King Street Blues

The service was good but the wings I got were just awful. Dry and tasteless. And I asked for extra hot and spicy wings and that’s far from what I got. I would certainly not recommend this place. Totally not worth it for the price let alone anything else.

King Street Blues in Kingstowne is now closed. It’s becoming an Irish Bar/​restaurant that hopes to be open by March 13. The King Street Blues in Old Town and Crystal City are still open.

Not long after my last visit here, I was saddened to hear that they are closing their doors soon. It’s a real shame, this place was actually unique in its offering and much more convenient for many than the locations not being closed! Our last meal here consisted of Hot tea; Stella Artois Beer; a medium well done Baja Burger cooked to perfection including bacon, Pepper Jack cheese, lettuce, tomato and avocado dip — scrumptious; a Cats & Dogs, what they call a southern fried catfish with buttermilk hush puppies, red beans and rice, and coleslaw with a side of remoulade sauce — a terrific rendering of a southern tradition; and started it all with a Cup of Seasonal housemade Chicken Vegetable Soup in a light broth served with very, very good corn bread. I unfortunately can’t recommend going here, as it might not be there when you do. Sorry… this joint will be missed!

I come here pretty often as it’s located near my work and I always get the Cats & Dogs (fried fish, hush puppies, coleslaw, and red beans & rice). You can’t beat it for the price as they give you 2 huge fillets! When I go to other restaurants in the DMV area and I compare other fried catfish dishes to the one I get at King Street Blues, the fried catfish dish from King Street Blues always wins. Delicious, crispy, and comes with delicious remoulade sauce for dipping.

This place is definitely a little divey, a little campy and a little bit New Orleans-​y. They have huge paper-​mache people throughout the restaurant, which is either cute or creepy I suppose depending on your preference.
The food is OK. I have had both the regular fried shrimp po-​boy and the french quarter po-​boy and liked them. They have a small collection of craft beers which I enjoy. However, their coleslaw is the most bland thing on the planet. Even a liberal dousing of s+p couldn’t wake it up; so that is a disappointment. Their BBQ sauce is tasty, I happily dipped my fries into it, since it was on the table anyways.
Once thing that bothered me though is I feel like the whole restaurant could use a wipe down, the sauce bottle, the S+P shakers, the booth itself and the door to the bathroom left me feeling a bit jam-​handy, which is pretty gross.

Well for me the drinks are kind of the first impression of a place. They are out of one of 5 of the weekly featured beers, no bitters for a manhattan, and when I asked that the bartender make their favorite gin drink they bring me a bland horrible gin and tonic with a juiceless lime. Really? A bartender that can make ANY gin drink in the world and I get this? For shame. I’m not excited about the food yet to come…

3 stars is really generous but this place is still a decent tome late night. However, it is a locals spot and most of them seem to have been entrenched at the bar since probation was lifted so this might not be the best happy hour spot if you’re looking for a crowd with more energy. however as I’ve said it gets a little better. Years ago, they had a rockstar daytime bartender to offset the average food but sadly they made a change ;(

Food is ahhh ok at best. Service is 3 star food is 2. They do have a lunch punch card, if you come here often you can get every 6^th meal free.

Lot’s of sizzle… not much else.
This place get’s lots of buzz for being a ‘southern style’ bbq restaurant yet they like to align themselves with the New Orleans cajun theme. It all makes for a bright and colorful show but the Big Easy isn’t about ribs or bbq.
I met up with a work mate who drove in for the day from the Corp office in Richmond.
After our meeting we decided to try this place for lunch.
After reviewing the menu, I think we were both kinda shocked that you can’t even get
a pulled pork bbq sandwich. It’s ribs or combo plates.
He opted for the Cobb salad.
I had the fish of the day which was grilled rock fish. It was a tiny portion mated with some carrots and broccli… ahhh…yawn.
The service was good and so was the sweet tea.

Went here for a fanciful night with the 703 roller derby team my wife is on. It was a fun night and King Street Blues made it fun. Its a relaxed atmosphere with decent NOLA faire. I had the catfish po boy. While it wasn’t the best i’ve ever had it was decent. The fries were pretty good too.
Our waiter (I think his name was Art) was super friendly and kept the drinks coming. I think there were only a couple mistakes with the food. The rest of the servers were helpful as well brining all the food from the kitchen. They didn’t have much else to do, the restaurant was almost deserted.
The team’s coach eats gluten free only and they were able to serve her needs and answer all the questions she had.
Overall it was a decent experience. I had a lot of fun there.

