Posts Tagged ‘burger’
New Location, Same Great Food, Same Long Lines…
The original Matchbox in Chinatown was one of the first restaurants I dined in when I moved to D.C. four years ago. I thought I’d found a gold mine—ahh, those buttery mini-burgers covered in fried onion strings, and that thin-crust pizza topped with giant meatballs! Plus, considering I’d just moved to this humongous city (comparitively), the prices seemed great. And then, visit after visit, the appeal slowly faded. It wasn’t that the food ever declined. It was the fact that—despite a huge expansion, in which the restaurant seemed to triple in size—getting a table (even on weekday nights) became impossible. Well, you could always wait for an hour, but was it really worth that? And the worst part was, if you walked through the restaurant while waiting, you’d see about 10-15 empty tables. I realize this probably has to do with lack of staff, but this does not bode well when you’re starving. And these empty tables become even worse when you see this on 6 or 7 consecutive visits. Get more waiters already! The last time I experienced this hour-long wait despite a seemingly empty restaurant, I swore off the place.
And then we got hungry one day while roaming around Capitol Hill. We hadn’t tried the new Matchbox up here, so what the heck? We were lucky enough to walk in at the right time. We were seated immediately, and our experience seemed just as fortunate. We had a great waiter; the food was delicious; the prices were still reasonable. The interior looks much like the original, but has a better layout, we all agreed—and we loved the design of the bar and the way they tactfully remodeled this old building, while keeping that same old Matchbox aesthetic. We left excited that this new Matchbox was the solution to all our problems until we saw the congregation of 20-some-odd people waiting at the doors, despite many an empty table inside. Thank goodness that wasn’t us, but still? This Matchbox policy of making folks wait despite available tables must have migrated to this new location, just like those onion-covered mini-burgers. We personally had a great experience, so I can’t complain. But, eh, why does this policy make my blood boil? Even though I love the food here—top picks are 1) the mini burgers, $8 for three; 2) spicy meatball pizza, $13 for the small; 3) chocolate chip bread pudding, $8—I have a hard time recommending this place now. Anyone else want to weigh in?
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Welcome to Hell
Hot off an Obama/Biden visit, what better day to share my opinion of Virginia’s (now-presidential) burger joint:
If you’re not in the mood for chicken, Ray’s Hell Burger is the cheap-eats NOVA alternative for BIG, manly portions of food. Which is what you’ll find inside: a lot of men, eating huge, dripping, giant, unladylike burgers. What you won’t find are french fries or beer, two things we were craving the day of our visit. The root beer on tap was delicious as was the potato alternative (bagged chips), but—unlike Patten, who believes this to be the best burger in the area—I have no desire to return. The process of putting your mouth over a puffy bun filled with a 10 oz juicy patty and a slippery mound of grilled thick-cut red onions is painful and embarrassing. And while the beef (which is never frozen) and condiments (which yes, are fresh) make for a delicious bite, I can hardly enjoy the flavor because I have juices running down my chin, hands, wrists—a loose onion dangling out my mouth. This is not Carl’s Junior sexy. This is hell.
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