My Brother’s Place

I didn’t like this place much. Very unfriendly waiter. I had to wait 20 minutes from the time I received my check until I finally took my check to the bar to pay.

This places took the term «dive bar» and just ran with it… dark, grimey, and minimal service. As if this wasn’t enough, the food is just «meh» too. I mean, it’s edible, but it’s a long shot from being anything special.
I think this place is truly meant for college kidz lookin for a cheap place to booze & party it up in an unpretentious alley of DC. That’s how it lured me in the first time many years ago. $ 15 all you can drink with no qualms about having beer pong or flip cup games going on. Young, loud & obnoxious is definitely a good way to describe these kinds of nights.

Hard to find dark bar hidden in an alley on 2^nd street. We walked in and we were the only ones in there which has never bothered me. The place had a good vibe until Miss no personality or maybe she just had a fight with her boyfriend walked up to take our orders.
The drinks were good and cheap but it would have been so much better if the server had a smile and basically gave a rats butt that we were there. I’d go there again just to have a place to sit and drink after walking all day.

food was mediocre and the beer tasted like the tubes haven’t been cleaned in a long time.
but the absolute worst was that as soon as we finished our meal my girlfriend notice a roach crawling about 4 inches from her plate. absolutely disgusting.
i would avoid this place at all cost.

Divey, warm booze, lukewarm bar service. Popular with alot of interns, hill people, and dare say the college crowd. Young and loud and obnoxious.
Once went and a girl vomited ALL over the place. Right in front of the bar, all over the floor and a table. It was like the exorcist came to life and to make matters worse, it took a while (like what seemed like forever) for staff to clean and get a hold of the situation. Yea, gross.
Stay classy My Brother’s Place!
Never again!

We might have been the first patrons of the day when we walked in at 11am. We were just being tourists and found this cute little spot on the end of the street away from all the other tourists. There was a British man that might have been the manager or owner who was so outgoing and friendly. Our server was the same. They all moved very fast like they were in the lunch rush. The food was pretty amazing. It was a bit pricey but delicious. The first guy actually came and brought us an umbrella because it was starting to rain.
I would definitely recommend this place!

Can’t speak for this place in terms of dinner but I can speak for it in terms of nightlife.
It sucks. Basically CUA students (who really bring in the $ for this place) have two options on the weekends — religious events or going out. Most choose to go out and get drunk. They usually go here after they drink on-​campus or they have fake IDs and drink here, or they are actually legally allowed to drink here, though that would surprise me, as a lot of the students who go here are actually underage. Here’s how my experience at Brother’s went:
1. Get in line. It shouldn’t take too long for you to get in. The guys can sometimes be incompetent and give the wrong bracelet to a patron. There’s two kinds of bracelets — underage and legally allowed to drink. $ 15 cover charge that night.
2. Get in and be so overwhelmed by the fact that about 10,000 people are all cramped together in a shack, sweating and groping each other. Have no clue where to go as you’re getting pushed by the crowds behind and in front of you.
I’m under 21 so I can’t tell you the experience with the bar but I can tell you a few things. First, there’s a few rooms, the first one closer to the entrance was showing different sports games. This is the place you want to be if you want to talk to someone instead of dancing. People in here were either making out or watching the games. However, in this room I made the mistake of greeting someone I thought I knew. The stranger proceeded to put himself all over my friend and me basically. Not fun but that’s not really the establishment’s fault.
The second room is like a black hole. You don’t know what’s beyond it — just darkness. In this room is the bar and dancing. You can barely move, and CUA girls will be dancing on the bar for free drinks or something like that while a lot of people are drinking, grinding, etc.
The rest of the establishment I didn’t look at because I was in here for a total of maybe 15 minutes because it was that disgusting. If you want to do something fun and engaging, go somewhere else.

