Cabanas

I was hesitant on trying this place because of all the poor reviews. I’m glad I didnt listen! This place was great. The food and staff were great! I spoke to the manager and he said that they recently «cleaned house» with the staff. They really go out of their way to please! The carne asada enchilada is great!

Went in for a drink, the decoration was pretty cool, bartender was great and made us amazing drinks.
We were pretty impressed and decided to stay for dinner… and … from that moment, everything went from 5 star to –5 star. from the time we sat down, until the waitress came to take our order (20+ minutes), and from the time we ordered, it took over an HOUR to get our food.
Now done w/​the clock, and back to the food. I’m 99% sure the food was straight out of the microwave, the chicken was super dry and the center was cold (almost frozen) even though it was fully cooked (which is a sign that it was cooked, frozen, and then put back in the microwave)
Wouldn’t go back for food… I might stop by for a drink though!

Realized I had never posted a 1-​star rating on Unilocal,and was like, hmm, is there even a place in here in DC that I would really give only one star?
And then I thought: CABANAS. Actually, I think it’s closed right now due to flooding, but if nothing changes when it opens again, here is my review:
The menu is laughably expensive. Trust me, tourists, NO swanky, rich Georgetowners go here to eat — it is a simply a tourist trap that lures in people who think that the Georgetown Waterfront is actually high-​end and hip (it is not). Entrees that are worth about $ 8 maximum cost double that amount.
Also, this is the only restaurant I’ve been to in my entire life that I did not leave a tip. Which is saying a lot, because I am hyper-​empathetic and forgiving to a fault when it comes to service employees. My friend ordered enchiladas with red sauce, and they arrived with green sauce. NBD — an easily-​corrected little mistake. When she nicely requested the waitress bring the correct entrée, she returned in about 30 seconds with what was clearly the same dish, just with red sauce now poured on top of the green sauce.
My friend: «Um, this is the same dish you gave me one minute ago.»
Waitress: «Well, can you eat it?»
Friend: «Uh, yeah, I suppose I am physically capable of eating this, although it is not what I ordered.»
We tried to complain to the manager, who literally said «Well, this is the kitchen’s fault, and I don’t really have any control over what they do.»
We asked the waitress to speak to the kitchen staff, and she said, «Well, you did eat your food, so it can’t be that bad.»
I guess they get one star for providing a pretty hilarious story.

I was here on vacation in DC and we were craving Mexican food. When we walked in there was no one to seat us, so we sat ourselves. The décor is great, and I loved the large booths that have a curtain for privacy. Once the waiter came, he was very accommodating. However he should be because the menu is horrible. You literally have like 5 choices. It was ridiculous and especially for the prices NOT WORTH IT! I know Georgetown is classy, and pricey, but my group wanted good food for the price we were paying. If you are going to have Mexican servers, at a Mexican restaurant, at least PLEASE have it taste half way decent, and have a number of MEXICAN choices! I will never go here again, if it wasn’t for the great company I was with, we would have all left.

