecake stuffed figs and a sorbet concoction for dessert. All the food was good. Mussels and and stuffed figs took top honors. The sorbet selection for dessert was innovative and fun, but to me was not to my taste. The feel of the restaurant is hip and fun. Interesting design and lay out. Nice warm colors with a below street view. Overall, I thought it was a very nice meal. With the pre theatre option it makes it more reasonable for the price. Service was average; better service could definitely help this restaurant out. read more

One word...HORRIBLE! This place puts the ucky in sucky! I was so bummed after our experience there... No one knew what was going on. We stood at the vacant host stand for a bit and people kept walking by. Finally someone came up and asked what we wanted. To eat dumbass! Service was slow and our entrees came out before our appetizers. WTF? We refused the food and said we were leaving. The manager came over, asked us what was wrong, he comped our drinks and was a bit of a dick about it. How about saying sorry jerkface! Please do not waste your time or money going here. You'd get better service at a homeless shelter and probably better food. read more

The food was delicious. Ordered sea food pasta, with a salad. It is pricey, but hey that's DC. The main course and the salad tasted great. I will come back read more

I've been here twice for lunch, both times they were out of certain dishes on the menu, which is rough considering how few things are actually on their menu. The food is always very good, but the service not so much. read more

This hotel bar has a great happy hour deal (half price beer/wine) in a cool ground floor space that's dark and intimate. I usually head out after the special is over, due to financial constraints, but it's worth checking out for a drink or two. Weeknights are not too crowded, and service can be a little slow, but overall it's a good low-key happy hour spot. read more

I've been here for lunch twice, and both times the food was excellent, but the service less so. It's just a few blocks from GW and the Foggy Bottom Metro, so it's an excellent place to go if you want to impress your lunch date - however, it's not so excellent if you're on a time crunch. Nice atmosphere - can get a bit loud at lunch - and I'm definitely interested in going back for happy hour. read more

Had a pre-theater dinner here before heading to the Kennedy Center. We were seated right away and had a great waitress. Attentive but not annoying. She recommended a very nice wine that was inexpensive. We had the pre-theater menu which consisted of a very average salad- (we didn't try the soup), trout and steak, and dessert. The trout was very good- cooked correctly with fresh haricot vert. The steak was okay- it was a little undercooked and tough. Dessert was good- chocolate souffle and fruit crumble. My only note is that we still had two full glasses of wine left when dessert arrived even though we asked them to hold it until we were finished. But overall- go there before a show sometime and stick with the fish. read more

It has not been a good time trying to find dinner tonight. For the second time went to Circle Bistro. What an absolute disaster, just as it was on Monday when I arrived. It took over 30 minutes to even find the disappearing server, and after 40 minutes with no response I cancelled my meal. I had deliberately ordered something quick. The hotel and the restaurant seem to be intentionally running short staffed read more

We went for the pre-theater dinner (Four in the party). The food was very good and we really liked the waiter. However, there was a very long delay between the appetizers and the main course. We had to make waves to get the main course and dessert served together and had to gulp down our food and take a cab to make it to Kennedy Center on time. We had allowed plenty of time--an hour and a half--and the restaurant was practically empty (since it was early in the evening), so there was no excuse for the delay. We also had told the waiter at the beginning what time our tickets were for. I would not go back before the theater again. It just wasn't worth the rush. It's a pity because otherwise it would be a good option since it's walkable to Kennedy Center. read more

I LOVE this restaurant! If you haven't eaten here recently, you have no idea what you're missing. Ignore all of the old reviews. A new staff has been working long and hard to make Circle Bistro one of the top places to eat in DC. Classy food without the high end prices. My daughter and I ate there recently and we had an amazing lunch. I'm not sure which I liked more... the duck confit salad, the beet salad, the herbed chicken salad sandwich, or the bistro club (we split and shared items). Desserts were amazing as well. Cheerful and caring wait staff. Attentive bartender. Can't wait to eat there again! read more

