1618 Downtown

My first time at 1618 downtown was at a SynerG on Tap event, though I have frequented the one on Battleground and love it’s loungey atmosphere.
I found their service to be a bit overwhelmed by the number of people who were in the building for the event, something that is rarely a problem at the Battleground location.
The beer I had wasn’t very good, but I’m a bit of a beer snob, so maybe take that with a grain of salt.
The location is attractive and located in a great spot on Elm St. The part that stood out to me was a lovely seating area at the front where you can sit in the window and take in Elm St. Personally, if I go back, that’s where I would spend my time instead of back in the crowded bar area or in the seats.
I did get to taste one of their small plates and it was pretty delicious. I think it was a sausage biscuit, but honestly, I’m not totally sure.

Just like the 1618 Wine Lounge, 1618 Downtown offers class, style, delicious food and great drinks. I hosted my meetup group here on Friday (approx 40 people) and we had a very pleasant experience. The waitstaff was patient, accommodating, professional and efficient. Food and drinks were flowing throughout the night. The venue is spacious with a DC vibe. The prices I think were reasonable for the type of establishment. The food is quite delicious as well. I got the salmon burger but wish I had the lamb burger as people are STILL talking about it today! Overall a great experience and I will be back!

This spot is kickin, SON. First off, it’s a decorators wet dream inside. The modern elements of the interior worked well overall and my wild lover agreed. THERE WAS ALSO A DYSON DRYER IN THE BATHROOM. Speaking of bathrooms, let’s get to this 4 star review. The siracha buffalo wings were BANGING. The best wings I’ve had in a while. The flavors were subtle and worked perfectly with the way they were cooked. My lover ordered the sirloin burger (no surprise there) and according to my lover it was very flavorful. The fries were also really good. We are going to return for dinner and if it’s great I’ll bump this kitten up to ⁵⁄₅ peace, love and the professor

My girlfriend and I are in town from California for the holidays, and we finally snuck away for a date night. Our date nights consist of a glass of wine and an appetizer, and then we move along to the next spot. We ended our night at 1618 downtown. We had a short wait for a table (we didn’t make reservations for New Years Eve) which was understandable. We got a couple of glasses of wine, and relaxed in the lounge. The restaurant is very warm and comfortable, and reminded me of some fantastic Charleston, SC restaurants. We were sat, and immediately greeted by a server, who introduced us to the menu and wine list. A few minutes later, our server came over to formally greet us. Samantha, I’m sure she wasn’t prepared for us (we’re troublemakers), but she gave us some great food recommendations. We decided to go with the house sausage and collard dip. It’s a winner on so many levels! I’m a classically trained chef with about 20 years of F&B experience. Believe me when I say, that I am still excited about it. I will be stealing this play of classical Southern Cuisine for my personal collection… We ate, drank, laughed, and Samantha was as much of the experience as the restaurant itself. She was attentive and an absolute pleasure to have. We will be back next year for sure. Thanks and Happy New Year!

Service was superb. Food was perfect. I had the salmon for my entrée and a the kale ceasar for a starter. Prosseco was chilled perfectly. Atmosphere was lovely. Modern. Great for a night out to celebrate or for a nice dinner date.

Contemporary restaurant. Nicely decorated. Food is different, but tasty. Szechuan Calamari is very good. Sage Sausage Collards Dip is outstanding. Lamb burger Is good, but has too many added sauces and cheese. Signature cocktails are different (taste profile is contemporary; I did not enjoy them).
Fries are outstanding.
Waitress was outstanding

The 1618 downtown offers a refreshing atmosphere that is both quaint and trendy. The food is delicious and the wine and beer selection compliments perfectly. As always the staff is professional and helpful when assisting in selections. Try the dessert. It doesn’t matter what you try it is always good!

Had the BLT and was very disappointed in the house pressed bacon. Had high expectations. Just didn’t seem well made and didn’t really have a good taste.

