22

Happy Hour:
I can not understand why anyone would rate this place less than a 4 star. My bartender, Taryn is simply amazing. She is attentive, funny, and makes amazing cocktails in a more than timely fashion. She has a cool laid back capital hill vibe.
The fries here are to die for. Period. The ambiance is gorgeous. Perfect for a date.
Perhaps there have been some changes in management and staff but I think they have nailed it.
I will be a regular as I have been for the last 2 weeks every Wednesday for happy hour.

Took a friend here because she lived nearby. We had a $ 40 groupon for this place. We could barely finish our $ 34 worth of food and decided not to order more.
I usually don’t write reviews, but this place is worthy of a gordon ramsay kitchen nightmare-​esque makeover.
We came in on a weekday around 5, not many people. In fact, we were the only ones eating. A couple folks sat at the bar.
I was looking forward to the truffle fries, which everyone raved about on here. The fries are kind of mcdonalds style, thin long strips. The truffle oil was nice and fragrant, and the amount of fries on the plate was a ton.
My friend ordered the salmon chowder. The salmon tasted strange, fishy in a not fresh kind of way, and the bell pepper chowder it was plopped on top of was too peppery to taste anything.
I tried ordering the steak, but they were out. Instead, I ordered the pork loin. It came out with some kind of sauté of green beans and onions underneath. The pork loin itself was dry, and the sautee had the opposite problem– it was almost drenched in oil. All the food looked extremely pre-​cooked and maybe just reheated to serve us.
We waited 30 minutes for the waitress after we finished eating, before we finally gave up and had to wave our hands around for her attention so we could pay and leave.
In all fairness, the two asian waitresses that were manning the restaurant alone were decently friendly whenever we interacted with them.

I’ve been to 22 a few times to dine. Once for brunch and a few times for dinner. I had their crab cakes bene and it was delicious. I also recommend their jambalaya. The serving was big and the spice was just right. Also, don’t forget to try the fries. It’s so addicting!

I have a hard time deciding on my star rating – somewhere between two and three stars – because I think that 22 has a ton of potential. That can be a good thing, if you see a restaurant moving in a direction to capture the potential they have.
If, on the other hand, you see a restaurant stagnating, it’s hard to figure out how to make a meaningful recommendation that will both speak honestly of your experience and still encourage other patrons to attend the establishment.
Let me say this: when you see varied reviews like there are of 22, you’ll just have to take a gamble. You might have that five star experience, but you might have the one star. Or, you could just have that standard 2 – 3 star experience like me, and feel a bit lost.
Pro:
Truffle fries, which I actually found tasty despite a general avoidance of all things truffle.
Con:
My Ceasar salad was good, but bathed in so much dressing, and the chicken wasn’t cut up or mixed in, just placed on the side.
Pro:
Standard beer and wine options, including that Capitol Hill favorite, PBR.
Con:
PBR???
Pro:
Good service, and attentive waitresses.
Con:
Slow service, despite this attentiveness. How long does it take to bring the bill?
Pro:
High ceilings, open space, and the couches by the fireplace.
Con:
Limited seating, especially during busy times. Apparently Friday night is not one of the busy times, despite the fact that this whole strip of establishments gets a lot of traffic.
Pro:
Funky ambiance.
Con:
Dodgy bathrooms.
See? A gamble. Roll the dice if you dare? I’m not upset about my experience, but nothing will draw me back.

Love at first site. This was my first dining and drinks experience at 22 and I loved everything about this place.
The layout reminds me of an old parlor and it has the feel of a laid back lounge. The crowd at 22 was not your typical Cap Hill crowd, which is to say it wasn’t over run with ironic mustaches and neon skinny jeans.
Drinks: I just had the standard gun and tonic so not much to report on there :)
Dinner: I am definitely headed back to 22 in the near future to order another burger!!! I got the 22 burger medium rare with blue cheese and it was amazing. It’s served on a home made bun and you have the option of upgrading your fries to truffle fries! Which I highly recommend doing! The burger is roughly the size of your head so be ready.
Service: We sat at the bar so we had the bartender as a server and they did a great job. The hostess also stopped by to make sure we were taken care of. I give the service two thumbs up as it was a great mix of attentiveness without being pushy.

Protip: Do not come here for brunch. Especially if you are hungry. Reasons are as follows.
1.) The service is very slow. The last three times we have been here, it has taken over 30 minutes for a single order of ham and eggs (farmers breakfast). I’m actually writing this review while I’m 30 mins in on my wait here.
2.) The staff and manager (red haired gal) seem to not give a care regarding how long you have to wait. While you are waiting they do not stop by to refill water or let you know that your food is still coming. Every time we come here we just feel kind of ignored/​forgotten.
It seems like we are not the only ones with these problems, as last time we saw a couple walk out while waiting and this time a party of four next to us was being talked down by the manager.
In summary, a long wait with bad staff for simple food that can be had elsewhere or made at home. Honestly even though the wait is longer at coastal kitchen, you will still eat quicker than here.

