Jack’s Restaurant & Bar

I was here yesterday. I left the area last June so when I come down for a visit I stick to where I know. Yesterday’s daily drink special was $ 3 Stoli’s. They usually cahrge tax but on about ½ the drinks I ordered the bartender did not. The drinks were strong and the service was good.

Only one STAR!
Past visit there this week was HORRID! Drink prices are just okay, but the flood of the drunk neighborhood gheys has dissuaded me from ever coming back! Service is super lacking!!! This place’s saving grace is the bartenders they have like Krista! (that is who the EXTRA star is for!)

40% of the time this place is not too bad and the other 60% of the time it’s a hot, hot mess.
I’ll break it down for you like this. the food is not only mediocre tasting, but completely not filling and takes a long time to arrive; it’s expensive; the wait staff is all like, «I am le tired»; and the pepto bismol paint color on the walls is not appetizing.
on the upside:
location is great; a decent place to go for happy hour as long as you don’t order food; they can accomodate large parties; i’m desperately trying to think of something else.

As a bar, Jack’s is not very good. I only came here because it was the location of the after party associated with a scavenger hunt put on by Mr. Yogato. The bar was very crowded, but we managed to find a table. There did not appear to be waiter service so we went to the bar to get drinks.
It took an inordinately long time to get the bartender’s attention. The beer selection was disappointing; Sam Adams seasonal was the most compelling choice, otherwise everything else was fairly standard. They are light on the pour. If I’m ordering a pint, I expect a pint glass to be filled near to the top. Here they don’t even try to come close. Perhaps this just a pet peeve of mine, but it adds up.
Average and unremarkable. I wouldn’t seek it out.

I took my parents to Jack’s for Sunday brunch, and unfortunately I regret this decision.
We took a look at the menu, and it looked great and affordable. To our delight, we were seated immediately, the décor was nice, and we were greeted by our friendly waitress. Sadly, the experience went downhill from there.
We ordered our meals, and we must have waited 30 – 40 minutes for our food. We noticed people getting food that had ordered after us, and we also noticed someone come in, wait for service, and leave because it had taken so long. I would not characterize the restaurant as «packed» either.
When we finally did get our food, we were missing my mom’s dish. When that finally came out, my mom’s dish was missing ¹⁄₃ of what was on the menu. The food was okay, not bad, but my dad ordered the veggie omelet, and the menu did not advertise that it had goat cheese in it. My dad is not a fan of goat cheese, so that would have been good to know. I ordered the french toast. It was fine.
The coffee was good. I don’t think that will be enough to draw me back, though.

SETTING:
Numerous visits
STAFF:
Helpful, though often over-​worked.
DECOR:
Chill. No real theme
ENTREES:
Half-​Price nights and more make this place a continual option, even inspite of some long delays for entrée and Risotto better than their pastas. They offer a worthy veggie burger too.
DRINKS:
Strong. Jagerbombs included.
VERDICT:
They’ll see me again, though I wish Risotta was counted as a pasta.

At one time it was Boss Shepherd’s, followed by Peppers, and then for a hot minute a French restaurant. Now it’s known as Jack’s. I was lured into this East Dupont hot spot by the sign outside that promised «12 drafts beers; the most on 17^th Street!»
It was only Tuesday, but when I walked in the music was pumping like it was Friday night at a dance club; not exactly what I had in mind for a dinner on my own and an ominous start to the evening.
I grabbed a seat at the granite bar and took a look at the menu and counted only nine fairly lackluster draft beer choices (Sierra Nevada, Leinenkugel, yadda, yadda, yadda). When I asked about the discrepancy, I was told they were having trouble with the kegs. Their selection of bottled beers was equally as unimpressive, but since they were only $ 3 on Tuesday’s, I settled for a Blue Moon.
So, the beer thing was disappointing, but what about the food? Perusing through the menu I was struck for the rather high prices. Finding nothing particularly exciting, I went with the burger, at $ 10 the cheapest option on the menu, and who can f*ck up a burger anyway? Jack’s can, that’s who! The 8 oz burger was over-​salted and very dense. The markings on the outside of the bun indicated it had been put in a George Forman grill or the like.
Service was OK, although as someone else mentioned, the servers seem to bunch up; I’m all for having a fun work environment, but there is a line where, once crossed, things become unprofessional. The best thing Jack’s has got going for it? The large outdoor seating area, but of course, this is only good for about six months of the year.
All in all a major disappointment. Save your money and head to Stoney’s on P Street. At least they have a decent draft beer selection and can make a decent burger (not to mention a heluva good grilled cheese!)