Went here for Valentine’s Day specifically for the ambiance. Well that’s about all we got and THAT part was worth it. The décor is very nice and the booths with curtains were a nice touch.
When we walked in, there was no one to greet us so we weren’t sure how far into the restaurant to go. The place had a decent sized crowd but it wasn’t packed. I’m going to go with either a) they were woefully understaffed or b) an entirely NEW staff was working that night. Someone finally came over and «held us» at the bar until they could find space for us (despite the fact that we had reservations). We DID receive some very HEARTY glass of Don Julio as we perused their rather light menu while we waited which was the highlight of the evening.
We were seated in a cabana and virtually ignored for about 30 minutes. After that, a gentleman came over to give us water. We asked if he was our waiter; he politely informed us that he didn’t speak English but tried to find our waiter for us. Another 10 minutes and our waiter finally shows up. We had our order ready to prevent any further delay. My friend orders the calamari and peruvian chicken. I order the paella. He tells me that they are out of it. So I order the chorizo quesadilla and mussels/​clams. We also get a pitcher of margaritas.
The pitcher comes quickly and is MASSIVE. The drinks were good. It takes a while for the food to come. The waiter brings out the peruvian chicken and then tries to convince me that I ordered fajitas. When I tell him that I didn’t, he takes it back but leaves the pico de gallo plate (very fresh and pretty good). The mussels and clams comes out soon thereafter. They were under-​seasoned and average at best. I tried the chicken and it was OK — pretty dry and not seasoned well either.
Finally the waiter comes back with the calamari (which was supposed to come out first) and the quesadilla — except he informs me that they are out of chorizo too and said that they made me a chicken one instead. Since I didn’t order chicken, I politely declined. The Calamari wasn’t cooked very well and could have stand to be crispier. We sent it back to be cooked longer. LONG after we had finished the rest of our food and almost finished the pitcher, the waiter brings back the SAME plate of calamari that hasn’t been cooked ANY more. In fact, the sauce that it comes with had formed a skin from sitting.
They were polite enough to acknowledge their errors and take the items off of the bill that we didn’t like. I think their cordiality made what could have been a GOD AWFUL experience not absolutely terrible.
I’m sad I didn’t get to try the paella as I love trying different versions but i’m honestly not sure if I’d go back.

2 stars simply for the location. I went here for a friends birthday and it was a bit chilly out, but I could imagine how packed this restaurant must be during the summer time.
The server was very nice and he had on a HUGE «flavor flav“esq gold watch on his wrist. You could tell he really liked his job and that he was very personable, he even broke-​out in a dance when Madonna song started to play.
The food on the other hand was very boring. I felt like the food was equivalent to Chevy mexican restaurant; blah!
I’d probably come back for happy hour or sip on some sangria while I people watch during the summer, but I’ll definately pass on the food.

the atmosphere is very romantic.
inside the booths they have curtains where you can close while your eating to have privacy haha.
i guess its a good date place.
i came here with a girlfriend for a good dinner and a glass of wine.
i ordered the fish dish with white wine and it was a good pair.
the fish was good.
service was whatever, it wasn’t horrible but wasn’t great either.
our waiter was not very helpful he seemed very annoyed and not friendly.
other than that, the food was good, good company, it was a great night out.

I wish I could leave ZERO stars. This place is awful. The food is horribly overpriced ($ 16 for quesadillas and 7.50 for a cup of fruit).
We waited 20 minutes for our waitress, as she served others who sat down before us. They even got drinks and ordered before we were ever spoken to. But apparently no apology was necessary… heh. Not that she made up for it in service. Good thing I brought my sigg bottle full of water, as the waitress never noticed when our glasses were dry.
We called the day before and asked if they had a bloody Mary bar, and was the special 7.99 for bottomless bloody marys and were told yes on both counts. When we got there we discovered that the special was $ 15 for bottomless bloody marys and there was no bloody Mary bar.
UPDATE: I wrote the previous portion of the review while seated at the table. When I received my fruit cup, which I asked them to remove the honeydew from (I hate melon), I got a cup of cantaloupe, one half strawberry, and one blueberry. When I asked them to make it without cantaloupe, the kitchen responded that they were unable to make their eight dollar fruit cup without the cheap cantaloupe or honeydew filler.

This place is just awful. Avoid, i repeat avoid!!!
Bland, flavorless food served in a beautifully decorated space.
Doesn’t add up.
Don’t waste your time or your money.

