I have been here many times, I was able to try every restaurant from The Roost. Very cool conception, you are able to choose from many different restaurants( cuisine), only have to scan the QR code and make a choice, you will be paying and tip trough QR code. Pros-I haven't tried any bad food here, a good variety of different cuisine, such as pizza, sushi, chines...... Cons- You won't get a full service here as you would get in a regular restaurant, but you still have to tip, minimum 18% since it automatically is paid when you order a drink or a food using QR code. They serve water once, if you need some more water, you can't find any employees to give it to you, since there isn't waiter , need some more extra plates ? Forget it , no waiter around to provide you that, boxes to go, can't get that neither. Overall only the food here is ok, since you are not going to get any extra service, beside a welcoming bottle of water and silverware when you first arrived. read more

Had a stellar meal here. Sat outside on the nice patio and ordered my meal using the really slick QR-code online menu. Got a beer, the burger & fries (YUM!), and the chocolate peanut butter cake (to die for). I would come back here in a heartbeat. Staff were friendly and brought my food out quickly. Prices were fair. Super COVID safe. Such a great operation. read more

This place is hit or miss with food and service. Anything from Red Apron is great as is Shelter, the bar. Generally speaking, the sushi is solid. From there, eat at your own risk. HiFi is overpriced, Americanized Tex-Mex... but to be fair, so is anything else in DC. I really want to like Yoko & Kota but they go way too heavy on their sauces and its just one note with anything you eat there: the sauce. Skip Slice Joint as thats overpriced, bland pizza thats sat out too long. Service is hit or miss. Tonight they were spot on although didn't bring sharing plates. Other nights I've been scolded for putting dirty plates on another table to make room. Maybe they should have cleared my dirty plates instead of scolding me... read more

I like that there are different areas for seating. You can pick a space that is quiet and private or you can sit at a place where there is street view in a more open space. There are many food options. Easy to order on the phone. read more

Came here on 10Feb22, while the pandemic situation is still ongoing. I love that they do ask for COVID vaccination card / ID check and to wear masks especially in the city, it does make you feel a little safer with so many people coming from all over and working from home. The coffee shop is great but was a little disappointed to find that not a lot of the restaurants were open. Our only options for lunch was Leni's sandwiches and pizza slices. Other than that, there's a lot of seating available, outlets and a great place to work from home! read more

Sushi and pizza are great. Noodles are meh. I miss Leni--way better, more creative, and healthier than the new Italian sandwich/salad place. Annoyed the new chicken place (Buttermilk) makes you buy fried with tenders. read more

The Roost has almost everything you could want or need and the food comes out fast, fast, fast! I've never had a bad meal here. The staff is attentive, the ordering is a bit odd but in the end, it's efficient. I love to come here and have even started to do takeout. Great spot! Great food and even a nice little ambiance. It's too expensive in there but that's everywhere. read more

Amazing food hall with super fast ordering. Seating is a bit hit or miss, but service is good. Tends to be very loud. Runs out of desserts often. read more

Close by to me and a great option for quick reliable food. They have tons of options and they are usually really delicious. I hope they switch up their menu though because I would like to see new options periodically. Also good drinks and good service, and it's such a nice spot to hang out. read more

Really wonderful. Some of the best pizza (get the special so you can be impressed with the side salad and cost $10). Something for everyone. Clean and inviting environmen. read more

Had dinner and drinks at Roost for the first time tonight with my wife. Food was delicious and fast to arrive. Our "ambassador" Gretchen was super friendly and knowledgeable of the menu. Her carnitas taco recommendation was amazing. Wings were also delicious but a small order. Burger was great too. Has a good beer selection. read more

The Roost - Yoko Kata and Red Apron food hall - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

The food is great (w so much variety from the different vendors) and the patio is the best in the city for outdoor dining. The reason I dread going there, however, is the ordering and payment system via phone. I get that they need to do this, but the menu and the payment system they implemented is terrible. First, I can't read the menu on my phone. They need an app that scales better. There are also so many choices (esp for beer) that it takes me more than 10 minutes just to get through the menus. Second, I've been there so many times yet every time I order I have to fill out my name, credit card info, and phone number. I use the best password manager and even with that it's a royal pain. So when I'm having a good conversation I have to cut the person off and stop to focus on my phone for a good 15 minutes. This place would otherwise be so relaxing, but it stresses me out to go there because I have to spend so much time focusing on my phone. If they had an easier ordering system (maybe a printed menu option and a better app that integrates better with google wallet) I would give the Roost 5 stars. As it is, I fight my wife every time she suggests going there because I dread the stress of their app. read more

