Level One

Went for Sunday brunch. I had the Sweet Potato pancakes, my friend had the Biscuits & Gravy, and we both split an order of Truffle Tots. The food was deliciously decadent and our server was a doll (can’t remember his name). The beginning of our dining experience didn’t start off so great because the hostess was a bit abrasive and peeved because we arrived at 1:10pm and didn’t have a reservation (I think they do their last seating at 1:30pm — but relax and #keepcalm hostess lady!). We were seated at 1:25pm and all was well with the universe. We’ll be back!

Went to their Saturday Drag Brunch. O what fun. The had the crab Benedict and it was amazing. Poached eggs cooked perfectly. My table mates had the bbq shrimp and grits which they absolutely loved.
Now the drag show was so much fun. Those guys made this restaurant into a party. My only complaint is because the restaurant is so small and cut up it makes for a choppy show. Make sure you bring lots of singles to tip the performers. Great time on Saturday afternoon.

Brunch is amazing, and the prices are very affordable for the beautiful, and great meal you get!

Great brunch spot, especially in the warmer months when you can sit outside. I went with a couple of friends last week and we sat upstairs inside. They were very accommodating as we had shifting numbers and arrived a half hour after our reservation. The menu had something for everyone and most people were happy with their choice. The only reason for the missing star is that my food, while good, was room temperature/​cool.

Bottomless mimosas — say no more… Fun place for brunch! Excellent service in the outdoor patio.

I’ll preface this review by saying I was with a very large group for a birthday celebration. I understand that large groups can be stressful for restaurants. However, this place advertises quite often that it hosts larger parties, especially for brunch, so we thought we’d be okay.
I went to Level One for a birthday boozey brunch. The deal was 90 minutes of unlimited mimosas and/​or bloody marys. Seemed like a great deal, until the first 30 minutes passed and we had only seen our waitress one time. I see how they keep that «unlimited» in check. After a while, we finally talked to the restaurant owner, to let him know that we had been waiting 50 minutes before anyone came around to take our food order. He graciously apologized, but by that time, it was a little late.
Food was fine– I got eggs, toast, and chicken sausage. It wasn’t really anything to write home about. Some of the other dishes on the table were biscuits and gravy, eggs benedict… your standard breakfast/​brunch fare.
Honestly, the place wasn’t that great, and for a city with SO many brunch options, I don’t think Level One needs to be tried again. Hopefully I just experienced it on an off day, though.

Honestly, if I could give a zero star I would (which would be a first, ever). The service from the front desk to the almost owner is terrible. Awful. No good. Don’t go. Seriously.
If you’re okay with horrendous service there is a two hour wait that cannot be fudged/​extended or finagled. Which, is ridiculously. Especially when there are seats all around and no line at the door (WTH?).
Though I’ve been several times, including my birthday brunch, this recent time will be my last. And undoubtably so. I not only had an unfortunate wardrobe situation with the staff, my table was only allowed one drink while I repaired/​replaced my clothes and then we’re not «allowed» to have another drink when I returned.
If that didn’t kill the mood; the manager decides to come off the property well after checks are paid to question the tip amount. Literally. m, EVERY SINGLE MEMBER of my 10 person party left less than a standard/​required 15% tip. In actuality, more than half of the party left 20% tip which was not deserved by any standard.
Not only was this embarrassing but it was also insulting and degrading.
The food is subpar. The choices are good but the dishes execution is mediocre at best.
I’ve enjoyed 3:5 dishes I’ve had but to be honest, It wasn’t worth the headache.
If you’re forced to eat here, I recommended the breakfast bowl. It’s the laziest possible dish that you cannot and should not be able to f-​ed up.
New staff, new management and new cooks might fix it but I won’t be the one to try.
Good riddance.

Mediocre experience:
We called ahead to get a reservation, were told we didn’t need one and when we got there were told we couldn’t be seated.
Waited SO long for our food, about 30 minutes. We had to ask for the breakfast alcohol specials and hail our waiter down several times.
After the long wait the food was underwhelming. I wouldn’t come here again, it was just acceptable.
They however have good potato wedges.

Horrendous service and the woman who was working the front of the house ⁹⁄₂₇ at 12:30 pm was the absolute worst human I’ve ever encountered, and I’m from NY where people are total monsters.
I called an hour in advance to make a reservation. Requested 12:30, but was told 12:15 would be better. When we arrived they said they had no record of the reservation. A man came out from the back and confirmed that he had spoken with me but said 12:50, not 12:15. Fair enough I would’ve been happy to wait. But the woman at the front said that it wasn’t a reservation and that I had said I would «come by“and 12:50 was the earliest they MIGHT be able to seat us — uh, no. I gave my name and was told a time, That’s a reservation. And you weren’t the one I spoke with so how would you know what was said.
Regardless of the mixup, the real issue was the sneering rudeness this woman handled the situation with. There are so many words I would like to use to describe her demeanor but they wouldn’t be appropriate to use in a public forum.
I will never return here and I hope this woman is disciplined for her incredibly horrible attitude.

