Skydome Lounge

THE worst service ever! We will not go back because of the bad service! It was my birthday and my husband «tried» to surprise me with a cake. However, the waiter forgot it twice. In front of me my husband told the the guy «can you PLEASE bring her cake now!». He also took forever to bring our food. We didn’t tip and wrote a message stating «thanks for forgetting about us» (never done this in our lives!). Wish we had the other waiter. Food was ok and the view was beautiful.

Skydome Lounge is a round rotating lounge at the top of the Hilton Doubletree in Crystal City. The restaurant affords a stunning view of the DC and Arlington, VA area. You have an amazing view of several key iconic areas: the Washington monument, the Pentagon, the Capitol, the Rosslyn skyline, Pentagon City and Crystal City, etc. We visited when it was already dark out, so I’m sure there are more things you can see when it’s lighter out, and I definitely want to visit during sunset sometime.
I visited recently with friends for dinner and we loved the experience. The lounge rotates very slightly (I’d could barely feel it but one of my friends could feel it a lot) and I counted that one full rotation around takes about 45 minutes.
The food was alright. Nothing spectacular, but decent enough (and you’re really only visiting for the view anyway). My friends both ordered the fried chicken with broccoli casserole bake and mac n cheese. I ordered the crispy rainbow trout with roasted Brussels sprouts, roasted apple, and balsamic sauce. Pretty tasty, though the trout was a bit dry and could have benefited from extra sauce.
The service was alright, though it took us 45 minutes to get our check at the end… not complaining too much because the view was so lovely.
I’d love to visit again (and get drinks next time, perhaps!). I think my fiancé would love this place too.
I definitely recommend the Skydome Lounge and it’s within an easy walk of both Pentagon City and Crystal City.

Stopped here for dinner while we were staying in the hotel. The main course food was outstanding (I had the Kobe Burger), and the view was unique with the rotating restaurant. However, the service was painfully slow. Even ordering dessert took 20 minutes or so, and all we ordered was a slice of cheesecake (delivered still partially frozen) and a slice of cake. For a restaurant with a limited menu and not much seating, service shouldn’t be that slow. I might go back again, but it probably would not be my first choice.

I would have never ate here, but a friend of mine was visiting from VA Beach. I had suggested other places to eat at, but they wanted to eat at a revolving restaurant that had a nice view. So being the passive friend, that i am, we went there. It was me and my husband and another couple. We got seated quickly. Our server was so rude and cold, right off the bat. He asked our friends what they wanted to drink, yet left, without asking us.
He brought their drinks back, at said time I asked him if they had bottled water, such as fiji or aquapanna, he said he did not know and that he had to check. He came back with a bottle of water that was some unknown name, it was wet and the bottles crushed at the top. At that time my husband asked him if he could have a Stella, at that time the server just walk off! who does that?
we waited for a good 20 minutes before he came back, at that time we all just decided to order our meals, since the server was being rude and not helpful.
So the server asked our Caucasian friends what they wanted, and just left after they ordered!!! seriously! who does that???
we finally flagged him and he came back and my husband ordered the fried chicken, mashed potatoes and broccoli casserole. I ordered a ribeye steak that came with a baked potato, and mushrooms, I asked if i could change the baked potato for mashed potatoes, he said no but that i could upgrade for addition $ and get a salad. I upgraded to the beet salad.
When our food came, i was surprised that i got a salad and a steak, so i asked him «can i get my mushrooms?» to which he got a rude tone and told me no, –since i upgraded, i gave up my mushrooms. So i literally paid $ 40 for a so-​so salad and an undercooked, unseasoned steak. what a waste!
my husband said the chicken fingers were cold and soggy– yuck! his mashed potatoes were good. The other couple got the same thing we did, and they agreed that the food was nasty. The broccoli cheese side dish made my friend sick, which sucked because they were in town to watch the Redskins game, lol. The best part of the restaurant was the view.
Highlights and cliff notes since it’s a long review:
— the server seemed racist or maybe just did feel it was necessary to take our drink or dinner orders. He completely ignored us and did not check on us once to see if the meal was ok or if we needed anything.
— the food was overpriced and did not taste good.
–the décor is not nice. Ugly christmas tree, that was not even centered. The hotel itself is nice, but the restaurant looks outdated.
— the view is nice.

Loved the Pork Schnitzel and the Tuna. So cool revolving around our Nation’s Capitol. The wait staff was awesome and always there when they were needed. The Doubletree Hotel it is in is awesome also! They gave us $ 100 off our dinner since it was our Anniversary. This helped a lot to our $ 125 plus tip bill. Dave

The atmosphere is well put together but the service is in need of some work as well as the menu could use a bit more of a variety, and after 7pm there should be no one under 21

Food was great. View was amazing. Service? Not so much. Our waiter wasn’t very attentive, however we still enjoyed ourselves. I’d still recommend this place!

3 overall, but if I’m putting cost for value, 2 star
1. This place is expensive
2. The food wants to be good, but falters on execution and consistency
3. Get different views of DC since the dining room rotates — both tripy and cool
4. Wait staff is friendly, but doesn’t match the price tag. Pretty run of the mill service and not a lot of food knowledge.
The calamari had a really interesting flavor. It had some sweet hints in the spices, almost Moroccan, but they were fried and NOT crispy. That’s a fail for fried calamari.
Artichoke dip was greasy so that you actually saw an oil film at the top. The cheese and oil separated. Also bland. The crispy chips were good, however they weren’t all crispy. Some were soggy.
The turkey pot pie looks like someone brought you a giant flying saucer. Then when you pierce it, you realize the filling was put on the plate and then the plate was covered with the pastry dough, around the entire plate. Interesting? But then you have a ton of pastry dough and less of the turkey filling. Still a large portion. I didn’t try it but my friends said it was ok. It ended up sparking a conversation about those Swenson pot pies everyone had growing up… those were better at $.50. Not a good sign.
The pork schnitzel was my dish, and I think the best dish of the night. Portions again were huge, but the pork breading was crispy and the sides were nicely paired.
My boyfriend got the steak. I believe it was 12 – 14 ou, accompanied by a baked potato, and a golf ball of butter. Butter on steak is good, but again this place suffers from lack of portion control and consistency. Some of the steak was medium, some medium rare, and even a bit on the just past medium.
The 20% coupon from Unilocal lessened the blow, but this place isn’t worth what you pay for what you get.

