M Bar

Beautiful Décor. The menu is pretty limited but the food is good. The bar tender didn’t speak English fluently but was still nice. The Strawberry 100 mixed drink is the best.

This unassuming little bar/​café in the lobby of a Renaissance Hotel might not feel like a local hangout, but it’s perfect if you have a couple hours to kill in Georgetown. The staff is super friendly, the drinks are inexpensive, and the food is surprisingly good for a hotel bar. If you’re in the area and need a place to crash for an afternoon, these guys will take care of you.

Tara L passed on the secret to Kristin M who has passed down the secret to me.
M Bar is *THE* place for mobile workers looking to get out of the house and get some fresh scenery. While it isn’t exactly the chicest of hotel lounges it has everything that someone on-​the-​go could possibly want: a variety of comfy seating (arm chairs, chaises, couches, loveseats and the like!), outlets, a Illy coffee shop, and a bar to help fill those mid-​day and mid-​afternoon hunger and alcohol pangs.
For a standard hotel bar their menu has quite the international flair. Sure they have crab cakes, steaks and other hotel standards but what really blew me away was to see the food of my motherland «lumpia shanghai» listed on the menu.
Whaaaa!!!
Although I was *super* tempted to order this, I opted for a more healthful grilled chicken satay, rice and veggie combo (tender, charred, deliciousness!) but you can BET my Nanay that I’ll be back to see if their version lives up to their name.
I thought it was impossible to find Pinoy food in the district but I guess I was wrong!

Our recent stay ($ 135/​night courtesy of Priceline) at the Washington Renaissance Hotel on NW New Hampshire was nicer because of the great lobby/​bar/​restaurant area that included my newest first favorite coffee café, Illy (sorry Caribou Coffee). There is free wi-​fi, eclectic music and good service. There are tables reserved only for diners of the restaurant (which is in the back), but plenty of seating to just chill with a cup of coffee & pastry from Illy and the gratis paper in the morning or a glass (…bottle) of wine and the computer in the evening. They play an eclectic mix (zero 7 radio on Slacker) of music and the vibe is quite energetic but not obnoxiously so. This seems to be quite the meet and greet place as there are numerous introductions and interviews going on throughout the day. They have a large screen projector tv they drop down on weekends for games or special events. We definitely have enjoyed our wakeup and wind-​down times here at the M-​Bar!

Ah, M Bar, we’ve been through so much together in such a short period of time!
I had the pleasure of camping out here for a couple days with Tara L, trying to soak up as much of her Unilocal wisdom as I could. While Tara Time is a good time in general, M Bar definitely contributed by having comfy couches and plenty of table space, sporting some seriously friendly staff, and serving delicious meals (in a hotel bar! who knew!). The crab cake was surprisingly delicious and filler-​free, and the tuna tartare with wonton chips and guacamole is A-​MAZING (again: hotel bar! who knew!). There’s also an Illy coffee shop attached, which is a nice bonus in the morning, if you have the patience to wait ten minutes for all the fancy steps involved in Illy coffee service.
M Bar also has a special place in my heart because it kept me alive during the Great Earthquake of August 2011! Okay, it turned out I was never at risk, but still. I felt so safe, I never even stopped eating my french fries, even as I saw men in full business suits running for the doors! Okay, that may have just been dumbness on my part, but whatever. Details.
Anyhow, this is a great place to camp out with a laptop, snuggled into a couch with free wifi at your disposal and both a coffee shop and full bar at your fingertips, and it’s also great for surviving natural disasters! Winner!

Normally I’ve had decent experiences here. I buy coffee and sometimes lunch here 3 – 4 times per week.
This week «Ali» who is one of the waiters/​bartenders kicked several people out of one of the tables in a very rude manner.
Today a friend and I got coffee at the Illy in the lobby and sat down at the only empty table in the lobby. Ali came over, picked up the «reserved for sipping» sign (apparently not for sipping coffee?!) and slammed it on the table yelling «I need this table now.»
We asked if there was a manager and were told he was the manager, so we walked over to the hotel desk and explained the situation. We were informed that he was not the manager and they would have a discussion with him.
Unfortunately the hotel managers made no effort to fix things with their blatantly rude employee. The hotel, restaurant and bar has just lost several hundred dollars a month of my business as well as the meetings we periodically hold there.

