Juniper Restaurant

Juniper is a restaurant I had seen on Opentable a ton whenever visiting their websites.
I was meeting some people for dinner in DC one night and Juniper just happened to be within walking distance of their hotel and the menu looked pretty good so that’s what we went with.
We sat down and made our drink orders. The two wines that were ordered were a couple pretty hefty pours and the people who ordered them were quite satisfied!
We started off with the bread and honey butter. This is a must get if you go into Juniper. The bread is baked fresh and has a crunchy outside and soft inside. The honey butter is just stupid good. It’s pretty sweet and the bread with the butter eats more like a less sweet cake, but it was incredible. HAVE TO GET THE BREAD WITH HONEY BUTTER.
I ordered the grilled strip loin medium rare and they pretty much hit it on the head. The steak had an awesome sear and you could taste some grill in every bite. It was served with artichoke and pomme purée and green beans. Great dish and I’d order it again.
Others in my party got the shrimp and lobster risotto. I sampled and confirm it is delicious, albeit pretty tomato-​ey.
The food is pretty reasonably priced considering what else restaurants charge you in DC. I’d say on the lower side of $$$, so the check was bearable.
If you’ve ever been on the fence about Juniper or you’d like to go to a restaurant with a fancy feel but not break the bank, this could be your place!

By far the best crab cakes I have ever tasted in my entire life! Extremely fresh ingredients, along with amazing service (Myra was so sweet). I would recommend this restaurant to anyone in the D.C. area.

Great hotel restaurant. Sometimes I feel these restaurants can be hit and miss knowing they have a captive audience, it’s easy to let standards slip. However at worst we were happy with our choices and and best delighted. And some dishes were just outstanding.

It’s hard for me to give this place anything over 3 stars. First, we had dinner reservations for 7:45 but they couldn’t seat us until after 8. They had a limited menu, which is fine but when they have a burger of the month and fish & chips as an option, it’s hard to justify only being able to pick from a few dishes when I could have eaten the same thing down the street. Where was all the honey and bee related dishes? I also didn’t like that they advertise as a $$$ «business casual» place when over 70% of the guest had on jeans. In all honesty, if we would have known this place was attached to a hotel, we would have never picked it. I’m sure it’s fine for tourist staying at that hotel but it’s definitely not fine DC dining as advertised.

Service was great, food was fantastic, portions were very fair, and overall our experience was wonderful! We started with honey bread, soup and salad and we’re impressed by all. The short ribs made my husband wish he had ordered them instead of crab cakes, but he liked the crab cakes as well. The deserts were a little heavier than we needed, but they were impressive as well… apple tartin and toffee pudding :)

About a 3 – 3.5: The Juniper Restaurant is located inside the Fairmont in Georgetown. This restaurant offers a Modern American regional cuisine that pride themselves in using locally-​grown and sustainable ingredients in their breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner menu items. A couple of dear friends and I came here for their Sunday brunch, which offered a nice spread of various breakfast meats (bacon, turkey bacon, and breakfast sausages), braised beef with spaghetti marinara, seared haddock with bearnaise sauce, roasted fingerling potatoes, roasted broccoli rabe and asparagus, mini buttermilk pancakes with warm maple syrup, raw oysters on shells, ready-​to-​eat snow crab claws, jumbo-​sized cocktail shrimp, mini bagels and house breads, lox, cheeses, cured meats, muffins/​croissants/​danishes, an omelet station, fruits, and even a dessert table (fruit parfait, chocolate mousse, apple tarts, cookie sandwiches, chocolate covered strawberries, cookies, mini tarts, and muffins). Everything was laid out in an organized way, and it was visually appealing. I was a fan of their luscious juicy jumbo cocktail shrimp, their already cracked snow crab claws (my favorite par of a crab, but they should thaw it out a bit more as they were still slightly frozen), the bacon, the mini croissants, and the juices (I had the grapefruit) (just note that there were some gnats flying around the main buffet and especially the dessert table). The restaurant itself is gorgeous, with its pillars, wooden tables, and plush booths and armchairs, and it was quite comfortable! Our server was Ms. Liv, and she was attentive, efficient, and super sweet; Mr. Phuc later joined in service and made sure that we were having a great time and everything was satisfactory! I was confused in how this place was not packed for a Sunday, as their brunch offerings were delicious and generous; for a small upcharge, you can also add unlimited mimosas and Bloody Marys to your meal. I was a little sad to hear that they had gotten rid of including a main entrée with the brunch option, as that offering has been long gone for a while. Just note — come here for an appetite, so you get your $$$‘s worth!
+Sunday brunch: D
+small upcharge for unlimited mimosas and Bloody Marys
+located at the Fairmont
+ask for Ms Liv. and Mr. Phuc: D
+free street parking on Sundays!

