Despite having a reservation, we never got seated and were forced to leave and go to another restaurant down the street (friends had to catch a flight). When I questioned the staff about why we still weren't seated 30 minutes after our reservation, I was told it was due to a large party that hadn't left. I knew people in that group so I went to check on their status, they'd been waiting for 2 hours for their food and weren't close to leaving. It'll be a long time before I try eating here again.
Nit
Fusion food options.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Taylor Sexton
We came for brunch and the food was pretty good. The drinks were great but I ordered 3 St. Germains Spritz and they were all completely different. Service was okay but we all felt like the server was aware there was a built in tip. Spend $70 a person on food and drinks for brunch.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 3
The guacamole and drinks were really good. The veggie plate was not worth it at all. Lots of veggies but not salted and everything came out limp and soggy. Server never checked on us and it took waaay too long to get our food.
Ken H.
Food is always very flavorful Luv the omelette/salad/ doughnuts Can't try it all in 1 visit
Khadija
My girlfriends and I went for a night out to get our eyes off readings. The burger was a real American burger. Our waitress Amal was one of the best I've ever seen. She had several tables but made sure all of our needs were met! A great place to have fun and enjoy quality time with friends!
Caroline Stroh
Visited Bar Pilar for Valentine's Day this year, and we were pretty disappointed. The atmosphere was cozy, but the music was quite loud, and the service was slow. The Hemingway Daiquiri was the highlight of our order, but other cocktails were too strong. Our server was nice and was helping almost every table, which was surprising given it was a busy night. The sandwiches we ordered (Cubano & fried chicken sandwich) tasted okay for the price, but unfortunately they were cold when they got to us.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 3
CarolineS
Visited Bar Pilar for Valentine's Day this year, and we were pretty disappointed. The atmosphere was cozy, but the music was quite loud, and the service was slow. The Hemingway Daiquiri was the highlight of our order, but other cocktails were too strong. Our server was nice and was helping almost every table, which was surprising given it was a busy night. The sandwiches we ordered (Cubano & fried chicken sandwich) tasted okay for the price, but unfortunately they were cold when they got to us.
Rick O
World worst mojito. It's impressively bad.Edit: It was a Saturday night and it was poured from a pre-mixed batch. That right there should already ring alarm bells.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 5
Philip Fuller
I really want to like this place and gave it a few chances, but management simply doesn’t have their act together. They are severely understaffed which has been a problem since before covid. Here is a summary of my experiences there over the years:Restaurant Week, 2024: At first glance, their RW deal looked decent where you could order any appetizer, entree, and dessert, plus 2 cocktails for $65. However, once we got there, the server told us they were out of the ribeye entree which was the only entree that was priced high enough to make the deal worth it. Had we purchased other entrees, we would actually be losing money on the “deal.” In addition there were only one or two servers working the entire upstairs dining room and it took us over 15 minutes just to be seen after we were seated. It also took so long for drinks and appetizers to arrive that we decided to forgo ordering entrees and went somewhere else. Our server was very nice but clearly overworked.Fall, 2023: I read an article that the restaurant had pumpkin spice espresso martinis. Being the basic B I am, I was excited to give it a try. However, once our group arrived, the bartender told us they were out of the ingredients and couldn’t make it. We left disappointed.2019: We went for brunch and had extremely slow service so we decided we wouldn’t return for a while.Overall, this place has good potential, a nice atmosphere, and a great location, but management has consistently let us down. Unfortunately, we likely won’t be back to give them a fourth try.
Amal was amazing! I would recommend this bar to anyone. The service was great and the drinks were so yummy
Richa
It’s a little stinky and the food is meh. I would recommend getting the truffle fries though- very good!! Also some of the drinks are good. I recommend the Canchanchara. So good!
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
Ana R
This place is less than mid. The food was a disappointment and the cocktails were not drinkable. Ordered a margarita and had to send it back immediately because it had the texture of applesauce mixed with the tequila of your worst college hangover days. Ordered their cigar old fashioned and it was so strong in a poor quality liquor kind of way. I watched as other patrons also sent back their cocktails. We had our reservation for 8pm but didn’t get our order taken until about 8:20 and food came shortly after 9pm. We asked for the check and waited another 20 minutes to get the bill. The staff is. It incentivized to provide good service because they automatically add a 20% service charge to your bill regardless of how small your party is I Would NOT recommend PILAR DC and will never be back.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Ben D.
Went here for brunch food was solid snd good service. I got the fried chicken sandwich and my mom got the eggs Benedict. The fried chicken sandwich is big and comes with either home fries or salad. The home fries are well seasoned and taste good with a nice crispiness. The chicken sandwich was well fried and crunchy the chicken itself tastes pretty bland unfortunately. The other fixings of avacado bacon lettuce tomato and mayonnaise adds some flavor but the chicken sticks out here. It likely doesn't have cayenne pepper on it. Overall a good dish. The eggs Benedict was good nice rich sauce with eggs perfectly cooked with a good amount of runnyness. Overall would go back.
Doris
Loved this restaurant when I lived in the neighborhood. Went back yesterday for a matinee performance at the Source Theater and brunch at Bar Pilar before. The food was amazing. I had the eggs Benedict with country ham on biscuits. Delicious! It's next-door to the source theater so we were able to have a leisurely brunch and walk next-door 10 minutes before the show. Love this place Service was excellent too.
