McCormick & Schmick’s Harborside at National Harbor

Terrible service. My husband and I attempted to eat there earlier tonight. We were seated and waited 15 minutes with no service. No one came to take our drink order or anything. The table behind us was seated and a server went to their table immediately. So we got up and left.

We had lunch here recently and was pretty disappointed with how slow the service was and quality of the food served. It was a slow day, not a lot of guests, we were seated right away. We opted to sit outside because of the nice view. Server was nice. It took more than 15 minutes to get our drinks and almost an hour to get our food. We had hungry kids so they kept on asking when the food is coming. When it finally came, the meat on my sons cheeseburger and French fries were burnt and also my husbands steak. There are plenty of places to eat in that area so avoid going here if you can.

The locations is definitely nice because it’s right at the National Harbor. But the overall experience wasn’t great. The staff was definitely friendly and very pleasant. They tried their best to get the orders out on time. But there was so much delay with drinks and food. :(

WORSE DINING EXPERIENCE EVER! We went to this location after my daughter’s graduation on a Saturday. Our original reservation was for 7 but after checking with the restaurant, we reserved four more tables of four for the same time. My review is specific to our experience since the other four tables were handled by another server and each had separate checks. The food was good (when we finally got it) but the service was horrendous and inexcusable.
— Some drinks came out more than 30 mins after we ordered them
— Despite repeated requests for more bread, none ever came (one bowl for a table of 7)
— Had to ask multiple times for extra utensils.
— Two in our party were children so we asked for their meals to come immediately (they did — thankfully)
— Three of the plates arrived at the same time but the server misstated what two of them were (type and size of steak and burger) and they were also missing requested sides. Despite being starved by that time, we didn’t want to tear into them and make other customers wait so we called the server over and explained our concern. We waited another 15 minutes while the server confirmed with the kitchen that indeed these were the right orders (by then they were cold), server made no offer to reheat. The missing sides came out 15+ mins later
— Remaining two plates came out 30+ mins after the three other entrees. By then, I just decided to take mine to go while my daughter (the graduate) wolfed hers down since others at our table were basically done and waiting just for us.
— We expressed our dissatisfaction to the server and asked to see the manager.
— Manager arrived promptly (surprisingly) and we described very politely our experience. His first response was to blame us for adding tables to our reservation (despite each table having separate checks and a different server). He did apologize for the last two plates arriving so late but the apology did not seem genuine nor did he make any offer to compensate for any of the poor service we experienced.
Thank you to the manager for leading your team with such a stellar example of what NOT TO DO with customers. We will not be visiting this location again, and will be reluctant to visit any of the other locations for fear of a repeat experience.

I had dinner here on Thursday for the first time and I truly enjoyed the food and the waitress was very friendly and informative. She even told me about this restaurant card that I signed up for. The atmosphere was great and we had a view of the harbor and big screen outside. The only food was delicious but the portion was small compared to other ⁴⁄₅ star restaurants I’ve been to. Other than that I enjoyed everything and will return!

I’ve never really been a big fan of M&S. It’s just okay. I was there for a drink and ended up ordering dessert. It was an cinnamon apple pie dessert. I’m a big fan of desserts, and this was just bleh. I was not impressed. Everything seemed to be half cooked — the pie crust was too doughy, the apples were just «off». Overall, I was disappointed. At the least the drink was good. the server was really nice too.

Nice restaurant along with good food, came here for a birthday dinner. I would of gave them 5 stars but unfortunately I can’t. Reason why is we had about 15 people at the dinner table & they took forever to bring us our food & drink. No one at the table eat at the same time, & when I was specifically done eating I asked for my tab & the waiter told me I had to wait cause they could only split up the whole bill in 4 ways. When it was clearly 5 or more private couples there. Hmm lazy waiters

Manager got my address and said she’d send a gift card because of our inconvenience, but never received anything. Not worth wasting time and money on.

