Adams Morgan Spaghetti Garden

Decided to come to out and experience what the locals do in DC and one of my check list was to go to a bar. I should have read the view before stepping into this bar. I had a horrible. The bouncer was very unprofessionally and did not have customer service, spoke to me in a very disrespectful manner. Anyone can get there point across. It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it. After my experience with this bar last night I would not advice anyone to go to this bar if they want to enjoy their night and have a great time. Horrible customer service and not mention crowded and loud. It is definitely not a bar to visit in DC if your tourist and just want to enjoy the night by far the worst bar I have ever been to in DC.

Typical Adams Morgan bar… dark, relatively cheap drinks, crowded, drunk, and loud. Well, I guess the upstairs is slightly better, but if you’re trying to find a place to have drinks and a conversation, then you’ve come to the wrong place. This is a place for younger folk to come and take their shots and long islands and make decisions they may or may not regret. So if that’s what you’re looking for or fit into that age range, then go for it. But that lifestyle just isn’t for me anymore.

If you come here for spaghetti, you must be a tourist. This popular Adams Morgan institution is connected to three other bars under the same roof essentially. You’re encouraged to roam around with your drinks. Drinks are cheap and strong. It’s quiet until about 11 or so. By midnight the place is relatively full. By 1 am, the place is hot sweaty and packed with scantily clad college girls and their horny counterparts. If you drink wine or martinis, go waste your money somewhere else, they don’t mess with those here!!! Average age for their clientele is probably 23 for you creepers out there.

I used to go to peyote (the bar downstairs) all the time for karaōke, even though it smelled like vomit. Tonight, the bar lost my credit card and instead of apologizing, the bartender accused me of using it at another bar, and then accused me of having «just walked in the door.» Yes, I had walked out to say goodbye to friends and came back in to close my tab. I couldn’t believe that instead of apologizing they continued to insist it was my fault. The bartender grabbed my arm and then was shocked when I said — «don’t touch me!» and called me a bitch. It was probably the worst service I have ever seen or heard of. I asked another to summon the owner who was similarly nonapologetic even when I told him the bartender had assaulted me. Maybe I’m too old for this trashy place.

After being out on the terrace at Eighteenth Street Lounge sipping bourbon on the rocks, blazered up and totally ready to douche it up for the evening, my buddy got a text message stating «awesome bachelorette party in AdMo!» Normally, I have a post-​marriage policy against Adams Morgan because if the night ends with a guarantee of a. Projectile vomiting b. An STD or c. Eating jumbo slices and getting pizza grease all over your clothes, it is definitely not the place for a married dude in a blazer.
Comfortable as I was hanging with folks my age and speed, I agreed to go this wonderful little place called the Spaghetti Garden because this «awesome bachelorette party» sounded appealing to my friend. I’m not one to dash a single man’s dreams since I’m already out of the game, so I went along willingly to this enchanted Spaghetti Garden in Adams Morgan. First off, if someone asked me what the least marketable name for a fun place to hang on a Saturday night would be, I’d have to list «Spaghetti Garden» (Adams Morgan or anywhere else) as a top three candidate. I immediately pictured a tree of some sort with pasta leaves, and large Midwestern folk gathering in line for an endless buffet of spaghetti leaves.
This place is pretty much the antithesis of ESL, that’s great if you’re 18 and want to get wasted for cheap, not so much if you’re looking for a classy night out on the town. Once we got there, it was clear that our friend who had been there for a while «Shallow Hal”-ed himself into a state of oblivion thanks to the cheap booze. I hate to borrow from Jersey shore, but were I single man on the prowl, Adams Morgan Spaghetti House would basically be Fallujah; grenades, IEDs, and land mines galore.
I can’t help but come across as an old dude who should have been home watching Bravo or HGTV at home with the wife on a Saturday night, but this place made me shake my head in despair for the youth of tomorrow. When Ace of Bass came blaring through the speakers, and I realized I was still sober, I had a physical need to leave this place. Overly dramatic? Probably, but suffice it say, it wasn’t exactly my scene. I remember Roxanne being one of the most fun places in Adams Morgan before the Mardi Gras like crowds, but that was when I was broke and had no other choices but to go the dives along 18^th Street. Everyone has their spots, and their own scene, and I can certainly say this place is definitely not what I’m used to. If you want to drink and belt out early 90’s tunes, this is the place for you!

A Dive Bar? Not really at 5 drinks tallying up $ 56 ! That’s just for one B-​52 shot, a couple of «liquid cocaines» shots, and two long-​island ice teas.
The establishment was ok. We were upstairs and hung out on a Patio a bit. Not a fan at all, and too expensive.

I have been here two separate times and each time it was really good. The pasta is homemade and delicious. The first time I got the chicken parmigiana which was a huge chicken breast in tasty sauce and a good size plate of pasta. The second time was the Chicken Marsala which was also very good. i know it may not be the greatest Italian place in the world, but for the price it’s the best you are going to get around. Plus at night it turns into a bar so you can spend your night there.

In a word, horrible.
My companion and I arrived at 8:15pm on a Thursday. We were greeted rather promptly, given menus, and ordered our beverages. Within five minutes, we gave our orders for food (calamai appetizer and two entrees). At 8:45, the waitress came to our table and said that our ticket had been mixed-​up (ie, lost), and wanted us to confirm what we had ordered 25 minutes earlier.
At 8:55 we received our calamari (mediocre taste). By 9:15, we had still not received our entrees, so we flagged-​down our waitress to ask that she box-​up our dinners. We wanted to be home by 9:30 to watch a tv program.
At 9:25, we paid our bill and took our dinners home.
At home, we discovered our meals to be pretty hearty portions, but the quality was bland and unremarkable.
In a nutshell, it took slightly over an hour to receive our meal after it had been ordered. The entire time we were in the restaurant, there were only three other tables of people (very slow night).
Food Quality: C
Atmosphere: D
Service: F
We won’t be going back.

All right! All right! I know you can get much better food here, but the setting is kind of nifty. It’s the kind of place you go to where you have that «Um…is it safe?» face on right up until you leave.

Mmmm, scary crap. Way overcooked pasta, boooooring sauce. Soggy garlic bread. What’s to like?
In Houston there’s a place called the Spaghetti Warehouse. Think about it – a restaurant which proclaims itself to be a large building where spaghetti gets stored. Compare that to «Spaghetti Garden» — a green space where spaghetti is grown. Which sounds better? I’m thinking the Garden is a better concept. And yet, the Spaghetti Warehouse has DC’s little Spaghetti Garden beat.
Enough foolishness. Can someone just take me to The Spaghetti Restaurant?

Don’t go here! There are rats! I used to like this place before I saw rodents running around. Enough said.