Station 9

I can’t speak to food, but I can speak to space.
I was here for a Divine 9 event a few weeks ago, and felt extremely vulnerable upon first entering. The floor is there as soon as you enter, so in case you were looking for a few more seconds to touch up the lip gloss or something, finish that in the car on the way – OR don’t plan to arrive until 11:30p or later!
The crowd is very collegiate, and the theme is certainly hyped through and through, so if you’re not prone to Greek-​lettered antics, skip this or come prepared to ignore it.
Anywho, folks are nice enough. I didn’t find this place to be as pretentious as some in D.C. (COUGH. ’round mcpherson square. COUGH! COUGH!) If you paid to get in (or didn’t, for that matter), it shouldn’t be an issue. Bartenders are nice – they will play you if you don’t plan on drinking – but they’re going to put on the ritz if you’ve reserved a table/it’s your birthday.
There are fireworks coming out of the bottles all the way to your table! lolll But do heed the word on the street about silly fighting taking place. Nothing happened the night I was here, but it’s my understanding that outdoor security has been stepped up to the extent it has precisely because of this kind of foolery. Don’t walk in with too much on hand. It’s like entering a TSA-​zone, State Department, or worse, MLK Library.

I went there with a rather big group on a Saturday night, needless to say i had a very good time… from the girl that bought me a drink, to the making out on the sofa, to the random bald man poring me more and more shots of henny, I cant complain.
Now let us get specific, the drinks are good, as expensive as most clubs in DC, 8 dollars I believe, I was drunk… but a steady optimal drunk.
There is no need to come to this place if you can get into the up stair level for free or dont feel like paying an extra 20 after admissions. The bottom floor is a step down in class compared to the upper level… its night and day… I spend 30 seconds downstairs so my review concerns the upper level.
Atmosphere and good party people are a must for any club or party, this place had both… women were not amazing but well above average, cant testify on the men but they had they shit together.
Once you get in the door management is relatively laid back, especially compared to K-​street lounge, were they its all exclusivity and no substance. I didint encounter any problems and i even stole a bottle of Patron while people were leaving only to get to taken by a police officer, although I did manage to chug ¼ of the bottle before it was pried from my hands.
Recomendation: get there around 11−11h30…be tipsy already, go upstairs asap or dont go at all… go straight for the bar, turn around and get on the dance floor… take ur girl/​guy to the sofas and dance on them like retarded kids who think they are cool and have fun…

I went with friends to celebrate my frat bros b-​day ¹⁄₂₃. This place had to be packed over capacity. I usually like crowds but this place made me claustrophobic walking through it. It was totally a 20’s something scene.
The women were approachable if you could brave the crowded dance floor. The only thing that semi-​saved the night for me was the girls that my little bro Travis introduced us too… they offered good dance partners and funny conversation.
Then some guy/​girl let out the worst flatulence I’ve smelt… and that made me say damn this place really stinks.

When I feel like being judged and disrespected by elitist buffoons, I spend the night out in Georgetown. So whoever invited Station 9 to bring that scene to U Street should be run out of town.
This lounge should be less worried about how patrons dress and focus on making better drinks, and improving the shoddy décor. Everything about this place is downright cheap, except for the price tag. Not the most expensive place but they should take that little extra cash and invest in sending the waitstaff to charm school.
I will never set foot in that hole again. Major fail.

So I must be honest and say that I cannot really review the food, but the service was horrific.
We arrived on time for our reservation and were directed to a dirty table. The host was actually quite apologetic when we pointed this out and moved us to a new table.
We then sat for the next 20 minutes with no attention, no water, no drink orders nothing. No one stops by to say a word. We finally leave without anyone noticing that we were gone.

Ambience is ok. They really party on the top floor, and by party I mean the women actually DANCE (SATURDAYS!!!). If you cant get to the top floor you might as well go somewhere else though. And once you’re up there you might want to stay up there. Staff can be down right rude at times, but I dont blame them, they have to deal with BS from customers every weekend. Just dont expect any handouts or special treatment whether your male or female!
Parking: The usual U st. corridor problems, but not as bad as Adams Morgan.

