Union Jack’s

Our friends were here visiting from Australia, and one of them had only her passport. Tell me why the bouncer decided he was suddenly employed by ICE and wanted to go through her passport looking for her visa? She didn’t have a visa because she didn’t need one, which she explained to the bouncer. She is an international travel agent, so she should know. He brought over other staff members to verify if she was OK to enter without a visa. She’s over 30, so the age issue was not a thing… they just wanted to keep those pesky illegals out! Guh…

Fun ambiance, lively music, great service and awesome drinks. That is all I want out any bar I go to. I love this place! It’s low-​key, casual with absolutely no pretentiousness. What more can a girl ask for?

Union Jacks is your go to sports watching bar scene with bar food and if you’re into that this place will be good for you. The food is pretty good but not great and the service is also pretty good. I had a good time overall.

Update
In the Air by Phil Collins was correct.
They are closing this location. I think everyone knew this place was on the way out, and the people working there knew it… and simply didn’t care.
The last time I was there, it appeared to be abandoned. Maybe they were rehearsing for this day.

I’ve been to this particular location a few times in the past, but tonight was the exception… customer service was ON POINT… friendly, engaged wait staff, smiles everywhere. our server SHAY made our night! We’ll definitely make a point to come more often. thanks Union Jack’s and Shay!!!

Thanks for training your bouncers who work on Saturday nights to be incredibly rude! Not only was it impossible to get into when you are visiting from a neighboring country (Canada) but one of the bouncers kept stating that we «probably made the ID and laminated it» and kept interrogating us with ridiculous questions. Right… because we are going to make a fake Canadian ID to come to Union Jacks in Bethesda.
I’m happy the management turned us away because we ended up going to Tommy Joe’s where they were completely polite about her ID and took the time to read it rather than glance at it and keep saying that «they have never seen this before».
Stay away from this unprofessional place.

Long-​time customer here. The service has always been hit and miss, especially in the back room, but it seems super off recently. Staff we dealt with seemed very disoriented. Go somewhere else.

went for trivia night with friends on a tuesday. literally, i cant say o-​m-​g enough (and i never say that) to how absolutely stumbling drunk our server was. I got there around 730p and she was honest-​to-​god slurring her words. slurring so badly that our entire table didn’t know whether to laugh or to be concerned. we were there for 2.5 hours and saw her for a grand total of 3 times our entire stay. (should i mention now that she spilled half of the beers she delivered ‘correctly’, she brought the wrong drinks to the table more than once, and i actually thought she was going to fall over several times during our interactions).
to put it simply — at the end of the night when (duh) everyone is leaving at the same time since trivia has just ended, we were told «give me a few minutes i have ‘like 20 checks’ to close out». Yeah no kidding, it’s trivia night! maybe print them out before hand?
needless to say, we waited more than 20 min before we got antsy. she finally brings us our checks and disappears for obviously another eternity. in order to pay and leave we had to go to the bar ourselves, track down a manager, and ask him to ‘omg please help us go home’.
i just don’t get it… drinking on the job as a server is almost understandabe (let’s be honest). but being so beligerant that you can’t actaully do ANYTHING is so absurd. this review sounds like it’s solely about this server, but let’s get real, the manager definitely knew what she was doing and how she was working, and it was apparently just another day for this place.
i def wont go back.
and btw, trivia sucks because everyone definitely cheats. what fun is that?

This place is THE worst. They kick people out for fun. They have zero sense of customer service. The bouncers are absolute bullies. I watched them kick people out just because the capacity was full. Avoid this place, they do not deserve your business.

First off, them dayum pretzels are pretty good with the sweet sauce!
Tonight I brought my appetite though so I decided to try something from the menu, non-​bar food selectionI got the Captions Curry with shrimp. It was pretty good.
It’s Shrimp, tomatoes, butternut squash, chick pea in a curried sauce with a mango chutney over jasmine rice. Spicy but delish.
My friend got the grilled chicken sandwich, fresh mozzarella and tomato, with fries. That was tasty too.
I enjoy Union Jacks because there’s always room for everyone!

This place is horrible. I came with my friends one Saturday night for some drinks. After one drink we decided to leave. As we were heading out I decided to use the bathroom (they had one working stall). When i came back to rendezvous with my friends, I put my hat on. One of the rude staff members came up to me and told me to take it off (I looked around and there were many other people with hats). We tried to explain to him we were leaving anyway. As I put my hat back on and walk out, he grabbed me and said he wanted to speak to me, only to kick me out. We didn’t think much of it because we were on our way out anyway, but the confrontation was really unnecessary. I recommend the Gaithersburg branch. better service, friendlier staff, working bathrooms.

