M & S Grill

When we left the Lincoln Memorial around 9pm, we wanted to eat somewhere which wasn’t expensive and was still open. We found M&S, checked the menu prices first, and sat down to enjoy. The service was great and the food was just right.

Been here a few times before, mostly for happy hour. Strange experience here one day. Came in on a Sunday for lunch with a friend. At first we sat at the bar. Ordered drinks but the bar was way too loud so we moved over to a high-​table in the bar area. We then ordered food and starting talking. It much have been a good conversation because the next thing I know the manager was at the table. He was apologizing for the food taking so long. He was right because when I checked the time it was well over a half an hour wait and we both had ordered fish which shouldn’t take long at all. Also, the bartender came over and apologized for serving my friend the wrong drink.
At this time the manager gave us a free round of drinks. OK, so maybe it will get better. Not so much. My food was was good but my friend’s was not. When the manager came a second time to see how we were doing, my friend promptly stood her fish up straight up on the plate. At this point he realized her fish was overcooked and hard. Another apology and along with another round of free drinks the manager took my friends entrée off the bill. He also gave us a free desert.
All in all strange and not so good but very customer service friendly. Since I have been here before and they did try to make up for the wait and bad entrée, I will give them another try one day… just won’t order fish.

I went to M&S Grill for happy hour to celebrate my friend’s birthday. While this will not be my favorite DC happy hour spot, it is one that I will likely visit again.
The happy hour drinks were quite good. They were just strong enough and well priced. Can’t beat that.
The food was ok, not great. We ordered the queso fries, wings, mussels, calamari, spinach dip, and parmasan chicken sliders. The calamari and mussels were the clear stars. They were not the best I’ve had, but were quite tasty and enjoyed by all. The other food selections were «meh» at best.
Our server was not the most personable and was borderline judgemental. You work at a bar honey, you are bound to see drunken antics at any given time, that’s a hazard of the job. Judge less, smile more and I’ll bet your tip amounts will skyrocket! Just sayin…
I would actually give this place a 2.5 star rating, but I will bump it up to 3 based on the cocktails. I will give this place another try in the future and provide an update.

I went to lunch here today for the first time and very much enjoyed the food and the environment. Our group arrived during the lunch rush hour but were seated right away in a booth, which was great.
For an appetizer we ordered the pulled pork nachos, which were excellent. For the entrée I had the grilled cheeseburger, which was also very good. The portion size was just right, it wasn’t one of those huge burgers you can barely finish. The burger also came with a generous portion of fries.
For dessert I had the simple scoop of vanilla bean ice cream, which was also great tasting — not regular ice cream you get at a store.
Will definitely return if I’m in the area.

Came in on a whim for lunch while walking around downtown with a friend. We were seated immediately, and service was OK not great. Our table was rather close to another table. This lead to some interesting easdropping about Algeria
We ordered the fried green beans app and I must say, it was fried hard and flavorless. Not all black people like extra crispy *sigh* My friend ordered the fish and chips, which was pretty good (so says she) and I ordered the full rack of St Louis ribs and mashed potatoes. My food had clearly been done a while as a protective layer had formed over my tay-​tuhs. I think this was due to the slow service (even though the place was not very crowded).
In a moment of heavyness, we both ordered dessert, she, the cappucino chocolate cake, and I, the twice baked apple pie. They serve the cake cold BIG MISTAKE (even the waiter mentioned it should be heated and he wasn’t around when we talked about it)!!! The pie crust bottom has been changed, its now a granola-​esque mash, but the flavor overall is still top notch.
We left 40lbs heavier though, so it was ok. I’ll probably go back since its reasonably priced and always open.

VERY slow service from beginning (being seated) to end (begging for our check). The food was good, however if you are a vegetarian, there are no vegetarian options at all, you have to ask your server what the chef can do for you.
Side note: this is a good spot to get dinner when walking back and forth from the metro and the National Christmas tree.