Do NOT go here for dinner. They did not have lobster or salmon so we couldn’t order any of the dishes that included those seafoods. They didn’t have the liquor to make my first choice drink.
A little white mouse joined us before our food came out.
A mosquito bit me on my shoulder in the middle of dinner :(

Soooo… I went here yesterday for an event that is supposedly held once a month, Sunday afternoons. This isn’t the first time it was at Station 9, so I was expecting for the venue to have everything together. Not at all.
First off, the event filled the place to capacity – it has filled EVERY venue we’ve been at to capacity, (NOT over capacity… every chair was seated. In the past, it was held at H20 and K Street), so the owners should have known what they were getting themselves into. Needless to say I was QUITE disturbed when, while waiting in line for the buffet, we were told to return to our seats because they ran out of food? What kinda ish is that? They had us wait another 20 minutes or so (after we had already been there for 2 hours) so they could make more food. And then once we got back in line for more food, they acted like we were at a homeless shelter or in jail or something… the servers were SO rude. But, at least the food was good. One star for you, Station 9!
It was daytime, so I’m not sure what the ambience of this place is. I expect that it looks sexier at night. There’s wood floors and paneling and such… the décor didn’t blow me away (probably because there wasn’t much of it), and I never made it upstairs, either. It just seems okay.
I’m glad I had the chance to go to this place now; I was planning to have a birthday party there, but after all of this, I’m going to look elsewhere.
Overall, is it a horrible place? No… I wouldn’t advise you to run clear in the other direction, but don’t ever make it your first choice. Maybe I’ll give them a second chance later on.

I actually visited this place for poetry night. Since there were a whole lot of people I din’t expect the service to be how it would on a regular day/​night. The atmosphere was great, and the waitress was very knowledgeable about the menu. I ordered the salmon and it was sooo good.
I would definitely plan on visiting this place on a ‘regular’ night/​day because the food and ambiance was great!!!

I had two experiences at Station 9 with mixed results. Surprisingly, the restaurant experience was not bad, not bad at all. The Chipotle Shrimp that I ate was quite good. After the dinner, we headed upstairs for the club. Relatively uneventful, the DJ was mediocre, the drinks we’ll get to in a minute, the décor is chill, and the women were dressed nicely but some had class while others had absolutely none.
But the biggest and most important reason I will never return to Station 9 other than First Thursdays is that THEY DON’T SERVE GENUINE LIQUOR! At least the Patron Tequila that I like to drink in warm weather. I have a sharp tequila palette and believe me when I tell you that they fill their Patron bottles with a different tequila. I verified this over and over with myself and with my best friend who is also a summer tequila lover. UNFORGIVABLE!
But…First Thursday Poetry Night with some friends and champagne is the ish though! If it wasn’t for that Station 9 would get a serious gas face. If you see me there any other night please smack me.

I’ve not been here late-​night for the lounge aspect, but I found the food and the service appealing while here for dinner with a group of four. I thought the Mo’s Rockin’ beef rolls were a little greasy, but other than that the consensus all around was that everything was tasty. The price point was comfortable (esp. for downtown), the specialty drink menu was fun, and our server won points for admitting he wasn’t great with opening wine bottles and recruiting a more senior staffer to help. Awkward, but charming in a way and certainly better than mangling the cork!
Quite frankly, I’m surprised by all the negative reviews, but maybe I did the right thing by coming early and for food rather than late and for alcohol.

I’ve been back twice and it wasn’t like the first time:
1) The brunch was just okay. It’s not worth the $ 19.99. I rather just order and entrée at Crème and skip the buffet. Plus the service is so terrible.
2) The lounge area totally sucks. Actually the décor is awesome but otherwise I’ll pass. They only have one bar and only one waitress. If I am sitting on couches and food is available I expect a waitress. So we ordered food but no one told us it arrived so it sat around for other people to breathe on it. The DJ they had the night I was there was good. I also liked the crowd.

I went to Station 9 for a friend’s birthday party last night, and I have to say, I wasn’t all that impressed. The atmosphere was nice, as was the company, but the food left much to be desired. My friend chose this location because she was able to make a reservation, and there were about 15 of us there.
I ordered the Peanut Chicken, which came with chili garlic greens and jasmine rice. A few of us also shared some fried plantains (yum!). I was torn between the Chipotle Shrimp and the Peanut Chicken, but after asking our waiter which he preferred, I went with the chicken. The chicken breast was tender, and the peanut sauce was sweet with just a hint of spice. The rice was just rice, and I didn’t care for the greens.
My main issue with the food is that it wasn’t very well seasoned. They could have seasoned the chicken breast before cooking it, but they didn’t. One of my friends ordered the «Big Burger» and she was also disappointed because it wasn’t seasoned. The burger was pretty much just a well done, hockey-​puck looking chunk of meat (Think the Cosby Show episode when Cliff took Rudy, Bud, and the rest of their friends out for a nice gourmet lunch, and they all ordered burgers… it kinda reminded me of that.).
Nobody was absolutely blown away by their food. The plantains were the best part. No way should a side dish be the highlight of a meal! The people who ordered drinks said they were good, but after reading reviews on here about how they water down their drinks, I decided to pass.
After dinner, it turns into a lounge. I’m assuming most of the people there were Howard U. students, which would have been fine if I was still in college. Lol, they made me feel old! The DJ wasn’t any good either.
The décor was nice, and the dim lighting helped. It would be nice for a party, just as long as you don’t care about the food — or if your guests don’t care about seasoning or flavor.
As I said earlier, the company was nice, so I had a pretty good time, but I doubt I’ll ever go back.