Bottom line: not worth the money. You can get great food at this price point elsewhere. Juniper is not a bad place, and in fact it has cozy seats in a very nice, albeit old fashioned, dining room, with a pleasant looking outdoor area in the hotel’s inner courtyard.
The problem is that it’s the epitome of average food at ridiculous prices. They’re selling a $ 24 burger. Whaaat? Maybe you can get away with that if it’s the tastiest dang burger in town, but it is forgettable. It is not seasoned much and just doesn’t have much flavor to speak of. The one plus is that it comes with a side of home made potato chips, and those were amazing. Best part of the whole meal.
We also tried the sea scallops, which are served with a side of carrots, grains, and wasabi foam. This dish also was just ok. It sustained life for one more day, and that’s about all I have to say about that.
For two entrees, no appetizers, and no drinks, the bill still came to $ 60. You don’t even get bread, which is $ 6 more. You can get a $ 30 entrée that blows your mind at plenty of other establishments. If we did not have a groupon, I might have been disappointed, but if you have one, why not give it a try.

The staff and setting are lovely. The new chef is sub-​par.

I am not a fan of this restaurant. I was greeted by the surly waiter. The menu is very limited. They have one soup only, their soup of the day. It was chicken noodle which is pretty boring so i did not try it. The ceasar salad was pretty good but they use spinich. Not am improvement. The chicken dinner for $ 25 was disappointing. It was a very small piece and bland and rubbery. The root veggies were good. I usually really enjoy coming to DC because it has great gourmet food. This place does not fit the bill.

4.5 stars
In celebration of the start of my husband’s very first job after receiving his doctorate, we decided that a classy night out on the town was in order. I had found The Juniper through Living Social and purchased a deal to keep in my back pocket for such an occasion. So, we dressed it up a little bit and headed downtown for a special night. The Juniper definitely delivered on giving us that special evening, and we will very likely be back for further celebratory evenings in the future.
Even though we were there past nightfall, it was clear that both the interior and exterior of the restaurant were absolutely beautiful. The garden is lit with simple white hanging lights, and the inside is modern and accentuated with color only by the simple pink flowers on each table. Something that I virtually never have noticed elsewhere that stood out to me here was that the chairs were incredibly comfortable. The service is that perfect balance between formal and classy while never becoming overbearing. Everything that we ordered was delivered precisely as requested, and we enjoyed the leisurely pace of our meal.
As for the food, my original attraction to the restaurant had been their attitude concerning using local and sustainable ingredients as much as possible. Of course, we couldn’t resist ordering their honey bread, considering all the hype and the fact that they make the honey from hives located on the roof of the hotel. It was absolutely delicious, with wonderful texture, great density, and the delicious whipped butter with honey drizzled on top. We also each ordered a glass of wine; I had the Malbec and my husband had an Oregon Pinot Grigio. Both were delicious but the white won our tastes over the red. As for our entrees, we were both overall very happy with what we ordered. I had the sweet potato and black bean terrine, which was perfectly crisped on the outside and has diverse, lovely flavor on the inside. My husband ordered the steak and it was brought rare just like he wanted it. Everything had earthy and sophisticated flavors, and outside of our desire for just a little more salt in our entrees, the flavors were completely on point.
We were very happy with our evening at The Juniper and would be happy to recommend it to anyone looking for a nice, sophisticated night out. It is pricey, but it delivers on flavors, service, and ambiance, which makes it worthy of a slightly higher price, in my personal opinion. We certainly are looking forward to coming back!

We decided to stop in here for restaurant week. We weren’t sure what to expect but I must say we were all pleasantly surprised!
Juniper is a hidden gem inside the Freimont Hotel. The hotel and restaurant are beautiful! From the moment we were sat, the wait staff was very attentive and even offered recommendations.
We started with appetizers of salad and the walnut bread with honey butter. The bread. Oh. My. Goodness. It was absolutely incredible… almost addictive! The butter actually had honey in it and was perfect with it. Definitely highly recommended! Our entrees were the catfish and salmon. The salmon had a nice surprise layer of cornbread at the bottom. The catfish and fries were seasoned and fried to perfection.
For dessert we opted for chocolate cake, blackberry and peach cobbler, and the sorbet. They were all delicious and the perfect ending to our meal.
We were even greeted by the head chef Mariah who came to our table and spoke with us for a while. She was very sweet and gracious and we complimented her on the excellent meal!
I would definitely return and recommend you check it out!!!

