Jordan’s 8

I have been to Jordan’s 8 a few times and I have always had a good time. I do need to metion that I have never been here to sit down and have dinner, but only to party/​chill and have a few dinks.
The place has two levels and the ground level appears to be the place where people come in to have dinner and the whole resturant experience. The upstars on the other hand is more of a lounge/​club where people come to party have a few drinks, listen to music, dance and relax. The times I have been it gets pretty packed on the second floor. They also have an outside area where you can go to get some fresh air and cool off after all the dancing that you will definitly be doing.
One down fall is the bathrooms… they really don’t have enough. Upstairs they have one single bathroom for women and one single bathroom for men.
This place is closed now

I will miss Jordan’s 8 because the abysmally terrible service here was somewhat of a novelty. It is amazing that the place stayed open as long as it did, as I’ve never seen lazier, more slack-​jawed employees in my life. These bums seriously moved about as fast as when the zombies from the Thriller music video started crawling out of the dirt. Also, they would tout a sale on Japanese beer –all while not having any brews in stock.
The only redeemable thing about this place was Tuesday Happy Hour pricing. I would roll in, eat/​drink like the King of Gluttony, and because I knew I was going to be awhile anyway, I didn’t care about slow service.
I’ve heard rumors that the owner kept a parrot in his office, which is really against health code (seriously…they’re filthy!). I guess the time for that being a problem has long past.

The décor is very modern with an art deco feel to it. I really enjoy the staff and the atmosphere. The crowd has a laid back feel to it although you will see a lot of professionals.
The sushi is to die for. I really ejoyed the Lava Roll and the Rock N Roll. If you are not a sushi person, The pork tendetloin and the NY Strip are amazing. In addition, add the grilled asparagus. While eating your meal, you have to sample from their specialty drink menus. I think the prices are very resonable and I highly recommend this place. It is one of my favorite restaurants in DC.

Let’s just get to the point. The only reason to come to this place is because the Happy Hour is legit. Half price rolls that are pretty good.
The service can range anywhere from good, to ridiculously bad.
But again, you are not here for good service. You are here for cheap sushi.
Do not eat here when the sushi is full price because more likely than not you will be dissapointed.
This anecdote will illustrate how this place runs:
They offer cheap Asian beer for HH. They were out of Asian beer. So we ask if they will give us a discount on any other beer since they were out of Asian beer. Waitress says she will «ask Jordan, but he is gonna say no.» Anyhow, she asked Jordan and he said no. Whatever… sushi is cheap.
Go Bulls.

I only give it two stars because I have been told that the sushi is amazing and I was not there long enough to have the sushi. However, based on my last visit, I doubt I will ever come back! So maybe 1.5 stars rounded to 2?
The service was terrible, awful, appalling, and all things bad. My server had an attitude and seemed annoyed that she had to serve us at all. She probably should pick a new line of work.
Tuesdays promises happy hour specials on the Asian Beer and the sushi. My date wanted steak, I wanted sushi and we agreed this place was a perfect compromise. Tuesdays means there is no hot food. It would have been nice if this was on their website or Open Table where I made the reservation. My date was a little upset and we agreed to just have a drink and go to Matchbox. Tuesdays also mean there is no Asian Beer. Really. So I ordered a martini that had my olives sitting at the bottom of the glass (no toothpick) and he ordered a Blue Moon with no orange.
After finishing our drinks we wanted to leave. We wanted to leave for 10 minutes while we looked and looked and looked for the server. I had to ask the hostess to find her. Server dropped of the bill and disappeared for another 10 minutes! At last we were free and enjoyed a tasty dinner at Matchbox (P.S. It’s right next door!).

With a menu that screams steakhouse/​sushi bar and a downstairs area that gives off a sports bar vibe, Jordan’s 8 doesn’t easily fit into one mold.
I went there for an event on a Monday night during happy hour. The happy hour specials were posted on a chalkboard outside of the restaurant, yet the bartender on the 2^nd floor had no clue what was on the menu except for the chicken wings. I’m not into finger foods that leave you with greasy fingers, so I quickly passed on the wings.
I ordered a glass of wine and the filet mignon sliders, which came with an order of fries. The filet mignon was overcooked. I pointed this out to the bartender, but she said the meat could only be prepared one way — well done. Are you kidding me? Note to self: Next time I’ll go to a real steakhouse with a chef that knows how to cook a medium steak.
With the exception of the not so great dish and slow service at the bar, I had a great time at Jordan’s 8 talking and hanging out with my friends.

Downstairs, Jordan’s 8 is a surf and turf lounge with middle-​aged men seated atop every barstool, screaming at the game on the flat screens that stretch the length of the skinny restaurant while the people in the small tables behind them sip martinis and cut into steaks. Upstairs, it’s a club.
We had grilled jumbo scallops with mashed potatoes and spinach ($ 18), shrimp tempura sushi roll ($ 9), spicy chicken bow tie pasta ($ 14) and a salad with candied walnuts and raspberry vinaigrette ($ 8). The sushi was pretty unexciting, but everything else was good. And they weren’t stingy with the size or quantity of the scallops.
The décor is nice.
The service is lacking, but it wasn’t really that much of a turnoff. Our waitress was actually entertaining in her lack of grace and formality. She attempted taking the order without a pen or paper and then snapped to with «Wait, what do you want?» like she’d neglected to pay attention at all as we listed our three items (the sushi was already denoted with a pencil on one of those cheat sheets).
She kept plopping our plates down on the table like she was slapping some mac and cheese on the table for ungrateful kids. We pulled our credit card and Groupon out to include with the check, and instead of bringing the check, she reached across the table, grabbed them and walked off without a word.

