Red Light

We had friday night cocktails and apps here– it was a small, fun, and niche little bar in the middle of 14^th street. They had great specials on ½ off glasses of wine and GIANT $ 5 mugs of beer. We were able to sit at one of the high-​top round tables for about an hour and a half– it was busy but not crowded and I really appreciated that the music was loud enough to be fun but still quiet enough that we could talk without shouting. Our server/​bartender was wonderful and prompt, and I loved the Gin/​St Germain cocktail he recommended. I can’t wait to go back in the summer to sit outside on the patio. My only complaint is that the glass of wine I had initially ordered was TERRIBLE– it might have been cheap wine, or the bottle might have been open for too long — either way, I’ll stick to cocktails or beer in the future.

We stopped in for happy hour. You can’t beat a $ 5 22 oz. Stella. The interior is somewhat sparse but the outside patio is where the action is.

This is a very small bar along the 14^th St corridor. It’s all hip and modern with a rustic twist. It’s a good happy hour spot with friendly bartenders. A great place to meet a friend for an after work glass of wine or cocktail. They also have a small food menu.

My friend Shazia and I love our dessert places in DC. We usually try to find the coolest places for desserts even though most of the time we end up in Georgetown Cupcakes. This place is a mixture between a neighborhood bar and dessert lounge combined into one.
I really liked the cool vibe and I thought we can get some great desserts and drinks since we were in a close by area. The dessert we ordered was the chocolate crème pot which had great notes of mint incorporated in layers of the chocolate dessert. They have desserts of the month as well. Their appetizers looked good plus good value with happy hour menus on drinks.
The service was extremely slow but I really liked the set up they had. They have cozy sharing tables as well as a bar area. Plus when the weather gets better they have a cute outdoor seating.
This bar has a lot of potential to be a favorite among the locals.~

Super disappointed in this place after my visit on a Sunday at 7PM. They had a very small menu– which I understand is typical. That being said, we were hopeful. The Sunday specials were noteworthy: $ 5 draft beers, ½ price on all glasses of wine, and $ 2 off any food item.
So… To start, I ordered the «BBQ Chicken Sliders.» It comes in a little trio with fries. The chicken isn’t shredded as I had anticipated, but instead is roughly chopped. There’s also ZERO sauce on these. The only flavor seems to come from the vinegar-​based coleslaw topping the chicken. It’s unfortunate because I think with a little sauce these would have been amazing. Instead it tasted dry and just of vinegar.
My friend ordered the «Red Light Grilled Cheese.» What’s not to love about cheddar, Gruyère, and Gouda?! Well… As it turns out there’s a lot not to love. In some cruel twist of fate, the trio of cheeses ended up tasting not only greasy but somehow dried out as well. We both agreed that a small tomato dipping sauce would have remedied the poor situation.
The winner and saving grace of the evening was definitely our shared order of the «Kroppkakor.» Which is fancy for: meatball deep fried in mashed potato. It was heaven. There are three and they are enormous and will fill you up when the rest of your food leaves you disappointed. They were Amazing– get these and avoid everything else.

This place is great for happy hour or just grabbing drinks and a small bite to eat before going out. I had the best cosmo I’ve ever had there (service was great too) and their eggplant and goat cheese spread was delicious! Definitely a great spot!

A great place to stop for happy hour/​snacks if you’re in the 14^th st area! Sunday-​Wednesday they do ½ off glasses of wine and $ 5 22oz mugs of beer (good stuff like Stella etc.) all. day. long. They have the same promo going on Thurs and Friday but it ends at 8 PM (very generous for those days of the week).
My girlfriend and I split the pumpkin pudding dessert which was absolutely incredible. Will most definitely be returning!

This place isn’t anything fancy, but they do serve pretty good deal on alcohol. The atmosphere can be more on the rowdy side, which’s great for happy hour. During Halloween, I did get a pretty big size of draft beer for $ 7, which’s great. The bartender’s pretty cool & knowledgeable. I don’t mind stopping by here only if I live nearby. There’re better options to take your outta town friends to.

