Epic SmokeHouse

Was seriously fooled by the photos posted here on Unilocal.Brisket was not even close to on par with what was shown. 2 slices of brisket for $ 15. Seriously. almost no smoke ring to be seen. In the picture it’s ¼ in thick… Mac and Cheese was decent. Will probably not be back. Was told by bartender that it’s probably because the owner wasn’t cooking. This is a serious drop of in production if that’s the case.

Although the service and food was good, the prices are high for the area, and their website says Bar specials for Happy Hour, There were none. All drinks and apps we ordered were regular menu price. I even enquired as to what is on their happy hour specials and the Bartender just gave me the Bar menu. No Specials. Moscow Mules are $ 12 each, made with house made ginger beer — non alcoholic ginger beer, good, but lacked the punch that Gosslings gives.

Friendly staff, but the food was uninspiring. Not bad, but certainly not ‘Epic’. The chicken was moist, veggies were well-​prepared, and I enjoyed the ribs, although they were pretty bland.

I have to update my review to account for a more recent experience with Epic. They catered a holiday event I attended and the appetizers they served were truly fantastic. I absolutely love seafood and have tried most all iterations of crab cakes. They offered bite size morsels of crab meat, capers and a sauce I have yet to perfectly identify.
If memory serves me well, I ate at least eight pieces.
It got serious. Guests started watching the door for certain items to emerge. The crab cake bites didn’t last longer than five minutes each round. So I have to give credit where is credit is due. This does not erase the truly subpar first experience I had, but it has prompted me to consider re-​visiting Epic in 2016.

The burnt ends were delicious smothered in BBQ sauce. The Dark & Stormy with homemade ginger beer was amazing! The brisket BBQ with Mac and Cheese was a bit disappointing. The M&C was barely lukewarm and the brisket was nice and lean but on the dry and also lukewarm side. The bread pudding… OMG. It was amazing. I always look for bread pudding on a menu. This one is not to be missed! Staff was friendly and nicely on top of things. I will definitely consider going back next time in Crystal City.

I got an appetizer for lunch as I wasn’t very hungry and it hit the spot. I got chili with pork. Mmmmm. Seriously so good. Imagine a good chili with a yummy sweet pulled pork. That’s it. I will say that it felt a little too sweet towards the end, but I’m really glad I got it! Their fries are also super good. I would definitely want those again.

We ate lunch here because my daughter recommended it. The first thing I noticed was spots all over the glassware. They had fancy carafes of water on the table which was nice until I drank some. It tasted like hard room temperature water straight from the tap. I wanted sweet tea. All they had was unsweetened. They offered to make some but I declined. It never tastes the same after its already made. I got Coke instead. Although, they must have mixed the Coke syrup with the same tap water because it tasted odd also. The fries had a weird taste. I believe it had rosemary on them. The BBQ sauce on the pork slightly sour instead of sweet. I have never had a Cuban sandwich but that tasted bad also. I started thinking I was sick and my taste buds were off. I agree with one of the other post that the service was slow and we did not get any refills either until you’re ready to go.
Good luck if you decide to venture here.

I wanted to like this place… the service was friendly on a Monday night after 9pm. But the food was substandard. Burnt ends should be firm, chewy, even slightly charred. Most of the fat should be rendered. But these tasted stewed, not burnt… downright tender, with the fat all unrendered and intact and blubbery. As though someone took rib meat and just simmered it in red sauce in a pot for awhile. Bleah. I didn’t finish it.
If anything, the «Pancetta mac and cheese» was actually worse — there was a top crust, but no sauce! Just plain, bland, dry elbow macaroni underneath the topping. Again, bleah.
I’ll give them two stars for the bar and for friendliness, but that’s a stretch.