We went to m&s grill desperate to eat after a very very long walk visitng Washington DC attractions, we were excpecting high quality food because of the high prices, nice interior and centeral location. When we got our food we were VERY dissaponted by the quality and quantity of the food. There are very small portions, all the food was drowned in oil (fries, rice, ribs, and even salmon) the top sirloin steak was overcooked and dry. The taste of the food was blant. The food tasted like it came out of a fast food restarunt from a food court, rather than a respectful high priced restaurant. The service was ok but when we told our waiter that the food was awful, he wasn’t surprised and just laughed.
Overall, it was a very bad excperience and is highly not reccomended.

Only here because the place I wanted to visit was closed. They snippily informed me they didn’t have happy hour specials today. They didn’t have the first drink I ordered from their menu. It took them 10 minutes to decide if they had an Irish coffee or not, lame.

I went to the M&S Grill this past Sunday for Veteran’s Day. My mom wanted to go because they offered a free meal to Veteran’s/Retired Military that day.
I can honestly say I probably won’t be going here again.
I’ve been to McCormick and Schmick’s quite a few times at various locations and always have a pretty good experience. However, when exploring their sister restaurant, M&S Grill, which I was taken to understand was supposedly higher quality than the original restaurant, I was sorely disappointed. This is due to both service and food quality.
The table started off with the Calamari, which came with fried banana peppers and sweet potatoes. That was a pleasant addition, especially the fried banana peppers.
For my entrée, I ordered the Kobe Beef Burger and was given the Pulled Pork Barbeque Burger. The waiter did not ask how everything «looked» or if the orders came out right. He set down our meals and then walked away. The restaurant had just opened and was thus empty. It’s not like he had other tables to attend to. I didn’t notice that my burger was wrong until he walked away. I waited for him to come back for a couple of minutes but got tired of waiting. I got up and complained to a different server about how I received the incorrect burger. He followed to my table and took the old burger and put in an order for the correct burger.
This was all just very frustrating because I had to wait for the correct burger to be made and by then the rest of my party was practically done eating.
A harmless enough mistake but my waiter should have asked if the order was right and when the restaurant discovered that it was incorrect should have expedited a burger quickly.
Additionally, my step dad ordered the Grilled Salmon. The piece of salmon was the size of a child’s fist and came with plain white rice and unseasoned stream broccoli. He was extremely disappointed and unfulfilled by this meal.
Overall, it wasn’t a great experience.

I got here just after their Happy Hour and the place had a little buzz in the bar. The bartender was quick to greet me at the bar! I ordered bottled water… Ummmm… I mean Miller lite and scanned the menu. A spinach salad… Other than the aforementioned frisee in the description, I was cool with it. I was intrigued with the sugarcane balsamic vinaigrette and of course lardons of pancetta! (Lardon of Pancetta– salt and spice cured — air dried pork!) Pancetta has a saltier taste and this tasted just like average bacon… Most spinach salads have a warm dressing to wilt the greens and bacon and egg are always a plus. This had a cold and sweet dressing. No balance of acidity from the balsamic. The lardons were fried crisp but also very cold. Probably held on the cold line versus room temperature. That’s why hot dressing is used. Oh but wait!!! WTF is this red $hit on my plate??? BEETS!!! «May I see a menu please?» NO BEETS! Oh well! Let’s add more sugar to the mix!
Pot Roast… The beef was tender and served with a mushroom gravy. It appears that the beef was pre-​portioned and nuked. All of the slices were perfectly sliced, layered and folded over together. The potatoes were extremely and oddly hot. Void of lumps… This means 1 of 2 things. It was put through a Ricer (word of the day– google it) and nuked or made with a potato substitute and nuked. Like 190f !! The potatoes had a «not thinking out of the box» kinda taste. The entire dish was served in a covered casserole dish (it actually looked like a tv dinner) that appeared to be nuked. Why would these «potatoes» be screaming hot and everything else just marginally hot? The veggies that accompanied the beef and spuds were julienned carrots and broccoli. Nice bite to the vegetables but low on flavor. Next time I think I will stick to the seafood!

