Buddha Bar DC: Not So Zen

Buddha Bar maybe needs to take a tip from its namesake, and be ‘’one with their cuisine’’. Yes, after DC opened Buddha Bar a few months back, I was definitely apprehensive for them to continue the London/Paris/NY/Dubai chain in a much lesser city. But being me, I immediately attended the opening, and after being graced with the presence of muscle man/bartender Marc Eber, fell in love with the cocktails, and most importantly, the sexy ambiance that took me away from DC’s often “ugly people for Hollywood” reputation and threw me into a very Vegas-esque habitat. With an enticing cocktail menu (try the pineapple martini!) and adorable hostesses at the door, you’d think that the food would be over the top excellent.

I’ve been twice, and there’s been definite improvement. But after paying $50 plus tip for a drink and two appetizers (one of which was a miso soup), you would expect nothing less than superb dining.
On the two occasions, my steak appetizer arrived cold, and on the first occasion, the server asked me if I’d like to return it (NO!! I want to eat cold steak?!?!?!). The tuna tartar with avocado was bland and nothing more than something you’d find on a sushi conveyer belt. However, the creative presentation of the spicy tuna roll was fun, and the nigiri obviously came from a seafood distributer comparable to Penn Quarter’s high end SEI. But overall, the food is nothing to write home about (It’s no Tao in the Venetian), and coming from a former waitress perspective, the service upon my first time dining there was an atrocity (although I will cut Buddha Bar some slack, however, being a new restaurant and still dealing with the weeding out of poor employees).
Would I go back to Buddha Bar? Yes, I’m sure. But I wouldn’t wait in that ridiculous line on Friday and Saturday nights to get in. The drinks are delicious, the bartenders are hot, and the facility is super sexy. Just don’t expect the food to be anything that would make Giada di Laurentis proud.