This food hall is perfect for a date night or a hang out with friends. They have a wide variety of restaurants to choose from Mexican, Asian, Italian, pizza, a fully stocked bar and more. The Roost is very spacious with a lot of indoor and outdoor seating. The prices are pretty reasonable at each spot. With indoor dining you order and pay from the barcode at your seat and a server brings the food to your seat. All the restaurants also offer pick up options. read more

While the concept is cool with the open feel, a la carte ordering and variety of food offerings, the quality of the food leaves a lot to be desired. In addition most items are priced too high especially given the smaller portions. While the beer draft menu is fairly expansive, the pours are smaller than the 12 oz that is standard but they advertise as 12 oz which is false advertising. If you're looking for a good spot to hang out with friends and socialize this is it. But if you want to get your moneys worth look elsewhere. read more

Folks, the pours at the bar have become ridiculously small. My bill for dinner, drinks, and tip tonight was $111 (!) for a few nibbles and drinks, mainly because I had to keep ordering glasses of wine. I'm not one to ever drink a full bottle myself, but I ordered more than the cost of one to quench my thirst. My advice: order a bottle from the get-go or consider spending your money elsewhere. I sure will--otherwise, you may be spending more than the value of a fancy dinner out, all so you can enjoy the patio. Finally, the order-your-own model is getting old. We kept having to stop our conversation to order, and then are expected to tip the food runners as if they're taking care of us. The night of 1/5, they definitely were not. More than once drink orders got held up for long periods for no good reason. The place was far from crowded, but our food runner couldn't be bothered to pay attention. Again, not worth the 20% tip that is expected. I will be going elsewhere next time. read more

The Roost is one of my most favorite DC establishments. Slice Joint - If you are from NY/NJ, it's tough to find a good slice. We, The Pizza was the closest to a solid slice. I had a bite of a Slice Joint pizza, and automatically I realized I found a slice from home. I've tried all the different vendors and they are all amazing. This is now my go-to, especially in the area. Love this place -- can't wait to take more of my friends here. read more

Lovely smorgasbord of a place. Similar to a union market but fully digital. Everything was done via phone...& I mean everything ...from calling a waiter, clean off table, extra utensils, paying bill (very COVID compliant however, I believe that may pose a problem to those not tech savvy or without device). There is a host that will come tend to guest very frequently. Only a few options vendor now but I believe they're growing. Most vendors food options are a little more on the pricey side however, it is worth the value in quality of food. Try beef fat fries not pictured but so delicious. Unique, must try experience. Go see for yourself! read more

The Roost - Outdoor seating - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

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Every day for a year and a half, I have frequented the Roost. I'm writing this from the Roost's patio at 11AM (plug for great Cameo coffee and delicious Leni oatmeal with dates) because it's an amazing spot to sit and work. So, let's get into why the Roost gets three stars. The Good: The ease of ordering, and the staff (especially Floyd) are amazing. You order on your phone and most of the time, within minutes, everything is ready. It really couldn't be any easier to just show up and enjoy. The So-So: The food, spread across different vendors, is hit or miss. This is subjective, but my experience here is 70/30. 70% of items are good, 30% are bad. Our favorites are Leni breakfast items and salads, Hi-Fi tacos, Red Apron cheeseburgers, and Ako sushi. The bad (subjective) are Yoko and Koda dumplings and buns (duck is the worst and I love duck), and Slice Joint pizza (we've tried everything and not liked their menu). State Fair would be good, except we've ordered a dozen sundaes and have only successfully gotten two. Which is the main "bad" issue. Not getting items on the menu. The ordering system can be hit or miss, so you order a sundae, pastries, an entree or other items, wait 10-20 minutes, and walk over only to hear "we refunded you because we don't have that item." It's happened at least 25~ times. If I didn't live a block away, I'd have gotten so frustrated and quit coming, as those trips end in "that was a bust. Let's get UberEats." Only an issue with pick-up orders. But it's a big enough annoyance to drop four stars to three. If they improve the system, I'll change my review. For now though, stick to in-person visits. Never had an issue there. read more