Decent little southern BBQ spot located in a strip mall right off Van Dorn Street
A friend brought me to King Street Blues as payment for helping her move and I will say I am glad she did as King Street Blues is a decent spot, while there is nothing outstanding about it, it definitely has its pluses.
Service was friendly and the waitress made good recommendation as to what drinks to order. I ended up with a vodka and Sprite that did the job. I believe the waitress was also the bartender and she made the drink on the strong side.
We shared the wings as a stater and they were okay to me, a little on the small side but tasted okay.
I had the Elwood, a pulled pork sandwich and I will say this was the best part of the meal, the pulled pork was moist and full of flavor. It is definitely worth a try. Fries that came with the sandwich were just okay, nothing special at all.
Like I said before decent spot to have a drink, watch some sports and unwind but nothing special.
PS for the Golden Tee nerds out there, they have a machine in the bar area that 3 nerds made good use of during my visit. So there is always that.

I have only been here during lunch, so even though I was told it is a family restaurant, I have only ever seen professionals. However, this location doesn’t seem to get as much business considering the location; there are plenty of restaurants in the Kingstowne area and there is nothing too spectacular about King Street Blues where people would be drawn to eat here.
On this particular visit, I ordered the Sister Mary, which is a pulled chicken sandwich. The order came out very quickly and the result was proof that no real preparation was needed to complete my entrée. The bun was cold and the pulled chicken was slightly warm. In addition, the homemade chips that accompanied the sandwich were full of grease and lacking any seasoning or taste.

King Street Blues… I’m «blue» just thinking about why I subjected my poor taste buds, stomach, and colon to the culinary equivalent to waterboarding. Why, you may ask, did the gf and I dine there? We were meeting some friends who were there for a charity fundraising event with food, drinks, and live bluegrass music. We’re always up for supporting our friends in their charitable endeavors. So, while we were waiting for the event to start, we decided to have dinner.
We were seated outside. There appeared to be only one server taking care of the six or so tables outside. To add insult to a developing bad experience, the server may have been a new hire since she wasn’t familiar with their beers available on tap. Unfortunately, the menus and drink lists were of no help, as they didn’t have a current list of all of the beers available. I was informed that they were out of Fat Tire, so I had a Yuengling instead, which finally made it to the table 10 – 15 minutes after placing my drink order. Much to my surprise (and sorrow) as I walked by the bar on the way to the restroom, they had Bells Two-​Hearted Ale on tap. Really? Yuengling isn’t bad, but it loses hands down to a Two Hearted Ale. In defense of our server, she was pleasant and was trying to be helpful, but service was simply below average.
For my food, I ordered the BBQ Brisket and Sausage, which came with a slice of cornbread and choice of three sides (I chose the steamed broccoli, hand cut fries, and Southern greens with tasso ham) for $ 14.99. First strike, the gf’s and my food arrived at our table warm, not hot, leading me to believe it sat for a while before being brought out by our server. The menu touts the brisket as being «slow smoked Texas style». The State of Texas is pissed that its name and reputation is being besmirched by this sad excuse for barbecue brisket. The brisket lacked the expected smokiness from mesquite or any other wood. I highly doubt that they’re smoking their meats on premises in an actual wood-​fired smoker. If they are smoking it on premises, then someone needs to tell them to add some wood to the fire! I suspect that it’s prepared elsewhere, packaged, frozen, thawed, and reheated upon order in a microwave. As for the supposedly grilled andouille sausage, it was cooked to the point that it looked like the sad, wrinkled, desiccated hot dogs that you see turning on the grills at a convenience store. The flavor was as bad as its appearance. The cornbread was cold, soggy (practically wet), with the consensus around the table that it was arguably the worst cornbread to ever grace a table. The hand cut fries were soggy and limp (yet surprisingly still better than the awful fries you get at Good Stuff Eatery). The collard greens with tasso was simply there, and the steamed broccoli was, at least, cooked properly retaining its bright green color and a slight crunch when bitten into. Had the food been even close to properly executed, it my have been a reasonably good value for $ 15. Instead, beginning to end, it was memorable experience for all of the wrong reasons. Avoid!
At least the charity event and music were decent…

King Street Blues is a fun, family oriented restaurant during the day. I haven’t been there at night, but people are saying they are a bar at night so there you go.
Their menu is expansive and varied and so you can find something for everyone. They also have brunch on the weekends, and that is what I decided to have on Saturday.
I ordered the Benedict Arnold, which was a base of cornbread, scrambled eggs, gravy, cheese and bacon with home fries. I asked if I could order it without bacon and the waiter said, «yes». Great!
The food comes out and what do I see? BACON! Man, I hate when this happens but life will go on. Upon further examination this entrée is a hot mess! There was so much cheese, the flavor wasn’t exciting and the cornbread was really just too soft to hold up to all of the other fixins. What this dish really needed was some hot sauce. That would’ve made a big difference. The potatoes were good and they added some substance to my entrée when I ate the two together. Later that afternoon my entrée fought me back and I did not feel too good.
Blues breakdown,
The food: It was ok. Hot sauce was needed, and I would not order this again. There was just way too much cheese on it.
The value: It was about $ 9 for the entrée. That’s just an average price I think.
The experience: It’s a fun restaurant. My water and coffee were kept full and the waiter was nice.
Would I return?: If the family is going, yes, but I wouldn’t seek them out on my own.
3 stars?: Just an average place for food. The décor would get an extra .5 stars just because it’s fun.

