Alfresco Tap and Grill

I was excited to try this restaurant. Let me start by saying our server was excellent. Food runner person didn’t say a single word when he delivered the dishes to our table. Just randomly placed them down, we had to figure out which was whose. Food is decent, but not at all spectacular. Bathrooms were clean. Solid 3 star experience.

Fantastic dinner at Al Fresco! Very nice balance of intimacy but enough room to address large and small parties. Music crosses genres and added to the general atmosphere. Fancy heating elements for outside seating. These owners know how to run successful establishments. Food was great! We had cocktails, apps, entrees and desserts. See attached pictures. Delish!! Highly recommend! Will be returning for sure!

Great new American Italian fusion restaurant. We ate outdoors underneath a 20ft hard ceiling with sleek modern heaters. With trees and views of a park, nice easy-listening radio station played while we watched the bartenders mix drinks. The food was excellent, the table consensus favorite was the loaded mash potatoes. The mac and cheese with brisket was great too, the cheese was very creamy and understated nicely. I will be back to try their sandwiches for lunch.

Excellent food! We had a few appetizers and they were all great. The duck roll is a must. We also tried the Alfresco Burger and Short ribs. The short ribs was really delicious, very tender and juicy. Definitely coming back. Thank you so much for such a nice experience. See you soon!

I went with 4 friends and my godson to their soft opening and we found more friends so it became a huge party right away. All of us were pleasently surprised with their readiness, great food, and fast service. Mr. Raul himself was there and greeted each table. Our waitress, Chelsea, was very attentive and answered all our questions about Alfresco. We took advantage of their very generous and temporary offer "first drink and dish on us" and had more drinks, more to eat, Oh! and some absolutely delicious desserts! See my pictures, but go and have your own experience!!! Alfresco 2009 18th St., NW. Washington, DC 20009.

The establishment offers a wonderful selection of reasonably priced beverages and cuisine. The dishes are not only well-prepared but also exceptionally flavorful. The efficiency and quality of service further enhance the dining experience. Remarkably, the subdued noise level pleasantly surprised us, contributing to a thoroughly enjoyable dinner.

The bartender Toni is great. Highly spirited guy who gives great service. He recommended the burger that I really enjoyed. I also tried the ceviche they had. It had a super interesting component of fried avocado. It seems like they do a tempura style batter.

Atmosphere and service great. Food, not great. The location is ideal especially if you’re looking for outdoor space or just a place to grab cocktails. My server was awesome, had no complaints about him. I enjoyed the atmosphere considering it’s a large space that’s dimly lit with an impressive patio space. My martini was perfect. The food was mediocre at best. For the price range it’s not terrible but I can probably get the same dishes elsewhere -at a better price.. that tastes better. The food was just good enough if you need to eat something, but it is nothing to write home about. No unique flavors, very standard American Italian-ish fare. If you’re into that this place is perfect for you to dine at. If you and a few buddies just want to grab beers or cocktails and enjoy the weather this place is also great for that. I also think the restaurant lacks identity of any sort. I’ll be back, but for the drinks, not the food. I don’t usually leave many reviews but I think this place has the potential to be better if they’re listening to what people have to say about the food.

Great food, great service, great ambiance. Alfresco just opened and already one of the top three restaurants on 18th St NW between Florida Ave and Columbia Road! I recently went with two friends on a weekend afternoon and were seated immediately. We sat outside as it was a nice day and Alfresco has a great patio and also ample open-air space. My friends and I split the tuna crudo and the eggplant fries. The crudo was good although nothing spectacular. However, the eggplant fries were amazing, with perfectly cooked and breaded eggplant and a rich, creamy, cheesy parmesan sauce. I got the short rib mac and cheese as my main (it is listed as a side) and it was one of the five best restaurant dishes I have had this year. The mac and cheese was hearty, creamy, and cheesy with rich flavors, and there was lots of tender, juicy short rib. At $12, it was also a great value. We also received outstanding service from start to finish, with our server able to accommodate my friend's special request, good banter, and we received dishes our dishes in an appropriate amount of time. Although many dishes are on the pricier side, Alfresco has good portion sizes. They also have a late-night weekend happy hour if you are looking for food during a late-night outing in Adams Morgan. I look forward to returning soon!

