VIA 19

If I could give this place negative stars I would. By far the worst lunch experience I’ve ever had in DC. We meant to go to Nooshi but it was busy and being the lunch rush. This place had an outdoor patio and we decided to try it out. Service is one of the worst. You could train a middle schooler to do a better job.

I only stumbled across this place because my friends were looking for a place to kill time before we needed to board our party bus and plus we were starved. So they had a preakness special with $ 2 dollar tacos (beef or chicken) and $ 5 bacardi based drinks. That is way up my alley anyways so we went in. The bartendar was really good with the drinks, not lackluster at all and the tacos were on point. I really had no complaints at all and we still made our party bus with 30 mins to spare. There really wasnt a big crowd in the bar at the time considering the bar is located in the business district of DC and everything was basically closed. I would most definitly check this place out again.

I bought a KGB deal for this place earlier this year, but I never got to use it. We tried on three separate occasions to get dinner here and every time it was closed (even though we were always there during their posted open hours). What kind of place isn’t open for dinner at 7 p.m. on a Saturday?
We made one last ditch effort to use the deal tonight to find the place completely cleared out — it apparently doesn’t exist anymore. These barely-​surviving restaurants probably shouldn’t be offering these daily deals if this is what’s going to happen.

Went here for the phở and was pleasantly surprised! Its not as good as Phở 75, but in a pinch, works for me. The broth was tasty and steaming hot, and the beef was good. Noodles were cooked perfectly. Service was quick and friendly.
I hope they stay in business given that this strip of 19^th street is pretty unforgiving for the lunch time crowd…

The Phở^ is horrendous! Noodles were under cooked (worse than al dente), meatballs were kind of crunchy, and the broth was not very flavorful. I asked a couple of probing questions and found out that this place is not new at all. It’s a bar /​restaurant that used to serve Italian /​Greek food. They scratched that menu and now serve bad, expensive Phở. Same establishment… different bad cuisine. They will be out of business within the year.

I got a WTD coupon and came here with my boyfriend for dinner about a month go.
WEIRD is the right word to describe Via 19. In fact, it’s the weirdest restaurant/​bar I’ve ever seen in the DC metro area.
It’s got an indoor and outdoor space. There was no one inside when we were there. About 10 or so people sat outside, including us. The whole place just looked very haphazardly put together.
We ordered burgers and they were fine. Nothing great.
We were told there was going to be a band performing that night, and I was like, huh? For real?
Our server was nice and he was the only positive thing here. (Oh, and the website, which is COMPLETELY DECEIVING!!)
Again, WEIRD place. Case closed.

how is this place still open? completely empty during the lunch hour today. their «$ 9.99 italian buffet» was the most ridiculous buffet i have ever seen … even i can cook spaghetti and meatballs and heat up rice … btw, is rice italian? not to be rude, but our waiter didn’t speak english and didn’t know what «toast» was when my friend ordered it to go with his eggs (he of course did not end up getting the toast and his home fries were lacking in the «potato» dept.). i got the fried tomato burger. it came with fries and was decent for $ 6. then the credit card machine was broken so we had to pay with cash … also, i think the AC may have been out too cause it was a tad warm in there … the décor was bad as well and 5 people walked in while we there, looked around, checked out the buffet, and walked right out.
i give it another week of being open … in fact, i’ll be surprised if it lasts the weekend. wow … it was so pretty and sounded so great on those promo. emails …

All you can eat pasta was bland. They do serve breakfast anytime of day which i guess some people like. The décor in the restaurant is boring. Our waiter was very nice, so I’m give the 2^nd star for him.
Unless they add some televisions or have super happy hour specials, don’t think come back here. Sorry.

First off, our waiter was very nice, but not very knowledgeable about what he was doing.
Now, on to the good (bad) stuff. I went with 2 coworkers for a happy hour the other day and had an eerily similar experience to the last reviewer. We were told there was no drink menu, and that buckets of beer were $ 15. So we ordered a bucket of Miller Lite and drank them.
When we got the bill, they had charged us full price for the bucket ($ 6 a beer). I went inside to talk to the manager and he wouldn’t even look me in the eyes to tell me that I was wrong, and that I had it wrong (even though the waiter told us differently), and that the special was only for Budweiser cans.
After arguing with him and his daughter for a solid 10 minutes, they finally reversed the charge. While waiting for them to complete this, I saw their «menu» behind the bar that stated that «Buckets of beer for $ 15», not just Budweiser.
All in all, this place is shady and clearly going out of business! Do not risk spending more money than they advertise and having to deal with a grumpy manager/​owner and his equally pissed off daughter. I hope you leave soon Via 19!

