Firehook Bakery

The pastries were tasty, but the staff falls a little flat and the ordering process is a little hectic.
I think I’ll give it another try – maybe I just came in at a bad time.

The staff are always super friendly. The keylime coconut bar is the greatest thing ever. Not to sweet, the lime flavor isn’t overpowering, just perfect.
I’d recommend this place to anyone looking to satisfy a sweet tooth or grab a cup of coffee that isn’t from yet another Starbucks.
I just wish they sold cake by the slice. The samples are always so delicious.

After a full day training for work, I just needed a fix for my sweet tooth. Well, Firehook Bakery will get you there! The case of baked goodies was filled with so many of my favorites, but I chose a chocolate brownie. Normally, brownies are thick and heavy. This brownie was huge, but light and delicious. Don’t get confused — it was not lacking in the ooey gooey chocolate taste I love. But it was more like biting into a chocolate pillow. I haven’t ever tasted a brownie so light, so I had to keep trying another bite… Even after devouring half the brownie, I did not have a heavy, sickening pit of chocolate in my stomach. From the taste of the brownie, I can only imagine what the other goodies must taste like. Next time I’m in the area and have a hankering for a sweet treat, I will definitely head back to Firehook. Plus, the service was quick and friendly!

I like it. Good coffee, delicious pastry, reasonable prices, and quick+friendly service. Great alternative to starbucks/​dunkin/​etc for the morning commuter or for that afternoon pick-​me-​up. Looks like they have cakes too for that office birthday (I haven’t tried the cakes but they look tasty).

What a wonderful little bakery and coffee shop! Great Panini too! I had their turkey Panini which was fantastic. High quality turkey and perfect bread. Their lemonade was exceptional as well.
The staff was super friendly and the shop was cute and spacious enough for us to sit down as a family to eat.
However, the thing that made me give this place 5 stars were their cupcakes. Holy smokes the chocolate cupcake was unbelievable. I’ve had a lot of cupcakes in my day, but this was the best I’ve ever had. The icing is super fluffy and AMAZINGLY tasty! The cake was moist and delicious. My husband got the vanilla cupcake and had the same reaction.
Love this place and will definitely be back next time I’m in DC!

I try to find local coffee houses when I’m outside of NY. Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts annoy me, if there is a bakery with an espresso machine then I’m ready for action.
Firehook Bakery AND Coffee House? Sold!
Sitting in the café on a rainy Friday morning, it really is a pretty location. Dupont Circle on a rainy Friday morning looks like a European city. Very elegant.
Walking into the bakery, there are plenty of baked good choices. I see a few great looking bagels choices, cookies and croissants.
I usually don’t order this but I wanted a Ham and Cheese croissant! The croissant looked big with ham chunks & cheese oozing out the sides. I also ordered a latte as well.
Good tangy cheese, it was a guilty pleasure before leaving the city.
Firehook Bakery & Coffee House is a nice bakery that I would frequent again when I’m in the area

Pros:
— Quiet, spacious café with a ton of seating.
— Coffee was good. Was glad to find a non-​chain coffee place nearby after a meeting.
— Free water! To hydrate along with your coffee.
— Plentiful assortment of sweet and savory pastries, breads, and baked goods. Almond croissant was enormous and there was an even distribution of almond paste filling — not typical of many of the ones I’ve had prior. Fresh, flaky, and not overly sweet.
— Lots of outlets to use — I charged my phone for 30 min before heading across the street for the metro.
Cons
None. If I had to pick one, it’d be that there was only one, unisex bathroom.

Relaxed bakery and coffee shop close to the metro. Great place to meet coworkers for breakfast.
Pros:
Diverse and ample seating (booths, smaller bar tables, couch, etc)
Spacious
Friendly staff
Fair prices
Pretty good food
Mugs available for sit-​in
Cons:
Nothing sticks out to me.
What I got:
Whole wheat bagel with cream cheese
Chai tea latte (spice)
What I thought:
Firehouse is a spacious bakery, although it looks much smaller on the outside.
Many kinds of baked goods and breads, perfect for surprising the your coworkers at the downtown office. The ambiance is surprisingly quiet and pleasant, even though it is right outside Farragut West metro station and Farragut Square.
The whole wheat bagel was decent, nothing special. Cream cheese comes in an individual Philadelphia Cream Cheese spread. The chai tea latte comes in «spice» or «vanilla». I got the «spice», and it was sweet and milky, but not that spicy. I believe they use a syrup for the chai tea.
I didn’t check if there was Wifi and decent outlets for studying. Please let me know if anyone finds out!
Definitely worth a visit. Not the best food, but the overall experience is great.

Great panini and good coffee. We ate turkey panini and it was so good. Crispy and soft bread and so tasty.
Next time when I come around, I will drop by here to get breakfast.

A year or so ago, I had cake made from Firehook bakery and it was good, however, I bought two loaves of bread and a bundt cake to take home to my family and EVERYTHING was dry. The orange zest bundt cake had good flavor, but was way too dry. The whole wheat and rosemary loaves both were dry– like I had bought bread that was just about to go stale. The whole wheat also tasted bitter, like sourdough. Everything was very disappointing!!! I can make better bread than that myself.
The most disappointing thing was that I was talking to the people working there, to help me decide what to choose, because I was presenting the bread and cake as a gift and these were their recommendations.

