Tunnicliff's Tavern Proves Bars Can Do Good Brunch - Capitol Hill
Posted by Erica Sietsma at 11/4/2008 12:16 PM 
Categories: DCBC Fave, Bloody Mary, Outdoor Seating, Eastern Market, Capitol Hill
Categories: DCBC Fave, Bloody Mary, Outdoor Seating, Eastern Market, Capitol Hill
We haven't done the Hill in quite a while (Belga was the last time), so it was high time we headed back down to the southeast side and gave their restaurants a chance to vie for the title of best brunch in DC. Tunnicliff's Tavern was recommended by a few friends and after checking out their menu online, I was excited to go somewhere with standard brunch fare. However, I did realize that often the more "basic" then menu - the harder it was to do well. There are only so many ways to make breakfast potatoes, so it's hard to make them stand out, but Tunnicliff's surprised me, especially after the somewhat rocky start.Environment: Tunnicliff's has an outdoor covered patio, which is a nice option on beautiful days, but for some reason we didn't sit out there. Don't think they could accommodate our group of 6 in a timely enough manner. We ended up inside, which is a little on the "dark" side due to the dark wood decor. The interior is classic American bar with patriotic paintings, but I didn't feel like it was in your face "Go Team America" nor does it have that J.Pauls icky stale beer smell.
Service: When I say we had, or really I had a rocky start with Tunnicliffs this refers to their service. When I first
arrived, the hostess did not seem very excited to help, as she had to get up from a table where she was sitting talking with another employee. Sorry for interrupting your discussion. I told her there would be six and that I had called ahead with a reservation...the inside was pretty quiet with a lot of open tables. I told her we would be open to taking first available. She asked if my entire group was there and I said no, so she asked me to wait. I was so frustrated. Two more people in my group showed up and we still had to wait. I understand waiting when the place is packed and others are waiting, but that was certainly not the case. In fact, it appeared that a few of the servers were killing time chilling with the hostess. A note to management at Tunnicliffs..no, a note to the owner: YOU LOST REVENUE!!! Read our blog...we drink...usually a lot. Had we been sitting at our EMPTY table, we would have been ordering drinks...thus increasing the number of drinks consumed throughout our brunch. Once we were seated our waitress didn't really raise the bar. We had to ask for water three times, she bumped into my chair a few times and didn't say sorry or excuse me and when asked, she quickly divulged the crab was from a can. I mean, we didn't want her to lie and say it was fresh, but we were shocked at her very candid admission of the canned crab (though this did not stop me from ordering the crab omelet, so maybe this wasn't a bad thing). I definitely felt she was not-so friendly, but as the meat went on some of the other brunch clubbers warmed up to her.
Booze: The bloody marys got a thumbs up in the spicy and garnish departments (two olives, celery and lime). while I felt the mimosas were seriously lacking in champagne...if I wanted OJ - I would have ordered it.
Food: Here is where Tunnicliffs turned it around...up to this point, I was seriously doubting my review and then we saw the French Toast get delivered to the table and it looked heavenly so we decided to "open" our minds to the possibility the food was going to be more than just bar brunch.
French Toast was ordered for the table and everyone got to try it. We decided it was very good, but not amazing...it needed something - maybe more cinnamon? Everyone agreed the breakfast potatoes were noticeably good. This is where we went off into the discussion of doing the basics good versus doing them great. It's hard to make the basics noticeable and we felt Tunnicliffs did it with their taters.
Eggs Nova Scotia got a yummy face from Steven, which we took as approval and recommendation.
I braved the canned crab omelet and was surprised - it had a lot of the canned crab which actually had good flavor and the omelet was cooked just right. I hate overcooked omelets!
The breakfast club sandwich had an extremely shiny bun (see picture below) and earned an "mmmmmmm so good" from Lindsay, but she did say it could have used a sauce of some sort, so if you order it get some kind of side sauce.
Dana ordered the pancakes and got a side of crispy bacon. We had a bet going the bacon would not end up crispy, but while our waitress wasn't friendly, she obviously was a good order taker as the bacon was perfectly crisp. The pancakes were just the right thickness to make them tasty but not overly filling.
Finally, the Breakfast Burger (pictured at top), which I am pretty sure they claimed was the best in DC, was good but not quite the best according to Mattie. Mattie vs. Tunnicliffs Tavern - who would win? My money is on Mattie!
