Phi

This is a strange little place that doesn’t quite know what it wants to be yet. It has the feel of a downtown café where businesspeople drop in for expensive sandwiches and coffee. If that sounds like a Starbucks, this place does brew Starbucks coffee, but it also has a full bar. It has an artsy dining area, but no obvious place for bar patrons to gather. Because it’s next to Hotel Indigo’s reception desk and not too far from the guestrooms, finding an appropriate conversational volume is a challenge, especially for a group.
It’s one of the only places in the CWE that stays open ’till 3, so for that reason alone it’s worth checking out if you’ve just stumbled down from the Euclid-​Maryland complex, but you’ll be paying Wash Ave prices for an experience that’s decidedly NOT Wash Ave. I give it 3 stars though because the service is good, the setup is unique, and there are some supercomfy chairs + footrests next to the bar.