My fiancé’ and I lucked up on this place after a random thought to eat out for dinner.
We enjoyed the pot roast, hushpuppies, and dinner rolls. After giving our compliments to the chef he came out and thanked us (total bonus points)! It seemed to have a very family friendly atmosphere. This is definitely a place we would take visiting family members (right down the street from the white house!))
The outer appearance makes it look more up scale than it is really is, but we enjoyed our experience and will return.

The waiters made mistakes and the drinks were over priced. The wine menu was not the friendliest.
The food was pretty good, but I don’t know where that sausage came from.
And isn’t Suai almost always factory farmed?
I don’t know, I didn’t buy the pleasantries and the artificial feeling of the atmosphere.

We took out boys here and enjoyed the experience.
The server and hostess were great. They do not offer refills on drinks, even childrens. My son had chicken teriaka (sp) and it came out w/​o chicken. I had the tacos, which were really good. My youngest probably had chicken fingers. They also have small private booths available. The boys really enjoyed the ice cream that came out for their dessert.

We visited this restaurant for lunch based on a referral from our hotel concierge. If we had read Unilocal reviews first, we might have skipped on by.
We were greeted right away and given a comfortable booth. Our server was nice and fairly efficient and had a trainee in tow.
BJ got a big fish sandwich and I got a buffalo shrimp salad. Both dishes were very tasty. We were both served bread which was the best bread ever. For dessert, we couldn’t pass up the much Unilocaled upside down apple pie. We loved it, especially the cinnamon ice cream. We enjoyed our lunch here. All in all, a good experience.

Following an evening movie at E Street, we were pretty desperate to find a place to eat: never a good mindset when looking for food. Heading towards Foggy Bottom, we ducked into M and S Grill hoping for a cheap, good eat. Wrong and wrong. The inside is like any bar & grill you are likely to find in that area. I ordered the Mahi Mahi and my friend ordered the Salmon. The waiter asked if we wanted bread and we said yes. He came out and brought us one roll each and a small cup of butter. I know these are tough economic times but I AM HUNGRY. Fine, keep it together, Danny.
After waiting about 25 minutes in an empty restaurant, he brought out our food. Typically I am not one to scrutinize presentation, and perhaps this had more to do with the fact that we just watched «Jiro Dreams of Sushi,» but our plates were a mess. The rice pilaf, vegetables, fish and sauce looked like they had been juggled into place by a blind birthday clown. I suppose I should have been grateful the food made it on the plate. The fish was overdone and over charred. My knife was barely sufficient to cut into it. My friend ended up not eating most of her salmon. «Would you care for dessert?» No thanks, I think we’ll just leave. To add insult to injury, the bill with tax and tip came to about $ 60. $ 60 for a couple of poor meals is not what I would call reasonable. We should have hiked our $ 60 to Nandos and gone into a food induced coma instead.

After a long, long, long walk, we were searching for a spot with an outdoor seating area that would allow dogs (surprisingly difficult to find). And that’s the reason we wound up here. It’s not exactly an outdoor patio, it’s a tiny strip of sidewalk with icky tables and chairs.
The service was ok. Our waitress was very friendly, but her attentiveness was spotty. She even neglected to notice that we lacked napkins or silverware.
The food was alright. Expensive for the quality you get, so I suppose not really worth it. This spot is owned by McCormick & Schmick’s, which I’ve never been a particular fan of either. The crabcake was meh (2.5 stars). The wedge salad was, well, a standard, boring wedge salad (2.5 stars). The side of macaroni and cheese was pretty good (3.5 stars). The fresh-​squeezed cranberry lemonade was the star of the show (5 stars).
Not a bad spot, but not exactly a destination spot. If you’re in the area and hungry, it’ll work.