Overall/Repeat? Overall, the food was very good - not amazing, but by no means disappointing. If you are going
to be down in the southeast and not sure where to go and want hearty brunch food - do Tunnicliffs. Belga was very good as well, but more on the sweet side and not as filling from the savory side, which is where Tunnicliffs hit the spot. However, I probably won't repeat here until I have tried all other places in the southeast due to the service. It's not worth it when there could be places with just as good food and better service. But, I would recommend it to someone who has never been. I would not recommend it for a special occasion brunch - Belga is a better choice for that if you are trying to stay on the Hill. (Ok, we need to try some other places in the southeast so I have more to compare!)
hello there! allow me (as someone who is employed full-time at a nonprofit in dc, but who occasionally works part-time at tunnicliff's tavern) to take a few moments to critique your review.
you were a table of six, were you not? it sounds like you all ordered bloody marys and mimosas, that six beverages in itself, depending on the waitress and the fact that one or two people may have ordered juice, that's one full tray (one trip and likely the second ask for water if you had asked for it when you ordered your other drinks). six people, you sound annoying so you probably all got coffee too, i bet someone even asked for milk instead of cream - an entire trip to the back refrigerator - annoying? YES! please take that up with management. coffee would be this servers second trip to the table and your third ask. wow, your table is annoying, did you notice evolution was a little slow on this servers third and fourth arm?
agreed, the bartenders put a shameful amount of orange juice in the mimosas, i have no idea why, oh wait, yes i do, the owners are cheap.
you like the bloody marys? really? i don't think there is enough horse radish, but to each their own.
if you are want to accurate critique a brunch, don't bring in yourself and five of your friends, of course the service isn't as good - your coming into tunnicliff's DURING A BRUNCH SHIFT, i gather from your quick judgement that you have never been a server. oh, how i wish my parents still gave me an allowance.
imagine this (this will be difficult for you as you're likely spoon-fed), you're a server, and for this particular shift, you have a section, but with each new table that comes in, the hostess rotates the section in which she seats people (agreed the hostess has NO PERSONALITY, this is an ongoing joke among the servers and bartenders). a "table of six" is seated in your section, taking up... a four top table and a two top, but there are only two people there... 11am approaches, still two people sitting at a six top, taking over your section, brunchers come in, are sat in other sections because yours can't accamodate for a "six top" your six top of two sits there for OVER AN HOUR, oh, an hour and a half has gone by, "oh my gosh, sorry, those other four can't make it." that is why even if the restaurant is empty, and your entire party isn't there, we won't accamodate you. as a matter of fact, many of the servers will YELL at the hostess for seating an incomplete party in their section. true story.
i didn't even know the crab came out of a can. that's sort of gross. if someone asked me how the crab omelette was, i would say (as i always do), "i have never had it but it is one of our most popular brunch items." TRUE. but if they asked me if it came out of a can i would tell the truth. eff. limited to 3000 characters... you get the idea. in short, don't write a review when you're a part of six. and don't be needy, that's annoying for the server, and those dining with you. high maintenance.
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This was great! I love getting some opinions on the blog...nice!
We can be annoying - yes, in that we like things done well. If you peruse around the blog you will see a lot of restaurants do a great job with large parties. Belga is one of them, as is Red Rocks, The Heights, Commissary, Harry;s Tap Room (post to come) and the list goes on. We do large groups so we can taste more on the menu to get a better since of the restaurants offerings. With two/three people, you can't order enough to really get an idea of the menu as a whole (in our opinion). Plus, we just enjoy each others company and brunch.
The water asking didn't have to do with her trips to the table..she just forgot. Multiple times.
We are not all coffee drinkers and I don't think anyone gets milk in their coffee.
Yes, I have been a server. I loved big groups because it meant big tips if I did a good job!! Most of the brunch clubbers are in their 30s/40s and we tip well when deserved. At the Heights (post still to come), our cute gay waiter made over 30% tip. Not bad.
At last check, none of us get allowance from our parents. I do, however, have my mom on an allowance. Oh, and I was spoon fed as a baby....have you ever tried feeding a baby with a fork? Disastrous!
As for the final part about seating, we don't reserve a table for 6 and have only two show. We're the DCBC...stuff like that doesn't happen. And while, I do understand when restaurants do it - I don't agree with it as a blanket rule. Many restaurants do not do this and they are restaurants much nicer/busier than Tunnicliff's.
I do thank you for your post though. While you sound a little disgruntled (sounds like the management is poor), I like the passion. And for the record, I have actually recommended Tunnifcliff's to people....besides the service...the food is good. If management can shape up the 'tudes and motivation in the place, it would be a no-brainer when asked "Where should I go eat when I head to Eastern Market?"
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Emilia,
I was not there but am a member of DCBC. Like Erica I am happy that you read the blog and felt inspired to respond but do not really follow your logic regarding not reviewing a brunch as a group of patrons. Restaurants should be able to handle a party of 2 as well as a party of 6, 8 or 10. The DCBC takes the number of our party into consideration when we say "service is slow" (not slow relative to if we were just 2, but slow as in server forgot...). We are a tolerant group and as long as the service is polite and hopefully friendly, we do not have issues with items forgotten or delays. I will echo Erica's comment that we tip well when we receive great service and frankly, if I want milk, an substitution or an egg white omelet I would hope the server, rather than thinking the customer is "needy" or "annoying", would consider that providing this additional service (which often come at extra charges) may increase their overall tip.
Thanks for reading the reviews though!
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Ann - you're so modest. You are hardly a member....you are the founder of the DCBC!
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