We had my daughter's wedding rehearsal dinner here. Great location. Extremely slow and disorganized service. Apparently the concept of a steak knife to go with the steak they served was something beyond their capability. I get that all the steaks were cooked to medium without asking since it was a large group but come on, a freaking knife? The chicken and salmon meals were also uninspired. Not again. read more

beyond the service we got from mo (one of the managers who happened to serve us this particular evening), i would say that the food and the ambiance were above average, but nothing to write home about. so since i won't be writing my parents about it at home, i figure i'll just add a few notes to the yelp world. located in the basement of washington hotel, you do get the hotel restaurant feel which did kind of ruin the ambiance of the decor a bit. the food was quite good, but there wasn't anything spectacular that is jumping into my head right now as i write this review. in fact, i can't even remember what i ordered...i just remember that i didn't have any complaints while eating. not sure i'd take the initiative to go back...but i wouldn't be opposed if i had the right reason. well...i take that back, i'd probably make the trip back just to hang out with mo and have a few drinks with him when he's free. read more

I always go here for going-away parties. The chicken fingers, hummus, etc. is always good and reliable. The dark clubby atmosphere is welcoming. Kind of reminds me of the bar where Ally McBeal's firm used to hang out -- except without the quirky karaoke. read more

It happened again! The Bistro food is fine. But, I staying at the hotel alone this trip,made a trip to the restaurant, then was treated like a 2nd class citizen. I have not been offered or received anything to drink. I'm sitting at a tiny child sized table because I was told the large party here had the rest of the restaurant set aside. Well, from where I sit, there are two empty tables and no one in the group is eating. Thus, it is another time when , as a woman dining solo, I get bad service. I know this restaurant can do better because I have eaten here with my husband at least twice and no complaints. It's 2019, we have an abundance of women Presidential candidates, but a woman dining alone can't receive quality restaurant service. read more

really a mixed bag. Ambiance and decor are awesome, including fireplace. Can be really crowded but most people seem to bail after happy hour. I'm not surprised since the second time we came, it took forever to get our first round of drinks ... and guess what? HH was over, full price for the second round. The food came long before the drinks did. The portions are tiny (5 smaller than matchbook size pieces of cheese for $16), quality definitely mixed. First time I went there, had an awesome octopus salad, great pommes frites. Second time - overpriced cheese, bland hummus, great pommes frites. The bartendress was working hard and the server was just overworked, one woman for the entire place at 6 pm on a Friday. I could love this place, but they need to earn it. read more

I would say the food is.... better than average. I went to Circle Bistro last week with 4 other colleagues for restaurant week. It was an awesome deal: one appetizer, one entree and one dessert for only 20.12! Not only was it a great deal, it was open to the entire menu. I got the french style mussels, the smoked salmon entree, and the lemon tart for dessert. All 3 were delicious! My only real issue is that the smoked salmon entree was similar to a glorified bagel with lox... could have been a little more creative. The reason I gave circle bistro 3 stars instead of 4 stars is because it took two hours for all of us to eat. To me, that is absurd. The service was great, but it just took WAY to long to get our food and pay. It was a huge bummer since we all were only expecting to be there for an hour - maybe 1:15. Overall, good quality food, great ambiance, just need to work on faster service. read more

I came here for restaurant week and I loved it!! Unlike a lot of other places their whole menu was available for restaurant week. I got the tuna appetizer and the venison entree. I loved the venison! And the chocolate mousse dessert was incredible. It had a crunchy hazelnut filling that reminded me of one of those crunchy candies in the gold wrapper. (I forget the name.) The service was very friendly and helpful when I asked for their advice. It was also surprisingly empty for a Saturday night. read more

this rating is for the breakfast and the room service. the "american breakfast" is huge--enough for two. the potatoes are perfectly roasted. the sausage, sweet and salty, and the eggs, over medium, just the way i like 'em. the coffee was surprisingly uplifting and tasty. the pancakes were good but nothing special. the price was fair considering the amount of food you get. read more