Just ok sums up how I feel. Service ok. Food ok. It gets three stars because it is very accommodating to young children. The restroom was clean and the diaper changing station was so brand new there was still manufactures plastic on parts of it. The hilarious part of our meal was the appetizer. The caprese salad they brought out to us was literally pearl mozzarella and cherry tomatoes on two tooth picks with a little balsamic drizzled on top. No basil! I want to say it was $5. I'm still laughing about it. It was the kind of 'cooking' I did when I was 14. They have a nice patio area if you are interesting in eating outside.

Came by this relatively new restaurant on a Saturday night. It was really busy at 7:45, but they sat our table of four immediately. They menu is quite large with something for everyone. They had several pastas and pizzas. We tried the linguini fruit di mare. It was fine. We also got the veggie pizza which I liked. The truffle fries were decent and my friends like the short rib sliders. The tuna crudo with avocado tempura was small, but really good. It's a pretty reasonable priced place and they have so much outdoor seating. Service is a bit slow, but they are new and it was busy. Funny enough most of the staff seem to be from Italy.

I could come here every day for the eggplant chips and a few glasses of their limoncello and be perfectly fine

A newly opened restaurant in Adams Morgan, Alfresco offers classic American dishes. We went there during happy hour which has plenty food options and great frozen margaritas! We also tasted the main menu items such as the pizza and steak and frites. My highlights were the duck rolls, the grilled cheese (MUST order) and short rib sliders! Get 2 of these! Their app game is strong but I'd skip calamari.. The pizza and steak were OK. I think another highlight was the cheesecake! Whoever is their pastry chef should get all the kudos might be the best cheesecake i've had ! Tiramisu was light too! Their outdoor is SO spacious perfect for outdoor dining (high tops and regular tables).

The ambiance is lovely- beautiful outdoor patio and outdoor bar. Service was very good. Wine was decent and fairly priced. Food was mediocre at best. The fries were delicious- crispy, thin and nicely salted. My salmon po boy had no flavor and the quinoa breading just had a gritty texture. My husband's chicken BLT sandwich was also meh. Come for drinks and patio...skip the food.

It's ok. Service is cold... wouldn't recommend yet. They need to find some charm. First only given the limited brunch menu at 11a and when asked the server offered a more appealing menu choice. No recommendations offered and the server seemed like she was sleep walking. Zero music or atmosphere which is too bad because it's beautiful outside and there is a lot of foot traffic already for porch fest day. Server finally smiled when it was time to close the check. There was a foul odor through the restaurant. The burger was over cooked yet flavorful hence the 3 stars. The restaurant was too focused on preparing for the late brunch crowd versus focused on the few there at the restaurant currently spending money. Coffee was awful awful... give it some more time. I will try again after the new year since it's right next door ...

Service was impeccable. Our server was Nick. I haven't had such attentive service like that in a long time. He was also kind, funny, and seems to speak perfect Spanish...? Happy hour went until 6:30 which beats many of the happy hours that only go until 6pm. The short rib sliders and grilled cheese were amazing. The fries are just so-so. Their patio seating is top notch. I haven't sat at the bar but I imagine the blue lighting could be fun for a date :)

Only came for drinks but had a great time! The servers were all so friendly and so attentive and this place is in a great location. I had a frozen negroni which was delicious. They have a great patio too. Will definitely come back if in the area!

Been twice so far with 2 different groups. Both times we loved the food, ambiance and prices. Late night happy hour is a huge plus. Try the Burger Med Rare. Second visit was a celebration of my Father's birthday that was made extra special by the attention to detail from the staff. David took care of us the whole time with great recommendations and full of life attitude. We had the Lomo Saltado that was a huge portion and the dessert menu brought multiple options. Can't ever go wrong with Flan. $36 Frozen Margarita Pitchers are plenty strong too. More than enough for 3 drinkers.