Eh, it was okay…
Don’t get there too late because you’ll end up getting forced out of your seats.

Wish they would permanently close. Stopped by here after dinner for a dessert and a coffee, thought that was the point of this place. Well, two of the desserts they were out of (it was 8pm on a Wed) and they didn’t serve coffee. How can a dessert/​pastry place not serve coffee? The bartender was maybe the biggest hipster d*****bag I’ve ever met in DC. Totally unfriendly and unhelpful.
Will not go back, and I doubt this place will survive with so many other options on 14^th St.

Accidentally charged me for $ 62 for food/​drinks I never bought. I got and paid for the $ 11 appetizer I did buy. Later that day, I was checking my banking app and realized that they charged me $ 62 by accident some how. When I called them to tell the, the guy on the other end was a total prick. Rude, and abrasive. He said that the transaction was a mistake and probably wouldn’t go through, but couldn’t explain to me how since his incompetent staff charged the mistaken charge anyway.
The food also sucks. The service is terrible. Our waitress literally forgot to return a credit card to one of my friends. She kept insisting she returned it when she had not.

If you have not tried out the Indian rice fritters, you must! I would get two of these, you’re going to like it.

Awesome dessert and cocktail place. Awesome pick for a date or start for a girls night out. It’s dark and sexy (no red lights though). The drinks are good and the desserts look yummy. I’d like to come back.

Came here on a Friday night because I was disappointed with the limited dessert options at the Fainting Goat.
There is outside seating and inside you can just eat yourself at the bar or a table.
We sat at the bar and ordered the Nutella S’more and it was pretty tasty. I’m not a huge chocolate eater but it was just the right amount of chocolate.
The bartender was helpful and attentive
Overall, Cute place to come after dinner for dessert and drinks.

I live on the same block as bar-​di-​bari – sorry Red Light District – and never mind that these guys offensively named the place after sex workers that used to populate 14^th Street: «The name reflects 14 Street’s colorful past as a red light district in the nation’s capital»
The real offense happened to ME when I wanted dessert on the way home at 11:30 pm and this douchey waiter told me that most of the desserts are «ice cream based» so I couldn’t get anything to go.
Actually the former is the true insult and the latter is just the latest offense to someone who has lived in the neighborhood for a decade who wanted to give this place a chance. My instincts were right. This place blows.

I’ve only had drinks here so can’t speak for the food. The drinks are very creative and delicious! There’s one they light on fire with a blow torch. Most likely, it’s unnecessary in terms of the drink but it is quite entertaining.
Great atmosphere and great service. Check it out!

A lot of yeas for me on this place but it could have been better. I think the idea of a dessert/​cocktail bar is one that every major city should capitalize. With that said, this is the only dessert/​cocktail bar I have ever been to. I’m a total fan.
VENUE: This place is deceptively small. I don’t know if it was because it was Valentines/​Presidents day weekend or if, with the cold weather and the outside patio being closed off that there was less space to spread out the crowd but we stood at the tiny ledge by the entrance until a small two top opened up. There IS a large table towards the side entrance that would easily and comfortably seat a group of 8 – 10 but alas, another group had already claimed it. The vibe is very speak-​easy-​esque. Sort of this dark hole with classic vibes. There is projector that plays Charlie Chaplain films — a nice touch for me.
FOOD/​DRINK: I ordered the Magdalene because it had elderflower and st. germaine. It was strong and good but not memorable. But let me get onto the the more important thing: Dessert! So here’s where it’s going to get tricky because what we ordered is not on the menu on their website. We ordered a NUTELLA SMORE, A sticky rice dessert (which was amazing), and something gingerbread with pear sorbet. I know. Terrible review. But let’s just say I did not have a problem with the dessert. I should have written down what I got but all i have a photos… so if you’re desperate enough to try this off menu selection, just read off these terrible descriptions. Lol.
SERVICE: Service was very good despite the crowdedness and lack of seating. The girl who helped us was very kind and when we were standing by the door another guy from the behind the counter/​back came to ask if we wanted anything to drink. I appreciate good service. :)