$ 15 bottomless mimosas/​bloody marys: yes please.
Service– slow but super friendly
Food– mehhh
Drag Brunch– YES yessssss yes.
Volume during drag brunch: don’t expect to talk to anyone/​hear anything but music (which isn’t always a bad thing)
Would I go back? For sure!

My best friend from the Bay was in town for work and we decided to hit up Level One on a whim for an afternoon snack and cocktails. It was super dead so we had no trouble with lack of service or waits. Level One is a nice environment, dark and quiet. Our server was super accommodating and really sweet. We ordered cocktails and some appetizers; cheese and meat plate and wings. The food was pretty good. Cocktails were nice and strong. No complaints whatsoever!

A large group of friends and I went here for bottomless mimosa brunch on a Saturday. The food was absolutely amazing. I highly recommend the steak and eggs mainly due to the chimichurri sauce. Delicious! Similarly, the truffle tots were heavenly.
The drag show was wonderful and a unique way to gain a competitive edge on all the other bottomless brunches out there.
Service was also on point. Our waitress kept our glasses full and our faces smiling.
Overall, it was a great brunch experience.

Waited an extremely long time to receive food (50 minutes) and one person in our party who came later and ordered after everyone else received her food first. For the rest of us, our food came 20 minutes after hers.
They ran out of chicken wings for us to order as appetizers then after we’ve been waiting over half an hour we were told there was no turkey sausage for one of our breakfast sandwiches.
For some reason, maybe because of the layout or something but the upstairs was extremely loud! There was the music playing, and there was a party by the window talking, but it was literally unbearable to hear the person sitting next to you or the waitress for that matter.
The manager was very prompt and nice about handling the problem!
I ordered the smoked salmon Benedict and it was subpar for how long I waited and semi cold for that matter ;(I didn’t have the energy for them to heat it up. I should have stuck with my first mind and ordered the pancakes. They looked amazing!

I ended up here for normal (non drag) brunch on a Saturday morning because they were conveniently located to where we needed to be and open relatively early for brunch (10:00 am). The menu was pretty standard, with nothing inventive.
We didn’t have reservations but walked in without any problem. We were seated at a high top even though there were a ton of empty tables throughout the place. It ended up being about half crowded by the time we left around 11:15.
We started with sweet potato fries to share, and they were coated in brown sugar. I also had blueberry pancakes. My friends had the eggs your way and the bowl. My panckages were sort of ho hum, not very fluffy and a bit rubbery when they cooled down. I’d probably order eggs benedict next time.
Overall it was a totally fine brunch experience but not something that would have me coming back on my own.

Level One is a must brunch spot for anyone who considers themselves a D.C. foodie. I have to admit — I was skeptical the first time I ate there. The restaurant also operates as a night club and generally the idea of eating in the same place where people partied the night before makes me cringe. That being said, the staff does a fabulous job separating the two identities. Although the inside portion of the restaurant still has a bit of the night club feel, the fun music and friendly staff make it feel like a classic diner breakfast spot rather than a D.C. dance floor.
I recommend going to brunch on Sundays. Why? Because it is Disco Sundays of course! The staff are very fun and engaging and one time they even got up and danced disco with us. They have a 90 minute table limit because of popularity — and because they offer a great deal on bottomless Mimosas and Bloody Marys. I always say you can’t go wrong with a classic choice for food My go-​to order is the breakfast sandwich — two eggs fried over hard with cheese and bacons. And the home fries are to die for!

Brunch is okay. The environment is probably the best part about it (and the price). Everyone is friendly, funny and having a good time. But as you know, bottomless mimosas can sometimes bring out some interesting characters. I’ve seen all types of folks serving weaves, lace front wigs, stage makeup, dresses and booty shorts bright and early, ready to go (and I’m not talking about the women).
Brunch is on Saturday and Sunday, with Saturday being the obvious choice for me. Every time I have been here for brunch, it has always been packed, especially on the patio. The inside is in the basement, which is dark and a little dank. They do always play music inside though so it could be good if you want to party. I prefer the patio though, it’s large, covered and perfect for people watching. What’s the purpose of sitting outside and drinking if you can’t watch people and talk about them?
Reservations are definitely recommended and unfortunately you are confined to a 90 minute time limit once you are seated. You are afforded the opportunity to keep drinking your bottomless mimosas at the bar though. Bottomless is $ 15 and includes mimosas in huge wine goblets and bloody marys. I really wish it include bellinis since I don’t really like orange juice, but mimosas are definitely better than bloody marys in my opinion.
Prices for food are decent, with most items costing around the $ 10 mark. The food is not very high quality though. The bacon is very thin, almost translucent and the sausage links are tiny. If you mainly just need something to soak up the alcohol though, the food is fine.
I’ve just heard that they are now doing drag brunch. so that should be fun.
Oh yeah, the bathroom is disgusting. I’m pretty sure I walked in on people having sex in there.

