The Avenue - Washington, D.C.

Unfortunately, our visit to the restaurant was not as expected at all. Drinks had to be sent back. Our food orders were incomplete. The server and the food runner were not in sync as to what dressings could be offered. But it was a lovely day to sit outside, between the flies that would not move away, and then an onslaught of bees, we left much earlier than we would normally have done.

We had the most wonderful time celebrating my husband's birthday!

I am biased, as my brother works at The Avenue. That said, for the past two months, my wife and I (a mix of family and friends have joined us) have eaten at The Avenue on Monday nights. 1/2 price burgers! The burgers are delicious! Two patties high, smothered with cheese and other deliciousness. It is worth the visit. I did not, nor will l, be compensated for this posting.

I cannot begin to explain the incredible service at the restaurant. Specifically my waitress, grace. She never failed to keep a great attitude and made our time there much more enjoyable. I cannot wait to go back again!

There was some confusion about what we could order when we arrived. It seems The Avenue restaurant is for dining on standard cooked fare. It seems they are also known as Capital Crab, which seems to be a sister restaurant. We wanted blue crabs, so we were asked to move outside to the back patio. Not a big deal, and quite understandable considering the mess we would make eating blue crabs. Their back patio had the proper setup for this, with paper topped tables, paper towels, and wet naps handy. We were told there would be a 30 40 minute wait hour the crabs. Pricing per dozen as of 7/3/2023 was as follows: medium crabs $110; large $135; extra large $160. Their extra large crabs were sold out, so they only had mediums and larges. We ordered a dozen larges.Our waiter later came to say there was a take out order that was never picked up, so we were going to get that order and not wait as long. The crabs looked amazing when they came out. The manager came out to say that the previous order had some extra large crabs, so we lucked out. The crabs ended up being a mix of fresh and not so fresh crabs. We had three crabs that had flesh that was kind of mushy and mealy. My friend had one that tasted of ammonia. The rest of the crabs tasted great. Overall, the crabs were heavily coated with Old Bay seasoning, which made the crabs very salty and spicy. My friend ended up washing the seasoning off with our drinking water because it was too spicy for her.We ordered some other dishes to supplement our crab dinner: grilled cheese with tomato soup, grilled shrimp Caesar salad, and mushroom melt. These dishes were very good.