Location: Near the water but not not on the water. It is a few steps below the riverside boardwalk so you don’t have the views that Nick’s Riverside Grille has.
Service: sloooooooow… to take our drink order, forgot one of our drinks. Had two different versions of their menu (they gave us the wrong one initially), and claimed that they didn’t have the roasted corn (which they did). Food took forever for our party of six and they forgot a fajita order (which arrived after everyone was done eating).
Food: average. Cubano sandwich tasted like a ham sandwich with bland flavor. Plantain chips were decent-​thin, crispy and salty. Enchilladas were ok but bland and served with canned beans. Lemonade was refreshing but made with powder and colored pink.
Bottom line: good location for an outdoor meal but food is bland, low quality, and overpriced. Don’t go here if you want authentic Mexican food or fast/​accurate service.

Unfortunately, my first experience at Cabanas was extremely disappointing. I’ve been wanting to try out the restaurant because I love the waterfront so my boyfriend and I got a certificate from
. Thursday night, we headed over there for dinner around 8:00 p.m. and were seated at a booth. Our server, Thomas, told us that we could use the certificate. AFTER we ordered our food and drinks, he came over to tell us that his manager informed him we couldn’t use the certificate. As of THAT DAY, they were no longer accepting the
certificate.
I was furious and thought it sounded a little shady but I wanted to do a little research before writing this review because we got the certificate back in November. Even though the certificates are good for a year, I thought maybe they were no longer accepting them.
I just went on
today and saw that they still have certificates for Cabanas so it was obvious that we were turned back with a lie.
There was a private party going on and instead of telling us the restaurant was closed for a private event (Which would be acceptable), the manager on duty decided to tell a lie and say that they were no longer accepting the certificates.
Our waiter, Thomas, was very apologetic and our food was delicious but instead of being able to use our certificate, we had to pay the full check.
It was an incredibly infuriating experience.

Although the atmosphere was nice, I think that’s all we paid for.
Our food was over an hour and 15 minutes late and when it arrived it was the saddest looking food I’ve ever seen (and tasted). I order the Cubano pulled pork sandwich and instead of pulled pork it was cubed up bits, with a slice of ham and cheese. The fish tacos were equally disappointing.
Our waitress was very kind and offered us margaritas on the house for the slow service, but by the time we received them we had finished our food and were ready to go.
Overall, I would not visit again.

I agree with most of the reviews in that the food is overpriced… however, there are some tasty things on the menu and it is on the «waterfront» so people seem to be willing to pay for it. It is owned by the same guys that own Tony & Joes and Nicks but the food is far better.
As someone who has been here too many times over the last few years here are my thoughts:
–Guacamole is yummy but small and not worth $ 11
— Quesadillas are delicious– they used to have it where you could get half an order of quesadillas as an app and that was a great deal…
— Fajitas are delicious but I am a fajitas snob and don’t think they are worth $ 20 + when they aren’t even served with rice or beans… :)
— Salmon dinner is my absolute favorite. I used to get this every time I went without fail (minus the bacon).
My favorite part of this place is the frozen margaritas… they have traditional, mango, strawberry and swirl– yum!

What. The. Hell.
This place is waaaay overpriced. I’m like «Um… you really think your stuff is worth this much? Don’t flatter yourself, guys.»
I mean I can KIND of understand the bigger pricetags on the food just because it’s on the waterfront and, hey, they gotta pay that waterfront rent on the restaurant property. But if I’m going to pay like 10 bucks for calamari… I better get more than like 4 pieces. (PS it was a little rubbery too… they might want to try soaking it in buttermilk. It makes it more tender. Just a little fun fact for you guys!)
My friend got some kind of cheese dip… it was good… but they gave her like 3 tortilla chips. I was like «Really? Tortilla chips are NOT expensive. Pile those babies on there!»
So why does it get that second star even though I thought it was «Meh.»? Because… I guess the Sangria was pretty good. And the lounge area inside was pretty nice. And… yeah that’s all I got.

