Donahue - Calumet-Norvelt

Wouldn’t know how the food or service would have been as they cancelled our reservation for a private event at 11pm the night before our reservation. I understand closing a restaurant for a private event but letting us know the night before seems very unprofessional and rude considering they didn’t offer any other accommodations.

I do not typically write reviews, but this dining experience warrants one. It is easy to walk right by the restaurant that is simply marked by a black door and a man speaking to in restaurant hosts through an ear piece to confirm the reservation before allowing you to enter. Despite being relatively small, the restaurant is beautifully designed. It is clear they put a lot of effort into creating a photo-ready dining experience. They had a DC restaurant week menu on their website with three-course meal options, which drew me to drive over an hour to join my friends for dinner. I will preface my review by saying that I visited the restaurant during restaurant week, so perhaps the experience is better at other times. Upon arriving, my friend shared that the restaurant week menu was very different than online because now there was only the option to select four tapas items. My friends (who have a more restrictive diet than mine) tried to find options they might select while waiting at the bar. Once we were seated, the restaurant week menu we were given was in fact different than the one at the bar and also than the one online. Once we started ordering, we learned they were out of the drink that I wanted and out of the first tapas item my friend wanted. My Donahue drink that I decided to order instead was not particularly good but it was beautiful. I would say the food not being particularly good but incredibly beautiful was the overall theme of the night. My rockfish ceviche was hardly cut and included tissue of the fish that has no business being in ceviche. My friend barely touched her ceviche because she shared a similar sentiment about it. The beef was too salty and the short rib was incredibly bland. The star of the show were the brussel sprouts though. They were well seasoned and crispy. I’d order those again and again. Finally, the complementary dessert that they brought out was clearly a tiny pre-made, previously frozen pastry with half a tablespoon of chocolate moose and a chunk of strawberry. As we went to pay, the waitress stood over us holding the card reader and positioned herself directly next to us to see what we selected for a tip. I always tip well (regardless of the service), but being watched during the process made us all feel uncomfortable. I was incredibly excited to try Donahue, but I was overall disappointed.

Let me tell you about Donahue…fantastic service thank you Chen super fun atmosphere perfect for a girls night out and the FOOD!!! I think our group tried just about every plate and from the short ribs (best I’ve had) to the surf and turf to the shrimp cocktail and everything in between was phenomenal. We also tried the Cham bongs and sampled the cocktail menu which was also top notch. If you are in the DC area give Donahue a try. I know I will be back for future visits.

I visited Donahue last weekend when I was in DC with my girlfriends. We had a phenomenal experience. The food was so delicious. I think we tried almost everything on the menu and were very satisfied with everything we got. Some of my favorites were the Ceviche, Surf and Turf, Burrata, and the Short Ribs it’s so hard to pick just a few! The food made the experience worth it on its own, but we also had an amazing server, Chen. She was so attentive and gave great insights to the menu when we were making our selections. We loved her. I definitely look forward to visiting Donahue again when I am back in DC.

It was one of my favorite places to end my night out. When you go to this place just for drinks that's fine. but I had a situation when im ordered food at the table and went out to smoke, 6 more people were still sitting at our table. Of course, no one paid attention to someone's order. After I returned my $50 dish disappeared, when I started completely to the server .he said their kitchen was closed and they candy do anything and can’t bring me same dish. Instead of my expensive dish the brought most chipset salami slices, which usually use in cheapest pizza. That was horrible. Salami for $50.