(Disclaimer: we ordered delivery, so I can't speak for the restaurant atmosphere) We ordered from here because the DoorDash ratings were really good (currently 4.8/5 stars with 170 ratings), but were pretty disappointed. It's only after looking it up on their actual website that I found out that "The Roost" is "an ambitious 12,500-square-foot food hall", which sounds like a fancy food court? That's definitely a cool idea that should be played up. The website is hard to navigate and it took me ages to realize that the names along the top of the webpage (Cameo, Shelter, Leni, Slice Joint) were the names of the food places available because there was no description of that space. My first thought was that it was affiliated links and "Shelter" was some kind of nearby homeless shelter that they supported. The pizzas (Slice Joint Pizza) are an amazing size -- when our order arrived, we were ENTHRALLED with how big the pizza box was. It was very exciting. The pizza was beautiful and held up pretty well from the trip, but we had to reheat it (life hack: air fryer re-heated pizza is the easiest method for this without ruining the texture of the pizza itself). The crust was delicious, the right amount of chewy with a bit of a crunch. There was so much oil towards the center of the pizza that eating it was really messy (and greasy), and the pizza was pretty floppy. Something about the sauce managed to be too tart, too salty, and somehow still lacking in flavor. I'm not sure how that even happens, but I found myself wanting something more with it while also thinking there was too much of something else. The pepperonis were crispy, which was my favorite part. We also had the Original Burger (Red Apron), which was decent. It wasn't a bad burger, but even with the toppings (thousand island sauce, pickles, red onion, shredded lettuce) it was just ok. The only thing that left a positive impression from the order was the HiFi queso & chips (Hi/Fi). The chips were standard, but the queso had a texture and look of nacho cheese sauce while having a lot more flavor in it. Knowing now that The Roost is a COLLECTION of food vendors/services, I'm more interested in trying it again than I was before. The novelty of this brought my rating from 1-star up to 2. read more

Nice ambiance and selection of food. You order online and servers bring you the food. The thing is that it's far out of the way unless you live in SE or the Capitol Hill area. SE is not a place I usually go to, especially since growing up all I heard was that SE was a dangerous place. Obviously things have changed with gentrification, but it's still odd for me to be on that side of town. I tried the Asian bun, pizza, and sushi places. I probably liked the pizza one the best, though I don't think I would come all the way out here just for pizza. Mushroom curry bun was nicely toasted, but I wanted soy sauce instead of the yellow sauce on the side. I also like dumplings better. I wish they had those. read more

What a cool concept, excellent food, and everyone can order what they want. Excellent tacos, yummy salads! Great ambiance and location.

Almost all of the food from the various venders is excellent, but there are a few things they could do better. First, the app that you have to use to order food is very poorly designed, and the design seems to change week to week, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. For example, it's often difficult to select a specific vendor, so you are left scrolling through tons of beers, cocktails, and other food. My other main complaint is the shelter. The beer is not served in honest sizing. Their becher isn't the standard size, so you don't get a pint. They used to explicitly claim a 16oz pour, but I don't see that anymore. Either way, it should be transparent and consistent. read more

A great little food hall type situation in DC. It's great because you can order (and pay) from ALL of the establishments right from your phone. It's great when coming here with groups to make sure your checks are in order. The vibes are great too - ample indoor and outdoor (sheltered) spots to eat from. Of course, with the convenience comes the prices. read more

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My new favorite restaurant and restaurant style. I really hope this disrupts the restaurant industry because what a great idea. No more fighting over who wants what type of food. The roost has everything! It's like a good hall but with high quality delicious food and a water. Not sure if it's because of covid but all ordering was done online. I would like a normal waiter experience though so it doesn't take away from the interactions with your friends. Check out this food. The sushi is a must!!! The nachos are delicious and Smokey. The pizza is standard dc slice. The poutine was good and I'm not usually a fan. Oh and the dessert yum. Can't wait to go back and try the ice cream when that is open. read more

