Maté

I am convinced I hit this place on a bad night. After being seated, it took a while for someone to take drink orders. Then, the fun really began. We placed our order and asked for hot green tea. They were out. How can a SUSHI joint be out of green tea. That is like Taco Bell being out of… burritos. I ask for a salmon skin hand role. Nope. No can do. Then I think, no salmon skin? No toaster? Why cant it be done? We landed on the moon! Is a salmon skin hand role that difficult. Let it go. Fine! Ok, the tuna squares come out. Terrible. No flavor. A had a couple of other roles and they were all… flat. Flavorless. Anywho, you have been warned.

There are way better sushi restaurant options in Georgetown. The food is decent but choices are limited. And there is no consistency between the bar staff with making common alcoholic beverages. I ordered a Cosmo that turned out terrible, and I had to get another bartender to make it right. The guy over shook the drink, so it turned light pink and frothy. He then wouldn’t admit he sucked at making the drink nor that there was anything wrong with it. If you drink a Cosmo you know how it’s supposed to look AND taste. Good restaurants train their bartenders to make the drinks the same way. Not here! Go elsewhere.

Mate = Eurotrash. Sushi. Happy Hour.
Need I say more? Don’t miss the half-​priced yummy drinks and decent sushi accompanied by terrible club music.

Walking in the place looked nice and modern. As we approached the hostess, we asked for a table for two. She asked if we have a reservation and we said no. She almost didn’t seat us. After a minute of thinking about it, they were able to stick us at a small table. As I sat down, the chair I had was broken and I almost fell over. I told the waitress who said sorry but did nothing about it. We ordered our drinks and the drink service was very slow! We received our sushi before our drinks. I’m giving this place 3 stars because the sushi was very good but the service and overall attitude towards customers was lacking.

Perfect ambiance for a Thursday. The sushi was packed with amazing flavor. The Corazon dish was my favorite, the Latin infused sushi rolls had a fresh bite with the strawberries sweetening the deal. I’ve had sushi before but these artists truly crafted some of the best sushi I’ve had. The sake was not over powering, perfect to cap off the night.
The staff was friendly, prompt and made you feel welcomed. We had such a relaxing time that my girlfriend left her cell at our table. They were already closed for the evening, so I called to leave a message and to my surprise a staff member answered. I told her what happened and they said they would wait for us to go back to retrieve the cell. Now that’s customer service!
We will definitely go and finish tasting everything on the menu.

Went there on Valentine’s Day for a girls night out. Incredible sushi, good atmosphere, most impolite waitress I’ve had in a long time. Food was incredible, but the service we had would make me recommend takeout.

Mate falls into category of restaurants that are just okay. Sushi was fine. Prices were a little high for what you got, especially the nigiri. The service was good though — never had an empty water cup.
As others have mentioned, the restaurant seems to want to be a night club. Which is a really weird combination. There’s loud club music playing, and at least one group of drunk girls screaming at a nearby table.
Honestly, I probably won’t come here again. There’s better sushi elsewhere, and it’s definitely not my scene. That being said, if you’re hungry in Georgetown after 10 pm, Mate will meet your needs.

Nice place to get a drink to handing out with friends. The foods are just so so. You can find better sushi at many places.

Sushi: ⁵⁄₅ Very good and relatively cheap. Cocktails: ²⁄₅ Taste didn’t match price. Granted I only had one, but pineapple shouldn’t taste like cough syrup no matter what you mix with it. Atmosphere: ⁴⁄₅ Not quiet but not terribly loud (probably depends on the time of day as well). Husband and I stopped in before a movie and it was chic and romantic. I dug the jetson-​style chairs. Great place to take a date!

I’m surprised at the reviews here saying the sushi is good. I stopped here for some late night sushi (plus: they are open late) after a movie. The vibe is for extremely specific tastes: very Vegas, dark, weird nightclub look but it’s not actually a nightclub. There’s a giant tv screen over the bar that showed people dancing at a rave.
Food: I had the seaweed salad, which was overpriced and had too much liquid/didn’t taste very fresh. Then I had the Bonzai mate roll, which was probably a poor decision but it was not good at all. The entire roll tastes like the shallots, so you don’t get any of the other flavors. The fish was bland. Considering you can get quality fish at Yoyogi in Gaithersburg for a few dollars a roll, this felt like a huge ripoff. Maybe you’re paying for the atmosphere and the drinks but not the sushi.

