ESPN Zone

I’m not really the clientele this place caters to, which I realize makes me sound like a snob, but I did have a good time when I came on a semi-​blind date and we played all the games and got horrendously sweaty acting like 12 year olds.
I just feel like I can mix my own damn g&t and watch espn at home if there’s a game on, rather than paying a premium for drinks and food that really doesn’t taste that great unless you’re drunk. I will give them credit for good service though.

I’ll miss your fatty wings and sangria cosmopolitans that are the size of my head. And I’ll miss your bathroom TVs that allow me to not miss a second of a game.
Sigh.

Avoid ESPN Zone in DC at all costs. They make you wait an hour & a half just to get a table even when there’s an entire section of open tables to be seated at, and their hostesses are seriously rude. Waiter staff are very cool, but the food is pretty lousy & the games are all outdated & way overpriced. You’re better off watching sports at a local bar or going to Dave & Buster’s to play games.
If you need to find parking, you’re going to be paying pay-​to-​park rates of about $ 2 an hour on the street until 10pm or else you’re stuck finding garage parking somewhere.
* To the rude hostess on the 2^nd sublevel that «greeted» me and my party of 9 so courteously on Monday, March 29, 2010 with the glasses & long braids, congratulations on losing future business for your place of work. I always appreciate being snapped at and cut off when simply asking about an entire section of open tables while you make me and my party wait over an hour to be seated with little kids. I seriously hope your manager is reading this review so they know what a terrible job you’re doing for ESPN. This is the first time I felt the need to post a Unilocal review on anything, but this was the worst experience I’ve had at any restaurant or bar in a long time. Congrats again.

Midweek lunch in downtown DC was a great surprise at the Espn Zone. It was not very crowded which I am sure impacted the service positively.
Appetizer — queso chips with chicken — good stuff.
Taking the suggestion from the server, I ordered the barbque burger. It was very tastey and cooked well.
The entire experience was well done. I am not a sports fan but I was able to get into all of the viewing options provided both on the wall screens and the on-​table tv monitor.
This is a great stop for a first time experience. Not necessarily a regular spot for non-​sports fans. I give it a 4-​star rating for a unique experience.

Damn straight. A tv over the urinal!!! Now thats what im talking ’bout. Had the bacon burger which was good. Raj the btender kept the drinks flowing while i watched curling. Good times. Otherwise was really dead on a Thursday night.

Great concept… I mean ESPN has such a huge fan base, so why not have a restaurant and attract the masses? I’m a sport nut, so I decided to check out this place back when the World Cup was in South Africa. I threw on my jersey, hopped on the metro, and to my amazement it was packed at opening. They don’t reserve seats and the staff was not very helpful. I had to eat and watch the game at Harry’s (the bar next door). I was EXTREMELY dissatisfied.
I tried again… the SAME result. It was depressing. Out of the ⁵⁄₆ times i went there it was the same result. The only time I was successful was when i was released early from a training seminar and went around 2PM. I was sat right in front to watch a baseball game… reclining seat and all. it was dope. That’s why I gave it 2 stars vs. one. That was freaking cool.
Don’t go to this place… full of tourist… if you are going to go… go when like late morning/​early afternoon, so you could get the full experience.

What a blast! First of all, we came here as a group and got a buffet that included this fantastic apple and walnut salad along with caesar salad, chicken, salmon, amazing mashed potatoes, roasted vegetables, and finally… a huge platter of cheesecake and brownie bites! It was all so amazing… I got 3 plates :) The chairs were kind of sticky, and the service was slow probably due to the NFL playoff games, but no matter.
Finally, we got to go downstairs and play around with the arcade games. This is something I haven’t done in a while, and I gotta say that I enjoyed it tremendously. We got addicted to air hockey, a football game, and skee-​ball. There are so many types of games to play — many of which I never got the hang of. I would definitely come again!