What a truly terrible experience! A group of 7 friends and I were supposed to meet next door at Science Club but it was closed for a private party so we sat down at the empty patio at Via 19. We asked for a drink menu but were told that they didn’t have drink menus printed. There was not chalkboard or any other signage denoting prices. We asked how much the happy hour white wine was and were quoted $ 4 per glass. Sounds about right for HH on 19^th Street on a Monday.
We ordered several rounds of the white, amongst other things. It was cheep and tasted like nail polish remover but what can you expect for $ 4. When the bill came to the table we were charged $ 6 per glass. No problem, clearly this is just a misunderstanding. We figured we could just call the problem to the waiter’s attention and he could fix the error.
Here is where the 45 minute saga began. The waiter said he needed to speak to the manager and came back a few minutes later saying there was nothing he could do. Having worked in the food service industry I was very polite and let him know that I understood that it wasn’t his fault but could we please speak with the manager, obviously this was just a little misunderstanding that would be easy to clear up. Suddenly the manager had left the building. At this point we were getting exasperated. I explained that we were not given menus and logically there was no way they could change the price we were quoted after we had consumed the product. The server returns a few minutes later with a tray of Midori shots. ARE YOU F*ING KIDDING ME! Does a group of people in their mid 30’s on a Monday look like they want to start slamming Midori!!!
I told the server we had no interest in the shots and that correcting our bill was the only way we would be happy. He returns a few minute later after claiming to have talked to the manager on the phone and that he couldn’t change the bill but could bring us each a glass of complimentary wine. Fine, just bring it, we’re tired of this and want to get to dinner. We’ve clearly already been charged for this «free» wine. He returns a few minutes later with 2, not 8 glasses of wine. Sorry, this is all the manager would approve.
So congratulations, Via 19! You got an extra $ 25 out of us no repeat business and a horrible Unilocal review!

Hmmm. I considered giving this 3 stars for a second, because our waiter was really nice. However, egh. Not the best.
First, I was turned off by the lack of TVs. This is a very bar-​y night-​y place where I would expect more TVs. I guess I would expect a place like this to have sufficient TVs to go watch a football game. No.
Second, the atmosphere=meh. Not much to say about it, but it was like a warehouse kind of. Just blah.
Third, hot hot hot. Not good hot, like what an AWESOME place, but BAD hot like you are about to pass out from heatstroke. I actually thought boyfriend would do this. He wanted to leave as soon as we sat down and was sweating like a pig. Thankfully I was wearing short sleeves but also felt uncomfortable. It was like sitting in a sauna.
Last, not as cheap as you would expect for this atmosphere. Fries– pretty good but small portion for $ 5. We had some good shooters for $ 3 which is a fine deal but they obviously don’t last very long. We payed over $ 20 for 2 shooters, small order of fries and a beer. In a somewhat crappy atmosphere. Again, egh.
Also, I guess the actual last thing I want to say, is that the menu was sparse. Not many options and there were few things I liked on there. at all. the fries were the only thngs on the menu that appealed to me.
OK done. Blegh, meh, egh, BLAAAGGH. All of those words make me think of this place. If you want a great happy hour deal, go to NOOSHI instead which is practically next door. It has FANTASTIC happy hour deals and is a good restaurant.
SUPER last = don’t go to Science Club. That is also next door and it absolutely SUCKS and they dont go with the science theme at all. Really the only worthwhile place around here is Nooshi.
Finally, that is all. Crappo place.

Let me put this in some simple words, why would anybody wanna go to this place wasting there precious time! Drinks are overpriced compare to other bars around it, food sucks, service is horrible. set up is some what ok! they have no idea what music they are playing, most likely pandora radio. I think I made my point. I really dont want my money back, I want that evening back which was spoiled by starting my night in that place.
PS: THERE WAS NO OPTION OF GIVING ZERO STAR

Never heard of this place until I saw the livingsocial instant deal for Via 19. Went there for lunch and was surprised to see no one there… seriously completely empty.
I got the burger and fries and to be honest with you, I was very pleasantly surprised. The burger was great. Hope they stay in business long enough for me to come back soon!