Overview: Alfresco claims to be an American-Italian Bistro, but seems to lean more on a California/Mexican influence. The ambiance is very nice and a good spot to spend an hour on a nice day due to the large amount of outdoor space. It's not overly crowded to where you can't find a table, but there were a good number of people spread throughout the restaurant. Strengths: The service was very friendly and attentive, and the space is incredible with a lot of outdoor and indoor seating. The price is about what you would expect for the quality of the food. Weaknesses: There is not much special or unique about the food or experience. I walked away thinking that it was good not great without a strong desire to be a repeat customer.

Suburban Vibes in an Urban Setting! If you've ever been strolling through the lively and historic neighborhood of Adam's Morgan and craved the vibes and food of a sprawling suburban-style mega-bar with an unclear menu focus, the is the place for you. As soon as you walk into Alfresco Tap & Grill you are treated to high ceilings and a myriad of spacious seating options. The main restaurant has tables that line the ample windows along 18th St, there is a narrow patio that lines the outside of these windows, not to mention a huge double sided bar that and has plenty of seats both inside and outside. But the real draw of Alfresco is the massive covered patio in the back which wraps (uncovered) to the side of the restaurant on California. Fitting as the patio does almost have a California vibe to it. The outside edge of the bar has seating but sitter beware that you will be sidled near constantly by patio standers who want a drink if you sit there. Though that is to be expected and the vibes outside are quite lively on the warm spring evening we decided to try this new option in the neighborhood. The food however left much to be desired. We ordered the fried seafood trio appetizer and the calamari was some of the chewiest I have ever tried. The sauce to dip it in was meh. The real problem was my entree, and full disclosure I ordered the Crabcake sandwich because I figured it would be the item I would have the highest standards for having grown up partly in Maryland. When the expo brought out my Crabcake sandwich, a man not in my party but sitting next to me at the bar asked if it was an egg sandwich because he had not seen that on the menu. I have to admit he was on to something, the sandwich was one of the saddest looking crab cakes I have ever seen. It was about the thickness of my pinky finger, was the color of Starbucks egg bites, and was limper than room temperature lettuce. I don't know what they are thinking including this on the menu so close to the Chesapeake bay. The man sitting next to me did say the burger was good. As someone who lives in the neighborhood I do hope they improve because the patio is quite unique for the city and this could be a fun place to get drinks and snacks when the weather is nice. TL;DR: I hope they hire a real chef to take advantage of this amazing venue rather than just building the menu from front page of a Sysco frozen food catalogue.

We have gone to this new spot 2x now and both times have been very good! The space is incredibly spacious and decorated very well. The food is very yummy! The salmon poboy is very yummy and I enjoyed it (I didnt take a pic of :(). Give this new place a visit!

Best outdoor patio in the area and solid menu with lots of options. We went to Alfresco during their soft open - they are definitely still figuring things out but have a ton of eager staff who are very friendly, especially our server Eric, and a great patio for outdoor dining. They are also very accommodating to gluten free menu items and have a wide variety of choices at a reasonable price point for the quality and the area.

Incredible food and service! Highly recommend for any locals and tourists in DC. Awesome owner as well. Pizza was delicious

We were pleasantly surprised at how good this place was. Everything we ordered was delicious, especially the BBQ rib tacos, lomo saltado, and eggplant chips. It was not crowded at all and easy to get a seat. The atmosphere was very nice with the outdoor patio. The service was also amazing and friendly. Will return to try out some of the other pasta and taco offerings.

The service is amazing. The food was excellent. Jaime was the best. The aranchini and cáptese was great. The ambiance is so nice. I highly recommend them.

2.5 stars. Beautiful build out with excellent patio for warm weather months. Unfortunately, the menu is generic and reminds me of a run-of-the-mill hotel restaurant. All food items we tried (chicken parm, steak and fries, calamari, shrimp appetizer, and brownie sundae) were mediocre and uninspired. We LOVE Cactus Cantina and Lauriol Plaza so hoping some improvements are made soon!