ESPNZone does not broadcast ESPN360. They say they don’t have the capability. I think all you really need is a laptop computer with a video cord hooked into a Televsion set. Remember, this is ESPNZone, where once you enter the «Zone» you are surrounded by all things ESPN! And ESPN360, a website that broadcasts games online, whose very name suggests universality and ubiquitiousness.
Anyway, I didn’t get mad at the guy over the phone. I didn’t really want to go there anyway. I just thought it would have been nice to watch my game on a big flat screen instead of at my desk with my little laptop. Oh well, it spared me from going to the overcrowded, overpriced, impersonal ESPNZone. Which by the way, doesn’t actually have the capability to broadcast its own network.
«ESPN360: Sports everywhere you are! Not Available at ESPNZone.»

Great place to go for overpriced food and drinks!

I went to here for a birthday dinner and we got to watch the Caps play on the big screen and the smaller screens … Caps on multiple screens??? Psshh hell yeaaa –even though I’m not a huge fan– the atmosphere made me a cheering hooting fan.
Food — Salmon burger yummay for the tummay! But it was a little pricey.
When we finished eating we went downstairs to play some arcade games, of course it is far from D&B, more kid friendly games and no instant access to a bar but I had a fun time!
Service was good, people were friendly and nice — I’ll recommend it once in awhile but not a daily eatery spot :)

Nobody in DC does sports bar better than ESPN! The big screens, the games, the good selection of beer…
The games are fun but somewhat expensive. The food isn’t bad but nothing to write accolades about. It’s a good place to go with a group of friends. I’m sure we will be back.

5 stars for Vincent and the manager Shawn! They are awesome!!!
But 1 star for every other staff member! We had a horrible horrible first one hour at this place when we wanted to watch the Bulls playoffs game during a work trip to DC. The staff was just rude, giving us wrong information and totally unwilling to even make an effort to help! I’m fine if someone tries and can’t do something — but to tell us one thing and then change their mind because they’re too lazy — that’s not acceptable!
Long story short — we had a great second/​third hour at this place and Vincent and Shawn both did a great job trying to make up for the faults of the others. I wish someone finds more people like them and replaces the other inconsiderate uninterested staff members!
BTW, the cookie sundae is AMAZING!

ESPN ZONE, you were a God send for me and my friends who needed a restroom during the cherry blossom festival and couldn’t wait 15 minutes for a freakin porta potty!
So we decided to stay and watch most of the MSU /​UCONN game at your bar to thank you. I remember ordering about 3 different kinds of beers from your tap, and for a guy who hasn’t lived in DC since he turned 21, I have to say that I love Wash DC as a town for beer. Seriously, every beer that I have tried in a short weekend in this city has been great. Dominion Ale might be one of my favorites too. If only LA had such a great range of beers as DC did.
Nachos were fantastic too. Great fun atmosphere at the bar for watching games on a weekend afternoon. They have TVs in the bathroom, but for an ESPN Zone, I expected better quality TVs. Yes. I want HD at the urinals too!

This place is pretty cool, but there are only two reasons to go: watching sports (obviously) and playing games in their game room. By far the coolest part of the bar area was the giant viewing room with one large projection screen and 12 LCD TVs right next to it. You can even select what game you want to watch on your own small touchscreen television that sits on your table. However, please be warned: the beer is horrendously overpriced, and the service is pretty bad. That said, the «cool» factor more than made up for it.
The best time to go is definitely Tuesday nights. They have a promotion called «2 dollar Tuesdays» where you can get 2 hours of unlimited gameplay in the game room for 2 dollars. Definitely a good deal, seeing as how I was at Dave and Busters for about 2 hours this past weekend, and spent about 30 bucks on games alone.
Highly recommended for sports fans and arcade game fans; not recommended for lunch, dinner, or any traditional meal time, as the service was lousy and the food was way overpriced for what it was… good french fries, but not worth 8 bucks.

