Busboys & Poets is a DC institution. It’s a restaurant, bookstore, and sometimes venue for political films, speakers, and other various artsy and activisty stuff. It’s only natural, I suppose that it would have a decent selection of vegan offerings, which are oh-so-conveniently demarcated on the menu. The food on this occasion was very good. I’d been feeling nachoey lately, so I opted for the vegan nachos and an order of fries. Busboys & Poets nachos are really, really good. I kinda inhaled them. One of the neat things about these nachos is that, rather than black or refried beans, they have black-eyed peas, which kinda works, kinda doesn’t. I’d probably prefer one of the more traditional nacho proteins, but I guess it’s Fergie, Will I Am and the gang that make the Busboys & Poets nachos special.
The fries were okay. The steak fry is my least favorite fry genre, so I was bound to be underwhelmed.
Now let’s talk about the service for a moment — it was atrocious. We were at the 14th & V location, on a Saturday night, and the place was pretty busy, but that was no excuse for this monstrosity of serving. The host was great, no complaints there, but our server…the horror. He stopped by a few minutes after we’d been seated and gotten our menus, introduced himself told us he’d give us a few minutes with the menus and then walked away. I had to call him back to take our drink orders. I don’t know, maybe this guy doesn’t like padding the check with expensive drinks and thereby increasing his tip. He brought us our drinks about ten minutes later, and then walked away. Again, I had to call him back so we could order. Our food came, our drinks emptied, and he was nowhere to be seen (he didn’t do the “how is everything” thing that’s customary in the biz). My dinner companions had each finished their entrees, and I was working on my fries when I felt a presence to my left. There he was, lurking at the side of our table. He didn’t actually say anything, was just standing there. It was really creepy and awkward. I said “hi.” He said “hi” back. Then we ordered another round of drinks and he went away. Later, when we were wondering where he’d gone and if we would ever get the check, I felt a presence behind me, turned around, and there he was again…lurking and silent. Such a strange, strange fellow. Anyway, it was some pretty terrible service, so if you go to Busboys & Poets, and you should, hopefully you don’t end with that guy.