Anyone who knows me will say that I am definitely not a Debbie Downer. I’m the one who tries to turn your frown upside down. When life gives ME lemons, I make lemondrop martinis and keep it movin’.
Jordan’s 8 seemed like a nice enough spot, and maybe I just arrived at the wrong time on the wrong night. I believe there was a private party being held upstairs. The music sounded good, and everyone had the appropriate grown-​n-​sexy attire (read: no shorts or tennis shoes for guys). Swell!
Downstairs scenario: Every table full/​bar full with cute handbags holding spots every 3 seats or so. Ok, this must be THE place in Barracks Row — got it! I really want to show my company a good time, especially since they don’t live in the city. Let’s order drinks & wait. «30 min. wait» — alright, pass me a cosmo.
30 mins. later — «additional 20 min. wait.»
After playing belly rub for an awkward 10 minutes behind bar stools; regrettably maneuvering between servers, hostesses, patrons who had a seat, and those of us who didn’t … we decided to wait outside. I hate desperation with a burning passion, and probably would’ve let my patience run out at the half-​hour mark. We stuck it out, and then decided to leave. The outside booths were full of people sitting and enjoying — couldn’t be upset with them for not moving. I just felt that things should’ve been handled a little more smoothly.
Eventually, my hunger got the best of me, and the drink I’d ordered wasn’t strong enough to overcome it. Anyone can serve crappy fare at a high rate if they get the logistics down — good service, spacious settings, comfort, comfort, comfort. Jordan’s probably has a great menu, but it doesn’t help if the customers never get to order.

I went to Jordan’s 8 for happy hour about a week ago. Although the location is beautiful and convenient to my office, I doubt I’ll be returning there. First of all, every drink I ordered from the menu was either out of stock or unavailable. What type of place has drinks on their menu that people can’t order? Second of all, the sushi left me desiring something good.
I love all type of sushi, and I’ll eat anything, but this sushi was just bland. Even the basic California roll was missing something. For the amount of money I paid, I think I’m better off going to Giant and buying sushi and a bottle of wine there.

We recently had a company happy hour here. Like other guests it was the middle of the week, but while other places were packed, Jordan’s was fairly empty. The food was pretty decent, though nothing overly exceptional, which was a disappointment.
My biggest complaint was the service. We had approximately 15 to 20 people there and only one server, which made no sense since we were the only ones there, except the two people they randomly sat with us who weren’t part of our party and looked incredibly uncomfortable to be siting with us. The server blended in, so you could never spot him in the crowd. He was slow about taking food orders and bringing the food out. As far as drinks he was pretty attentive, except that when someone ordered a coke he brought out a diet coke instead without asking saying that the regular coke was flat.

As a new Capitol Hill/​SE resident, I was excited about giving Barracks Row a first shot. The hardest part was choosing a first place. Given that we were a group of four with varying levels of adventurousness, we settled on Jordan’s 8 because their menu has a wide variety of food from standard fare, to more interesting fusionesque cuisine.
Unfortunately, I was relatively unimpressed with practically every aspect of this place. I was excited to sit on the rooftop patio given the nice comfortable weather, but it was closed for a private party — guess they forgot to take the «ROOF PATIO OPEN!» off the sidewalk. At least the other reason we were drawn in – $ 1 Nigiri — was still a go.
To start out we got an order of Asian wings for $ 6 (normally $ 9) and I’m glad we didn’t pay full price for them, because BW3s makes better wings and better sauce. For dinner, I ordered pan-​seared scallops with black bean sauce. The sauce was pretty good, but I’ve had better, less chewy scallops. The mashed potatoes, though, were garlicky and fantastic, and complemented the sauteed spinach very well.
My girlfriend ordered 10 pieces of nigiri and a seaweed salad. She found most of the fish to be good, but thinly sliced and practically stretched out over the rice, so I guess you get what you pay for…
Finally, the lounge area downstairs feels and sounds somewhat like a bowling alley, it’s long and narrow, and noise travels from one end of the restaurant to the other. Oh, and they don’t split checks making big groups a nightmare.
Because they have a number of good specials every day of the week, I’m sure I’ll be back to give Jordan’s a second chance, but probably not before I try out the rest of the Row.

As everyone else has pointed out, the service here was severely lacking. We barely sat down, still had no silverware or water, and the server asks «Are you ready to order?»
We said we needed a minute and some set-​ups.
The food was disappointing: sickly sweet Asian wings, really overdry and overcooked pork shank, that was a dry mess of protein under a crispy skin. Two of us sent back our filets (and it is hard to screw up a filet). The server was genuinely more interested in her conversation with the bartender than bringing us silverware or our orders.
The calamari salad was decent.
We took a good look around, because we will never go back. There are many better options in this neighborhood: Cava, Banana Café, Ba Bay. Try them.