Despite having a reservation, we never got seated and were forced to leave and go to another restaurant down the street (friends had to catch a flight). When I questioned the staff about why we still weren't seated 30 minutes after our reservation, I was told it was due to a large party that hadn't left. I knew people in that group so I went to check on their status, they'd been waiting for 2 hours for their food and weren't close to leaving. It'll be a long time before I try eating here again.
Fusion food options.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
We came for brunch and the food was pretty good. The drinks were great but I ordered 3 St. Germains Spritz and they were all completely different. Service was okay but we all felt like the server was aware there was a built in tip. Spend $70 a person on food and drinks for brunch.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 3
The guacamole and drinks were really good. The veggie plate was not worth it at all. Lots of veggies but not salted and everything came out limp and soggy. Server never checked on us and it took waaay too long to get our food.
Food is always very flavorful Luv the omelette/salad/ doughnuts Can't try it all in 1 visit
My girlfriends and I went for a night out to get our eyes off readings. The burger was a real American burger. Our waitress Amal was one of the best I've ever seen. She had several tables but made sure all of our needs were met! A great place to have fun and enjoy quality time with friends!
Visited Bar Pilar for Valentine's Day this year, and we were pretty disappointed. The atmosphere was cozy, but the music was quite loud, and the service was slow. The Hemingway Daiquiri was the highlight of our order, but other cocktails were too strong. Our server was nice and was helping almost every table, which was surprising given it was a busy night. The sandwiches we ordered (Cubano & fried chicken sandwich) tasted okay for the price, but unfortunately they were cold when they got to us.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 3
Visited Bar Pilar for Valentine's Day this year, and we were pretty disappointed. The atmosphere was cozy, but the music was quite loud, and the service was slow. The Hemingway Daiquiri was the highlight of our order, but other cocktails were too strong. Our server was nice and was helping almost every table, which was surprising given it was a busy night. The sandwiches we ordered (Cubano & fried chicken sandwich) tasted okay for the price, but unfortunately they were cold when they got to us.
World worst mojito. It's impressively bad.Edit: It was a Saturday night and it was poured from a pre-mixed batch. That right there should already ring alarm bells.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 5
I really want to like this place and gave it a few chances, but management simply doesn’t have their act together. They are severely understaffed which has been a problem since before covid. Here is a summary of my experiences there over the years:Restaurant Week, 2024: At first glance, their RW deal looked decent where you could order any appetizer, entree, and dessert, plus 2 cocktails for $65. However, once we got there, the server told us they were out of the ribeye entree which was the only entree that was priced high enough to make the deal worth it. Had we purchased other entrees, we would actually be losing money on the “deal.” In addition there were only one or two servers working the entire upstairs dining room and it took us over 15 minutes just to be seen after we were seated. It also took so long for drinks and appetizers to arrive that we decided to forgo ordering entrees and went somewhere else. Our server was very nice but clearly overworked.Fall, 2023: I read an article that the restaurant had pumpkin spice espresso martinis. Being the basic B I am, I was excited to give it a try. However, once our group arrived, the bartender told us they were out of the ingredients and couldn’t make it. We left disappointed.2019: We went for brunch and had extremely slow service so we decided we wouldn’t return for a while.Overall, this place has good potential, a nice atmosphere, and a great location, but management has consistently let us down. Unfortunately, we likely won’t be back to give them a fourth try.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 3
Restaurantji Recommends
Amal was amazing! I would recommend this bar to anyone. The service was great and the drinks were so yummy
It’s a little stinky and the food is meh. I would recommend getting the truffle fries though- very good!! Also some of the drinks are good. I recommend the Canchanchara. So good!
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 3
This place is less than mid. The food was a disappointment and the cocktails were not drinkable. Ordered a margarita and had to send it back immediately because it had the texture of applesauce mixed with the tequila of your worst college hangover days. Ordered their cigar old fashioned and it was so strong in a poor quality liquor kind of way. I watched as other patrons also sent back their cocktails. We had our reservation for 8pm but didn’t get our order taken until about 8:20 and food came shortly after 9pm. We asked for the check and waited another 20 minutes to get the bill. The staff is. It incentivized to provide good service because they automatically add a 20% service charge to your bill regardless of how small your party is I Would NOT recommend PILAR DC and will never be back.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Went here for brunch food was solid snd good service. I got the fried chicken sandwich and my mom got the eggs Benedict. The fried chicken sandwich is big and comes with either home fries or salad. The home fries are well seasoned and taste good with a nice crispiness. The chicken sandwich was well fried and crunchy the chicken itself tastes pretty bland unfortunately. The other fixings of avacado bacon lettuce tomato and mayonnaise adds some flavor but the chicken sticks out here. It likely doesn't have cayenne pepper on it. Overall a good dish. The eggs Benedict was good nice rich sauce with eggs perfectly cooked with a good amount of runnyness. Overall would go back.
Loved this restaurant when I lived in the neighborhood. Went back yesterday for a matinee performance at the Source Theater and brunch at Bar Pilar before. The food was amazing. I had the eggs Benedict with country ham on biscuits. Delicious! It's next-door to the source theater so we were able to have a leisurely brunch and walk next-door 10 minutes before the show. Love this place Service was excellent too.