Juniper restaurant is located inside the fairmont hotel on intersection of 24 and M. Great location!!!
The hotel it self is so pretty. The lounge it’s right in the lobby and every time I come to the lounge there is a pianist. So I’m not sure if the pianist is here everyday or specific days. But it is a perfect spot for a date! It’s a relaxed atmosphere.
They have like a garden/​outdoor patio. I gotta say the setting is absolutely gorgeous and romantic! Perfect for an intimate dinner or a high tea with girlfriends. I’m definitely planing to bring my fabulous girls, Have some tea, drinks, dessert and girls conversation :) I’m pretty sure they would love it!
The food was delicious! I’m right now writing this review and craving another meal there. The chef uses the best ingredients and you can immediately tell from the first bite. I know because I’m following the chef on Facebook and everyday I see his updates from where he gets his vegetables, fruits, meat, preparation…
And I assure you, he picks the best farmers that have the best ingredients. today he is using spring valley farm and orchid-​Eli and misty cook. You can check it out!
I’ve also heard that they make their own honey! I think they raise their own bees and that’s the best way to get a good quality honey!
So, I’ve tried the restaurant week menu $ 35 but some dishes has extra charges between $ 5– $ 10 extra. depends what you order. Everything we have ordered was mind blowing.
Tuna tartar +$ 5 was my favorite! Fresh and Well seasoned.
Burrata cheese with heirloom tomatoes was very refreshing.
The braised beef was deliciousness, cooked to perfection, it literally melts in your mouth. And it has this hint of sweetness that I so very much enjoyed.
Chicken was really good too, perfectly cooked and full of flavor.
Dessert: we ve’had peach and blackberry cobbler! I disliked. It wasn’t my favorite the cinnamon was overwhelming.
The chocolate cake with salted caramel ice cream was pretty tasty!
Overall the food was incredibly
delicious, the atmospher was pretty cool and the service was outstanding!
I can’t wait to come back!!!

Still love this place! I had light bites and everything was great down to the walnut honey bread… again. The butter has changed from what was previously served and is not as tasty but the bread remains the same — delicious! I just wish they would change the butter back!

I lunched at Juniper last week, and they served me a pathetic excuse for a lobster roll. I suspect you can get a comparable «seafood sensation» at Subway. You can certainly get a better lobster roll from the Red Hook Lobster Pound food truck, for a scant 16 bucks.
Let’s do a little compare and contrast.
How they described it: «Maine Lobster Roll: tarragon mayo, fried capers, brioche roll, portobello fries, lemon aioli, house made blood orange soda» — $ 26.
How I’d describe it:
Maine Lobster — there were a couple small, square red pieces that didn’t visually identify as lobster. They tasted chewy. Might as well have been imitation crab.
Mayo — overpowered what little lobster flavor there might have been.
Capers — were they even there?
Brioche roll — tasty and well toasted. But it completely dominated the paltry amount of «lobster» in the roll.
Portobello Fries — tasty but overly battered. Reminded me of tempura vegetables at a cheap hibachi joint.
Lemon Aioli — served in a small ramekin to dip the fries in. Mostly superfluous.
Blood orange soda — Literally a joke. It was a tiny, novelty glass soda pop bottle with maybe 1 shot of soda in it. It was served on top of the plate with the food, which was warm. Therefore, the soda was also warm.
Overall Value: maybe $ 10
The service was also slow. I’m all for allowing guests time for conversation, but it took unusually long for the waiter to take our order.
I will never be returning to Juniper after this disaster. Blue Duck Tavern is across the street at the same price point with far, far superior food.

Food was great. Service was great, and they really took care of the two of us with our two year old. Definitely eat outside if available. The garden is very nice and well-​kept. Expensive, but I think you get what you pay for in this case.

(3.5 stars) I have mixed feelings towards Juniper. I came here for breakfast with some friends and while some of the food was absolutely delicious, the rest of it fell flat. It was a little bit on the expensive side and the portions were particularly small.
The blueberry pancakes in all honesty may be some of the best you’ll ever have. They were so fluffy and fresh. They didn’t need syrup but it didn’t hurt to add some anyway. The jumbo lump crab cake benedict was also tasty but it wasn’t as memorable as the pancakes.
I ordered the Pennsylvania mushroom and asparagus omelet and it was mediocre. I definitely wouldn’t order it again. Not that it wasn’t enjoyable, but the omelet itself was one-​note and the sides were underwhelming. The mushrooms dominated the omelet completely, the potatoes/​onions combination was rather bland, and the tomatoes were overcooked to the point where they were pretty much tasteless. Not an awful meal but not one I’d suggest getting, especially when there are plenty of better options such as the blueberry pancakes!

