DC Born & Raised

I attended this restaurant for dinner with a few friends this past weekend. The restaurant has a really warm atmosphere with nice jazz playing and warm colored décor throughout. I ordered a steak salad that was delicious. It included a good amount of steak, feta cheese and balsamic dressing. It took a little longer than I liked but was definitely worth the wait.
To drink I had a cider beer, can’t exactly remember the brand but it was draft and tasted delicious as well. A friend and I split the lemon pound cake. OMG. Definitely my favorite of the 3. It was sitting in some type of citrus glaze and was probably the best pound cake I’ve ever had. My friends seemed to enjoy their meals.
Pros– great food, nice atmosphere, local business
Cons-​service can be slow, limited menu

I had a friend from out of town this past weekend, so we (my fiancé, my friend and I) thought we would try out this new neighborhood restaurant/​pop-​up. It was a disappointment, and here is why:
We were seated, and a lot of the drinks on the menu looked interesting, so we asked the waitress what was in a couple of cocktails (since it wasn’t listed). She said «I don’t know, don’t you know what is in it?» and said she would bring the bartender over to us to explain a few of their interesting cocktails. The bartender never came (even though we were literally seated right next to the bar and it wasn’t that busy) and had to pick drinks without knowing what was in it, so my friend ordered something that she could not even choke down. The waitress didn’t just seem to be clueless, but also blatently didn’t care about her job or helping us (didn’t even pretend to care).
We had a 2 for 1 special that we got from their facebook page, which is awesome, and I was excited to use it on the gouda meatballs appetizer. However, when the meatballs came, there was no trace of gouda and they just tasted like bland plain meatballs that were defrosted from the freezer with some bbq sauce thrown on top as an afterthought.
The worst part was when we received our entrees. My friend had ordered the stuffed shrimp and really loved it. However, my fiancé and I ordered the same thing — the seafood stew — but when we were served it, our plates were like night and day. His plate was filled with tons of mussels, clams, shrimp and two HUGE sea scallops, but mine was literally a plate with 6 mussels on it. For $ 24 dollars. If I had wanted mussels, I would have gone to Belga Café and gotten 100 mussels and fries for $ 20, not this.
I mentioned the entrée issue to the waitress and she told the chef/​owner, who came out and apologized and gave me two bay scallops later on. However, that’s all I got — not any of the other seafood. I think the right thing to do at this point would have been to discount it or give a free dessert/​drink or something.
After all was said and done, 1 small drink each, 1 two for one (not good) appetizer, and 1 mediocre entrée later, it was $ 135 for the three of us.
It might have just been the kinks of a new restaurant/​popup, but we will not be going back.

I live in the hood, and walked by it with my dog. Then read about it in the DC Eater about this place, a pop-​uppery to give start-​up restaurants and burgeoning chefs a stage to showcase their talents. Interesting restaurants take up a 4 months residency and then the next one will come along. I thought Great, I can constantly try new food in the same venue. DC Born & Raised serves dinner while the Maison Dixie Biscuit serves lunch and breakfast.
DC Born & Raise’s website indicates that Chef Charles has another place in K Street, but I never tried it.
Since I am in the hood, I walked by on a Tuesday and asked to have the window table reserved for the next night. The next night arrived way too early because I was hungry, but the restaurant had an event going on and our table was not there, and were directed to the back. I can understand if they have a big party and the place is tiny. I don’t like sitting in the middle of anywhere or at the back. Told them to reserve the window table for next Wednesday and was told we definitely will have it.
Arrived the Wednesday after, the table was seated by somebody else — WTH? I asked the hostess what happen to my table, she said no one reminded her, I asked her was she not there when I spoken to her last Wednesday? She said no one reminded her!!! Why do you need a reminder if you were there already? She kindly offered to asked the customer to move, and the customer was willing to move. I declined, it is not the customer’s responsibilities to make sure I have my table, it is the restaurant’s responsibility.
The menu item I ordered was not available — the Rock Fish, instead a White Bass was available, although no mention that it was a whole fish served in perched paper. I thought it was a fillet. It was a good job that I am pretty good with my fish, not sure if everybody can handle the bone, and some of the fish belly was not totally cleaned. The favor was there, but the service could have been better. My dinner companion’s short ribs was definitely the star, it was tender but not overly tender, and there was an aroma coming out from it, I actually like it much better than my fish. The appetizer was Calamarie in Buttermilk Batter and it was two for one on a Wednesday night. That was very nice, the batter was night. The dessert was Lemon Cake and it was the worse of everything, the cake was dense and heavy.
I do not like my table was not there and not told that the fish was actually a whole fish. I am somewhat savvy with fish and know what a White Bass is, but more information could have been given. I would have give it a 4 stars despite the Lemon Cake but not having my table there left them with a 3 stars.

My boyfriend and I came here tonight for dinner and everything we got was absolutely amazing. The service was the best I have ever had in dc. Here is what we ordered:
–Crab mac and cheese– perfect… Cheesy w huge lumps of crab
Spare ribs– this came w polenta… This is what my boyfriend ordered and he said it was the most flavorful polenta he has ever had… And he has been a cook. The only thing I would say is the potion for this could have been a little bigger. The flavor of the ribs and polenta were meant to be
I had the seafood stew as recommended by the server. Again, amazing. It had great flavor… A tiny bit of heat wh I thought was perfect… And there was plenty of seafood in the stew.
For dessert w both shared the sweet potato pie… I have no words for how good this was… Dense, flavorful, and seemed like it had a hint of orange zest. The best thing about this was that THE CHEFS MOM MAKES THIS BY HAND.
The serve was the best… Super friendly. My boyfriend tipped him very well… And that’s saying a lot bc he normally doesn’t really tip that well.
We both go out to eat a lot and are very hard to please when it comes to food and service… But I can say that we will definitely be coming back… Maybe for brunch :)

Great NEW Spot! The food was wonderful! The service was on point! Did I mention the food was great! I was looking for something new, I just got tired of going to the «same old same old». So, my girlfriend and I stopped by to give Born and Raised a shot and it satisfied beyond belief. So, Born and Raised, also known as DC BandR is couple with a Bar called Eats Place. The food is a DC twist on soul food, with an upscale vibe but not to formal. So you can find wings with their homemade Mumbo Sauce which was terrific! I also ordered the shrimp and crab meat dinner entrée. It came with the freshest Kale I’ve ever tasted. I will definitely be back in the near future!