This place was...fine. We needed to stop for a quick breakfast on our way to the Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert rally and Yelp directed us here. It's kind of a dingy place in a dingy hotel in Washington Circle, but the food was better than expected. I got the veggie omelette (with Gruyere cheese, which was so good and so odd for a Denny's-caliber restaurant). It came with 2 pieces of sourdough toast and very oil fried potatoes. It filled me up and that was the goal. I'd recommend this in a pinch. Otherwise, go somewhere on Pennsylvania Avenue. read more

I have to say that I was not expecting anything special when I went downstairs from the hotel to go eat some dinner. I was extremely surprised by the quality of food that this place puts out. It was superb!!! I got the Cauliflower Soup and the Chicken dish. The chicken was crispy and also moist at the same time. If you are in the area, stop by......not your average hotel restaurant. read more

Current chef staff is amazing! All 3 are women who went to l'acadamie de cuisine - and are very talented! My family went for thanksgiving- stress free and really yummy. Staff is really sweet. Environment is cozy. Wine and beer menu is great. Current staff really cares about making good food. Definitely check them out - they are on the rise. read more

See all

I went here for a quick bite to eat between classes and I was totally impressed by the service and the food. You have to try the fries and the butternut squash soup that my great server Nara reccomended. I cant wait to come back! read more

Very friendly and professional waiter. Chef kindly substituted cooked spinach for the kale and pork at my request. The Venison was yummy. Nice layout. Menu isn't particularly long. I'd eat here again. read more

About 2.5 stars. A little disappointing. The caesar salad had a lot of dressing, and the french onion soup was bland, which was surprising. The fettucine with short rib was OK, but the noodles were a little undercooked. We were looking forward to dessert, but the brownie was very dry, and the ice cream did not complement it well. Had high hopes, and possibly our menu selections were just bad luck, but it was disappointing. read more

Overall: food is very tasty, but service is very, very slow. My husband and I went there for a pre-theatre dinner. The ambiance at 5:30pm (with full daylight outside) is lackluster at best. No one was in the restaurant, but it took the kitchen a long time to get each course out to us (appetizers, main course, dessert). We never got our dessert because, after 20 minutes of waiting, it never came out. We had to leave to make our theater show. Despite the slow service and lackluster atmosphere, the food was very nice. I had a delicious beet salad and the rockfish. Both dishes were surprisingly good. NB: if you want to enjoy happy hour prices, you cannot get them in the dining room. read more

Our waitress Star was super helpful in explaining our dishes and created a unique tasting experience instead of "just dinner".

So per many prior comments I must agree...food was an amazing four to four and a half stars but we were completely put off by the lack of attention from our server. Literally the busboy was the most attentive one in the room and for that I am grateful. I am not a hardball by any means but a hello..welcome..and how is the food can't hurt. read more

GREAT french food and lovely atmosphere - we felt like we were in an hour long sunset due to their orange/sunset-like lighting :)

A pitiful, place, masquerading as a high end restaurant, serving poorly conceived and poorly prepared food to poor unsuspecting diners. Run - do not walk - away. Stay home and eat carry-out Chinese instead. Buy a cook book with your savings and don't forget to share some decent recipes with Circle Bistro's chef. He is in desperate need of new material. And if you ignore this advice and do wade bravely ahead, DO NOT order the duck breast unless you like tough, over cooked flavorless duck. And DO NOT order the salad with "marinated white anchovies" unless you savor the flavor of rotted fish - not the bright fishy anchovy flavor we love - but the, putrid, loathsome stench and foulsome taste of decomposing anchovies. read more

I go here at least twice a week for happy hour. Jane, the bartender, is a true gem. She has great taste, and a great demeanor - always attentive and suggesting new drinks for us to try! Any time I've ordered food from the bar menu it's been outstanding (the mussels are incredible!). She makes everyone feel like this is "their" bar, which is why I will always keep coming back! read more