I ordered the Jumbo Crab Cake Benedict off the ala carte menu which came with a side of potatoes and heirloom tomato. I was excited as it was also recommended by our waiter. The food finally came after 25 – 30 minutes and presentation wise it was simple. I took my fork cut it through my poached egg and water gushed out. I was surprised to see that as with a poached egg yoke oozes out first. The crab cake was not jumbo. I guess juniper has a different interpretation of huge. The crab cake looked like cut up potato hash spread on a English muffin. The bread was soggy and soaked in butter. The hollandaise sauce was a bit heavy to my liking. The potatoes tasted alright. I would recommend to NEVER order the jumbo crab cake Benedict. It was worth more like 4.99 being served at the Waffle House then 22 bucks at a nice restaurant hotel. Such a sad excuse for a Benedict.

good stuff!
ordered the honey wheat walnut loaf, beef carpaccio and crab bisque.
ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS.
— walnut loaf came out warm with this incredible maple syrup butter and all of it melted in my mouth. this is a must.
— beef carpaccio was an extremely generous serving — i’ve had carpaccio at other places before, where they smear it thinly onto the plate, making it the lightest portion ever and then charging you $ 100. not this place. this was a whopping dose of raw delicious beef! coifed with a quail egg and served with micro greens and bread.
— blown away by the maryland crab bisque. soooo flavorful. i can’t even express how amazed i was. huge pieces of real crab meat in there. splash of crème fraîche on top.
4 stars b/​c the service was mehhhhhh. i think they forgot i was there after they seated me. i had to ask for almost everything, not offered. i asked for the check and forgot about me again.
there is a courtyard with this restaurant, which seems lovely, but i refused to explore that option since it was 40 degrees out (which might as well be the arctic tundra to me).
anyway, if you’re staying at the hotel, or even if you’re not, this is a great place to treat yourself to some legit food.

I’ve always loved Juniper. It is one of my favorite restaurants in DC because of its beautiful ambiance and delicious food made with quality ingredients. Juniper is located inside the beautiful Fairmont hotel in the heart of Washington DC.
I sometimes wonder why Juniper has such mixed reviews and is not as popular as Blue duck tavern (which is located right across from Juniper and also inside a hotel– Park Hyatt). If I had to be brutally honest, the food can be inconsistent here. Some things can be the best things that you’ve tasted in DC, whereas others may be mediocre to disappointing. However, despite these flaws, Juniper still is a precious place where I just love coming to.
1. Juniper offer the Best brunch ever, yes I mean the BEST in DC. Everything tastes marvelous and the food quality is at least whole foods level. Amazing. Their market fresh brunch costs $ 48 per head. Ouch. I am sure a lot of people would choke at the almost outrageous price, and would not even consider trying this place out. However, when considering the quality of the food you can get here, it is actually a golden value meal. The reasons are:
a. They offer you all you can eat chilled JUMBO shrimp here. Yes, they are JUMBO shrimp, and these are delicious!!! They are not overcooked either and cooked to perfection. Super juicy and sweet shrimp. Yum.
b. All you can eat snow crab claws. I personally preferred chilled shrimp over the crab claws, but I know that these are very expensive. It is also prepped so that you don’t have to crack the claws yourself.
c. All you can eat buffet + full size entrée of your choice. I couldn’t believe that you can also order a full size entrée on top of the buffet food. So it’s actually not buffet, but buffet+ regular restaurant food. I ordered poached eggs with braised ribs, and this was the only dish that I actually would not recommend. It lacked flavors, and tasted too plain. Nonetheless, we enjoyed the crab cake entrée (2 full sized crab cakes– which during regular dinner costs $ 36) that we ordered and ended up taking them back home.
2. Food quality of Juniper is truly astonishing. I know that they have their own honeybee hives and farm honey, but you can really taste that superb quality in every bite that you take. Juniper absolutely has one of the best pastries I’ve had in DMV area. It sounds silly, but their bread tastes expensive because you can immediately tell that quality ingredients were used… lol. Especially, the blueberry sticky bread that I had was mind blowing, and I wish they opened up their own bakery. Even the bottomless mimosa was outstanding. It has slightly thicker texture, and you can really taste that finely ground fruit in it.
3. Impeccable service. Our server was so sweet and attentive. He kept coming back to pour mimosa (my glass was never empty) and making sure that we were 100% satisfied. It was wonderful.
In conclusion, Juniper is a true gem and I cannot recommend this enough. However, the entrée food quality can be a little inconsistent as I previously mentioned, so brunch might be a good place to start. I definitely had one of my best dining experiences here. Their GORGEOUS garden is also a perfect place to impress your lady friends. :)