We came here for a Memorial Day lunch. With an early reservation, we had a good choice of seats outside along the waterfront. It was a nice sunny day with a gentle breeze, and these are some of the best seats in the area. That’s why I give this establishment two stars. For food and service, I would give them next to nothing. The best food we had here was the complimentary fresh bread and butter, and my daughter’s kids meal. The sourdough is excellent, warm and fresh with a distinct sour taste. My daughter had shrimp that was clean and well seasoned, with a fruit bowl that consisted of large fresh berries… her favorite. My wife had fish tacos that sorely lacked for flavor and substance. Only one small piece of fish in each one that half filled the tortilla, and an oily dressing that overpowered the dish without adding any real flavor. I had the fish and chips. The fries and slaw were quite good, but the fish was small and overly breaded again with no seasoning. As for the service, once we got the first drinks and bread, we never got any refills. Our food arrived before our kid’s, I think they forgot her order, and we were finished eating before her food arrived because the portions were so small. Tried to order another drink but sent it back when it also arrived just as we were finishing our plates. Watched them sending out runners with food orders with no direction, they had to ask each table if the food was their’s.
Overall, neither of our dishes were worth anything close to the advertised prices and the service was friendly but lackluster and slow. You are paying for the location. I would only come back on a nice day to sit outside and with a significant discount on the food. For a place that to me seems to compete with Cheesecake Factory in terms of style and what they offer, Cheesecake Factory would beat them in terms of value and quality any day.

What the hell? Definitely not what we were expecting from previous M&S visits elsewhere. Service took FOREVER. AT 40 minutes they were just bringing out ONE of our two appetizers, saying they were just starting to make the second one. What?! Cancel the rest, our kids are already done eating thanks.
The kids $ 7 mac and cheese and cheese was mediocre.
Our coconut shrimp was really very good, but not worth the wait.
Sad.

This review is for their happy hour. The food and drinks are good, and are at great prices. However, the service at this particular location was shockingly bad. I didn’t get my drink until 20 minutes after everyone, after I reminded a waiter. Then I didn’t get my food for another 20 minutes or so after the rest of my group got their food (and after I reminded them again). At this point, the rest of my group was already finishing. And though I didn’t complain, I did find it odd that there was no offer to discount my order at all, which under these circumstances I think is just polite.
Then we asked for separate checks, and the waiter decided to close out different checks individually, and ask each individual person to remind him of what they ordered. I thought it was odd that the waiter couldn’t remember anyone’s orders, and didn’t catch on sooner that we were all looking to split our checks. The whole process left us there way longer than we expected.
The odd thing about it was that the place wasn’t busy at all (it was a Tuesday evening). I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.

This review is for their happy hour. McCormick & Schmick’s is Red Lobster’s «I forgot where I came from» bigger brother. I haven’t had their dinner yet.
At least once a week, me and the other underpaid civil servants (teachers) come here for happy hour where we talk about how much we love our job and how we have no need whatsoever for alcohol or antidepressants. With that said, drinks are 3 – 7 bucks. The food choices are awesome.
My personal favorites… the quesadilla and the hamburger. They’re both $ 5.00 a piece and they are ample size. It’s a huge grilled burger with fries. The quesadilla is pretty big too. Either will fill up the glutton in me. One day I tried to order both. I couldn’t finish. There’s a dozen other choices like mussels and buffalo shrimp. All pretty cheap.
Drinks can be a tad watered down depending on who’s tending the bar. All in all, it’s worth the money. The only downside is that National Harbor rakes you over the coals for parking. 2 hours is 10 bucks. I’m not that drunk.

Came here as a secondary choice & should have stayed with our first one.
The service was slow & exuded off an «I really don’t feel like working today» which seemed to pass off on some of the other servers.
We waited 15 minutes for appetizers of Tuna Tartar & Shrimp Cocktail. More of an additional wait, my basic salmon salad was extremely mixed up. I stated no dairy or any other meat products besides the salmon, yet it came with bacon. I had to wait another 10 minutes for a new salad to come out, which fell on top of some terrible looking shredded lettuce. I really wish menus would state that the greens they are offering is shredded, so I can have the option to request something else. Basic & bland was my experience.
My friend had the Crab Cakes & stated he wish he was at Morton’s…LOL. The Coast to Coast Tuna with spicy seared tuna & a avocado tuna tartar was the highlight of my meal.
I will not be back to this location, even with the nice views of the National Harbor.

Food was great! The atmosphere of the restaurant and the location is ideal.
I had the chicken fettucini and it definitely exceed expectations.

Wonderful location but the BEST is Omar and Ted as waiter and manager, respectively. The food is so darn good, and on a really busy night it was great to be taken care of!
I have to eat gluten free due to allergy and Omar and Ted kept my night stress-​less.
Did I mention that the food is darn good?