Service was really slow and food wasn’t seasoned at all. The view is great but would not recommend to anyone.

I attended the restaurant for a birthday dinner. When walking in I was pretty amazed at the view. Not to mention the floor rotates so where ever you sit you enjoy the entire view with out interrupting dinner. The menu was OKAY. I wanted something light so I stuck with an appetizer, gyro flat bread that was okay as well. My table had a wide variety of food and everyone agrees that it was a small amount to be so expensive. Customer service was okay the waitress kept disappearing, but yet it wasn’t busy. When she was there she was pleasant. Over all this was an OKAY experience. The best part was the amazing view.

My bf took me here for a date. It was cool, but it wasn’t like super spectacular.
The food is HELLA expensive. I think it was like 25 $ for the SMALLEST plate of spaghetti like seriously, I think I could have fit that whole entire portion in my hand, and it wasn’t like super great food either to be honest.
The main attraction is for the view, which was actually pretty neat, and also it revolves around too so you get to see all of DC. Very cool concept, just personally for me, not worth the money that you spend there.

I came here for dinner primarily for the view. There are certainly other roof top lounge options within DC that are closer to multiple landmarks, but none offer a similarly broad vantage point as Skydome. Unlike some prior reviewers, I had no issues making a reservation for two via e-​mail. If you have a food preference that requires accommodation, note that the menu online may not be current, as I found out upon arrival. My companion needed to avoid dairy, and we were able to find a few options.
I ordered the pork schnitzel, which turned out well; moist and not heavily breaded. My companion ordered the kobe beef burger. This was good, but not memorable. Dessert was the triple chocolate cake; although it was nine dollars, we ended up ordering it again due to how well crafted it was.
Would I return? Yes, for a special occasion. The view was worthwhile, and that was the value of the experience.

Tourist trap. Can’t make drinks and the chips that come with the artichoke dip were STALE.

Friendly service and the view are the only reason I will give this two stars. What a crappy attempt to remodel. The food on the menu is a joke. It seemed like every other item had kale in it. While I don’t mind kale but I would like something more. The items we did order or bland

The food was good despite all the skeptical reviews. One thing that is worth the awkward trip up to elevators is the amazing view.

I brought my family and fiancée to Skydome to give them an experience they wouldn’t be able to find in our hometown, and I’m quite pleased that I did. The view is great — you can see pretty much all major monuments as well as the Pentagon and National Cathedral, and the rotating means there is not a bad seat in the house.
The food was delivered in a timely manner and was cooked to our satisfaction. I personally enjoyed the Deuce Deuce burger. I look forward to bringing my family back in the future.

We were staying in the Doubletree over the weekend for a funeral and decided to check out the skydome as a convenient place for dinner with the entire family. While it was a fun and enjoyable meal catching up with everyone (and enjoying the view), the meal was overpriced for what it was. I ordered the salmon and for a comparable price I’ve had MUCH better fish elsewhere. Not sure I’d go again, but I did have fun while I was there — primarily for the view, the local beer I tried, and the company I shared.

great wings, great view, but does this look like medium rare???
dont like to complain so i wont return it or say anything ;)

There are lots of high, elevated places in DC, you don’t need to come here to get a view, and you definitely don’t need to come for the food. I feel like they think they can get away with a boring menu because of their «views of DC» gimmick, as the menu is not very elaborate. It seemed like they just put one of everything, to cover all their bases, and that was that.
Both appetizers and salads were slim pickings. I ordered the shrimp stuffed salmon for my main and I don’t think it hasd even the shrimpest of shrimps in it. I had to order the caprese salad with it because their sides were, like the rest, meagre.
All the food did taste good, but it’s hard to mess up cheese and tomatoes, but any other restaurant, I would have chosen a different dish, because they would have had more to offer.

I went back to Skydome after the general manager reached out to me. This gave me the chance to try more items on the menu. I also learned that Skydome has free parking validation and a happy hour from 5−7pm ($ 4 for domestic beers, $ 5 for foreign beers, and $ 8 for cocktails).
Between 4 people, we tried the calamari appetizer; steak, hamburger, and crab cake dinners; and the apple pie/​chocolate lava cake. Actually, the real highlight of the calamari dish was the fried banana peppers. How did it never occur to me to deep fry banana peppers? It’s a great taste combination ~ salty, sour, and crunchy (kind of like fried pickles if you’ve ever had them). Seriously, Skydome should consider just the fried banana peppers (or maybe fried pickles) as an appetizer ~ I was picking through the calamari to find the banana peppers!
I did not try the steak or hamburger, but they were both hearty portions ~ the burger was practically falling out of the bun. As for the crab cakes, I didn’t care much for the cole slaw, but the crab cakes were delicious and basically 100% crab rather than other fillers. It was just the way that a crab cake should be!
I did not try the chocolate lava cake due to a dark chocolate allergy, but both desserts were presented on a cute cast iron mini-​platter. And the apple pie was amazing ~ I basically spent the rest of the meal moaning how delicious the pie was. :)
I could see myself coming back here to have a cocktail and apple pie with friends, or coming back for the crab cake dinner for a special occasion. In either case, I am glad I gave Skydome another chance!