Came here with three friends and really enjoyed the atmosphere. Got the fresno and rainbow and thought it was really good. Definitely would come back again to try the other specialty rolls

Mate used to be the hot spot for late night beveraging back in the day (lord I sound old), but I hadn’t been there in ages until last week. I had plans to see an 8 pm movie, but didn’t arrive in Gtown until about 7:35 pm. My friend and I were both hungry but were resigned to the fact that popcorn would unfortunately have to suffice as dinner until the movie ended… UNTIL I spotted Mate (conveniently located right next to the theatre), and remembered that they serve sushi which I’m *always* down for. We went in, let them know our movie was at 8 pm, and were served our served our dranks and rolls and out the door in time for the movie! Amazing timing! Our bartender was also lovely and made us feel welcomed and at ease at the bar. Mate is a fantastic option for a quick, non fast food, meal near the the Gtown movie theater.

Amazing service & the sushi was delicious! I would highly recommend coming here if you love sushi, great service and fun atmosphere

If you’re looking for a place to go on a late night sushi run, this is the place to go. It closes at 12:30 am so it is the best place to go when you have the drunchies after spending a Friday night drinking at happy hour on the harbor.
The vibe of the restaurant is super futuristic looking, which makes it extremely fun and they blast the music so it gives it a club like atmosphere. The sushi was not too expensive, but it also wasn’t the best sushi I’ve ever had.
The drinks were pretty good and they were definitely affordable. This place is definitely a must go to for the atmosphere, but if you’re looking for good quality sushi this isn’t the place to go.

Nice place to have diner #drink # sushi # eat#
Got here couple time to have b. Day to friend we getting our spat for
…
The tim are fast and know the work even to serve 30 ppl .
And the sushi are fresh and tasty. Alweys!!!
They also can make u spacial to order cuz I don’t really like row fish .
It’s always clean and nice the palace are packet but too much .
the music nice and the bar it’s cool .
the only problem with the place they don’t have parking .
Have fun good place …

The sushi here is great. Some of their cocktails are imho truly spicy.
This place tries to be part night club and part sushi lounge. They make (sorry, «encourage») the girls wear tight fitting and revealing clothes so if I were a guy I can see why I would want to come here since they are all pretty.
As a woman who has come here on dates, nights out with friends, and pre-​movie meals, I think that it would only be fair if they forced the men to also be eye candy for women and wear tighter shirts. This way it could be an equal experience for patrons of all orientations as well as the staff :-)
Service: has always been friendly with high quality recommendations and timely.
Food: love the sushi and probably my favorite sushi place in DC so far (though compared to other cities there really isn’t that much competition)
Drinks: Love the cocktails. I’ve never felt like they skimped on the liquor content and the flavor combinations are well-​designed
Ambience: Loungey and good for groups though it will get louder as the night continues.
Music choice: It seems to be what hip people would listen to
4 stars because we think it should be more sushi-​like pre 11pm and then loungey afterwards. Right now it just feels sleezy at 7pm because of the loud music combined with the dress code.

This place was atrocious.
–Bad atmosphere
–Bad service.
–Bad food.
No redeeming qualities whatsoever, avoid.

We had dinner here tonight. The menu is exciting which made it difficult for me to choose. I ended up with the tiger roll and eel and avocado roll. They were pretty good but I’ve had better. I’ve had worst too. Most importantly, everything tasted fresh.
The four star rating (as opposed to five) is because I’ve had better rolls. However, I loved the restaurant atmosphere, décor, and music. I think it’s also important to point out that this restaurant is better than the other K street/​waterfront restaurants.
I had a cocktail called Atrium to drink. It was too sweet for my liking but the description sounded sweet, so that was my fault.
I would definitely come back here for the location and to try out more drinks and sushi.