The food and service was pretty good. Environment friendly. The view awesome.
My appetizer and drinks were definitely on point. The oysters were smooth. Tasty and texturizing.
Then my entrée which was the ultimate mixer was excellent. I enjoyed the food and it was tasty. I’m sleepy now! Lol!!!

You can always count on McCormick & Schmick’s to be open on Christmas. When we examined our Christmas choices in National Harbor, this was our preference, so we made reservations for an 11:30 lunch.
This was definitely the most attractive M & S we have ever been in, with a nice view of the harbor, although we were given a small booth near the kitchen. Glad to be on that side of the dining room because it was super cold toward the bathrooms.
As always on a holiday, they were serving the dinner menu all day, which was fine with us.
Food was very good! Tasty bread and butter to start. We opted to share a caesar as well and it was nice and cold with a fresh creamy dressing. Had I known how large my entrée was going to be, I would have probably passed on it though. I had the blackened mahi-​mahi with crabmeat sautee, served over andouille mashed taters and spinach. I also asked to try the roasted poblano tartar sauce with it, and wow, is that good! It all was!
Husband enjoyed his Lump Crab Stuffed Shrimp, with Red Pepper Cheddar mashed taters and Green Beans, and somehow managed to eat a piece of delicious pumpkin cheesecake as well.
Our Server took great care of us and Management even checked on us. Very appreciative to all who worked on Christmas Day, none of whom acted like they wanted to be anywhere else.

I had to organize a business dinner during a recent conference and this M&S was the only «reasonably nice» place near the Gaylord that had an opening («reasonably nice» meaning good enough to take clients to but not so nice that I’ll get fired when they see the expense report). I was worried, because the reviews here are pretty much terrible but we ended up having a really good experience.
Given that the place was completely full with many large groups (see: conference above), we had good, attentive service. Everyone from the bar staff to our waiter was really, really nice.
On the food front, we split some apps — something called Shrimp Kisses (bacon wrapped shrimp), coconut shrimp and something called Coast to Coast which was tuna tatare paired with cubes of flash fried tuna. The last one was really spicy and I totally loved it — I’d be happy to sit at the bar and nibble on it with a glass of wine.
For entrees, I went with a steak which was served at the correct temp and was well seasoned. Most others had one of the fish options and everyone seemed very happy with their choices. Prices are probably a little higher than they need to be, but it’s a place on the water that caters to tourists and conventioneers so what can you do?
I’ve eaten at many a M&S over the years, and I’d rate my experience here as one of the better ones.

I automatically removed one star due to the incompetence of the reservations desk. At 6pm we called to make a reservation for a party of 9 and was told that we could be seated at 7:15pm and at 7:30pm we were informed that they were still trying to get the reservations together. We found out that we were waiting because the hostess did not know she could put two tables together. Definitely not the best way to start our evening celebrating a birthday.
When we sat down we immediately placed our entrée orders. Fast forward an hour later and we are still waiting for our food with no updates from our waitress on how much longer our meals would be.
After finally receiving our meals, the waitress never checked to see how well we enjoyed our dish or if we needed anything extra. My dish (stuffed shrimp) was semi-​warm at best but good. It wasn’t enough to make me want to return as my complete experience has been horrible to say the least. The manager came over to ask if everything was okay but it was much to late. He also offered free dessert but we assured him that we did not want to wait another 45 mins longer.
The service/​process or the people are really broken. I visited this establishment roughly five years ago and I had no idea this is what it had diminished to. I did not understand why the reviews were so low for McCormicks & Schmick initially, but please be aware and advised that these reviews are in fact true.

Terrible service. Incompetent staff. I called ahead at 6:00 pm and the hostess said we would have to make reservations at 7:15. We got there and waited 30 mins after our time to finally get seated because the hostesses didn’t know she could put 2 tables together to seat 9 people.
I ordered the salmon pasta. It was really good but it was the only positive experience here. Our food took an hour to arrive. Our waitress never came to check on us. She never offered us dessert. I had to go to her to get the check… And she had an attitude when I asked her for it.
The manager asked us how about our experience. We expressed to him how bad the service was. He said he was sorry and offered us cake… Really? Are we 5 years old?
This place is terrible. Run in the opposite direction as quickly as you can.