City Tavern Club

I joined the City Tavern Club in 2010 and it was a very rewarding experience. The exclusive members-​only social club is located in one of Georgetown’s oldest and historical buildings. When I joined, the club had over 800 members, last year, management reported less than 200 residential members. For some time now, many members have decided to leave and management is having a hard time recruiting new members. The club’s staff is very friendly, they automatically, remember your name, account number and preference of cocktails. Their food, is extremely good and they have daily specials, which often include discounted wine bottles and cocktails. CTC, also provides free Wifi and you can spend as much time you want inside the club when it is open
I would recommend joining this club if you:
–Host or want to host private events, their event space and service is astonishing!
–Want the prestige of belonging of a social club
–Live or work in Georgetown
–Need a workspace or venue to entertain clients
Perks of being a member of City Tavern Club
–Have full access to the Cosmo’s club for three months of the year
–Good value for your money, their membership is lower than University Club’s and Metropolitan’s club
–Great list of reciprocity club
–Familiarity amongst the staff and its members
To improve:
–Recruit more members
–Open the club on Saturdays and Sundays
–Consider offering brunch

Very tasty halibut with quinoa. I like the old school privacy and feel. Staff was lovely. Very nice spot. didn’t love the martinis. I have not explored too much but it was a very nice club.

Just became a member here, and my partner and I had our anniversary dinner here tonight. Fantastic! It’s a members-​only space, but if every experience is this great, it’s well worth the membership!
We started with soup; he got the French onion, which was delicious. I had the soup du jour, a seafood chowder, that was superb. Starts with a bisque base, with lobster and scallop and delicious flavors all around.
Here’s a nice thing: for a small corkage fee, you can bring you own bottle of wine! We did this and it was great to have our favorite with our anniversary dinner.
For mains, I got the short rib with haricots vert and a potato purée. It was delish. Very tender, almost pulled right apart. Well-​balanced flavors. My partner got a horseradish-​rubbed filet with a potato cake of sorts and grilled asparagus. The asparagus was perfectly grilled, the steak a lovely medium-​rare, and overall just fantastic.
And the service. Jennifer was so lovely and kind, and the whole crew was really great. You can tell they really care about the dining experience, and connecting personally with their guests.
We really loved our first dinner at CTC, and we’re looking forward to many more.

Love the club!
I wish that I was in DC more to go!
I miss the club!

Astounding venue for large events and parties. You can lose yourself amongst endless corridors, antiquated rooms, and historic floors. This place is cozy, yet roomy and the staff is superb, for an added plus. And while the food options aren’t my favorite in the area, they do a nice job. City Tavern Club is definitely worthy of its private, membership-​only status.

I attended an engagement party here. It’s a lovely building that is clearly well maintained. The staff was courteous and friendly. The food was basic cocktail fare, but it was well executed. The bar staff were attentive and drinks were good.

I have been to events at the City Tavern. This place is located in the heart of Georgetown. The building is historic and is absolutely beautiful.
I have been very pleased with all the events that have been held here. The staff are friendly and very helpful.
If you have a chance to be invited as a member, I would recommend it.

Attended an event (EO holiday party) at the City Tavern Club. I’ve walked by this place a hundred times, but never been in.
So I was kind of fascinated to find this event space so ideally located near Wisconsin and M Street in Georgetown.
I guess it is also a dining club, but one whose star seems to have risen and sunk, as has the facility itself. It’s the second oldest building in Washington, so keeping it up must be a bear — that said, it needs a renovation and as a result the interior is, shall we say, a bit long in the teeth.
It has three floors, maybe four actually, of event space. If you have a lot of people, it kinda breaks it up. But it’s easy to loose your group of friends, and then you have to go stair climbing to find them.
The food was banquet blah, but I assume that had more to do with the event sponsor being stretched thin, not the venue.
The DJ was a white dude gyrating and biting his lip, bad, very bad.
The ballroom is glamorous, very Marilyn Monroe, and could with the right flare be a backdrop for romance.
I’m at three stars, maybe it’s just me being in a foggy mood, but there you have it.