Awful… That is the only way to describe this place. It is a townie bar run by townies. The service is terrible and the people that visit here are terrible. I DO NOT RECOMMEND spending your money at this shithole.

Um… Yeah, no.
This place is weird. On Labor Day I came here with a group of friends (there were 5 of us) and this place was DEAD. There was one other table, maybe of 4 people in the establishment and a table of two outside. The bartender screamed to us to «sit wherever». We grabbed a table that was smack dab in the middle of the place. Good view of all of the rooms, tvs, and just a nice central location.
The bartender seemed to be the only person working because he was also our waiter and was constantly in the kitchen. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was working the kitchen for how long it took our SIMPLE orders to come out.
Once we got our menus, the bartender was waiting for us to order, but we needed a few minutes so he left. It took him a while to come back and check on us, took our drink orders and was really snippy, and then finally came back again 15 mins or so for our orders. Mind you, we all ordered the burger. It was like $ 7 burger day. A pretty solid deal and nothing expecting, too much. When the food came out, we were all pretty excited. My, my order didn’t have sauteed onions which I ordered or the garlic aoli either. But the bartender brought us a group dish (think small ketchup container) of aoli to share. We had requested lemons for water, never got those either until we gave him a hard time for it and he brought two out on a napkin. The bartender was giving us a really hard time and just took it to the next level. There is fun and then there’s rude. Union Jack’s is not Dick’s Last Resort. I am not paying you to be rude or condescending to me. I didn’t come here for bad humorous service.
One positive about this place– the crab dip. Get that if you come here during the day light. There were a few pool tables in the back, it could be a fun place to shoot pool…
So, I wouldn’t come back here for a meal. Maybe for a drink and maybe for crazy dancing SUPER late, but nothing beyond staying an hour.

If it weren’t for the price…
Union Jack’s is usually a happy hour/​trivia place for me. When the apps are half price, it is a great place to go. However, full price apps knowing the portions, are not exactly in the target range for me. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll mow through a pretzel given the chance, but I’m not paying 7 dollars for a pretzel.
I went there on a Saturday afternoon after a graduation. Free parking in Bethesda made it an easy choice. The place was pretty much empty, but we were greeted promptly. Foregoing the appetizers, we went with the Princess salad, bangers and mash, and the fish and chips. Mom was happy with the salad, it was large and littered with goodies, stepdad was satiated by the bangers and mash. He thought that the sausage was done well with an mild taste, although he could have stood for the portion being larger. The fish and chips were done well, with one slight complaint. The fish was great, two large, well fried pieces of haddock (the only fish that works sufficiently well for fish and chips, cod is for wankers), golden brown and nice crust, firm but flaky at the same time. The chips though, were sort of weak match stick fries. I prefer my chips to be more along the lines of steak fries, that give that hearty potato feeling to the fish.
The price was a lot out of whack. I understand it is a function of the area, and that prices are going to be higher in the DC area for this type of cuisine compared to other areas of the country. But 15 bucks for fish and chips? That’s a $ 10 – 12 dish else where. The salad, while nice, had no proteins, and would be 8 – 9 versus 12 at Union Jack’s. The bangers and mash is a 10 dollar entrée in most places (I mean, it’s the easiest thing ever, sausage and potatoes). This place could use an injection of value to get folks in the door. The prices put us off from sampling the drink menu, as 3 people shouldn’t ring up an 80 dollar bill for a Saturday afternoon late lunch with 2 drinks per.

ABSOLUTELY NOT!
While visiting the area, I looked for a spot to enjoy some drinks with my friends. I had been told to run by Union Jack’s as the music is poppin’ on Saturdays and the dance floor is on fire.
What went wrong?
1.) The bouncer seemed shocked and confused to see an out-​of-​state driver’s license (Tennessee). We repeatedly assured him the ID was valid, but he refused to listen and threatened to confiscate the «fake» ID. After conferring with several colleagues, he remained confused. Eventually, an actual police officer joined the conversation and assured him the ID was valid. Rather than courteously apologizing and letting us through, the mistaken bar employee barked at us for being «snarky» and told us we were lucky the police officer had graciously «saved us»…
2.) After a miserable entry experience, we were relieved to grab a seat and order some drinks. I approached the bartender to place an order for drinks. She seemed dumbfounded when I inquired about the drink specials I had read about online. I proceeded to inquire about draft specials, but the bartender quickly grew condescending and uncooperative.
Despite the tiffs, the bar has a booming weekend vibe, great drinks, and a BUMPIN’ dance floor! I look forward to revisiting the establishment and seeing a noticeable improvement in the customer service experience.