This place was a bit disappointing. my and a buddy went there after a long day’s work. we made our order and the waitress asked us if we wanted some bread and of course we said okay sure. First surprise was that the the bread the waitress brought was only 2 small pieces of round bread. This was barely enough to eat by myself. The second disappointing factor was that the restaurant charges for refills for freshly squeezed lemonade at the rate of $ 2.00 a refill.
I travel quite a bit and am exposed to a lot of restaurants around the country and I’ve had my fair share of lemonade as it is one of my favorite drinks. This restaurants lemonade is not worth the refill price. Once I found out they charged for lemonade refills, I told the waitress to take it back before drinking it. This waitress claimed that the lemonade was freshly squeezed and made from the bar so that is the reason for the $ 2.00 charge for those refills.
The waitress wasn’t unfriendly, she was really just kinda there but not engaging with her customers. I attempted to seek a friendly response conversation, but didn’t even get a one sentence response.
I had the Flounder which was descent but the wasn’t something that was like WOW that s really good. My friend had the roasted chicken and he stated that the same that it was just alright. For an appetizer, we had the artichoke dip which had more bread than dip. Again, it was just alright :(
I wouldn’t recommend this restaurant to anyone. It is overpriced, not friendly and tires to charge you for every little thing. Not a pleasant experience

I love the McCormick & Schmicks chain, but I’ve been disappointed time and time again. Alas, this location is no exception. Since we weren’t that hungry, my boyfriend and I ordered soups and appetizers plus a dessert (yes, that’s us not being hungry).
The fried calamari was bland and the squid was not fresh.
The spinach and artichoke dip was good but not memorable.
My Maryland crab soup was also just okay. My boyfriend had no complaints about his French onion soup.
The cinnamon bread pudding was luke-​warm and dry.
Based on that experience, I’m not coming back for the main dishes.

This is the kind of place we ended up at when someone else in our group was supposed to make dinner reservations for a Friday night but didn’t actually get around to doing it until Friday afternoon!
Sigh… The meal here is what led me to ditch the group the next night since I’d rather dine solo than enhance it with another ‘meh I’ve had better’ dinner!
To be honest, the service was fine, definitely a 3 star. The restaurant handled the large group well and food came in a timely manner and there was no issue with the split checks. The atmosphere was also comfortable.
The main issue was the food which is a 2 star at best. Portions are good. My mixed greens salad with walnuts, berries and cheese was decent but had way too much dressing. The mains were terrible. Had their crab cakes and it was NASTY! Bizarre texture and taste inside the the batter and it was far soggier than any crab cake I’ve had before. Very disappointing since crab cakes are a staple on most DC menus.
My almond crusted flounder was even worse. Nowhere did it mentioned that was going to be battered and it really should have been called battered almonds with a sliver of fish. It was completely overpowering. Vegetable sides were meh.
For dessert, we had a few things going around the table. The apple pie was decent and supposedly their speciality. Their chocolate cake was decent as well. I strongly suggest you skip their ice cream and sorbet… They give you an impressively large scoop, but the taste isn’t great and it’s definitely not a higher end ice cream provider here.
Let’s just say I’m of the opinion that when it’s too easy to get a table, there’s a reason why.

My office went to M&S Grill for a team lunch. I’d never been but figured it’d be dependable American fare. I was right. The dining room looked to be a popular Metro Center lunch spot. We received quick service and quick delivery of our food. It’s nice to find a place that is devoted to getting you in and out in an hour or so.
I had the grilled chicken Caesar salad, which was tasty with a hint of anchovy. Not that it’s hard to make, but it’s good to know it wasn’t screwed up.
While there, I also had a long standing question answered. After bringing the dessert tray by for us to view, I finally asked what the ice cream is made of and why it’s not melting. It turns out, they take an ice cream scoop of Crisco everyday and put it on the platter. I even got to poke it. Excitement!
Anyways, for a decent lunch at a fair price, try M&S Grill. It’s fine, not great. But dependable. Which counts for something.