kramerbooks & afterwords cafe

poor service. no dogs allowed.. poor service. i waited almost 10 minutes for someone to realize that i was even there. i had to get up and ask for a menu. and their outdoor seating area is anti-dog. they don't want any dogs on their side of the sidewalk so if you're planning to try to sit outside and park your dog outside or along the gate, think again-- they will ask you to leave. won't be heading there any time soon...

.the slices of mushroom were thick and tasty–great on the bun! i was expecting a sloppy portabella cap with a soggy bun, but this was way better!

cultural hot spot. i had never heard of kramerbooks until a recent friend of mine suggested it as a good dinner place in dupont circle. as a fellow washingtonian, we are aware that any place worth knowing about is through word-of-mouth. it was last friday and i wanted to go out in dupont, but also wanted to have dinner with two of my close friends, mike and stacy. we all have drastically different schedules, so it's nice to sit down and catch up once and a while over good food and delicious cocktails. kramerbooks is a cultural hot spot located in the heart of dupont circle; a go-to place for the yuppies of washington d.c. it is literally located within a book store, and not a situation where you have a seattle's best coffee to the side. people hover around some of the most eclectic book topics i've ever seen as they wait for their name to be called at this local gem. we waited about 30 minutes for our table, but it wasn't so bad knowing we had a plethora of books to keep us entertained.

we sat down at this little table; it was sort of a neighborly place. everyone was seated close together that it felt like a small-knit community. this place had a sense of warmth and coziness to it - the dim lighting, intellectual conversations, and over abundance of cloth hats and scarves made it known that it's a place for stimulating conversation with young intellectuals. we were greeted by our waitress, april, who gave us a drink menu and ran down the list of specials. i started off with the real espresso martini, a delicious combination of vanilla vodka, brewed espresso, kahlua, and frangelico. it was late and i knew i needed a drink that would give me a little extra boost to get me through the night. (hey, this isn't college anymore; working all week exhausts me!). the drink was a very rich, smooth cocktail and is a must-have for coffee lovers. stacy ordered an amazing glass of white wine; i think it was a sauvignon blanc. it was so good that she went to total wines that same weekend to find it in the store. mike was the adult of the group and just stuck with water. :)

now in regards to our meals, there was a wide variety of different dishes to choose from, all within the $20-$30 range, which is pretty reasonable for the heart of dupont. much to my surprise, the waitress recommended getting any dish with seafood since it's brought in fresh everyday. i was torn between two salads, and the waitress recommended the crab, tomato & avocado salad, which was jumbo lump crab cake, sliced california avocados and tomatoes, over market greens and red onions drizzled with a little extra virgin olive oil and balsamic dressing. i love seafood, so i was very excited when my salad came with a nice portion of crab meat. it was a simple, clean, healthy salad - the avocados and tomatoes were perfectly seasoned and the dressing added just enough sweet and tangy to the crab meat. it's appearance was exquisite. it was a good-size meal, but i wouldn't say i was exactly full after my meal, but that's okay since the meal had a lot of other great qualities. my friend, mike, i think made the best choice by his smoked pork cuban sandwich. at just around $15, he had a great portion of slow-smoked porked, pulled from the bone and piled onto a grilled baguette. it was layered with aged gouda (that's enough to say yum already), aioli, prosciutto and pickled jalapenos. with that, he got a nice side of market greens and "dirty" rice and beans, made with black beans, sausage, bacon, garlic, onion, and red peppers. he labeled the meal as "delicious" and i'd have to add that i tried a little of the pulled pork and it was delectable and extremely tasty. and, last but not least, my friend stacy got the lobster dish with a side of mac & cheese and succotash. unfortunately, her lobster was sub-par, and seemed to be very bland. it was a huge amount of lobster, but was not appropriately adorned with the right fixings. when you order lobster, you expect great things, so i'm not surprised by the disappointment.

i think, overall, mike and i give kramerbooks a 4 out of 5 stars, while stacy might come out at more of a 3 stars out of 5. the location was perfect for fellow dupont circle-ers and was a nice mix up from the upscale lounges. this is that perfect place if you still want to go "out" on a friday night, but want something a bit more low-key with a little bit of flair!

