The Capitol Visitor Center Restaurant

They don’t open until 11 (lunch) and take about 15 – 20 min to switch over from breakfast to lunch. The food is Luke warm and not really seasoned. You can’t take food out of the dining area so don’t over buy.

Ate here as we were on route to our Capitol tour appointment and didn’t want to stray too far away. Definitely prefer local restaurants when vacationing, but this wasn’t bad at all. Plenty of options and much of it looked pretty good. I will say I thought it was nice that much was served on nice dishes (boys pizza came on paper plates) but it was kinda crappy that the bourbon chicken and rice my husband and I ordered was weighed… with those heavy dishes! The same is done with any self-​serve item you get and those dishes were heavy! Anyway, it was still good, but I’d recommend a local restaurant if you have time… if not for better cost-​for better experience. You can eat in a cafeteria most anywhere.

I highly recommend eating elsewhere. The food was literally uneatable. We ordered a spinach frittata sandwich which was two pieces of English muffin with a hockey puck of egg in the middle, not due to size but how hard it was. It must have been under the heat lamp for a while. The hard oiled eggs were over cooked and like rubber. Coffee was good, muffin dry, fruit was not fresh. This place makes Luby’s a five star restaurant. Over priced as well.

Well, at least the soup was hot. The service was severely lackluster. These are the folks we want representing our country to guests from all over the world?!? Sad.

We were in a pinch before our 12:20 (line up at 12:20 tour starts at 12:30) Capitol Dome tour, so we took our 8 year old here for a quick chicken nugget and sugary-​cupcake fix. (I have a tuna/​avocado maki which was surprisingly fresh tasting and not fried.)
A bit overpriced — but we were trapped and thankful for a clean place to sit in the airconditioning while we re-​grouped during a long day of tourist-​tromping 101.

Not bad for a cafeteria like little restaurant that you can eat at while you visit the State Capitol. Lots of choices for you and the kids.

«Various choices of food bar: salad, soup, sandwiches, B.B.Q, American bounty i.e. grilled salmon, turkey and sides, chicken tenders and fries. Normal portion (half of what Cheesecake Factory offered). Clean.»

Average and overpriced. Yep, that about sums it up. Go there if you’re starving. There is a lot of variety though. Cafeteria style. Good in a pinch.

I’m a DC resident and though I know now (after 2 months of living here) that the food options aren’t as good in this city as they are in, let’s say, Los Angeles or New York, I still know there are good food options for relatively decent prices, and the Capitol Visitor Center Restaurant thus seems like a huge tourist trap to me.
We were very hungry before our Capitol Hill tour and decided to check this place out. They do have a number of options — pastas, pizzas, grill food, wraps, etc. My dear boyfriend got himself a BBQ half chicken and some mashed potato/​gravy and it did come out to about $ 10, which was a lot, considering the chicken wasn’t amazing — it was dry and apparently grilled, not barbecued. I also wanted to get a half chicken but the lady behind the counter very rudely said they were out of that. Really? You’re out of the chicken when there are so many customers there… Hmm… it just seemed like they didn’t have their act together.
In the end I got myself a chicken caesar wrap. It was decent, but definitely not worth the $ 9 I paid for it…
All in all, I would probably skip this place next time. They do have a monopoly over Capitol Hill so it might be hard, but if I ever take anyone else on the Capitol Hill tour, I would probably plan better ahead of time and eat elsewhere.

Oh my lord. We visited the Capitol, were starving, and came here for a bite. Overpriced is an understatement — but that isn’t even the worst of it. Much of the food seemed sorely lacking in freshness and flavor (my mom and I split a turkey sandwich that was just plain… plain).
Yes, there are a lot of options (sandwiches, salad bar, pizza, chicken tenders, cookies, pasta, etc etc) but it would be much wiser to save your appetite for one of the good Penn. Avenue joints after you complete your visit.

Coming from NYC, the first thing you notice about D.C. is good food (or convenient food) is tough to come by. Well, if you’re planning to tourist it up at the Capitol Building you can do worse than taking a break at the recently renovated Visitor Center cafeteria.
They’ve got a wide selection of fast foods like burgers, chicken tenders, and fries, as well as more healthy options (think Boston Market) and an entire Mexican food section and BBQ food section. Don’t forget the salad bar and pre-​packed wraps and desserts.
I found the portions to be pretty generous (USA! USA!!) and the prices were decent coming in around $ 8.00 — $ 10.00 per person. It had a nostalgic touch to it, like when you were at a rest stop off the highway or the college cafeteria. Only difference, you have to go through security to get into the building. Try finding a quick lunch spot in a 3 block radius and you’ll see why this does the job. Really a 3-​star place, but I’m feeling patriotic.