First, a mini-​rant:
What is it with the prices at the restaurants on 17^th Street? Seems like in the past five years, everyone has taken each item on the menu and doubled the cost. Sure, most have remodeled and are no longer the dives they were — but they are still far from the kinds of establishments that can feature an entrée averaging between $ 15 and $ 20.
On with the actual review… What an unpleasant experience. Boyfriend and I were seduced by the promise of half-​priced burgers on Monday and were very much looking forward to potentially having a «regular» Monday night spot in the neighborhood.
We ordered a round of drinks at the bar while we waited for an outdoor table to open up, and were pleasantly surprised by the stiffness and the reasonable price. Unfortunately that was the highlight of our meal.
We ordered the fried calamari to start; when it finally arrived (the guy next to us, who sat down after we did, had gotten his pasta entrée already) we concurred it was the worst calamari either of us had ever had. Small, overfried, rubbery, chewy, tough… gross. The «special sauce» it was served with… equally gross.
Our food was equally disappointing. The burger came on panini bread (?) and was very dry and overcooked (my S.O. had ordered it medium.) The fries were clearly of the frozen sort, and were an odd mix of overcooked and undercooked. My chef salad was… eh. Just a salad. With remarkably dry chicken.
Service… our waitress was very pleasant, but a bit absent. And the remainder of the staff was kind of odd. There was one guy hovering nearby who was oddly persistent in trying to take the condiments off our table even though we hadn’t gotten our food yet (this was nowhere near closing time, mind you.) As soon as we were done eating, he swooped in and grabbed that ketchup as if it were precious gold and we were looking to walk off with it. Um, insane much?
I might come back for the cheap drinks, but ONLY the drinks. And if I come with someone I dislike, I’ll tell them to get the calamari.

Underwhelming atmosphere, food, and the staff is a bit questionable. They seem friendly enough sometimes but they congregate and act like they and are chilling at someone’s house.
It’s really «off putting» when a waiter is sitting across from you with his legs spread out and crotch pointed at you not a foot away, eyes glazed over staring off into space for up to an hour while you’re trying to get through a salad.
The first time I came here years ago the waiter spilled soup on one of our party’s suit jackets and didn’t offer to pay for dry cleaning. When we mistakenly didn’t leave a tip (don’t blame me, I just gave however much I was told to chip in, blame the European who tallied up the bill) the waiter’s friend came out and asked us why we didn’t leave a tip — «Did he do something wrong?» Seriously? Wow. My friend who was buzzed promptly gave him a $ 20. Dear lord. This is the kind of night you can look forward to at Jack’s.
It’s just as shabby and worse for wear as the other 17^th street clones. If not for the prime location and their patio during the warmer weather these places would all fold.
Having said that, there are better happy hour specials in stumbling distance.

I had a great time here! I remember when it opened a while back and hearing people were disappointed based on the hype. I recently went for my first time, and I was very surprised by the food.
It was ½ price wine night, which is a great deal, but I was concerned that they had a lot of «½ price nights» on food, which always scares me.
The crab and spinach dip with fried pita points was awesome (though a little on the small side) and the chef’s salad was also really good (it was on the big side).
Overall, I had a good time with cheap wine and good food outdoors on a nice night with friendly service. Can’t beat that.