I went her for Happy Hour for a «Whats the Deal» promo, and it was terrible. The bar was giving out 2 free margaritas or pina coladas, and they were not worth the cost of the $ 0.00. I do not think the drinks contained a drop of alcohol– it was just stright sweet and sour mix and water. If this free promo was a marketing tactic to get more people to visit Via 19, it failed miserably.
My friends and I gave away our second drink tickets, and left our sugar water on the table and left.
To be fair though, the location is nice and the staff was friendly. The Hostess even went as far to set up an extra table on the patio so my friends and i could have a nice seat outside. Via 19 is not too far the Dupont Circle metro (red Line) or the Farragut stops (Red, Orange and Blue lines).
I am not going back to this establishment, but if you decide to visit– i would stick with beer, they can’t mess that up.

brought a whole group for brunch this past Sunday. Great menu, great service was friendly and fast! Even the picky/​allergic eaters got a great dish!
Looking forward to check the place in the evening for some drink on the town. Great location as well!

Went last Saturday for brunch with the“ladies” and it was AWESOME !!!
Cajun style brunch ROCKED and those biscuits were beyond words !!!
The chef came out and gave us samples !
Staff SO friendly Andrew is great :-)

Had brunch here today, with some wonderful ladies and thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it.
Let’s start with the important things, the drinks. I’m VERY particular when it comes to Bloody Marys, and the three that I had here were incredible. There were some discrepancies between the tastes of each one, but they were all great and the bartender says he makes them from scratch, so I’m cool with it.
The service is fast and friendly and the food was…
so, so, so super delish.
I had the fried tomato benedict, which was served on the fluffiest of homemade biscuits, with homemade grits and hollandaise sauce. I wonder if they would do a fried green tomato when they come into season…
My food was great, my friend’s food was great, the chef kept bringing us tastes of other things and it was a lovely experience.
I know it’s not in the most convenient place for brunch, but the food is well worth it. I look forward to going back!

Prepare to wait for mediocrity. And wait… One waiter for all tables! He looked awkward and very out of place; never even cracked a smile. He had definitely not waited a table before in his life.
Fifteen minutes after we were seated, the plates and glasses from the previous people were still not taken away. We finally took them to the bar ourselves.
We looked around us and one couple were still waiting for their check 20 minutes later. Another couple on our right waited for just as long to order their drinks. One young woman finally got up to go inside to ask for the menus…
If and when the waiter would give you the menus, he would walk away even if you already knew what you wanted. One couple started to talk to him when he dropped them on the table, and he just kept walking away saying he would be back with them shortly. Amazing.
One guy one table over ordered ice tea — twice — and then was finally told that they don’t have any.
When my burger finally arrived, the bun was burned on one side, and so was the meat. For $ 8 it was nothing to write home about. But no napkin or utensils. When I asked for them, I got a stack of small bar napkins that you would place under your drink. Sigh. Tried to do a mosaic, but the wind was not cooperating.
And the fries, oh, the fries — these were hands down the most greasy, oil-​soaked potato-​things I’ve ever had.
Best part was the ketchup bottle! They had two bottles for eight tables. And the same waiter had to move them from table to table when people asked for it. It was a joy to watch.
Maybe it’ll get better? I’ll never find out.

Very strange — I participated in the LivingSocial promotion where it costs $ 1 for $ 10 worth of food. Since my work is very close to this location, I decided to give it a try. This is in the same location Mezza Luna used to be in — good tapas.
Anyway, I had a seat and it took about 20 minutes to get a waiters attention. There appeared to be one waiter serving the whole outside area so I decided to get my food to go — I ordered a fried green tomato sandwich because I wanted something healthy. Oh and a side Caesar salad. The salad was your average salad, but the sandwich, which had melted cheese on it, was STRANGE. The tomatoes were fried too long I think because they had NO flavor. It reminded me of a filet-​o-​fish.
I don’t ask for much. When lunch costs a dollar, it’s a steal — but I can honestly say I got ripped off on this one. I want my dollar back!!!

This is a brand new spot I went to Saturday night, and I had such a great time! The bartenders were awesome, drinks were cheap and I loved the positive crowd! Can’t wait to party again, I heard the will be starting a party brunch soon. Can’t wait!