We were running a little late for a tour at the Capitol (or so we thought) and needed a place to grab a quick bite to eat. As we stumbled around aimlessly, we came to a corner with a menu for My Brother’s Place. They had food, which was our only requirement at the time, so we went in.
The food wasn’t completely awful, but it wasn’t great either. I had a buffalo chicken salad which was completely drowned in buffalo sauce. Made it kind of unappetizing, though I downed it quickly anyway since we were in a rush. Everyone else’s meals looked fairly good though. Stole one of someone’s french fries. Seasoned nicely but didn’t taste like fresh potato (frozen maybe).
The biggest gripe I had is that it took seemingly forever for our food to come out. No one ordered anything more than a sandwich so it was surprising. It’s not their fault that we were in a rush, but it shouldn’t take that long for food. We waited at least 40 minutes.
The report I got on the bathrooms were that they were clean, but strongly smelled like someone had expelled Jagermeister mixed with stomach acid. Definitely a dive.
Unless you’re really hungry, you might want to find some place else, though there aren’t many restaurants in the area.

Not really sure what this place was. I was expecting a dive bar but they were blarring Spanish rap and dance inside. The place was practically empty and they had a very limited beer selection.
Definetly pass this place up

Being Texans in D.C., especially from a border town, we figured finding a dive would have been next to impossible. We weren’t actually trying to find one.
We had been walking somewhat aimlessly late night and were desperate for a restroom and came across My Brother’s Place. Right when we walked in we knew we had to stay, eat and drink. The restrooms are proper dive bar restrooms by the way. They smell, I’m pretty sure people can see through the walls and we are just a little curious how many have drunkenly stumbled down the stairs.
We were a bit skeptic however since when we did walk in there were only 2 other patrons. And then 10:30 hit and the place was hoppin’. The crowd is a mixture of young professionals, military, locals, and us. The makeshift arm wrestling tournament was fun to watch as well.
Now this is a Dive there is no doubt about it. So it gets 4 stars because it is a GREAT dive. If it was not suppose to be a Dive then it would have failed miserably so please understand how we rated this place.
They also serve food until 11pm and have an extensive sandwich menu. We went for the Crab-​cake sandwich. It did the job, meaning we didn’t die by morning, and we washed it down with some Blue Moon, and then some more Blue Moon and then a bit more Blue Moon. You get the point.
So, if you love Dives, bar food, a loud, energetic and fun crowd hit this place up. If you do not may we suggest the Capital building across the street.

I can’t speak to this place as a party scene but for dinner it downright sucked. My friends and I came by to grab water and food after a long day at the Botanical Garden. Friend 1 got a chicken panini, friend 2 got a half-​salad, and I got the fish tacos with grilled fish. Friend 2’s half-​salad was huge and cheap, no-​frills, but huge and cheap, so that was fine. Friend 1 claimed the chicken in her panini was unnecessarily dry and gross. Her fries were tasty but so saturated with oil how could they not be?
What’d I get? I got three piles of fish skin on tortillas. That’s not an exaggeration. I looked down at my tacos and where there should have been flaky white fish meat there was gray scaly ick. I picked it up with a fork and lifted an entire, in-​tact sheet of fish skin from my plate. We’re talking maybe 6 inches long by 2 or 3 across. There was very little fish left on the taco once that was removed. I went to a different taco. Same thing. An entire, in-​tact sheet of fish skin.
I called the waiter over and he took it back immediately. So then I ordered the southwestern chicken club without bacon. It’s a fried chicken sandwich, I figure, so how can they go wrong? It’s supposed to come with avocado and other sundry southwestern deliciousness. And it’s a $ 10 sandwich so I’m expecting it to have some oomph.
Well, it took them 15 minutes to get it together, by which time my friends were done eating. Worth mentioning we were one of, count em, TWO groups in the entire restaurant. The other one had finished eating.
When my chicken sandwich came it was well-​presented and a decent portion. The fried chicken was good. But the avocado? Ha. It’s like someone took a teeny little bit of avocado spread on a knife and lightly buttered some of the bread with it. There was nothing avocado-​like or southwestern about the entire thing. And they didn’t put anything else on it like mayo or sauce so it was dry, with toasted bread. So for $ 10 I got some fried chicken with lettuce on toast.
I guess I should be thrilled that it wasn’t just a pile of fried chicken skin.

One of the nights you pay a flat fee and get unlimited drinks all night.
10 drunken girls dancing atop the bar follows.
When I was there it was a bunch of drunken frat boys dressed almost like cowboys. Whether this is standard affair or not, I couldn’t tell you.