Came in here for drinks. Good service. The establishment is very large and the food being served to neighboring tables were healthy sizes. I would come back and try their menu.

Service: slow and rude
Food: didn’t try
Environment: dead
Where do I even begin… Oh right! The manager and staff were SO RUDE to our entire group of 20 people…
We took up a section of the bar and were sitting on the bar stools while one held our jackets. The manager made us all get out of our stools and they took them away. She then proceeded to come back and told us to remove our jackets. I told her that it was ridiculous that she wasn’t allowing us to sit and now we had no where to put our jackets.
She stated «we have coat check» and rolled her eyes. That made me SO MAD! We were there for 2 hours and this business was not busy. Coat check wasn’t even open when we first arrived… I told her that we had 20 people ordering shots and drinks and that we will be closing the tab since she is forcing us to remove our jackets and making us stand. She left and came back to tell us we could leave our jackets.
TOO LATE!
We were already in the process of closing all our tabs. Our entire group took up majority of the bar so I thought it was absurd that:
1. we were not allowed to sit
2. we could not use ONE stool to hold all our jackets since they were dead
3. we were treated so rudely after spending A LOT of $$.
Even the bartenders were rude. They would roll their eyes when we ordered 10 shots. If you didn’t want to work, you should have called off.
The staff would walk by and tell us we weren’t allowed to stand where we were. We were standing by the bar? How else do you order drinks and socialize. AT A BAR?!
Oh and did I mention the jail cell piss infested bathroom?
Would I recommend this location? Only if you have a few people and want to test your luck.
Would I go back? HELL NO.

Upon entering Union Jack’s, there was a strange smell. I was quite surprised how empty it was on a Friday night. My friends and I came here for pool. They have nice, gently worn pool tables. I’m not sure how much it costs to play pool on a hourly basis but it was worth it. My friends and I ordered decent drinks — we got Strong Bow Cider and Jack’s Punch (which consisted of Malibu, Barcadi, Gosslings, Banana with OJ, Pineapple & Grenandine, shaken, and served over rocks).

After much hesitation based upon all of these negative reviews, I found Union Jack’s to be a perfectly acceptable and a quite nice sports bar in Bethesda.
As the name would indicate, Union Jack’s models itself as a British pub. The bar is located downstairs in a sort of open air basement bar. My group came for the PSU-​OSU game, since this is listed by the Penn State DC Alumni Association as a Penn State bar (it must be an Ohio State bar too since their official alumni association was also out in force). There were plenty of seats and lots of TVs downstairs, and a much quieter area with multiple pool tables and some arcade machines. The game day specials were also pretty reasonable for the area — cheap appetizers and $ 3 – 4 beer. Not bad. We ordered the deep fried pickles and they were very good — breaded, deep fried, with a spicy mayo sauce for around $ 7.
Overall, it’s a pretty cool pub with lots of seating and good game day specials. All of the hate I don’t get — if you want to watch the game, or if you’re a Big 10 fan in particular, you can’t go wrong with Union Jack’s.

Remember those college bars you would go to because you were desperate and didn’t know any better? This is one of them. To that end, you’ve almost unquestionably outgrown this place.
I’ve only had one experience at Union Jack’s, and it was not pleasant. The place was stuffed to the gills with fresh-​out-​of-​college fratboys, with the accompanying smell of sweat, desperation, and Axe body spray. The noise was nearly intolerable. The bartenders were giving it their all to maintain some level of decorum and quality in the mess, but obviously things weren’t going well. Lots of people were sloppy drunk, and not in the controlled fashion.
Problem is, there’s quality to be had here. The interior is cute and genuinely reminds me of joints I visited in England. The beer selection is good, as is the food. The location is convenient. Hell, I want to like this place — it’s just not worth it. I feel sorry for the person/​company who owns this place.
Simply put, the clientele sucks. The people who frequent here aren’t your typical Georgetown/​NOVA yuppies, nor are they your Maryland every-​men. It’s more the College Park crowd — a half-​and-​half mix of genuinely nice people and absolute douchebags. My experience involved more of the latter — so I won’t ever be going back.