I had brunch there today. I have to say it wasn’t the greatest. I ordered an omelet with goat cheese, ham, mushrooms and spinach. It was okay, but there was way too much goat cheese. Since it costs $ 2.50 to have it I guess they were trying to give me my money’s worth. I left a huge pile of it on the plate.
My omelet came with a salad, the greens were fine, but the dressing was terrible. I think it was mayonnaise. It was creamy with no flavor whatsoever. I left it on my plate.
My friend had the steak and eggs. He ordered them sunny side up. I guess they didn’t know what that mean because they didn’t come out that way. The steak was over-​cooked. Why ask for a temp, if you aren’t going serve it they way it was ordered. The steak was tender and tasty despite being the wrong temp. His potatoes had clearly been cooked earlier and were kind of limp and sad.
The mimosa’s were kind of tiny and didn’t really taste like orange. They need bigger glasses.
All in all, it was pretty mediocre. Not terrible, just not great. The serve was pretty good.
I won’t eat there again, but the menu had some great drink specials, so I wouldn’t be adverse to sitting on the patio and throwing back a few.

This place was flat out godawful. I decided to come here with a friend i hadn’t seen in a while to catch up and scope out some of the boys in the gayborhood.
I was really jonsin’ for some gheys after spending three days at a work meeting in Silver Spring. First off, the service was terrible! Our waiter actually stepped out to smoke a joint while before we could even order. Stumbling back in, reeking of ganja and struggling to keep his eyes open, he finally took our order after over 30 minutes of waiting on him to finish getting high. To get refills, we had to head over to the bar area where the bartender would yell over to our server to fill ‘em up.
I ordered the chicken crêpe with cream sauce and my friend ordered the beef lasagna with bechamel sauce, and we shared the crab dip.
The crêpe was actually pretty good, the chicken was a bit overcooked, but the sauce more than made up for it, and the portion was perfect.
The lasagna however, was a major disappointment as it was far too sweet and tasted like the chef took a can of chef boyardee and a can of chili and tossed them between some lasagna noodles after adding sugar. Moreover, the top noodle was dry and rubbery, and the bechamel was nonexistent. We ended up sharing the crêpe and eating a random hot cross bun which was brought to our table ¾ of the way through our meal.
Falling even further from grace was the crab dip, which is one of my favorite appetizers to order when I’m in this corner of the country. It was basically a pile of melted cheese with some imitation crab meat shoved into it. The pita bread it was served with was basically dragged through some tepid oil which left it half dry, and half sopping in grease.
I’m sure this place is fun for happy hour, or even fun as a bar later in the evening, but I’d advise you to stay away, far away if you’re looking for a decent dinner.

FOOD:
LOVE IT. $ 5 burger during happy hour. I can taste the good quality of meat that they use for the patties, YUM! My friend and I also got a drink, because he’s such an alcoholic and somehow always gets me to have a drink with him. OMG, drinks are $ 3 only, and the bartender is kind of cute, why not? <– that’s how he got me.
AMBIANCE:
Dim lighting. The bar area’s nice. I’m glad the bar stools has a small back rest. It’s nice when they do, because I like putting my purse behind me. It prevents messy ketchup drips from falling on it like it would if I were to put my purse on my lap. I don’t know, little details matter.
The service is good too! We even came here for a birthday dinner after a good experience from happy hour.

I wish I could give 2.5 stars for Jacks, but whatever. I’ve come here three times since moving to DC, and each was distinctly memorable (once with the Mom, once w/​the BFF, once on a ‘date.’).
The day I moved to Dupont, Mom was hungry and I was sober, so we walked down 17^th and decided on Jack’s. While it wasn’t horrible, M definitely had a culture shock when looking at the drink menu (the Liza, the Judy, the Cher, etc). Crab cakes were fine, though the couple next to us loudly discussing razzberry flavored lubricant was a bit more… interesting. A few months later I returned when the BFF visited from LA. We went to a sunday afternoon happy hour and had a blast. Burgers are relatively hard to screw up, and multiple $ 3 drinks definitely helped. After that, I returned on a date. I stuck with cocktails, though at one point the water glasses started leaking (due to cracks or something?) so we had to switch tables. Not horrible, not amazing, but a memorable date. As I live down the street, I’m sure I’ll be back — but I wouldn’t seek this place out.