We spent $ 128 and it was barely enough to feed my pocket monkey.
No, like another reviewer said, we were waiting in line for Smith but they were jam packed because apparently they are delicious and 22 is not.
Portions are small and prices are high.
My pocket monkey was severely disappointed.

Had an order of the Lettuce Cups (~$ 8): crispy, leafy lettuce with a peanut-​tofu blend filling. Food was delicious, staff was happy, and the ambiance was mysterious.
PS: Name of restaurant might actually be «22 Doors»…

New management and new menu!
Great food. Great atmosphere. Great service and awesome music!
I got their seared fish tacos and I can’t wait to come back for more.
And might I add. They have a great outdoor patio which is perfect for these hot summer days and nights!

I don’t know why I keep coming back here.
First and foremost the service is always terrible! Having worked in the food service industry I try to give people the benefit of the doubt, but every time I have gone to 22 the service is slow, uncommunicative and in most cases rude. The place never has more than 2 or 3 tables filled so you would think your server would be extra attentive and put in the effort for a better tip, 9 out of 10 times that is not the case. Once my roommate and I were the only people in there and our server never bothered to follow up after the bar tender dropped our food. She has also failed to explain that the happy hour salads are not dinner size. And my roommate was asking plenty of questions. When you are asked «what is the difference between the happy hour and the regular menu salad?» gee maybe you want to mention that one is TINY!
We went there for dinner last night and our server failed to tell us that, despite giving us the menu they normally have, they are revamping all the items on it. The 22 chicken salad was what kept me coming back her because I LOVED the herbs dressing and the large portion of chicken. But it was completely different yesterday! When I asked the server why he said they were redoing the menu, on my way out I noticed the piece of paper on the door explaining it. The only one in the whole place.
I want to like this place but each time I go back my experience is just worse and worse. My advice to the management, have a good long talk with your staff about courtesy. Your customers are more important than skipping the song that just came up on your ipod that is now blaring through the whole establishment. Maybe I am alone in this but when I am shelling out $ 30 for dinner I really do not want to listen to Linkin Park.
Also fix your website.

I just dropped in here the other night because other places I wanted to try on 15^th were busy, and it seems clear why 22 was not. I don’t usually nitpick about slow service, but it seemed odd considering that the place wasn’t very busy. Ordering food was a bit of an ordeal, since they were out of the first three items I tried for. The waitress said the menu is being changed, so I can partially forgive that ridiculousness. I ended up getting the linguini, but found it pretty «meh.» The chipotle seasoning just didn’t do it for me. My friend ordered a salad that looked and apparently tasted bad. Sad-​looking Iceburg lettuce… plus it had been sitting under a heat lamp, so it was warm. I left feeling pretty disappointed in my meal. At least my Lazy Boy ale was good.
Also, the «background» music was cranked up even though most of the tables inside the restaurant were empty. Most people were seated on the patio since it was a nice evening. The atmosphere just felt off to me.

My review is short because there’s not much to report. I’ll just cut to the chase with this one. Drinks are fine. Their version of a cucumber martini was okay, but needed a little more nuance — especially the huge chunk of cucumber garnish (should be a lot thinner!). The music, however, was what was really getting me going. I love the 90s R&B and pop piped into the bar. As a child of Generation Y with Gen X siblings, I am all about the age of Xscape and Jon B. There was a plenty of seating (at least for a Thursday night). 22 seems like a no-​frills bar. If that’s what you’re looking for, come on down!

22 Doors is invisible.
I have walked by this place hundreds (OK, prob dozens) of times and literally never noticed it. And before my friend pointed out the sign, I was literally standing in front of the entrance and trying to convince myself that the new place next door was what we were looking for. And no, I was not drunk. It’s invisible.
Anyways, a friend held her bday celebration in the heated patio a couple weekends ago, after discovering that Smith was too crowded. It’s a super cute bar. I like the look of it alot. Even the bathroom was nice. But I was not too impressed by the service. We stood at the bar forever (OK, maybe 10 minutes) without being acknowledged by the 3 people working, and by working I mean looking like they were busy. One guy was indeed making drinks, but the other guy decided that tending to the music was more important than tending to customers. Curious. Perhaps *we* were invisible?
The pics of the food look hella good (though the reviews vary wildly). That might be the only reason I’d go out of my way to return to 22 Doors. If I can find it. It’s invisible, I tell ya.

