To buy a gift card for America, click here!
The Good: Good servers, Decent food, Excellent dessert, Good prices
The Bad: Acoustics, Portion size
The Basics: Good food and good company overcome the difficulties of finding America (the restaurant) and hearing one another in it . . . but just barely.
Note: This review was originally written when I wrote for a review site. Thus, this is very much a past tense review! Enjoy regardless!
So, rather than spending yesterday with a bunch of high school students who show absolutely no potential to grasp information and/or skills they might need for the future, I decided to take a day trip to Washington, D.C. because the site I used to write for was having a meet and greet. Armed with my (poor) directions, I headed out to Washington, D.C. and the America restaurant there. Here's how it went:
Location
America is located at 50 Massachusetts Avenue NE (emphasis on the NE) in the heart of downtown D.C. What no one is likely to tell you beforehand is that Massachusetts Avenue is broken into NE and NW and the break occurs in what is essentially a traffic circle (square actually) called Union Station. This is right near the Capitol Building, so there's some nice scenery. The problematic aspect of finding America, which is neither listed on the restaurant's website nor was told to me by the people on the review site I wrote for when I made my plans, is that: 1. 50 Massachusetts Avenue NE is a gigantic building more commonly known as Union Station, 2. 50 Massachusetts Avenue NE does not have a number prominently posted on it, and 3. America does not have any prominent advertising to indicate it is either in the building or where in the building it is. Locals will be absolutely no help in finding America as they've no idea where 50 Massachusetts Avenue is; it's just Union Station to them. I mean this literally. After running around the NW/NE split for half an hour in the rain, I was running into buildings LITERALLY next door to Union Station and asking for directions and universally, the locals were sending me to look on the other side of Union Station for 50 Massachusetts Avenue NE.
I cannot comment on parking for America because I ended up parking several blocks away on a sidestreet when I could not immediately find 50 Massachusetts Avenue NE.
The actual restaurant is spread out over a couple of levels and a courtyard inside Union Station. Outside Union Station, the windows had America painted on them, but otherwise the trappings for the restaurant are subtle on the outside, nonexistent on the inside. How foolish I felt having to ask the woman at the podium at the mouth of the courtyard "Is this America" when I'd just come inside from a view of the Capitol Building.
Our group was squirreled away on the highest level in an alcove banquet area between a big wallpapered art deco wall and a window wall extending the length of the table. The acoustics in this part of the restaurant were terrible. The room acts as an echo chamber, so the sound of voices reverberated creating more noise and making conversations across or down the table difficult. I can only imagine that Paul, Garrett and the others I was seated at think I am a loud person; I'm usually quite quiet and I felt like I had to shout just to be heard above the ambient noise in the room. Sorry guys!
The decor was better throughout other areas of the restaurant.
The Waitstaff/Servers
The maitre'd (there might have been more than one) was terrible. When I reached the front area in the courtyard - the entrance to America is not intuitive - I met the maitre'd and asked for the appropriate party. She waved me toward the stairs and said "upstairs." There were multiple levels and climbing the stairs, I met with other members of the staff, who simply pointed in the general direction.
In a restaurant with multiple levels like America and a lot of nooks and crannies like this one a helpful waitstaff is essential. None of the matre'ds or seaters or whoever I was getting directions from offered to guide me where I was going and I felt like a pinball trying to get to the right place. And the group right near my group seemed just as happy to have me join them as I aimlessly searched for my party.
That said, our server was very friendly and attentive to me. Poor Paul would still be waiting for his gumbo has he not spoken up, but I was treated wonderfully. The server was friendly, did well with getting my order and even brought a refill for my drink almost the moment I was done with it. The server was polite, clean, attentive. I could not ask for better.
Problematically in a restaurant as big and busy as America, the server kept farming out bringing orders via a busboy who was completely lost.
I liked our waiter and he seemed to hold up well given the diversity of orders and sheer number of orders being taken.
The Meal
For dinner, I sampled the nachos, had the grilled salmon for a main course and closed with the death by chocolate cake. I drank a Seven Up as they did not have root beer, which I thought was somewhat odd.
The nachos were adequate. The dips - guacamole, salsa and sour cream - were fine. I arrived too late to partake of the quesadilla appetizer, which looked good. The nachos were adequate. Nachos are hard to judge. They were fine and the whetted my appetite for more. The dinner roles were real good. Soft and warm, which is pretty much all one is looking for in a decent dinner role.
The grilled salmon was served with spinach and whipped mashed potatoes. I've worked in kitchens, so I understand that the sides here are designed for ease of getting on the plate and getting out, but I have to say I was impressed with the presentation. It's easy to throw together a plate of food and make it look like everything was tossed on, but that's not the impression I got at America. The food was well separated, the potatoes and spinach did not look like they had been thrown on. The salmon was in one whole piece.
My initial impression about the food, outside that it appeared well presented and adequately cooked, was that the portions were a real mixed bag. The spinach and potatoes overwhelmed my salmon. The salmon portion seemed disproportionately small. And it was. I ordered the grilled salmon, not the spinach and potatoes with a side of salmon. I was disappointed with the portion size for the feature of the main course.
The salmon was wonderful. Good salmon should flake, have a little softness and not be dried out. This was perfectly prepared. The salmon was flavorful, soft and had a hint of smoked flavor to it. It was moist, flaked easily and was simply delicious. I did not add any of the lemon wedge to it because the flavor was so well presented in its natural state.
The spinach was surprisingly good. The spinach had a hint of lemon, was served hot and required no modification. The lemon was not overbearing, so I could taste the natural flavor of the spinach and it was good enough that I did not need to add any salt. Moreover, there was enough of it that I felt like I was eating healthy.
The potatoes were fine, but nothing to write home about. They were served hot and in sufficient quantity. They were essentially buttered mashed potatoes and they had an indistinct potato taste. There was no special spices, skins, etc. in them. They were an adequate side, but America did nothing special with them to make them their own. There was nothing distinctive about them.
On the other hand, the death by chocolate cake was distinctive. Well presented in a succulent drizzling of chocolate with three dollops of whipped cream with strawberries, the death by chocolate was the perfect cap to the meal. This was an exceptionally rich cheesecake-type cake that was so chocolatey that it took me 300 miles before its effects wore off. I mean that literally. The cake was firm - good for a cheesecake style - thick and distinctly chocolate. It was hard not to go into diabetic shock eating it and swimming the bites of it around in the chocolate sauce. The dessert alone pushed this rating up.
Overall
For all of the effort I went to to get to America, the free meal was more or less worth it. Checking the prices, I have to say that the prices were quite reasonable. My entire meal came to less than $30, which is pretty exceptional in our nation's capital.
Was it worth it? Probably not. I enjoyed dessert quite a bit and what food I ate was wonderful. The company was great, though I struggled to hear them through most of the meal, despite their proximity.
The essential questions are: Would I eat there again? and Would I recommend it? The answer is yes to both, but I wouldn't drive down special just for a meal there.
For other restaurants, be sure to check out my reviews of:
Pizza Hut
Europa Cafe
Caribou Coffee
6/10
For other restaurant reviews, please check out my Food And Drink Review Index Page for an organized listing!
© 2012, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
To buy a gift card for America, click here!
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