As much as I want to prefer the local barbecue outfit to the chains in the area, I have a really hard time with it. This last visit did nothing to improve that.
We didn’t feel like cooking, we had a coupon, and boyfriend had never been, so we went. First note — if you partake in half price wine night, that counts as an offer that cannot be combined with a coupon. I probably should have known that, but I didn’t even think about it, especially since the coupon didn’t apply to booze. Oops.
We started off with the shrimp appetizer, which are basically lightly fried little shrimp with buffalo sauce and very watery blue cheese dressing improved slightly by adding crumbles on top. It was actually quite tasty — the perfect amount of fried so that you weren’t getting all batter.
For entrees, boyfriend ordered one of the big meat plates, the mambo something-​or-​other that came with lots of meat and 2 sides. A plus — they’ll swap out meats, so he was able to get pulled chicken instead of the breast that was listed. For the sides, he had beans and cole slaw, which he enjoyed, especially the beans. I got the chili mac with turkey chili and a side of greens. The turkey chili is good, but it was probably a mistake on the chili mac. And it wasn’t really what I expected — its a plate of cooked penne pasta with a scoop of chili on top and a bit of cheese sprinked on top of that. It wasn’t bad at all, just not what I expected. But I took the leftovers home anyway, and I have to say, it was far better the second day.
The highlight of the meal, for me at least, was the cornbread, which is consistently excellent. And the service — our server was really sweet, and took great care of us.
This was probably my 3^rd or 4^th time at this location, and while its not the best barbecue I’ve ever had, its consistent. However, if its up to me, I’ll pick the Red Hot and Blue down the street every time.

This place is your typical American style chain restaurant. Tons of flair with 60s music playing in the background.
I got the Burger with the fresh chips. It was worth what I paid ($ 5), and my wife indulged herself to a sesame seed chicken salad. The chicken was basically Buffalo flavored chicken fingers on a south western style salad.
Just another chain.

Ouch, some rough reviews…
I didn’t think it was terrible. Just another bar. It was on the small side. I don’t know what the upstairs looks like because we just stayed downstairs. We ordered drinks and random bar food… wings, fries, that good stuff. It wasn’t anything really memorable but it wasn’t horrible either. At the same time, I probably won’t be running back. Not much else to say: P

This is possibly the most reliable place we go for Date Night. Oh, it’s a chain — don’t be fooled. It’s about as Southern as I am hetero. Contemplate the koa of that. Everybody together now?
It’s loud as hell which I hate and reduces the frequency of our visits. We try to sit as far away from the barflies as we can in vain hopes of reducing the brain damaging effects of the decibels projected in our direction.
The wait staff is always, and I mean without exception always, excellent. They do manage to hire really nice people. If you ask them carefully, they’ll be pretty frank about what’s good and what isn’t — and they’ll tell you why the do and don’t like something. One server told us she didn’t like the beef dishes because she was a vegetarian. Hey, that’s actually a pretty good qualification.
This visit, Dean had salmon and it was way overcooked. You could have rung it like a fish shaped bell. The server removed it from the bill without us asking, and we weren’t umm fishing for him to do it. It’s how they are here, at the end of the Kingstowne strip.
Serious point that outweights all other points: when I tell them what my food allergies are, they are incredibly attentive.

Right under the sign for the restaurant it said, «Comfort Food with a Southern Accent.» Sigh…
I LOVE comfort food, so could not wait to try it out.
I had the Memphis King Burger (Special Blend of Ground Sirloin, Pork BBQ & Seasonings Served Open-​Faced on Crisp Texas Toast with Spicy Beer Cheese, KSB Onion Tangle & Handcut Fries. 9.99). It was very dry and not the heaping pile of goodness that I was hoping it to be. The Spicy Beer Cheese sauce was very heavy and recommend that if you do get this burger that you get it on the side. The fries that accompany it are average and nothing amazing.
Maybe I didn’t order the right thing, but I was sadly disappointed.
My positive note is the staff: very helpful, attentive, and friendly. :)

This place is kind of weird and outdated looking with all of their caricatures scaring the heck out of the kids. I think they have one of the most crappy ideas of what is cool to put in a restaurant. The place just makes me feel kinda depressed.
Anyway…The Food:
Chicken…blah
Ribs…blah
Brisket…blah
Steak…blah
Salmon…blah
Red Beans and Rice… too heavy and blah
The only thing I will eat is the fried catfish which is surprisingly good (and I am extremely picky about catfish). I don’t know what made me order it that day years ago, but its the only thing that will get me through the front door. If you are a person who does NOT each catfish, move along. This place is not for you, you just may starve.