Tried Alfresco for the first time for lunch food ans service were awesome and the massive patio feels so uncomfortable tucked away from the sidewalk in Admo. Highly recommend the eggplant chips and Aperol Spritz

A new addition to the Adams Morgan neighborhood! They are still very new and working out their stride, but we enjoyed a glass of wine and a few appetizers on their back patio on a leisurely Sunday without any issues. Really appreciated that their outdoor seating has enough room to even have coverage if the weather turns - and heaters were visible for the colder season. We found the pricing to be in line - not higher- than anywhere else and the quality of the crab cake croquettes and caprese salad skewers was delightful. Will be making this a regular addition!

I wish the food tasted as good as the ambiance. Crabcake is full of bread with a bad combination of seasoning and no crab lumps. The eggplant chips are bland and oily. It was so bad that I left early and went home to make my entree.

The food and drinks were very okay, it's nothing special, I think the price and the output were incongruent. For example the Paloma tasted like some kind of spritzy canned cocktail but with inconsistent pours when a Paloma should have grapefruit juice and tequila, and the frozen Negroni was sugary sweet when a Negroni is supposed to be an herby, bitter, citrusy cocktail, neither were balanced. All of that said, our server was excellent and when she brought my Paloma back she waited for me to try and see if it was to my liking. The location is wonderful, it overlooks Marie Reed park, the patio is lovely, I wish everything else was better.

Wanted to like it but truly one of the worst meals I've paid for. The outdoor space is great and spacious but the food is dry and bland. The cheese on the chicken parm was cold and the pizza was somehow sour. Do yourself a favor and save 50 bucks by going down to Duccinis.

Alfresco Tap & Grill is a wonderful addition to the 18th Street food vibe! I went there last Friday after work for drinks and my group ending up staying for dinner. Our service was friendly, informative and attentive. The California Wings were given a 5 star by the group. They were juicy, plump that had a kick the cool ranch dipping sauce perfectly tamed. We also thought the Pub Burger and fries were delicious. The Blackberry Gin & Tonic was the only item I was a little disappointed with. Described as a gun infused with blackberries, it lacked the blackberry flavor. It tasted more like a regular gin and tonic. It needed a bit more blackberry flavor to it in my opinion. The weather was beautiful last Friday, so we enjoyed sitting outside with others. The vibe is casual and comfortable for all ages. We especially enjoyed seeing all the adorable, well behaved dogs enjoying happy hour with their owners. Looking forward to enjoying my next visit!

This place is bad. Do not come. Wanted to like it so badly. You'd think that with prices like an $18 burger they would make the food at least decent. The pizza tasted legitimately sour, vegetables were burned. With so many good choices in this neighborhood don't get ripped off here just because the vibes look good from the outside. Wanted to like it but it's just plain bad

Chelsea and the team helped me host a birthday party in their covered patio space. From start to finish, everything was fantastic--food, drinks, and service! The venue is beautiful and accommodated a large group (it's also baby-friendly)! It exceeded our high expectations and is highly recommended. We plan to host more events here in the future! 10/10

TLDR: Food was surprisingly excellent; like really really good Service was great; witty and prompt Ambiance is up to your taste; better for big groups than 1:1 date night I usually prefer the older, smaller, cozy spots if I can find a place which is why I wasn't too excited to have what looked like another cookie cutter bar in the area. After Porchfest I met my out of town sister and a couple folks who had hunkered down at Al fresco to avoid the rain. We had other dinner plans but decided to go the dry route and stay put. Food: We had four different dishes that night and shared a bit between the full group. We ordered the pizza, a burger, eggplant Parmesan, and the short ribs. All were phenomenal. I had just come back from a trip to Italy with my partner and was a little sad I couldn't have my secondi options like I did on my trip but the short rib reminded me of a dish I had in bologna. Service: We sat at the bar. The place was packed to the gills with other rain-avoiders but the staff was very helpful, witty, and nice. Drinks, food, and check-ins all came with very little delay. Ambiance: There's no good way to get around the big airy layout of the bar in comparison to some of the smaller restaurants in DC. Some of the tables away from the bar area do look like they might be nice for a date night with the lighting choices they made however the majority of the place doesn't feel "cozy". With that being said, with the open air patio as big as it is this would be a fantastic place to go with a bigger group during nice weather.