Great food, great atmosphere, strong drinks, fantastic location.
The majority of dining inside CTC is done inside the Tap Room. Executive Chef Robert Polk shifts the menu around every month or so, so the options are always fresh and seasonally-​appropriate. I’ve probably dined here at least 20 times in the last year and a half, and I can say with some degree of confidence that of all the Georgetown eateries I’ve been to, this is the best. Chef Polk came from Bistro Bis and has a great talent for creating traditional new-​American fare. His lamb chops are the best I’ve ever had. His French onion soup is second to none. Highlights include ½ price wine night and Friday dining specials. When the weather cooperates, you can dine on the terrace under gas heaters. The wine list is outstanding.

As a member, I’m obviously biased. City Tavern Club is one of the foremost private clubs in the DC area, and features a top notch private chef, Robert Polk (formerly of Bistro Bis). Dining in the Tap Room is an experience not to be missed with a cozy ambience, and a fire blazing during the winter. DC’s movers and shakers like Justice Antonin Scalia can be spotted enjoying a meal here.
Specific meals of note are the Lamb Shanks in playful reduction. The Tenderloin is always a treat, high quality meat, perfectly prepared, and topped with a great wine sauce. The French Onion soup is the best I’ve had, very rich with wine, and topped in high grade cheese. The lobster bisque also stands out.
The new winter menu featuring the new Sliders is great for a quick meal during one of their many events.
Can’t recommend the club enough, definitely worth looking into for membership. They are very welcoming.

Ok, an update. Yes, it could be construed as biased since I’m a member but hey, whatever. The Chef deserves his due where it’s due.
Let’s go over the dishes that I’ve had since dining there on several occasions:
The burger — always a staple. Ask for bacon and swiss and you have a nice meaty treat.
The soups — I’ve have the lobster bisque and the clam chowder. A huge fan of the bisque although the chowder didn’t knock me out of the chair like the bowl of creamed lobster did.
The salads — ground anchovy in the caesar dressing, not some fish sauce like some places. Need I say more?
The venison — grilled to the right temperature, slightly gamey, and with a reduction to die for. However, this isn’t my complete favorite…
The lamb shank — I had this last night… let’s just say it was one of my best dining nights in DC. It’s up there with Charlie Palmers, 2 Amys, and Sushiko on the «tickling the taste buds» scale. Yeah, I just invented that scale. So what.
Overall, the food here is definitely a supporting reason that this is one of my few 5-​star reviews (I try to keep it to less than 20% of my reviews). The staff still treats me like family — if anything, it’s always great to have folks who remember that you like your scotch with only two ice cubes and can remember which wines are left on your shelf after a «destructive» weekend of being a wino.

I’ve used City Tavern for a couple of private events and I’ve really been impressed. I have a big event coming up in May where we’ve rented the whole house and I’m really excited to see how it will turn out.
The staff here is just wonderful. Very friendly, knowledgeable, and responsive, which is exactly what I’m always looking for in an event space. The space is also gorgeous– it’s the 2^nd oldest building in the city and has been host to tons of inaugural dinners and other historical events. The grand ballroom is very cool, complete with original wallpaper. There’s another large room upstairs that also has a small terrace which will be great in warm weather.
The food I’ve had has also been very good. Prices for venue rental are incredibly reasonable for the space and location. I don’t know anything about being a member of the club here, but I’d assume it would be a great experience. I highly recommend.

The City Tavern Club is a membership based eating club of sorts. I went last year for their annual, «Bachelors and Spinsters Ball», and it was a riot. The club itself has several rooms, parlors and lounges. This is not like a club club, like you won’t walk in to hear deafening bass tones that make your head thump. Rather, you’re likely to find a lot of hoity toity Washingtonians wining and dining and doing their best to leave you with a lasting impression.