Let me preface this review by stating that the dinner menu at Juniper has been completely overhauled. They no longer have my favorite dishes (foie gras, lamb chops) and the dishes that remain on the menu are nowhere close to the standards of the dishes that I wrote in my previous review.
That being said, I went to Juniper to try their brunch, which in my opinion is probably going to be your best brunch option in the DC. The «best brunch» can mean a lot of things to different people. My first and foremost criteria in judging a restaurant is the quality of the produce. Over the years, I have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to cook phenomenal food if you don’t have great ingredients. Lots of restaurants will use msg, butter, sugar, salt, etc to make up for cheap ingredients. That doesn’t work for me. That being said, quality of ingredients is especially important for me during brunch since the menu items are usually very simple compared to complex dinner dishes. While there are many exceptions to what I’m about to state, in general, if you were to use organic vs. your 5 cent eggs for a breakfast dish, there is going to be an astronomical difference. Unless you are a terrible cook, you’ll be far ahead with better produce because the dishes are relatively simple and difficult to screw up.
This pretty much sums up why I love Juniper’s brunch. They have very simple dishes with top notch ingredients (which I dare say is far far better than what you can find at higher end grocery chains like whole foods). As proof, I personally know an ex-​manager of the Fairmont hotel who told me their purchasing price for the fresh snow crab claws. THEIR costs are $ 25/​pound and that was over 2 years ago. If whole foods were to sell that, you are looking at upwards of $ 35/​pound retail price. Yeah… where in DC are you going to find a restaurant serving something like that during brunch?
I cannot possibly state how fantastic their meat cuts were… they are far far better than boar’s head meat cuts. Whatever they serve, it’s about 1 – 1.5 grades above that and tops every meat that I ever purchased at Whole Foods. The prosciutto was also fantastic. The $ 24/​pound Prosciutto di Parma (which is my favorite prosciutto from a grocery chain in the local area) sold at Whole foods comes nowhere close to what I ate here.
The list does not end here. I can go on about how wonderful their blueberry pastry was… and how I thought it was leaps and bounds better than any baked good that I tried in DC or how great their sausages were, which is better than at least 10+ sausages that I bought at whole foods.
I also loved their minomas. You get two choices (raspberry and fresh squeezed orange juice) with a mix of Domaine St. Michelle. While I acknowledge that it’s no Dom, that is a pretty decent champagne to use and it’ll be crystal clear that you won’t be able to find such quality mimosas in the DC area.
As for negatives, Juniper has:
1. Weak prepared dishes such as the crabcakes (you get to choose 1 entrée from a list of 6). Despite that, it wasn’t a complete flop… because the ingredients were fantastic (it’s blue crab). We had eggs and braised beef (not shown on website menu) which was a disaster but the individual components tasted ok despite the massive fail on execution and seasoning.
2. Expensive price. It’s $ 48 and that’s going to make some of you choke. Opentable gives you 1000 points for a brunch reservation so that brings it down to about $ 43 per person for 2 people. Considering what you get, it’s a very very fair value compared to what you get at other brunches where you pay ~$ 30.
3. Stuffiness. Lots of people mention this as a negative. For me it isn’t. This is a very classic restaurant. The diners are usually 40−50+ and may be dressed in suits/​jackets/​dresses despite the lack of a dress code. Jeans are perfectly acceptable, but some may feel uncomfortable. This is definitely not the scene where you get drunk and rowdy on a typical DC Sunday brunch
In sum, I cannot give enough praise to Juniper and to me it’s worth the $ 43 (without tip/​tax) for this quality brunch. If you are bold enough and are a brunch nut, I think it’s worthwhile to go pay a visit. Plan ahead and maximize what you can get out of it since there is no brunch time limit!

I enjoyed Juniper.
It stormed the night I went so unfortunately, I didn’t get to experience the courtyard, which I’ve heard is beautiful.
The food was pretty good. The house bread and honey is a must try. Everything else was good but not particularly memorable. The one thing I would recommend diners steer clear of is the Maryland crab soup. Very little crab, lots of soup and little flavor.
The ambiance was nice– Juniper is well lit, quiet, and a great place to go if you actually want to be able to carry on a conversation with someone.