It’s quite simple, the jumbo lump crab cake is not meant to share! I came here during a work event and I fell head of heels in the sea with the crab cake. Another great menu item is the truffle pomme frites. Each frites is crisp and warm. Service is great and staff are friendly. Keep in mind this is downtown spot make time for parking especially between Thursday through Saturday night.

Fabulous dinner at the bar @1618_downtown tonight. It really can not get any better. Why did I wait so long to visit this wonderful establishment in downtown Greensboro, NC… I just do not know. If you haven’t checked it out, you must go. They have wonderful cocktails, scrumptious appetizers and entrees and ooh lala desserts. The staff are superb. We had the pleasure of Jake making our cocktails. He is your «Go To» person. And, you will have the pleasure to savor your star studded food in this beautifully decorated restaurant. Enjoy my friends!

A great addition to downtown and different from the other two 1618 concepts. They have transformed the shotgun space wth a bar area in front and tables toward the back. The ambiance is terrific with the sleek, simple lines of the furnishings against the rustic floors and exposed brick walls.
The menu is very interesting with appetizers, salads, soup, sandwiches and burgers as well as a few select entres. While the menu is not extensive, the variety will provide something for every palette. Unfortunately, on my first visit, the food underwhelmed me. It just was not up to the standard I’ve come to know from 1618 West. Perhaps my expectations were too high. Don’t get me wrong, the food was fine, just nothing to write home about.
The service was also a little strange. I thought I knew who our waitress was, but it seemed we were tag-​teamed by several wait staff. I wasn’t sure who to order my next beer from so I asked a guy walking by our table. Turned out the guy didn’t even work there, he was just trying to find the bathroom. Worse, our entres came out at different times which is really a pet peeve.
I realy love the space and I’m sure the service issue was a fluke. I can’t imagine the food won’t be better either. My wife has been here several times for lunch and felt tonight was not comparable to her earlier lunch visits. These guys know how to run a restaurant. Definitely coming back and giving them another shot.

I was very much looking forward to 1618 downtown but unfortunately left disappointed.
Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a chain restaurant by any means but the food was just average for your non-​chain specialty restaurant.
I saw the previous reviews and was so excited to have not only great food but wonderful service. Service is so key and it was below average on the night we came. We were advised there would be a 20 – 30 min wait but they handed us a menu and said they would be over shortly for our drink order. 20 minutes later someone finally made it over only because they wondered why we were just waiting with a menu in our hand at the seating area. After we were seated we had to wait a while for the waitress and already had an appetizer at our table before our main order was taken. After a very long wait one of the plates was served not to the way it was ordered! Luckily the staff was kind enough to comp our appetizer for the bad experience without us even asking.
If we return it will be only to sit at the bar with drinks and maybe an appetizer.
Pros:
Great location
Great ambience — brick wall for historic feel but with modern décor
Cons:
Very Slow service
Just Ok food
Smell of smoke at the back side of the restaurant– our seats were near the back and obviously close to the door where people took their smoke breaks.
Food:
Appetizer: dual wings
So delicious! A perfect combo of a sweet and spicy wings. Half were Korean sauce and half were hot buffalo. The blue cheese that comes with it was great as well!
Main course:
Pan crusted chicken: great presentation and good (not great) taste. The stuffed chicken was well done and the quinoa & Brussel sprouts were tasty.
House made brisket burger: very odd texture that made the consistency like it was uncooked meat almost. Would not recommend this at all. Fries were good and came with a tasty dipping sauce.
Dessert: Cookie ice cream sandwich
Very good but not something I couldn’t get at 10 other restaurants. It was a cookie stuffed with vanilla ice cream and a strawberry garnish. The strawberry looked mushy and wouldn’t eat it because it looked like it had been sitting.

Overall I enjoyed my lunch at 1618 Downtown! And by the crowd that was piling in it definitely seems like this was a much needed lunch option for the area. I thought the sandwich options for lunch sounded tasty but pretty ordinary. The small bites or appetizer list is what looked delicious to me.
We started off with their roasted cauliflower and white bean hummus. It was pretty good had a solid smokey flavor to it. I also got the fish tacos which were delicious and quite filling. As a side I got the mac and cheese which wasn’t my favorite. It was almost like a south west style mac and cheese with red and green peppers in it. While I’m sure most people would gravitate towards that, I might have gone for something else had I known. Speaking of the sides they have a pretty awesome variety. My lunch mate got the soba noodle salad and really enjoyed it.
I would definitely be intersted in trying them out for dinner.