the meat was tender and juicy, the bread was crisp, and the salad was perfect. the fish of the day was a whole sea bass with spuds and a salad

i was tempted to get the salted caramel chocolate cake, but we decided on the mixed fruit crumble with cinnamon ice cream since we already had one decadent chocolate dessert. when it arrived, the ice cream had already started to melt

brunch was so good! luckily we got there early and avoided a long wait. but it was delicious! i will definitely be hitting brunch there again.

really good!. great food and great service. breakfast menu is varied. food came quickly and was very tasty. espresso coffee was, by us standards at least, pretty good! experience was so good that we went back the same afternoon for a late lunch. again, really good. book browsing experience added an extra dimension. we're going back!

great buzz - nice place for weekend brunch. it was a lovely sunny winter's day when my friends took me to kramerbooks for saturday brunch as it's meant to be one of the trendy spots in dupont circle. there is a nice vibe to the place - a good space designed to satisfy both one's intellect and appetite.

it took us awhile to be showed our tables (the front of house was off somewhere and not simply doing what she was meant to be doing - showing guests their tables), and it seemed there was no clear demarcation of responsibilities for wait staff. but when we were eventually showed our table by the manager, our server was prompt and polite. our orders were taken efficiently and food was served quickly.

our entrees were tasty enough, though not the best i've ever had the pleasure of tasting in a bistro/café of similar ilk. the coffees were weak and somewhat forgettable.

but having said that, it's still a place that draws crowds which gives the café a great buzz. nice to have visited!

kramer and afterwords disappoints. if good service and reasonable pricing is what you're looking for in a nice, relaxing sunday brunch, kramerbooks & afterwords cafe is the wrong place to go. my criticism should not be taken lightly, as i am from downtown manhattan and am more than used to crowded, exclusive restaurants being too busy to go the extra mile for their customers in the courtesy department - but this place takes the cake.

we arrived for sunday brunch, put our names in and were issued a 20 minute wait - not terrible, but we asked if it might be possible to have a cup of coffee while we wait. at a cafe, this doesn't seem to be an unreasonable request, but apparently it was. the one-earringed manager looked around, and barked "not now." at us. this, however, is the least of my complaints.

we were given a table and issued menus. we were given our coffee, which was, by consensus of 3 avid coffeephiles at my table, absolutely terrible. burned beyond belief. i had never tasted worse.

ok. we moved on, opened the menus and discovered not a single item for less than $15.25. we mentioned this to our waiter, who laughed it off. the manager, the one who barked at us for asking for coffee at a cafe, came over and asked what the problem was. we told him and he replied "this is dupont, things are expensive." i have had many brunches on sunday mornings in greenwich village, a place slightly more well known for its cuisine than is dupont, and never have i come across such a gouge.

among the "cheapest" choices on the menu was the "oatmeal, granola, yogurt and fruit: slow-cooked steel-cut irish oatmeal
greek yogurt spiked w/honey; toasted granola
fresh berries & seasonal fruit." i'm pretty sure that i can purchase those ingredients and make a portion four times the size of theirs for half the price.

overall, this was one of the worst dining experiences of my life, and sure, the place is designed in a trendy way, but if you want more than trendy style in your food, i strongly recommend you reconsider visiting kramerbooks and afterwords cafe.

slightly overhyped...good food still but nothing to hop & dance around about. the land dishes are very savoury so loved those but the appetizers were my that impressive. nice selection of dessert though! great selection for a chocolate lover. nice molten chocolate dessert!

delicious dessert. i went there late in the evening and got dessert with some friends. it was really decadent stuff. i really enjoyed mine and had a bite from everyone's plate.

on a side note, the bathroom needs a coin from your waiter.

given that eating and reading are two of my addictions, i'm sort of surprised i haven't written about kramerbooks & afterwords cafe in dupont sooner. the bookstore/cafe is a long-time staple of my neighborhood (it's been around longer than star wars, havi

just ok. my husband loved his petite filet mignon. i had the pulled prok sandwich...good at 1st bite but then realized that it was terribly salty. had no desire to eat there again. service was good enough. not terribly attentive. liked them for their political stance during the clinton administration.

it's funny. when official co-writer of dcwd cc and i came up with this blog, kramerbooks was the example i would use; at least, when you first move here, it's exactly the kind of hidden place that is perfect for dates (then, you realize that everyone know

great place with character. their twist on eggs benedict is welcome and the prices are reasonable. love it.