I like this place… I do…
The food is always good and it’s in the heart of U Street Corridor… therefore, what is there not to like…
I’ve had the «Mama Laura’s chicken dish» to the «Braised Lamb Shank» which is hhhhmmmmm good.
When they first opened… me and my chica’s hit this spot and the chef came out to say hello and I was a little surprised. he was a young brotha doing his thang!
I normally hit this spot on Saturdays night… its pretty slow upstairs in the lounge area… Therefore, I come for the drinks/​food downstairs.
This place use to be called something else… I can’t remember the name from back in the day right now… but the pervious owners use to hold Go-Go’s here for the HOWARD folks! (Go-Go’s is the heart of DC’s music venue) where bands play sounds of Go-​Go which use to range anywhere from beating on the sidewalks streets with sticks to trashcans by creating a rhythm… more so now. Go-​Go is uniformed into bands with great instruments).
If you see it now (Station 9) — vs– back then… it is really nice with the décor layout… cute and cozy… I think it would be a nice place for «hosting» your birthday parties or events.
Check out!

The food was actually pretty good. I asked the waitress for her favorite dishes and she recommended that I get two appetizers instead of a main dish. I got the salmon cake and the oxtail. The oxtail was very flavorful and I was satisfied with it. The salmon cake could have been better, much better for the price I paid. Actually, that is what I take umbrage with with the entire menu at this place. Everything tastes decent, but none of it is worth the $ 19 per entrée that they are charging.
Also, yes it is trendy and yes there is that trendy house music that no one actually listens to except for in restaurants like this. Stay away if this bothers you.

What seems to be the common thread for all the reviews on this place is that service needs to get better or this place will lose a lot of patrons.
My friends and I were looking to eat somewhere new with a wide menu selection. When Station 9 was recommended, I did my homework and found that people generally liked the food, but griped about the service. Since this place was pretty new, spotty service comes with the territory.
It was disappointing to see how empty the place was at 7pm on a Tuesday night. When I arrived the place only had a couple of people sitting at the bar but not one table was filled. At around 7:30pm, another two — three tables was now filled with diners but still it feels very empty. The space at Station 9 is very big so when the restaurant only has a few tables utilized, it feels like you’re dining alone.
Now let’s talk about the food. I was disappointed with the beef rolls appetizer due to the VERY small portion. It was as if they took 1 normal size (about 4 inches) egg roll and divided it into 3. For $ 8, I expected a bit more out of what they were calling «Mo Rockin Beef Rolls». For those who are venturing here, stick to the grilled calamari, my friends liked it. Now, for the main entrée: the burger was okay, when cooked properly since it was sent back the first time because it came out a la beef tartare; the braised lamb shank was good, but the sea scallops? Too salty and over cooked! If I wasn’t already gnawing on my arm from the hunger, I would have sent this back. So my recommendation would be to stick with the lamb.
Service…oh where to start. When a restaurant is empty and waiters have nothing to do, you expect that service would be top notch. But no… our table, a table of 6, dined for almost 3 hours for just appetizers and a main course! Drink refills was slow, because we would have to ask them. It just seemed like they didn’t care because they knew that they would just tack on the automatic gratuity on our bill so who cares if service is crap.
All in all, I gave this place one star for the décor and another star for the «special delivery» cocktail. They don’t deserve any stars for the food or service.

