The Hamilton

Reviews 3

ME

Melanie Tam

If Im being honest, The Hamilton was a consolation prize. Another restaurant nearby that my boyfriend and I wanted to try had a one hour wait. The Hamilton was nearby and only had half an hour wait, so we decided to grab a drink at the bar while we waited to be seated. The cocktails are hit or miss. Theyre either really sweet with little to no alcohol, or really strong but tastes really bad. So you have to be willing to sacrifice either taste, or strength. Unfortunately, you cannot have both. If you want to go with the safer bet, go with a beer or a glass of wine. By the time we were seated, it was around 9:30 and we were starving. Heres a list of everything we ordered: Tuna tartare (bigeye tuna, grapefruit, cucumber, guacamole, wonton chip, balsamic soy vinaigrette) - although we had our reservations about how fresh the fish would really be, it was actually pretty good. But it was the grapefruit that threw me off. It didnt really mesh well with the other flavors in the dish. Prosciutto and melon (goat cheese panna cotta, honey, calabrian chili, mint) - of course, I wasnt expecting Italy-quality prosciutto e melone, but this one was almost a joke. The cantaloupe was almost inedible. It was either canned, or it was so overripe that they shouldnt even be serving it anymore. The prosciutto wasnt that good - definitely not sliced thin enough. The goat cheese panna cotta tasted like yogurt and again, didnt really go with the rest of the dish. As you can see, there seems to be a recurring theme at The Hamilton. Lamb steak (roasted zucchini and squash, eggplant caviar, cauliflower florets, chickpeas, Greek yogurt sauce) - this is what my boyfriend ordered. I thought all the ingredients were very random. I did enjoy the chickpeas though. I think they were fried, so it had this nice crisp to them. The texture reminded me of those wasabi snack peas that you get at an Asian grocery store. Southern fried chicken sandwich (house mustard, pickle, and a drizzle of honey and hot sauce on a Big Marty bun) - this was probably their saving grace for me. The difference between two stars and three stars. This sammie was AMAZING. It was sweet and spicy, the chicken was fried perfectly, not to mention that it was a pretty big portion of chicken. Its really messy to eat since its super saucy, but it was definitely worth it. IMO, the menu items at the Hamilton seem like theyre trying too hard to be fancy. They seem to like combining random mismatched ingredients. If they keep it simple, thats where their forte is - Exhibit A - the fried chicken sammie. So my advice - skip anything that sounds complicated. Do try the average sounding dishes because those might actually be the ones that taste the best.

AL

Alice Wang

Located conveniently in downtown DC near the White House, the Hamilton offers food and live music. While Ive never gone to any performances, Ive frequented it for food a number of times. Usually whenever I come here, Ill order off of their sushi menu and get (fatty) tuna, yellowtail, salmon roe, and shrimp. The Hamilton offers some specialty rolls like fire dragon (spicy tuna, fresh water eel, avocado, smelt roe, and scallion), fire cracker (spicy lump crab, tempura shrimp, tempura flakes), or tiger fur (tuna, salmon, yellowtail, avocado, kelp wrap). Tip: come at their sushi happy hour from 3-6pm and get sushi for 1/2 off! The sushi is decent enough. There are some hits and misses with their signature rolls. I liked the fire dragon one the most out of their specialty rolls. When its 1/2 off during happy hour, its even better. Aside from sushi, they have sandwiches, burgers, milkshakes, soups, and salads. The menu is eclectic and there are many options. Yesterday, I came here for the first time for brunch. I chose a hibiscus mimosa (made of Carmina Prosecco, a hibiscus flower, and Byrrh Grand Quinaquina) and a classic eggs benedict consisting of two poached eggs with Hollandaise sauce and housemade ham on English muffin, as well as LTD potatoes on the side. The eggs benedict was good, nothing too fancy. My drink was also not bad, although a little too sweet. We also ordered an appetizer of crispy pig ears, which we thought was interesting to find in a restaurant that wasnt purely Asian. They were pretty good too, although the cole slaw that was paired with the pig ears did not complement well. While their food is good enough, their service is somewhat lacking. I dont know if its because its a big restaurant, but it takes awhile to see your waiter pass by and even longer for him/her to stop at the table and get your orders. Most of the time after ordering, I wont see the waiter pop up again until we need them for the check. They dont come to pour water or check up to see if you need anything. Theyre friendly and polite enough but some act like they dont want to be there and some dont seem to care to come by a second or third time. Our waitress during brunch didnt take our orders until about 20 minutes since we sat down and even when the pitcher of water was empty, didnt refill it until I flagged her down and asked. Whenever we asked for something, she would mumble incoherently and she looked like she rather be anywhere else than the Hamilton. A plus side to this place is that because its so large, Ive never had trouble booking a table through OpenTable. It was one of the few places with more than 3 slots open for brunch/lunch on a busy Sunday afternoon.

TA

tamar mintz

Went to the Hamilton for lunch on Monday with my mom. We were sat in the bar area and ordered coffees and water. It took a long time to get coffee, but was warned that our waitress had to go to the other side of the restaurant. I poured the coffee and the cup was filled with grounds. The good, our waitress, after being hailed down, agreed that it wasnt how it should look. The bad, it took another ten minutes to get a new pot. I ordered the seafood salad, while my mom ordered three sides. The salad was great, it was recommended by our waitress and really enjoyed it. However, my moms brussel sprouts were dripping in oil. This can be remedied, however our waitress never came back! She didnt check to see how the food was, so after 20 minutes or so, I asked her if she could box up the remaining food and be mindful to not include the oil pooled at the bottom of the brussel sprouts. She said she would be happy to do that. And again, didnt come back. 15 minutes later a gentleman at the bar asked if we needed anything. At this point, I was frustrated, so again asked for to -go boxes and explained the oil at the bottom of the brussel sprouts (yes, at this point, I started sounding a little crazy). He brought them and watched me try to scoop the sprouts out while patting the oil surrounding it. The waitress came by 5 minutes after we had wrapped up our own food and asked if we wanted dessert. I have been here before and have never had service like this. It wasnt that she was blatantly rude, but instead careless and not showing the kind of customer service that one would expect. She was unapologetic for the time it took for her to bring us coffee and our dislike for the way the brussel sprouts were prepared. In all honesty, it felt like she checked out the second she put our dishes down.

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