Great Asian Chips and Salsa. Quiet and relaxed atmosphere. Easily accessible. Fast and courteous service. Overall, a nice place to have lunch or dinner.

I really truly adore M Bar and prefer it over most local cafes. I never have to struggle to find seating space or outlets and I never get dirty looks for picking up a phone call.
Although I originally learned of M Bar due to the planning of a Unilocal Elite event, I have come back time and time again. The space is absolutely ideal for someone like me who works from home but is also constantly setting up meetings. I can sit and perch in the M Bar lounge on their large, cushy couches for hours undisturbed, work on my laptop, drink coffee and meet with people.
It’s always pretty peaceful and relaxed without being still or stagnant. Soft background music and plenty of casual conversations surrounding make for a perfect place to meet for coffee, lunch or early evening drinks. The staff here has always been super helpful and accommodating.
If you find yourself in this area with a laptop or a desire for peaceful conversation with a friend or colleague, I highly recommend M Bar.

I had the unique pleasure of attending a cooking demonstration at this unassuming little bar inside of the Renaissance hotel on M Street (near Foggy Bottom).
As M Bar is inside of a hotel, most people, aside from patrons, don’t even know the place is there — and I wouldn’t have either if not for the advertisment of the event here on Unilocal.
Anyway — both the service and the food are TO DIE FOR. I got to ‘participate’ in making a fantastic marinade that accompanied the tuna in their Asian Chips and Salsa. Okay, so I just stirred, but let me tell you, everything was really tasty.
The ‘chips’ were triangles of fried wonton, and the ‘salsa’ was a mix of smoked tuna in a spicy marinade of soy, ginger, garlic, pepper, cilantro and sirache and fresh guacamole with plum tomatoes and little bits of cucumber (a component I’d never had in guacamole before that).
Chef Doug prepared it right in front of myself and my two friends, explaining the techniques, the ingredients and the process as he went. I now know what a ‘chiffonade’ is (hee hee).
The one-​on-​one experience is not a typical part of the service — that was part of the demonstration I had signed up for — but the dish itself is on their regular menu. M Bar has a lot of really cleverly conceptualized and innovative dishes, with twists on down home plates like shrimp and grits and tomato soup.
Even the bartender was personable, and his polite demeanor remained, even though he was the only one working and the bar got progressively more full as the afternoon went on.
I’ve gushed all of this to say — you’ve got to try the restaurant at M Bar!!! I know I’ll be headed back there really soon!
P. S. The cooking demonstration is probably still listed with Unilocal Events, but if any of you are interested, you can send an email to John Eddleman at
.

I was staying at this hotel and I ate here when I was too tired to take the metro to find a new place. I havnt had their drinks but I have had their food. The food is appropriately delicous for how much you are paying and then add on $ 2 – 3 for it being a hotel restaurant.
Smoked Salmon on Corn Cakes: Really good, really huge portion of smoked fish (not the bagel kind, real fish that is smoked) on to die for deepfried corn cakes.
Roasted Tomato Soup: Spicier than I thought it was going to be and I was pleasantly surprised it did not remind me of pasta sauce.
Sea Bass with Miso on wax beans and tofu: Good, a little too much miso on top (really salty and I LOVE salt) but it is in basically on an island of beans and tofu surrounded by miso soup that you can dip the heafty piece of fish in. Very satisfying.
French Onion Soup: One of the best I’ve had. Just enough bread and cheese, not smothered. Some onions but not so many you feel like you are eating a cheese and onion pie. Broth is light and well rounded. Get this!!!