Loved the décor and the cocktails (Special Delivery, especially) were fantastic. BUT, the service was HORRENDOUS as it took over 2.5 hours to have one appetizer and 2 entrees with no apologies. The food was equally bad and completely uninspired. I had the Chipotle Shrimp and it was served cold and was extremely bland. I agree with other reviewers– if you are going to have a limited menu, make it good! The chef clearly made «safe» choices for his menu to appeal to the masses, but it’s poorly executed and ends up just being bad!
This place had so much potential and could have been incredibly successful in this neighborhood but it turns out, just another poorly executed, overhyped restaurant for the area.

I do not venture up to the U Street corridor very often, but I am beginning to think I should. La La invited us to New Year’s Day Brunch at Station 9. As we walked from the 13^th & U Metro stop to the restaurant I was pleasantly surprised how much the street reminded me of my hometown of Chicago.
Station 9 is located on U Street NW between 14^th and 15^th Streets NW. It is located in an old Post Office.
The brunch was fantastic. We paid 19.99 for the most amazing buffet of fresh food including salads, omelets, eggs, French toast, sausage, bacon and an endless supply of rotating specialties like fried chicken, BBQ chicken, ribs, lobster neuberg.
Bottomless Mimosa’s cost you about 10.00 more. Chef T like sto make sure his customers are happy, so he will be around to see you if you hang around a while. He mixes the most incredible Mimosa/​Long Island Ice Tea that is aptly named the T-​Mosa.
The décor is pretty decent. It is not too much and has some funky touches like the chandeliers made of plastic cups.
The service was really great. Caroline was fantastic and all of the staff was very friendly.
I am looking forward to heading back to check out the swanky lounge we were able to see they had upstairs.

Even though I do have a little crush on Postal Station Number Nine, I do not feel as though my five stars are undeserved. Since celebrating my 21^st birthday here in October, I find myself coming back again and again. Granted, this is partially due to the company I keep, but I have no objections.
The space reminds me of the artistic spots in my Pennsylvanian hometown– old warehouses that have been transformed into cool restaurants with sleek music, soulful food, and modern art. Station 9 was of course not a warehouse but a postal station, but what is so fabulous to me is the sensual fusion of old and new DC, done right.
Before one of my girlfriends filled me in during dinner, I’d never heard of Chef Terrell Danley, but now I’m itching to try Crème as well. Thank God I do not have to add him to the Chef Blacklist next to Chef Geoff Tracy. From Station 9, I would recommend the salmon cake and the beef rolls to start, as well as the chipotle shrimp with plantains as an entrée. Friends have loved their salmon and peanut chicken as well. I’ve never ordered a dessert, but I was brought a fudge brownie a la mode on my birthday and it was seriously to die for. Even my dessert-​shy sweet– shunning girlfriends dug in! But please, above all, DO NOT leave the premises until you have sipped on a few Registered Mail-​tinis, a pineapple martini that must have been crafted by Dionysus himself. My dad used to call his beer «the nectar of the gods,» but he was way off, because I found the real stuff on U Street, DC.
The service does take a bit long sometimes, but it’s hardly annoying if you’ve got your Mail-​tinis and your best girlfriends (or boyfriend) next to you. It’s a nice place to both show off your new dress and to chill for a few hours, drinking in dinnertime slowly, as it should be, instead of running off in an hour for your next appointment. And there’s something about Station 9 that feels like Gucci worn with Gap. I’m not quite sure how you might pull that off, but I’m getting at «stylish, yet comfy.» Eh, forget my analogies. Station 9 is just cool.
ALSO: Head upstairs to the afterhours lounge and enjoy what’s usually a good mix of beats. Nothing too original, but they play music to get your night going while you sip a glass of your choice poison. And tip the bartenders! They’re sweet. :D

Station 9, one of the newest additions to U Street’s ever expanding range of dining options, is definitely worth checking out. We came here on a Friday night, opting to order a bunch of smaller plates instead of entrees.
Both the broccoli rabe and the baby bok choy ($ 5) were done well. I’d order them again, especially the broccoli rabe which was dressed lightly in a chili sauce.
The chili cheese dip ($ 8) is more like a chili stuffed quesadilla. The crispness of the tortilla added depth to the dish which was fairly good (and likely to taste even better if you’ve had a few drinks). My favorite Washingtonian enjoyed the pulled pork ($ 9) and I liked the plantains that arrived with it.
The Caesar salad ($ 9) was disappointing. The romaine lacked crispness and was clearly past its prime. The shaved Manchego cheese was slightly sweaty and the dressing was much too sweet.
Station 9, housed in a former post office, shows a lot of promise. The food overall is good and the service is friendly, though servers seem a bit green and/​or undertrained.