Red Light was an extremely mixed bag for me.
The place smelled of garlic. It was amazing. This sounds gross /​strange, but it was really good. I felt like I was drinking in an Italian kitchen.
The desert was awesome. The bar staff were friendly. The cocktails were well done. The pricing was fair.
The wines were boring. They were extremely flavorless to the point that you’d think they were watered down if I hadn’t watched the bartender open one of the bottles.
Don’t get the wine and this place is great.

Good cocktails but the desserts and shakes leave much to be desired.
I am a self proclaimed dessert connoisseur. I very much wanted this place to be awesome. Unfortunately, the desserts are just ok. We had several during our first visit and none of them were very good. Even the shake desserts we got were not good. The red velvet boozy shake was served with ice (why oh why) and with pieces of cake in some milk. It was not good at all.
However, red light redeems itself with the happy hour that they have even on the weekend. The cocktails are actually delicious and they even have a special they make that is similar to a Moscow mule with rosemary they light on fire in front of you! The flat breads are also very good. We had the truffle mushroom one and it was delicious.
However, due to the lack of great desserts at this dessert spot I have to go with 3 stars.

***3.75 stars***
I visited Red Light twice in 3 days. The first just for drinks after dinner at The Pig, and the second for just dessert after dinner at Birch and Barley. With these 2 visits, I feel the 3.75 stars rating is pretty appropriate. The pluses of Red Light starts with its awesome people watching location. The patio puts you right on 14^th, so you just hang out and watch passing people if you are lacking good conversation at your table. Thankfully, I’ve had awesome conversation during both of my visits, so I opted to sit in the sexy, dark, almost dungeonlike interior on the one couch in the whole lounge (kind of a minus).
The next plus is the very appealing drink menu. I think no matter who you are, DC lawyer to DC hipster, you’ll most likely find something on the drink menu that looks appealing. Both my boyfriend and I found several libations that sparked our unique tastes. I wish I could recall the names because they’re not posted on the website; the second minus of Red Light, they’re online menu is not currently updated with their newest drinks. For those who scope out the menu before visiting, this could lead to disappoint if a drink they’re interested in on the website isn’t available when they visit… Also, for those like me who have a hard time remembering names, it makes writing reviews a lot more difficult!
Finally, I love the overall concept of Red Light. My two favorite things, cocktails and desserts, finally have a place where they are put center stage. I do intend to try more of the dessert offerings in the future after trying the Chocolate Crunch Cake last night. I was slightly displeased with the subtlety of the chocolate cake; it was greatly overshadowed by the bold passion fruit sorbet and caramelized bananas. But the crunchy topping on the cake and sorbet were so yummy that I can overlook the slightly too mild cake. Honestly, I would be happy with just a bowl of the passion fruit sorbet on my next visit. It stands on its own as a satisfying and tasty dessert.
A minus of Red Light is the somewhat disorganized service. During my visits, drinks were brought to my table that hadn’t been ordered, menus were taken without asking, and checks were slow to be closed. I’m not sure why these issues are happening in such a small place that is staffed with what appears to be more than enough people. They really could use some training, if you ask me. The issues are pretty minor, but they do add up…
Lastly, last night I was there when the signature flaming drink was being prepared, and was made to chuckle over the peculiar smell emitted from the burning herb being added the the drink. Let’s just say, it kind of smell like something I came across once or twice (or some number of times) that I don’t believe is legal yet in the DC area. This feature of Red Light is a grey area for me in regards to star summation. In some ways it makes me feel the need to start looking over my shoulder for cops, in other ways it makes me want to… NO…it’s just bad. Bad Red Light, bad! ;)