I came here for Mother's Day and selected varieties of appetizers and main dishes. Everything on the menu came out perfect, taste textures, smell and prices. The service of the waiters was fantastic and attentive. I would totally recommend this place for family dinner or a date.

Great ambiance, cool spot, nice servers. My food was delish, just wish my serving was larger considering the cost. I saw someone's pizza, kinda a flat bread vibe, not my thing. They're brand new so i bet they improve.

SO GOOD! Everything was delish! Highly recommend everything we tried. The arugula wrapped prosciutto is a MUST!

The service was amazing. Our waitress was the nicest lady I have met in a very long long time. Tipped her more than 20%. We had two apps, two entrees, and two desserts; all were amazing and real American portions. The restaurant itself is nicely decorated, modern American style which I love. Will come back more often!

It was a pleasant day, and my friend and I decided to have dinner on a patio. We walked past Al Fresco and, being relatively new, we decided to give it a go. We were seated quickly but had to wait for our server to come by our table. After 5 minutes, the server comes by and offers us water and disappears. I say disappears because 10 minutes later, the hostess come by and asks to take our menus. I had to explain to her that we haven't had a chance to order because our server hasn't come back. She apologized and went to look for our server. Our server comes back and reeks of cigarette smoke and bad cologne. My friend had the margarita pizza with a glass of Pino, and I thought I'd keep it simple with their Alfresco burger prepared medium rare. The food arrived in the standard amount of time. It was brought out by a food runner. The pizza looked a little undercooked, and my burger looked pretty standard. Nothing special about it. When I bit into it, it was not medium rare, and I could tell it was made with a frozen patty. The fries were good though. The pizza was not up to par at all. I described it as looking like microwavable pizza. My friend said he had better microwavable pizza. Our server eventually walks by our table but does not acknowledge us. I had to flag him down to ask him about my burger being cooked well, not medium rare. He said it looked okay but would ask the kitchen. I also asked him for a side of ketchup, which he said he would bring out. He never asked my friend what he thought of his pizza. About 10 minutes later, he was standing near the server station, and I called out to him and asked him about the burger and ketchup. He said the burger was cooked fine, and he'll bring out the ketchup. At this point, you would think this is as bad as it gets. But he wasn't done yet. We asked for the check, and he brought out the card reader. He continues to get really close to my friend and rubs himself against his arm. This made my friend very uncomfortable considering it was unwanted touching and he still reeked of cigarette smoke. He also brings out a box for the pizza, which only had a bite out of it. He proceeds to box the pizza, and then flips the box upside down. So even if this pizza was going to be eaten later, it's now pretty much ruined. My friend took the pizza box and threw it in the trash in front of the restaurant. Overall, I would not come back here again, nor would I recommend it to anyone. The entire experience and quality of the food was awful. Al Fresco management needs to consider if they really want people to come here. The unwanted touching is something they really need to talk to their staff about.

Gosh we wanted to like this place. The space is gorgeous. The outdoor area has excellent heaters and every element of the building is beautifully done. The service was pretty good. But the food is so, so bad. The calamari "frittura mixta" was dry and unseasoned and seemed like it was bought frozen from Sysco. I don't know how you screw up a burger, but the patty was thin, it used a super cheap and fatty meat, and had no char on it whatsoever. The caesar salad was fine, but the $8 add-on "steak" ... how to describe it? It seemed like a bland stew meat they cut into strips and *then* pan fried. I guess the beer was fine? $9 for 12 ounce drafts, or $8 for ... Miller Lite? Lol. Anyways, I would love to be able to come back here but they have to make *some* part of the experience to be enjoyable beyond ther beautiful patio.

Highly disappointing. Each of the three items we ordered was sub par. The food took over twice as long as it should have. Clearly the restaurant required a huge investment, but unfortunately the kitchen and menu seem like an after-thought. Would only return for drinks on the patio.

Lovely patio and great servers. The confit rolls are amazing! When it's nice out you gotta go!

3 stars are more than enough for this restaurant. The food has zero flavor but smells good so there's that... go for drinks and sit outside. Eat before you come.