So here’s the thing about the ESPN Zone — outside of either NYC or Vegas, it’s just nothing but an overpriced, over hyped sports bar. Plain and simple. I went there on a Thursday night to watch the Chargers game (and the Rutgers/​Louisville «game») figuring there would be some atmosphere here. There wasn’t. The place was ½ full at best, and that’s only the floor that was populated (the rest of the place was a ghost town).
Don’t bother stopping by unless you feel an urgent need to give your money to Disney.

If you are a sports fan (expecially football) then this place is for you. Every Sunday when my redskins are away, my friends and I usually end up here, and it gets PACKED.
This place is great, you have tv’s on every floor. There are about 3 floors here. There is even a game room for the kids. Also there is a bar on each floor.
Not only that, this place is great, The food is served great, and yep it tastes so damn good. I love the Monster Burger, its like no other burger I ever had.
The reason I give this place a 4 outta 5 is because that if you are trying to get a table, on a sunday. (I dont know about other days.) There is usually a long wait, once we waited about an hour to get our table, but once we got it, we were enjoying it.
Some times the wait can be an hour to four hours depeneding on the games being played that day.
And 95.5 has a studio there, that’s live during football games.
Other then that, 4 outta 5 from me.

Ok, I ate here like four years ago, but I can’t remember that. I’m sure it was fine. This review is for the downstairs game area. Prepare yourself.
I think the most fun I had was watching a group of foreigners playing a horse racing game called «Final Furlong.» The real title of this game should really be «Coked-​out Intercourse Simulator.» It requires that you raise your butt up in the air and gyrate back and forth as quickly as you can. The object is to rock the horse back and forth, but it just ends up with you looking silly. Also, everyone can see your underpants and/​or up your skirt. Like dancing, it could be a good litmus test to see whether your date has a coordinated pelvis.
As for the other games, there is some old-​ass stuff in there. A lot of the games are clearly over 10 years old. I know arcade games don’t get made like they used to because everyone has home consoles, but some of their stuff is pretty lame. I think I saw Pong advertised as a Wimbledon simulator and the staff tried to convince me the ATM was a game too.
The best games there are the timeless games, like Air Hockey, Basketball and the old-​school Hockey game that’s like fooseball with the levers and the little guys that spin. Of course, Air Hockey only goes to five points. That’s pretty bushleague, since seven is the standard. Then again, it’s the only place in the area that I know has Air Hockey, so 3 stars!
Lastly, I handily beat my opponent in every game we played. I give her ONE STAR.

Ben P.: Hi! There are going to be 6 of us.
Hostess: Okay. You can come back in about 10 minutes, and then we’ll take your name and give you a pager.
Ben P.: For the section of tables over there? [Gesturing]
Hostess: Yeah.
Ben P.: The section that has about 12 totally empty tables, open seating for about 50 people?
Hostess: Yeah.
Ben P.: In order for me to get one of those tables, I need to come back in 10 minutes, and at that point you’ll take my name and let me know, at some later time, when there’s a table available?
Hostess: Yeah.
Ben P.: Bye!

Typical tourist trap in DC. Most of the games are either broken, or from 1990. I mean shitty graphics, worse than Nintendo. I’ve gone twice, and we all ended up playing about 10 games of basketball. The kind where you can compete side by side with others. I highly recommend just getting one card and sharing it. It’s obvious but a lot of people don’t do this.
First time we got a bunch of different food. It’s nothing to really write about. Don’t be expecting 5* food. If an ESPN Sports Zone can come up with 3* food, they deserve 5* in the food category.
I gave it 3* cause it has shitty games and the good ones are broken.
Oh yeah, but it’s a good sports bar. Tons of tv’s and you can find your team. Went last night for a work function, and was able to see the breaking news trade for the Cubbies.

If you’re a die-​hard sports fan, then this place is for you. There are TV’s all over the place so you won’t miss your game (s). Plus, you can check out all the other games that are going on at the same time.
The arcade is decent and all of them are sports-​themed. You ain’t gonna find no House of the Dead games.
The place is quite noisy so be prepared to tolerate it.
The food and drinks are decent as well. Remember, you’re here to watch the game, not to order fine dining.