This was our third trip here in the past two months. We are really trying to like this place since it’s very close to our apartment. Food was very mediocre on this trip and the service was poor. Two people had the pulled pork and rated it just «ok», two had the chicken and thought it was very moist but a little bland, and then we also had chopped salads, tobacco onions, wings and onion soup. The onion soup was good, however the tobacco onions hadn’t been prepared fresh for our order. The chopped salad was also bland with little character.
The service was slow, no refills, it took sooo long after the main course was finished that we decided to pass on dessert and head somewhere else, even though on the previous visits we had very good desserts.

Busboy drops plates on me.
Grease on jeans.
No offer to take care of it.
Call back to restaurant.
Manager argumentative.
Never going back.
Food was pedestrian.

Ordered catering prime ribs and chicken wings for my rehearsal dinner. My guests love them!
My overall cater manager said Epic Smokehouse is very nice, professional and easy to work with.
Sorry, no picture. I was busy eating.

This place is EPIC, and gets 4 stars for 4 reasons…
–The service was helpful in their recommendations, courteous, and nice. And the atmosphere was pleasant and clean.
–The Ribs were superb! I have never had a smokier flavored meat!
–The Brisket was the best! Omg, sooooo tender!
–The homemade Dark and Stormy combines smoky black rum with homemade ginger beer in all its unfiltered glory with a strong bite. Fantastic drink overall!

Outstanding! Everything about our experience here as great. I started with the bacon bourbon old fashioned — delish. We had the burnt ends and the s owed sausage appetizers — the burnt ends were out of this world. The ceasar salad was fantastic, as was the Cobb salad that I split with my friend. I ordered the brisket as a main. My only complaint of the evening was that the brisket had more fat than I like, but I know that’s a personal taste. The mac and cheese was fantastic. I could eat a plate of that alone. We split the bread pudding which was perfect.
Service was friendly and attentive, without being overbearing or rushed.
I recommend this restaurant.

The food looks good but the food just did not taste good. The food in under seasoned and the steaks were quite disappointing, tough and again this too had no flavor. The gravy on the mash potatoes was good, and so was the Cesar salad.
The service was very spotty, the server was never visible. Other people were always looking for him.
The best part of the meal was the wine.
Overall, had a lot of promise based on the appearance and smell of the food, the taste never delivered.

I don’t really have anything bad to say about this place. Daniel was a great server. He was funny and explained everything well. The food was great. The drinks were strong. The place was well staffed.
We’re from Kansas City, so we know our BBQ. The food we had was pretty good and this place could stay open even in BBQ-​ville, USA. I’d come back if I didn’t live half a country away!

A great watering hole in Pentagon City, especially if you’re looking something more swanky and premium. I came here with three other friends for the happy hour. Happy hour was only at the bar, so there is limited seating and you won’t be able to face each other (so don’t go with a group larger than three or four).
Ambiance – It reminds you of a lobby bar in a swanky hotel. The restaurant has dim (i.e., flattering) lighting and the design is sleek and clean. You can come here dressed any sort of way. The air does smell like BBQ/​ash, so you will probably smell delicious after dining here.
Food – The happy hours specials are delicious and priced appropriately. We got Burnt Ends (highly recommend), BBQ shrimp (good but not great), the burger (delicious), pancetta mac&cheese (highly recommend), sweet thai chili wings (A-​OK), and the Smokehouse Calamari (delicious). My Privateer’s Mojito was strong and flavored nicely too. They had the local Port City brews as well.
Service – The bartender Janna provided excellent service as she checked in with us frequently and made sure we were never hungry or thirsty.
Location – It is right across the street from Costco, on Fern Street. Epic is on the same side as Dunkin Donuts.