So thanks to scoutmob I find myself down a dead end street that Ive never been down before. Watching what seems to be office workers congregating at their local lunch spots. This place is clearly a hidden secret. Nice little cozy spot. Seems like a great place for happy hour.
I had to try the cubano. To my surprise it wasn’t the same ol lunch meat ham that most places consider a cubano. No, this was real rump roast with the fat. The fries were awesome. Pretty good place. The menu didn’t really spark me but I would go back to see what else they can offer.

Ladies, they give you free shots if you dance on top of the bar a la Coyote Ugly.
That’s all you need to know.

I love My Brothers Place! If you are a DC snob, you probably will not enjoy it, though.
It reminds me of a Pittsburgh bar… its low key, slightly divey, but an all-​around good palce to eat. I cannot wait to come back!

My whole party got food poisoning so… Yeah «Eek! Methinks not.» Reported to the Dept. of Health.
Granted — food poisoning is often a short term phenomenon linked to workers, but still. Bad news!

You’re probably here for either the «beat the clock» specials on Friday after work (cheap pitchers of Coors Light or a couple other domestic choices and totally worth it) or for the all you can drink Sat night special.
This place is a dive for sure and I wouldn’t order «real food» here, but the fried pickles are decent. This place is a little hard to find and I’ll go here again for the specials. If you want a place with a large beer selection and top notch food, go elsewhere. This place is all about cheap beer and great specials!

The health department really needs to check this place out, it’s nasty! I’ve gone a few times for kickball parties, but normally don’t stay more than a few rounds.
Reason 1) They leave the kitchen door on the 2^nd floor open. Take a peek, it’s disgusting. The fryers have gunk all over them, assorted pieces of stuff stuck to everything, floors have food on them, dishes strewn about. They’re aching for a big fine. Nothing from that kitchen will go in my body.
Reason 2) I ordered a pitcher of Miller Lite. He gave me a Bud Lite. I was standing directly in front of the guy when he was pouring it. I asked him again for a Miller Lite, but he said «it’s all the same, $ 10»… ok, he makes a point, it tastes the same, but I want what I ordered.
Reason 3) Aforementioned Bud Lite was warm. I told the bartender and he said, «so?». I asked for a cold pitcher and he said, «no.»
Reason 4) The bathroom has never once, ever, been anywhere slightly
close to clean (even by dive standards!).
Reason 5) They use Tampico juice (think cheap version of Koolaid) for their mimosas. C’mon guys, at least use the cheap concentrated orange juice, not powdered sugary stuff.
Reason 6) They don’t clean their tap lines. Beer shouldn’t come out of a keg tasting skunked.
I’ve met the owner a couple times, he’s a nice guy who seems interested in his customers, but it doesn’t reflect in his staff. They’re the pits.
I love dive bars — there are plenty of good ones in this city. MBP is a dump.

Free beer after kickball games, a KICK ASS bar fight (Yes I literally kicked asss), lots of shennanigans, and $ 10.00 pitchers when not free … what the he ll isn’t there to like?
Don’t come here expecting fine dining. The owners encourage getting drunk, in fact they want you too and will find anyway possible to make it happen.
Food is typical of any other bar food. What makes it special is the feel of going back to college and beer ponging/​flip-​cupping the night away.
Bonus points for being right behind my building! BLAM!

Things seem to have taken a turn for the worse. Kickballers appear to rule the roost at my Brother’s Place these days, and if that makes financial sense for them then great, but it’s not a place you want to go as an outsider.
On my most recent visit, the front dining room reeked of stale beer. I guess this should come as no surprise since it’s been turned into the flippy cup room. There are something like a dozen different draft beers; it’s difficult to say because there are around 20 draft lines, but there’s a lot of duplication. Best of the bunch was the Dogfish Head 60 Minutes. But aside from the stale beer smell, some of the draft beers tasted off, as if they hadn’t cleaned the lines well, so cleanliness seems to be an issue here.
Maybe when winter comes and the kickballers go into hibernation, things will change, but I kinda doubt it.