The sushi at Mate was fine. Nothing crazy. Don’t go here expecting high quality raw fish though. According to our waitress, they actually only have 2 rolls on the entire menu that are 100% raw. Neither of which would I ever get again. The Rainbow Roll on the other hand was quite tasty, as was the Corozon roll.
I agree with the other reviews that they can’t decide if they are a club, or a restaurant. Right down to the skimpy, skin tight dresses that the waitresses have to wear. That can’t be comfortable…
Lastly, don’t use their restrooms. Period. They are unisex and only add to the club/​restaurant confusion. That’s what took Mate from 3 to 2 stars for me.

Expensive for meals, but for drinks, they have some pretty good drinks. If you want to grab something to eat and are not too lazy to walk around then i would suggest going to other sushi places for better quality and better priced sushi.

I was on OpenTable browsing around to see if there were any reservations available for a party of 10 – 13 guests for my boyfriend’s birthday dinner. I stumble across this restaurant and decided to give it a try. I was really happy with the result! Great place to host big parties, reason being: no set menus, no minimums charges on meals, SEPARATE CHECKS without hassle, and nice separate section for bigger parties. There is an automatic 18% gratuity, which isn’t too bad.
The restaurant itself is nicely decorated, great music, and friendly staff. Our waitress name was Gerl (I hope I spelled it correctly) She was so sweet, attentive, and patient with our group! She made sure everything was running smoothly throughout the night, which it did! I brought in a cake for my boyfriend’s birthday and Gerl was able to present it once we were all done with our dinner. To add some excitement, it came with sparklers! It was great, I appreciated that A LOT!
All of my guests were happy with their meals and had a great time. Thank you so much Gerl and Mate for making this happen for us!

I would give this place a 5… but in the 3 times ive been here the service has lagged.
Its a great little restaurant in Georgetown and every time we come it is on a Saturday night. It is never busy or crowded for dinner. It has a cool modern ambiance.
Food is great. Sushi is amazing. I definitely recommend trying the sushi. Georgetown roll and volcano roll are so good!!! We also got the sashimi platter… it was good but i wouldn’t get it again. It was about 35 bucks for a couple slices of fish. I didnt think there was much value.
The service here has always been weak. The most recent time we came in we waited 15 minutes for anyone to even come greet us. She didn’t bring us waters and we had to ask twice. She did not check on us, and that has been the trend for the past couple times we went in. They were not busy at all and its like they disappear into nowhere. I just never know what those servers are doing in there …
Anyways there is great sushi to be had and its very easy to get a dinner reservation so i recommend.

Have you been to Miami or Vegas before? Do you want to dine at a pseudo club? This experience (and more!) can be yours if you choose to come to Maté in Georgetown! (sarcasm and points of confusion can be found in parenthesis from here on out).
My friends and I had just seen a show at Gypsy Sally’s, and we were looking for something light, vegetarian friendly, and delicious to eat. What checks all of those boxes? Sushi! Maté was the closest place to us, so we said why not and moseyed on over.
**Of course I read a few Unilocal reviews before selecting this location, but folks called out the food/​location before noting the environment, which is the key takeaway from this restaurant.**
We were greeted (rather aggressively) by a male (bouncer?) and female (hostess?) at the door, who requested (required?) to see our IDs before we entered. This interaction should have given us a hint for what we were in for, but I think we are all so numbed by our weekend lifestyles that we thought nothing of this request. However, when we were subsequently asked if we had reservations (when the place was more than 50% empty) we should have either turned around or readjusted our expectations.
Upon being seated, a scantily clad young lady (waitress?) comes to our table and begins suggesting the «favorites» — very obviously the 3 most expensive rolls on the menu. We all opted for less decadent choices and received our orders fairly quickly. The food itself was good, but not worth the pricetag. I suppose we were paying for the atmosphere, which was complete with trendy décor (what happened to the concept of «form follows function»?), bumping club jams (featuring Afrojack, Avicii, and those *awesome* laser sounds), gentlemen ordering bottle service at the table adjacent to us (and their very boisterous lady friends), and the charismatic waitstaff (think SUR/​Vanderpump Rules).
Now I have been to Miami and Vegas, and really enjoyed myself in both places. However, I knew what I was getting into there. This little restaurant (club?) in Georgetown really threw me for a curve. I would say, do not dine here on a weekend evening unless you are looking for a pre-​party pump up. You will pay a pretty penny for good (but not GREAT) food, and may leave just as deaf/​stunned/​weirded out as I did, or perhaps even more.