Absolutely stunning. Seriously. About a week or so before stepping into this new location, my partner and I spent a weekend in DC (or regular go-​to for time away). While sitting in 1618 Downtown I could have sworn we were still there. I’m no GSO-​hater, so don’t think that I need a place here to feel like a place that isn’t, it was just surprising and impressive.
The wine and cocktail lists are wonderful, the service is excellent and friendly. We had a wonderful time speaking with the staff — we felt welcomed and not at all in a canned way.
We didn’t have time for a full dinner but did treat ourselves to the tuna tartare. Folks, this dish is fantastic. So good. The flavors and textures work perfectly together. Try it.
I can’t wait to go back and have dinner, or to sit at their beautiful bar again. This is a wonderful addition to Downtown.

This is a nice addition the the downtown Greensboro food scene. The restaurant occupies the first floor of the new refurbished Book Trader Building in the 300 block of South Elm Street. The shape is basically a tapering rectangle as you move from front to back. The front of the restaurant, where the attractive bar is, is the widest, the middle section narrows and is a little on the dark side since there are no windows, and the back section is the brightest because of all the windows there. The entire restaurant is simply, but tastefully, decorated.
The menu is not especially broad, at either lunch or dinner. There are a few appetizers, ranging from Roasted Cauliflower and White Bean Hummus, a Tune Tartare choice, Marinated Buffalo Wings, and of course, the excellent Truffle Pommes Frites, served also at the sister restaurants.
There are 4 or 5 salad choices to which you can choose to had a protein, as they say now — grilled chicken, crispy pulled pork, shrimp, tuna, flounder or crab cake. You have a couple of soup selections, a varying Soup of The Day or Gibb’s Hundred Pale Ale French Onion Soup. There are several Personal Pizza selections available also.
The Meat of the Lunch Menu is the sandwich and burger choices. The burger choices are limited to three, each a bit off the beaten track — a Veggie Burger (which includes among other things, Shaved Asparagus, «crispy» Brussels Sprouts, Portebella Mushroom, & evenPear Onions); A Buttermilk Blue Stuffed Houseground Burger; and a Houseground Beef and Chopped Brisket Burger — all come in at $ 12, with a side. No boring standard fare burgers here, general acceptance yet to be determined!
The Dinner Menu adds a few apps, including Jalapeño Glazed Jumbo NC Shrimp, Braised BBQ Beef Brisket, and a Buttermilk Blue & Crispy Pancetta Dip. The Soup, Salad, Sandwich & Burger items remain much the same, but there are some main plate entrees added — Veal Medallions, Beef Tenderloin, Pan Fried Chicken, Flounder, Pork Chop, and Tune — prices range from $ 17 to $ 24.
Sides includes the Frites, Kale, Black-​eyed Pea Salad, Brussels Sprouts, Soba Noodle Salad, Mixed Green Salad, and a Caesar Salad — available at lunch and dinner.
We tried the Truffle Roast Beef Sandwich ($ 12) on a buttered baguette, with Soba Noodle Salad (served cold), and The Italian (also $ 12) on a nice sub style Italian roll, with a side of Pommes Frites. Both sandwiches were nice, though the beef sandwich gets soggy quickly, but the taste is solid. The Italian has mortadella, pancetta, salami, pepperoni, marinated olives, romaine, red onion confit, and roasted red peppers, which really make this sandwich.
The service was exceptional (friendly, engaging, and attentive), the atmosphere is generally very pleasant, easy on the eyes, but the music is more than a little loud. This is not the least expensive place in the downtown area to stop for lunch, but the quality of the food served bares the weight of the cost very well, I think. We’ll be back to further explore the menu.