Went here with my boyfriend for their Valentine's Day three-course menu and was very underwhelmed. The entire evening started really nice, getting seated right next to a fireplace with an attentive waiter. Then my boyfriend's first dish got messed up (waiter admitted to putting it into the system wrong) so I sat there with my plate of food and waited for about 10-15 minutes until he got his. The first courses were fine, taste-wise. Then came the second course... about 30-40 minutes later? The wait was getting a little bit ridiculous, and in this course of time the waiter went a bit MIA even though we could see him wandering around the area. Neither of us was very impressed with the main courses -- my boyfriend got a steak that was pretty small, and I got ravioli that was just okay. Then came dessert -- also pretty average. Mine was a cupcake I probably could've made at home. I just hate to go out on Valentine's Day and spend a decent chunk of money on food that's pretty average, combined with service that was spotty as well. If you're staying in the hotel, it's probably convenient -- or if you're just going to grab drinks at the bar. But I wouldn't go there otherwise -- not really worth the price. read more

Excellent dining not far from the Kennedy Center, right in the middle of Foggy Bottom so it's easily within Metro reach. Our food was delicious (I really liked my entree, the Lemon Dusted Brook Trout, and the oh-my-god-dessert, devil's food cake with hazlenut icecream), the wine was terrific, and the decor was tastefully upscale and trendy. It's a bit of a walk from the Kennedy Center (10-15 minutes, depending how fast you walk), so be sure to leave enough time to get to the performance; otherwise, it also is a good place to come after the show for dessert and drinks. The only complaint we had was about our server-- when my girlfriend asked him a question about the wine list, he answered by talking directly to me--never making eye contact with the person who asked the question! That REALLY ticked her off. I don't know if he intentionally did it or not. The question she asked was about a red wine, which she ended up ordering, and I got a Chardonnay, so the server clearly should have spoken in her direction, or, at least, both of us. I won't necessarily hold this behavior against the restaurant (because otherwise, the food was excellent and the service attentive), but it's just not cool! read more

Came here for their pre-theater dinner. The food was fabulous - the asparagus soup was especially to die for. Kitchen seems particularly talented with vegetables. The service was outstanding. A metro break down left me waiting for my husband for a long time past our reservation- the kind waiter went and found me magazines to read as I waited. When my husband arrived the manager brought us over complimentary wine - saying he was sure my husband's travel had been very hard and I had waited alone so long and they wanted to make our evening more enjoyable. The rest of the staff was equally attentive and pleasant. A very nice experience, we'll certainly be back. read more

I had such an amazing experience at circle bistro two nights ago. The ambiance was perfect. Interior was modern, clean, classy and chic. And the food and drinks were absolutely sensational. Without a doubt, they made me the best old fashioned I ever had in my life. The front of house manager put something on fire and rubbed it around the ring of my glass, which made it super aromatic and flavorful. I only wish my battery wasn't dead to capture it all in pictures. I started with the tomato and watermelon salad which was perfectly balanced with the sweet watermelon and savory feta cheese. My main was the seafood fettuccine which was packed with shrimp, mussels, calamari. The pasta was fresh and home made. The dessert was unforgettable. Great chef. Top it off, the service was impeccable! They had a big engagement party in a room next to my table, but the servers and manager took great care of me. The whole night was perfect. I really can't wait to come back to try other entrees and that old fashioned again. Coming back with my camera next round. read more

Chose this place for its closeness to Kennedy center and the prix fix pre theater menu...food was good but service was horrible...there were only two other parties in the place and we had to constantly ask for our food...even when others were served in front of us...the gazpacho, salmon and scallops were good, but my wife's dessert (the lemon meringue eclairs) appeared to have not been filled with the lemon meringue. They were very dry, and as my wife mentioned, tasted like a french baguette. Onto the service - we were one of three tables in the restaurant. My wife ordered right away because we were hurrying for our show. But then another table got their food before we did. We constantly had to ask about our food. Then knowing we were in a rush, we had to ask twice for the dessert. I would not recommend this place, in particular if you are in the hurry for a show! read more

Friendly service, very nice presentation of tasty asparagus soup, fabulous salmon on my salad and an omelette that was great. Great chef. So glad we are at this hotel with such a nice restaurant. read more

Great food and presentation. Two had the peppercorn-crusted ribeye, two had the seafood pasta. Delicious! But, kind of pricey, but that's DC. The waiter, Zach, was a really nice and attentive -good service. read more