Firehook Bakery & Coffee House

Good coffee and excellent cheap giant cookies. Get the presidential sweet cookie.

overcooked dry panini is not worth the detour. Next time we will stick to the soup, bread and coffee. Very disappointed.

Average coffee. Not much else to say here, didn’t try the bakery stuff

Yum… the cookies are great. So big and soft! The other pastries and cakes are tasty, too.
Very crowded in the morning rush for coffee. But friendly staff and easy in/​out.

I’d read the reviews of this place and walked past many times. I finally stopped in on my way to work one day. I scored a chocolate croissant for $ 2.25. It was so worth it, what with the chocolate still warm & melty. What wasn’t worth it was the $ 0.50 they charged me for a cup of hot water. Oh well. I made it worth my while in other ways. I’d return for the croissants. But nothing else about this place is «all that»…

I came to Firehook today in search of a chocolate chip cookie. I saw first of all that their cookies are GIANT! I did not get the chocolate chip, but instead got the espresso cookie (the chocolate looked amazing!)
It is a wonderful cookie! It has all of the necessary cookie textures (chewy, soft, crispy edges) and the flavor is great! it has chopped walnuts in it, and I don’t normally like nuts in my cookies, but they were fine. It did add contrast to the incredible richness of the cookie.
To wrap it up,
The Cookie: Delicious!
The Value: Fantastic! it was $ 1.55 for a cookie the size of a salad plate!
The experience: Nice. It was a calm bakery/​coffee shop at 2pm
Would I return?: If I need another cookie, I will certainly come back
4 stars?: I should’ve gotten the chocolate chip cookie as my gateway cookie to firehook. Overall, this was great!

They serve two types of chai lattes here: spiced and vanilla. (3.5)
I’m not a chai latte expert (yet), but my drink was ok. Maybe it was the fact that it wasn’t as hot as I would have liked it, and there were some leftover chunks of stuff at the bottom of my drink. Perhaps from the mix? Not sure what it was.
It was cute that their menu was handwritten. Feel like I don’t see much of that around coffeeshops these days. Seating is very limited here. I only saw a few chairs by the windows.
It’s a grab and go type of place.

Firehook is generally overrated. Which is a shame because I would love to give them business just because they are a local business in an ocean of corporate chains.
At this location the coffee is usually weaker, not flavorful, and curiously lukewarm. Can’t comment of most of the baked goods, but what I’ve had was mediocre and the quality varied from day to day. I have a coworker that confirms that she is always disappointed on «dried out muffin» days.

Got a mocha frappaccino… and I was not impressed. Icy, tasted like powder… bleh. I will not be getting any more drinks from here.
Why 3 then? Their baked goods are pretty tasty! I’ve had some that taste «meh» (seriously? this is like… baked flour + butter?), but I’ve had some that were really tasty. Problem is I always feel guilty about a quarter of the way through my giant cookie.

I think Firehook is one of DC’s most overrated chains — Firehook always lured in by the oversized cookies. Those things are sirens. They literally begin singing to me as I walk past the entrance of the bakery. The next thing I know, I’ve spent $ 1.99 on a cookie that’s about the size of my face. But the sad thing is, Firehook’s cookies taste of nothing at all (except maybe butter) and they all seem to taste the same — I’ve never seen a more fantastic illusion. They look heavenly, and taste bland.

DO: get a cookie or a bar
(or lobster bisque if they’ve got it)
DON’T: get a panini or any other sandwich
Five starts for delicious, huge (and cheap) cookies! And the 7-​layer bars are super tasty too.
Buuuuut… two stars for the food. I do NOT recommend the paninis — they’re flavorless & mushy, and seem to be made with cheap lunchmeat. Soup is hit or miss — lobster bisque was sinfully rich and really tasty, but chicken dumpling tasted like it came from a can.

Best brownie ever matched w/​a deliciously rich hot chocolate. My friend had the gingerbread cookie and kept saying — this is how a gingerbread is supposed to taste.
Great place to warm up on a cold day. Friendly staff, cozy atmosphere.
Will be back next time I’m in Dupont!