David is the best waiter you could ask for! Very attentive and had great food and veg suggestions. The food is great. Would recommend this as a great spot to go out with friends if it's dinner or a happy hour

Great ambiance and great service! We had drinks and the service was fast. Enjoyed everyone our time. Looking forward to coming back soon!

Amazing service!!! (Take David as your waitor). Such a fun spot - this neighborhood needed a place like this. Tons of space, lots of fresh air, and a great variety of food and drinks! Couldn't reccomend more.

Phoebe was great. The pub hamburger perfecto. Settings are perfect. Ketchup is wrong ‍

This place was beyond awful. Living in the neighborhood, I was excited to have a place that seemed like it would work well for large groups, lots of walk in availability, and standard delicious classics. I was hoping for classic suburban fare - like a YardHouse or Cheesecake Factory - but the food was legitimately inedible. The crab cake sandwich was one of the most pathetic, limp things I've ever seen and it tasted terrible. We could not finish it. The drinks were also awful and tasted like rail drinks but at DC cocktail bar prices. Extremely disappointed and will not be returning unless something major changes.

Could be great but the food was horrible. This is a new building and it is really nice inside and out. Our server was very nice but didn't know much about the menu as he was unable to answer questions about the food. I had the chicken Parm and it was awful - it came out as a dry brick. My 2 dinner companions have mediocre meals too. This facility and location should have phenomenal food but it was comparable to airport grub.

New restaurant and great food in the heart of DC! Creative and tasty food-well worth visiting[often!]...

Really rough. Two stars for the server who was obviously nervous but tried really hard and kept a smile on the entire time. Otherwise, zero stars. Food was somehow flavorless from the pasta to the burger to the fish. Expensive dishes to leave hungry. Sadly wouldn't recommend.

Oh, man. We REALLY wanted to like this. Like, we watched it being built, we know the neighborhood needs more successful restaurants and we were rooting for it. Our expectations were not exactly sky high, and they were definitely not met. The atmosphere is nice and the kitchen manager and host staff were very pleasant. We think our waiter may have been raised in captivity. He was stunned to learn that G&T stood for gin and tonic when my partner ordered it as the "gin and tonic". He lingered, and asked us personal questions. My partner's rigatoni was not so good, and my chicken parmesan came out without any ... parmesan. I'm told it's in the crust, but the small globs of not-melted mozzarela on a chicken cutlet was not going to pass as dinner. They were nice and exchanged it for the salmon. I think the salmon was genetically modified to ward off porcupine attacks. It was super tough, and it came out about 90 seconds after I sent back the chicken parm. Seriously, I know restaurants have opening pains and I am not trying to pan a neighborhood place on day two but I would rather have eaten here when this was a parking lot so I could have brought food from somewhere else. We ended the evening with Popeyes and we were thrilled.

The restaurant is a pretty good size with adequate indoor and out door seating. The venue itself looks nice. Despite limiting parking options we were able to park directly in front of the restaurant which was a plus. I visited week 2 of the soft opening. (unaware that it was week 2 but will get to that later). We ordered the crab cake sandwich and fries and the primavera pasta. The crab cake was surprisingly pretty good. It was only $21 so I wasn't expecting it to be as good as it was. The vegetarian pasta primavera was not good to us at all. It's different (and not in a good way) from any primavera we've ever tasted. It was more of an oily pesto flavor than a wine primavera flavor. The interesting part is when the bill came I noticed the pasta was comp so I just asked the waitress was it because we didn't like it. She said no it's a mistake (which was fine) but then she comes back and tell us that it was a system mistake because they were comping meals during week 1 of the soft opening but not week 2. I admit this annoyed me because 1) I received an email specifically inviting me to make a reservation for week 2 there was never mention of multiple weeks of an soft opening. Like why did I get an email about week 2 but not week 1 (weird)? Second, if it was a mistake on the restaurant, why would you openly admit that it was only to be comp for week 1 and not week 2 and then add it back to the bill. When I'm sure since it was a system error than the the same mistake was made on the other patrons that were dining at the same time or even before us and their bills weren't modified. It was very weird and definitely lessened the dining experience.