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I had dinner and drinks at Roost for the first time tonight and think the Food Hall concept has been perfected here. As soon as we walked in, we were greeted by a super friendly ambassador - I think her name was Gretchen. She was super welcoming, gave us water and utensils, walked us through the ordering process (including answering my dumb tech questions) and made great recommendations! We ended up eating the Orange Soda Braised Carnitas Tacos from Hi Fi which were my favorite item of the night, wings from Hi Fi, beer and cocktails from Shelter, and a burger from Red Apron. All of the tables were spaced out. I loved feeling like we were eating at the bar (even though drinks couldn't be made behind there.) Everything was brand new and sparkling clean. And the different staff bringing our food were seamless. This would be a great place for post-work event with something to please your carnivore and vegetarian friends alike. read more

The Roost - Orange carnitas tacos - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

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Stopped in with friends who are locals and eat here with some regularity. I liked to layout of seating arrangements around the edges of the space with lots of windows. The variety of dining options was also good since each of us wanted different things. Two of us had noodle options, two burgers and one person went for tacos. I had the Dan Dan noodles and a Tuk Tuk lager, neither of which were impressive. My fellow dinners seems to enjoy their food more than I did. We did all share slices of chocolate cake for desert which was the best part of the experience. read more

I usually like the Roost, but their gift card system is cumbersome and didn't work again today. Moreover, when you use the gift card, you aren't presented with the options to customize like when you order from off the regular menu. I regret buying the gift cards bc the experience is so poor and uneven. read more

Why would a coffee shop not open until 8. That's absurd and useless on a weekday. I've never heard of a coffee shop not opening until so late. read more

My friends and I went here by the recommendation of one of us and we all agreed that the food is fantastic (raving reviews of the enchiladas and cheesecake, especially) and the vibe is excellent. It's a little expensive but you absolutely get what you pay for-- and paying is also super easy with the website tab system, so we could split the bill with no issue. Absolutely recommend. read more

The spicy pepperoni square pizza from Slice Joint at the Roost is AMAZING! I highly recommend getting it with the side or ranch and tomato sauce. Please note the whole pizza is very large and can feed 4+ people. But you can just order a slice if you have a smaller group. We ordered pick-up (more times than I would like to admit), but their ordering process is so easy! What's great is that you can order from all the places within the Roost in one order. Again, get the pizza you will NOT regret it. read more

I love visiting this place! So many food options but I'm particularly attached to the sushi and taco places here. Food is delicious and everything comes out so quick. read more

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Jose Salis was in point when he help me decide to go with the Bodega Bacon Buddy from the Red Apron. The red apron is always open for breakfast and the Roost is the place to relax and satellite work. read more

We went here for a quick bite. My friend and i both ordered sushi. It was pretty good. The concept of this restaurant is great. I can't wait to see more of these pop up. The staff was extremely helpful and nice. I'm excited to go back and try the pizza. read more

This place is no longer what it was. While I adore the design and flow of this establishment. The food and management has gone way down hill. Not to mention the prices have increased to levels I cannot and will not support. read more

Wonderful establishment with lols of room and space. The vibe is fantastic as well. It's a modern day lounge/bar/cafe. read more

The Roost - Leni salad - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

Good service but skip the Peking Duck Buns from Yoko and Kota. They were pretty nasty. read more

The Roost - Peking duck buns from Yoko and Kota - Coffee & Tea Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

All the meals are great but the true understated super star is their Hot Rice noodles with coconut black bean sauce, red pickled cabbage, cucumbers, herbs and crispy shallot (at Yoko & Kota). Honestly, it hits every single flavor point -- even for my staunchly meat eating husband and super critical Asian mom. It's only $12 and can easily feed two. It's by far the best thing on their menu - and we spent years eating there from our never-ending renovation. read more

The food options and ambiance are quite good, but we had a really bad experience with the expediter (a woman with yellow dreads). There was a snafu with an order at our table and rather than try to figure out what was going on, she accused us of trying to lie... and what, steal $20 worth of food? It seems like the restaurant was unhappy she messed up something and instead of figure things out, she became very defensive. Super unpleasant and marred an otherwise lovely evening. The food industry ain't for the thin-skinned, love. read more

Aight, I'm lowering my review for one reason. ADD WATER TO YOUR ONLINE ORDERING. Sheesh. How hard is it fellas? You give out the glass bottles of tap water for free, but getting a refill is impossible. Stop wasting everyone's time and add it to the menu. read more

Top two sushi spots in town. So fresh and their combination of ingredients in their roles is on point. Just wish their delivery fee wasn't $7 because that's cost prohibitive for me on top of a generous tip. But their pick up system is great when I'm up for venturing out! read more