People think it’s cool to work in G-​town. It is not. The food is often lousy and this can be exemplified by Cabanas which visually is a nice setting on the Waterfront. Ave Maria, it seems all of Gtown’s food is geared toward getting the tourist dollar which means they don’t have to aim for quality because by the time you find out it sucks, you’re on your way back to Indiana. Actually, that may be a bad example cause you may not know it sucks if you’re from Indiana. I wasted a year of my life there, so I know about the hoosiers.
The food was bland and uninspiring. The guac was decent, but it’s kind of hard to screw up guac, and by looking at my co-​diners’ meals I knew I wasn’t even going to take a chance at dessert. So I wouldn’t recommend meeting up here for dining, perhaps drinking, but I’m in the area during the workday so it doesn’t work for me.

BLAND FLAVORLESS FOOD!!!
At first I thought all the 1 star ratings were unjustified grudges, since a lot of the recent 1-​star ratings are «orangehead» reviews. I’m 100% confident their reviews are legitimate now.
Came here for a quick dinner before watching the pre-​screening of «The Hangover» at Lowes across the street. It was a warm humid day and we just wanted to grab some grub and chug some suds to really feel the experience. What could be better than watching Disney-Pixar’s movie «Up» in 3-​D playing next door? Well… watching «The Hangover» in 4-​D of course.
So anyway we are walking around and just want a cool place to sit. The attentive waiter sees us (since this place was absolutely dead) and we ask if it’s nice and cool inside. Despite seeing all the windows open, we figured there was some cooler booths inside. He leads us inside and says we can sit anywhere. I’m thinking… soooooo…where’s the A/​C. Not wanting to insult the dude by just leaving, we decided to sit right underneath a ceiling fan. I was totally annoyed this guy would outright lie to us to get us in the door.
When the food came out, the tacos (chicken and pork), beans, and rice all were absolutely FLAVORLESS. It’s an absolute travesty to be selling that kind of food in Washington Harbor. Definitely not coming back here again and wouldn’t recommend this place.

Julian said it perfectly when he described the food as sloppy joe’s and canned vegetables. I was so let down by this place. The location is fantastic, and you’d think the nearby competition would force this place into higher standards, but alas…
I didn’t like the food at all, they brought us the wrong wine we had requested, and the whole experience was way overpriced for its lack of quality and flavor. The service was friendly and food came out fast, but we were there pretty early and on a Thursday so I’m not sure that’s normal. Next time I want to eat by the waterfront, I’m packing a picnic.

Great location but lacks the uniqueness to stand-​out of the crowd. The night of the Sex and the City opening a group of us girls headed to the waterfront for some pre-​movie drinking and ended up at Cabana’s. We were seated on the patio at a very nice table and the waiter came over immediately to take our drink orders. He was very friendly and attentive.
The rest of our party joined us and we ordered more drinks and I ordered the Mango Ceviche and a bowl of Guacamole. The Ceviche was mostly mango salsa and I didn’t even taste the seafood at all. It was really just lacking in «meat» but as far as mango salsa it was not bad. The Guac was a bit salty and the chips made it even more noticeably salty.
I didn’t order an entrée because they are lacking in vegetarian options. Not a favorite of mine… but worth a try.

On the search for a graduation dinner location (and finding everything booked), I heard of Cabanas and RSVP’d. We got there super early, but they prompty sat us. Like Tina H’s review, it was clean and we also sat in one of the curtained booths, which was perfect for a small group. The waiter came and checked on us multiple times.
I got the mole poblano, which was really good, and the rest of my party got the enchiladas and the mahi mahi salad, which were proclaimed to be really tasty! We also got dessert, and if you do, get the Quatro Leches cake! Especially if you’re a fan of dulce de leche. And the mojitos were awesome.
So…great food, good ambience, excellent service. I would def. recommend Cabanas… it would be really nice when it’s not pouring and cold!

It was okay. We’ll start with 3 stars.
–1 star for slow service.
+1 for the cute indoor curtained booths
–1 star for not getting to sit in the curtained booth
+1 star for letting us move the tables around
–1 star for the drinks having too much ice in plastic cups.
P. S. Ben… the left coast is the best coast!!!