The happy hours specials are pretty good, but the service can be completely hit or miss.
I ended up waiting 20 minutes for table service on a day when there were only about 2 other tables full of customers. If they were busy, there might be an excuse, but with several servers just hanging out in the bar, i was a bit irritated.
However, you can’t been the happy hour specials that they have everyday, and it’s a decent place to people watch after a long day of work.

The menu had a lot of promise, but the dishes came out badly. The portions were meager, and the food tastes of pure grease. It was strange that they gave out english muffins instead of bread while we waited, but at least we had something to munch on for the eternity that it took to be served. Service wasn’t just spotty, but downright awful. Our server wasn’t very good at english, and mixed up the drinks. Ordinarily we aren’t the kind to make a fuss, but it was a big deal to pay $ 6 for a tiny latte that wasn’t really a latte. The manager flat out told us we couldn’t split the bill when some of us didn’t have cash, and took forty-​five minutes to ring up our cards. Everytime we tried to wave someone over desperately, they would actually avoid eye contact!
I really regretted eating at Jack’s when there were far better options on the same street. Even McDonald’s would have been a happier lunch.

I like this place. They have some kind of deal each night, which makes it hard to pay full price ever. I mean really why should I pay $ 10 for a hamburger tonight when tomorrow I know it will be $ 5? And by the way, I think their hamburgers are delicious.
I wouldn’t trek across town to go here, but it’s a great place to have in the neighborhood for those times you don’t feel cooking. And the outside seating is is very nice.

I needed to soak my sorrows in alcohol this past Friday night after a beauty salon disaster. What other way to feel better than $ 3 Stolis? I don’t like Stoli so I skipped the drink special but it was comfort enough to know that I could have drink the night away for under $ 20. Jack’s is especially enticing when appetizers and drinks for 4 only came to $ 48. When does that ever happen? Say it with me NEVER.
The food smelled so tasty but I didn’t get a chance to eat any. My group said the crab dip was very good but I can’t offer my own assessment because I don’t like crab dip in general. The fries smelled delish and the other entrees were beautiful.
It offers out door seating and it is quite spacious inside. I didn’t feel cramped at the bar at all. I’ll go back to Jack’s soon to try some of the food.

I like this place. The service is usually good, the drinks are great, and the food is …“average.” It is not bad, but just average. I like the space especially with the outside area, but again, the food is just average. But what makes this OK is that the prices are reasonable for their average food:-)!
1÷8÷09: Unfortunately, my partner and I decided to give this place another try. What a mistake and what the f@ck, I want more $ 100 dollars back. Unsatisfactory, unsatisfactory, and they should be ashamed of themselves! Even their house Pinot Grigio was so bad, I could not consume it!!! 1.5. stars:-(!!
Overall rating: 3 + 1.5 = 4.5 /​2 = 2.25

I did it again! I was on 17^th street with some of my friends and we weren’t ready to call it a night yet. We decide to have another round and headed to Peppers. No one in the group was found of Peppers, but any port in a storm, right?
Well, we soon realized that Peppers is long gone. In talking to one of the bartenders at Jack’s (well, that particular night it was the «Kitty Cat Lounge».but I’ll get to that in a sec) Peppers closed, then it was a French place which didn’t last long and now it is Jack’s. I will have to go back to Jack’s to try it for dinner. but this review is more about the Kitty Cat Lounge.
We were surprised and a bit dumbfounded to find a «Ladies Night» with a focus on «L.» Yes, lesbians. All of these women were well dressed and the age groups represented was a good mix.
I gotta say, the girls carrying around the shots were hot! The music was great and the drink specials were a steal. With no cover, even though this isn’t my typical «scene».I’ll be back.