Had my birthday brunch here. Was glad I could reserve a party of 14!
Contrary to the website’s 90 minute policy, we had our table for about 2 ½ hours. A few ppl got bottomless mimosas/​bloody Mary’s, and a few of us got just a drink. I had the Bloody Mary, which was nothing special but it did the trick. My bf had a single mimosa, which was served in a champagne chute rather than the bigger, bottomless glass. Those who chose bottomless were taken care of.
For food, I tried the granola pancakes and brunch bowl. Both were good but nothing to run back for. I expected the granola pancakes to have more granola. However, the pancakes in general are very large and fluffy so I would try the other varieties upon my return.
Although a couple of people were frustrated with the wait staff, I thought they were generally very accommodating to our group. Would def come to another brunch party here.

Don’t love it, don’t hate it. I think the best thing about Level One is that you can get your hands on $ 5 pitchers of margaritas or sangria and trust, after a few pitchers of either (especially the margaritas), you feel that you got your money’s worth.
Yet, with a sober mind in tact. Let’s review Level One’s customer service and food/​drink quality.
1. SERVICE. I think it should be noted that we came to celebrate my roommate’s 21^st birthday and it was a Tuesday evening in November, so you can bet on it that it was cold. We were warmly greeted by the host and seated right away (because there was literally no one else there, but a few other guys at the bar with us there) but it was still nice. The service overall wasn’t too shabby or horrible, but it honestly could have been better. I wish the waiter was more attentive or more knowledgable about drinks or paid more attention to what we were saying because when my roommate ordered a whiskey highball… he brought her a glass. So that was odd. And when we ordered a pitcher of sangria, he accidentally brought us margaritas, but it’s an honest mistake I usually wouldn’t think much of, but… we were one our of two tables present in the establishment.
2. DRINK QUALITY. If you’re just looking for a drink to get the job done on a budget? Yes. 100% come here. Get your margarita pitcher game on. You (hopefully) won’t be disappointed. Just based on my friends’ and my own preference, stay clear from the sangria. We only tried the red sangria, but it just felt like they just took some cheap wine and threw in frozen fruit and called it a day. I feel like more effort could be tried to make it actual sangria by I don’t know immersing the fruit in the wine for a bit longer than just throwing in there? But I mean, meh to each one’s own. They also have white wine sangria we didn’t get the chance to try, but after the upsetting red sangria… we didn’t feel the need to bother trying it.
Also, my friends at the table got a gin & tonic and a whiskey highball. No complaints there for those cocktails, but at first we were just given an empty highball glass so that was awkward.
3. SLIDERS. At our table we tried the pulled pork, cheeseburger, and crab cake sliders. While the pulled pork and cheeseburgers were quite tasty, I don’t see myself buying any extra noms when I come here again! I could just end up spending that money on more drinks or just getting an entrée elsewhere if need be. But honestly, that’s just personal preference. Also, note on the crab cake slider? I didn’t try it myself, but my friend said it tasted like tuna so… do what you will with that tidbit.
But all in all, I wouldn’t mind coming back to this establishment to get my hands on some margaritas! Being on a college student’s budget and not caring that I’m not getting brand-​name or specifically flavored margaritas, yes I wouldn’t mind coming to Level One again. I mean it’s not the «oh my hot damn» best bar in dc, but a deal’s a deal and this one’s quite a steal!

Cons: Service is slow. The actual restaurant is underground and really dark and club like (unless you sit outside, weather permitting) which is not what I’m looking for in a brunch spot. I was charged $ 4 for an extra egg. ONE EXTRA EGG. You can get a whole carton for less than that!
Pros: There is a menu item called «Gurl it’s a brunch bowl». If that isn’t a reason to go, I don’t know what is. They also offer bottomless mimosas and Bloody Marys. But seriously, the food is REALLY good. I had the aforementioned item and it was orgasmically good. It’s a fried egg topped with avocado, bacon, sour cream, and scallions atop a hash brown cheese casserole of sorts. The hash brown cheese thing was INSANE. As in insanely good. The cheese wasn’t just on the outside; it was mixed in with the hash browns for cheesy deliciousness in every bite. My friends had the huevos rancheros and biscuits and gravy also mouthwateringly yummy.
And I’ve never heard of having an appetizer for brunch but there’s a first for everything. We had the truffle tater tots with shaved Parmesan. I can’t believe I’ve had this before! I am so going to make these soon. They’re like crack.

Meh, I don’t understand what all the hype is about. I visited Level One on a crowded Sunday afternoon for my friend’s birthday brunch. They seemed to have a lot of nice brunch options on the menu. At first, I opted for the burger but then changed my mind shortly afterwards and went with the shrimp and grits. The shrimp and grits was TINY. I paid $ 16 for my portion and it wasn’t even filling enough. The others got things like French toast, which seems to be a lot more worth it for your money. Splitting the bill was a huge hassle. And they added an extra burger to our order, so it took a while to sort that out.
Some other negatives — Their bathroom is AWFULLY maintained. It’s a wonder no one has slipped and fallen in there! Their service was super slow. Oh, and they don’t take credit card so you have to use their rinky dink ATM machine. They also don’t let you dine for more than 90 minutes at the restaurant on busy days… though they made an exception for our party of 12, especially since their kitchen was backed up.
But they do have bottomless mimosas (which the birthday girl partook of, of course!) and they do have nice outdoor seating, so I’ll give them that.