If you’re in D.C. to see and be seen by the movers and shakers in the Farragut Square area, this is surely the place for you! Before they’re ready to help powerful people take over the world, the pinstripe suited crowds of K Street pop in here every morning for coffee and small talk it seems.
But for those of us who want a quiet place to work «from home,» this place is not ideal. The people with «big ideas» and «big pockets» that frequent here also have big voices. And the acoustics here make it easy for them to be heard. Plus, and maybe it’s all the data they’re using, the internet here is incredibly slow.
As far as the pastries go, however, they’re excellent here. The croissants are light and fluffy and their cinnamon rolls are decadent and sticky and pretty large for the price. In a hurry, this place is fast and friendly for carry out.
My only other issue is that their iced tea doesn’t taste like anything. It would be one thing if it was bitter because then I could have mixed in sugar but it was almost like I was drinking brown flavored water when I was here trying to get work done (and I needed some caffeine it didn’t really supply to keep a headache from how loud it was in here at bay). And I found that pretty unsatisfying.
Still, it’s great to see a local business compete with the chains around Farragut Square and I’ll keep giving them my money. But when I’d rather work in my office than here, that’s not saying much about the atmosphere.

Looking up Firehook on Unilocal has taught me that my neighborhood gem is in fact [at least a local] chain. That said, their coffee is superior to Starbucks and the Keurig at my job. Plus the service is amazing. Every staff member I’ve encountered has been incredibly courteous, offering recommendations and warming pastries upon request. The environment is cozy and quaint. They make a fantastic almond croissant and though I haven’t tried much else from the bakery, it’s always cleaned out by lunch time, so that must say something about everything else!

I met up for here for lunch with some friends and I hope we go somewhere else next time. Nothing was horrible, but it was the definition of «meh» food. I got a sandwich and it failed to impress me. Like Liz Lemon, I love a good sandwich, and this was only passable. I could make sandwich that would taste almost the same in my own kitchen and save $ 7. I also found the workers to be kind of abrasive, which is normally not a big deal but, combined with sub-​par food, just added to an already mediocre experience.
As much as I wanted to try a pastry or dessert, I had an office party later that day and knew I would regret the indulgence. Maybe I’ll try those sometime, but I can find a better sandwich elsewhere.

I’m with Karisa D – what’s up with all the haters? The service has always been friendly and fast when I stopped by. All the pastries I’ve sampled, such as the chocolate croissant, are delicious. And the ambiance is very cozy. Prices are average for the area, so not much to be said there. If I were to meet a friend downtown for coffee or sweets, this would be one of my first picks.

I stopped by this morning to grab a birthday treat for a coworker on the way into the office!
Firehook always has super yummy and fresh items available in terms of bakery treats and sandwiches/​salads. Everything is reasonably priced too.
Staff is always friendly and helpful, which is much appreciated.
Also had the best chai latte of my life there this morning. They asked me if I wanted spiced or vanilla (never heard of a vanilla before), so I went with spiced and I’m glad I did. It was so rich tasting which I loved because so often at other locations, I end up with a watery drink.
My coworkers and I also go here if we’re in need of an afternoon snack; but beware the pickings are definitely less later in the day (which makes sense because they have heavy foot traffic all day because things are SO GOOD), but it can sometimes be disappointing.
Also, a great place to grab a cake or other item needed for a last minute event.
There are several Firehook locations in the DMV area, and I highly suggest visiting when you’re near one.

Coffee is sub par.
The 7 layer brownie cake thing was pretty dope, I’d get it again. Nice atmosphere as well.

I stopped in here quickly for some coffee since I usually prefer trying new and non-​chain places. There weren’t many other choices in this area other than Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts, so I ended up here.
The iced coffee was pretty tasty, and better than most chain places. I also figured I would try a little something to eat when I saw the massive cookies on display — they are enormous in circumference, but pretty thin.
I went with the Presidential Sweet Cookie ($ 1.70): an oatmeal cookie with chocolate chips, dried cherries and pecans. It was decent enough but nothing really memorable.
This is a decent option if you want something different, but I don’t see much of a reason to return as I can get a bigger coffee for my caffeine fix from a chain that’s about the same quality.

This review is strictly for the CHOCOLATE ALMOND CROISSANT. Thats right, im that person, who writes reviews about particular ish which irked her. I am not french but do i know my croissants? yes i do! I am so used to the amazing perfect chocolate almond croissants made by Breadline just a couple of feet away from work that i have never strayed elsewhere but this fated morning, BL did not have those wonderful connesiers.

I recently visited Firehook again and I was so happy to receive a good latte– the milk was steamed perfectly and the espresso tasted great. I decided to check out the outside area and was very pleasantly surprised– there’s a very large space with several tables and chairs; there’s even a pretty fountain in the center! I really love that some of the tables are covered, so you can enjoy sitting outside without taking the risk of getting a burn.
I’m really glad I decided to give this place another try and I’ll definitely visit often.

Not a huge fan of Firehooks overall. I recently got a latte here that formed a skin on the top within five minutes… ew. I can’t remember this ever happening to me before — did they steam the milk too hot? All I know is I didn’t like it and my boss was horrified.
But the one on Capitol Hill has been handy as a place to take phonecalls between/​before meetings in the House buildings. There is a good seating area in the back that is spacious and somewhat quiet. This one is similar — for any meetings around the executive buildings, you can stop here and use this location’s plethora of spacious seating for a semi-​private discussion. More coffee shops need features like this, so it’s an important factor in my review!
Also, I’m a fan of their brownies.

3 ½ stars*******
Ok all you Firehook haters. You are not better off going to Starbucks. I think their coffee prices are similar to Starbucks. And they have way more dessert choices. I’m a fan of their cookies; rich and full of flavor.
I’m not hating on Starbucks either (I happen to like Starbucks). I just want those of you reading the reviews to give Firehook a chance. K thanks.