Went here because my out-​of-​town friend and his family were staying nearby. I had pretty low expectations going in because Epic SmokeHouse looks like a generic chain restaurant that aims to be slightly higher than TGIFridays/​Applebees/​etc.
And I think it suceeds. The food was reasonably priced and tasted pretty good. It wasn’t mind blowingly awesome, but it was respectable. I had the one chicken option, which was done very well. The meat was moist and the tequilla lime cream sauce was very good. My wife had the pulled pork, which was ok. She thought it was on par with Kangaroo Boxing Club’s version (but KBC’s cole slaw was definitely better). It was a huge portion though, and a pretty good value.
Service was good, no complaints there. The draft beer options are super limited though: yuengling and a couple beers from Port City, that’s it. Long wine list which I found a bit puzzling, given the type of restaurant it is.
Overall Epic SmokeHouse is a pretty good restaurant. Would I go out of my way to come here? No. It is, however, one of the better eating options in the area.

If only, if only they had the option like most «smokehouses» of purchasing meat by the pound. Because of this a spot down in Del Ray Alexandria beats them out. Here at Epic, however they do allow you to buy meat of your choice by the 10 oz.
But when you do want to sit down to a meal this is your go to place!
Parking is convenient around the Metro Park area, it’s free street parking! The front of the house is so welcoming, it’s a nice refresher in DC! We arrived at 12:30 on Sunday after church with no wait!
The waiter we had was high energy and eager to please. We immediately asked about their burnt ends because of another review. Now while they’re not on the actual brunch menu they obliged. They served up 10 ounces of burnt ends. Unfortunately we’re a dry rub family and these were smothered in BBQ sauce. They were delicious though! Very fatty, next time we know to order dry rub please. (They don’t dip in BBQ sauce until they’re ordered)
We ordered
the salmon & poached eggs over asparagus
highly recommend. The salmon is a giant 5 ounce (guesstimate) of grilled to perfection salmon on top of 5 lonely asparagus spears (seriously, don’t skimp on my veggies!). The poached eggs were delectable. I did end up ordering a side of sourdough toast to assist with finishing up every bite of this dish!
the shrimp & grits, side of scrambled eggs and bacon
my boyfriend finished this dish in under 5 min, it looked very good. the shrimp came tails on which was a little disappointing — maybe we could request tail off? I’d say you got about 2 cups worth of grits and 8 shrimp with 5 sausage pieces (quite tiny don’t get too excited).
The scrambled eggs & bacon were worthy of any breakfast place.
$ 5.00 mimosas for brunch!
We will definitely be back to order 20 ounces worth of meat :) Also when we want to hang out their drink and dessert menu looked unbelievably original and tasty (funnel cake!)! They have a huge menu, including bar menu, dinner, brunch, breakfast, and lunch!
P.S I’m not understanding the other reviews, this place is not «swanky» (they don’t pretend to be they don’t even have white table cloths!) The prices are very reasonable for steak in DC, in fact this is on my list of «casual dining». If you want pricey steak places hit up Charlie Palmer, Joe’s, Double Eagle etc.
But rest assured Epic SmokeHouse can be filed under affordable, trendy neighborhood smokehouse! I think it captures Arlington’s unique vibe. It’s a smokehouse with floor to ceiling windows and the service is on par with the best moderately priced establishments.

I love LOVE love LOVE this place!
I found it a while back when it was restaurant week, but have been back multiple times since. The food just tastes and smells so good. The staff are super friendly (shout-​out to Daniel and Tony behind the bar). The décor is sleek and funny (great wine-​related sayings everywhere). The prices are reasonable and lots of great selection.
However, two words top them all: FUNNEL CAKE! I literally can sit there and eat it ALL day. For only $ 6 you can get three ginormous ones topped with whipped cream and berries compote. Heaven! Absolute heaven!
I can’t say enough good things about this place! Definitely call me a regular :)

This was my first time here… I will go back for sure! We found the info about restaurant on the restaurant week website, but didn’t get anything on the restaurant week menu.
We started with Kahlua Pig Roll, then I had Mac and Cheese and Biscuits and Gravy! Hell yeah! I know it sounds picky but I like more gravy (as any self respected southern guy would)
Good drinks, good service, good food…
Next time I go I want to try something different but the Kahlua Pig Roll and mac n’ cheese will be apart of what ever I eat