Blech. They underwent a management change/​remodel since my last visit so maybe that’s at fault, but I came here for dinner with a friend and it was not good at all. Our lemon drops were badly made and incredibly sour. My club sandwich was OK but nothing thrilling, although the fact that it came with ‘beacon’ according to the menu was a source of great amusement. I’m easily entertained! The skinny fries were also OK, not thrilling. My friend had calamari (ehh) and salad (dunno but she didn’t eat much of it).
It’s a bit loud in there, mostly due to the hard floors and furniture causing a bunch of echoes, and the service was borderline apathetic. At over $ 20 per person, there are so many better places to go, and I doubt I’ll be back. I’m hovering between a 1 and a 2, but since I enjoyed brunch here before, I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and round up.

By saying small plates they really meant it the portions were tiny and the price was too much for the amount of food/​quality ratio…
Had the swordfish skewers for $ 8 which consisted of 4 small cubes of overcooked fish split onto two skewers which were laid on top a pile of mango salsa… not impressed.
Also ordered the $ 5 fries which was about the same portion as a small order of fries at any fast food restaurant. They were cold and not very crisp.
We also had the short ribs (I don’t think they’re on the menu anymore though…) That was the worst, they were really greasy with not much flavor at all. yuck.
Top all that with waiting 25 minutes to even place our order I’m not coming back.

This place is closed.
WHO MAKES THE CHEESY BISCUIT NOW. Please don’t make me go to Julia’s.

I’ve been here twice, once at night and once for weekend brunch. I had a great experience both times! I remember their fries being super tasty and their crab cakes eggs benedict was DIVINE!!! There’s definitely a kick to it but it was super tasty and only $ 11.50.
My friends had the tofu scramble (which was just so-​so, according to them), the tortilla dish and the focaccia sandwich. I thought about ordering the sandwich too but I’m a huge fan of the eggs benedict so I ordered that one. The waitress also confirmed that was one of their most popular dishes too. I’m easily sold by the restaurant’s recommendations so that was that.
They also had several mimosa options which was great! Usually, brunch places only have 1 – 2 mimosa choices but they had a grapefruit one which sounded great but I already ordered their café vita coffee ($ 3), which was very good too.
Overall, the food was great and the atmosphere was lovely! They also did separate checks for us which was nice because there were five of us.
There is also an outdoor area which was very cute, I hadn’t noticed that before but it’s covered but still outdoors. Street parking in the area can be very tough because they’re mostly one hour parking.

I went here for a sunday brunch and I was pleasantly surprised! The cheesy biscuit and focaccia sandwich were probably my favorite items. This is great for a late brunch because the helpings are generous and the service is nice.
I did think the fries were unreasonably salty but this might be an anomaly.
I will definitely go back here. Most possibly for happy hour.

22 is a good way to start the night, especially for large groups planning to hang out in the area afterwards (with Liberty just a few doors down), serving up some decent eats and drinks, a good happy hour, and great service that can easily handle large groups.
Happy hour suggestions include the pork sliders and baby back ribs (which have a nice kick, but are a tad salty), while the chicken wings (kind of bland and dry), meatballs (surprisingly tough), and truffle fries (shoestring, but not as good as Post’s or BOKA’s) are decent, but far less impressive dishes. The braised oxtail, off the regular menu, is also worth trying.

Some of the employees need to earn awards, or something! The second time I was here, someone at my table managed to spill a beer. Both employees were at our table and effectively handling the mess within 30 seconds!
In any case, I think my experience of being here with a big group is alright… but, being there with just a small table is fabulous. Especially during happy hour! (Yeah, yeah, I’m a happy hour addict. What else is new?)
Drinks. well, drinks are drinks. Their special cherries sound quite good, and I hear good things about their cocktails… but, I’m more into beer and wine these days. And.well. those are a pretty difficult to screw up or make poorly. (Unless the beer is flat, which it’s NOT here!)
I’ve tried a handful of food items here, and the one that I was probably most filled up by and least intrigued by were the truffle fries. They… just taste like fries to me.
I have really enjoyed the pan seared scallops, baby back ribs, and the garlic prawns. They also had a marvelous ravioli special the first time I went there, but… I wouldn’t recommend that. The sauce was heavenly, but… it was just one ravioli. I fail to see why it cost $ 6.50.
My favorite moment so far was when a group of about eight (of us) came in, and the female employee asked us what the occasion was that got us all to come out that night.
«Uh… It’s happy hour and a Thursday evening?»