Firehook Bakery is THE place to go for fresh cookies, pastry and of course AMAZING bread in downtown DC. There are two locations: one in Dupont Circle and a second across from Farragut Square. Both are absolutely great.
Whenever I’m dropping by a client’s office, I try to swing into Firehook before, and pick up a half dozen of their large cookies and a couple dozen of their tiny bite-​sized cookies. That’s just enough Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal-​Raisin, Snickerdoodles and Peanut Butter happiness to spread around!

Was hungry on a weekday afternoon and decided to stop here for a quick snack. I was wandering around and didn’t want Starbucks again. So I happened to walk by whiling heading to the metro and was pulled in by the «force» of the cookie. The cookies were huge. I haven’t seen cookies this big in the Bay Area. The pastries, cookies, bars — looked really good. But I settled on an old favorite — something I try in different bakeries (white chocolate macadamia cookie). This thing was huge — took my 2 days to finish it. The cost $ 1.55 — unbelievable. Here in the city we get a teeny cookie at Mrs. Fields or Tom’s Cookies for almost $ 2 each. The ingredients were of good quality and the cookie was very tasty — not too heavy on the sugar.
I wanted to buy 1 of each kind of cookie and bring it back to the Bay Area but it would’t have lasted the trip back. The cookies would have melted and crumbled in the heat. Guess, I’ll just have to return to D.C. for another visit.

Bad coffee, bad croissant, bad music blaring at 8 in the morning. In other words, typical DC.
Won’t be going back.

So I had gone to the Firehook on 17^th Street but I didn’t realize that it was a chain until I walked by this Firehook. I literally stopped in my tracks and squeeled with glee. I was with a friend who was visiting from Boston and dragged him (okay really he was willing to go) inside for a cookie. There were so many to choose from! I always go for whatever is chocolatey-​est but he had a sugar cookie. Boring. Although, from Firehook even the most boring cookie is delightful. Now that I know Firehook is a chain I need to seek out more of them!

The 5 stars is for the 7 layer bar.
Just the 7 layer bar.
Think of any and everything you’d want in a sweetie, and it is in the 7 layer bar. Chocolate, caramel, coconut, … See, I don’t even remember the other 4 things in it, but it’s a dream.
The service is always friendly, and for such a small place, the selection of cakes and pastries is fantastico. And the coffee’s fresh and smooth (if it weren’t Lent and I could have some right now).
But the 7 layer bar takes all the stars.

I’m basically in love with Firehook’s coffee and oatmeal raisin cookies. I never get them at the same time, though, so the baristas know me from seeing my face sometimes twice a day. During the holidays, they also have amazing frosted sugar cookies (a holiday indulgence of mine).
I haven’t had an actual meal from Firehook (sandwich or salad), but it’s a «bakery and coffeehouse» so what’s the point? The women who work here are so nice and know many of their patrons’ drinks by memory.
The prices for bakery items are a bit steep ($ 1.45 — $ 1.75 for a cookie) but the coffees are about a dollar cheaper than Starbucks or Caribou; My skim latte costs less than $ 3. Since it’s a local D.C. bakery, the prices for the food seems understandable.
I’m afraid to go astray from my usual oatmeal raisin cookie because if I try anything else, I might be hooked to all of their cookies and then I would weigh 700 pounds. For a weekly (or, ahem, daily) indulgence, Firehook is my choice!

My work has had catering from Firehook for office lunches, and usually they bring in a huge platter with assorted sandwiches, of which about half are run-​of-​the-​mill turkey on wheat or ham on rye and not very impressive at all. However, I’ve got to say that a few of the more «specialty» sandwiches they make are really fantastic. There is a chicken salad with great flavor and really yummy ingredients — I think its curry, raisins, and some kind of nut — as well as a delicious fresh mozzerella, tomato, basil, and pine nut combination. I am a breadlover of all kinds but usually I don’t like ciabatta (too thick and dry) — but Firehook’s is super soft, a little chewy and just perfect on both of those two sandwiches. Desserts are generally good. I’m tempted to stop in one day soon to check out their fresh bakery selection and take something home.
What’s weird is that they don’t post a lunch or sandwich menu anywhere online, just cakes and breads, so I’m assuming that you can get the same sandwiches walk-​in but I’m not sure.

This is the Columbia Square location of a local chain of retail bakery/​coffee bars specializing in a wide variety of artisan breads and phenomenal cakes, pies, tarts, muffins, cookies, and fruit bars. Take a break from sightseeing and treat your sweet tooth to a taste sensation.