Restaurant: Matchbox
At first I was excited to write this review but after I expended effort on the Christina Aguilera and New Motorcycles posts I quickly lost motivation. I then read Mike's post about Jaleo, which is just down the street, and that motivated me to write this again. Anyway, on with the review.
We got there at 6:10 pm the night of the concert and were quoted a 20 minute wait. I thought it would be lighter given that it was a Monday but 1) there was a concert at Verizon Center, 2) it was an extremely nice day and 3) I'm pretty sure it's a frequent haunt for locals. We were seated ~6:35 and by that time there was a 45+ minute wait.
Interestly enough there were some tables on the very top floor that weren't being used and I'm guessing it's because they were light on staff. Speaking of staff, our waiter was friendly, knowledgable about the menu and helpful in recommending some favorites. He was training someone though so I'm not sure how much of it was show or they way he really waited tables. Either way, we benefitted.
The decor is very modern/trendy and it had all the atmosphere you'd expect of a city hotspot without being too full of itself. The tables were somewhat close together but expected given the size of the place. Most everyone was young and much hipper than me and quite a few were partaking in various incarnations of martinis. A nice bonus was the music as they were pumping out some decent trance with a touch of breakbeats. It was loud enough to hear over the many conversations but not too loud to be annoying. I really got into the music but I'm sure it would annoy someone twice my age.
I have to admit that I wasn't that excited when I first looked at the menu. It appears to have a bit of identity crisis not being able to make up it's mind between fusion and a pizza joint. It came highly recommended from a few people at work so I stuck it out and am glad I did. If you're in Chinatown, want a solid meal and don't mind waiting be sure to check it out.
Food Recommendations
We got there at 6:10 pm the night of the concert and were quoted a 20 minute wait. I thought it would be lighter given that it was a Monday but 1) there was a concert at Verizon Center, 2) it was an extremely nice day and 3) I'm pretty sure it's a frequent haunt for locals. We were seated ~6:35 and by that time there was a 45+ minute wait.
Interestly enough there were some tables on the very top floor that weren't being used and I'm guessing it's because they were light on staff. Speaking of staff, our waiter was friendly, knowledgable about the menu and helpful in recommending some favorites. He was training someone though so I'm not sure how much of it was show or they way he really waited tables. Either way, we benefitted.
The decor is very modern/trendy and it had all the atmosphere you'd expect of a city hotspot without being too full of itself. The tables were somewhat close together but expected given the size of the place. Most everyone was young and much hipper than me and quite a few were partaking in various incarnations of martinis. A nice bonus was the music as they were pumping out some decent trance with a touch of breakbeats. It was loud enough to hear over the many conversations but not too loud to be annoying. I really got into the music but I'm sure it would annoy someone twice my age.
I have to admit that I wasn't that excited when I first looked at the menu. It appears to have a bit of identity crisis not being able to make up it's mind between fusion and a pizza joint. It came highly recommended from a few people at work so I stuck it out and am glad I did. If you're in Chinatown, want a solid meal and don't mind waiting be sure to check it out.
Food Recommendations
- Mini Burgers - I had the "3" version and they were quite tasty. They were flavorful, juicy and cooked just right. The copious amounts of onion straws, topped in what I think was Romano cheese, included with them certainly didn't hurt.
- Pizza - We split a large pizza; half Matchbox Meat and half Spicy Meatball. The crust was very thin and crispy so it complimented the pizza instead of overpowering it like so many delivery pizzas. Both types were tasty but I really enjoyed the spicy goodness that was the meatballs. I'd definitely get them again but some of their other options sound like they could be just as good given the chance.
- Sesame-crusted Tuna - We didn't order this but someone near us did and it looked quite good. I didn't get a chance to see if it was truly raw inside, as it should be, but given how well they pulled off the other items it probably is.
- Widmer Hefeweizen - Not exclusive to Matchbox by any means but I thoroughly enjoy this beer. If you fancy a good Hefeweizen, have yourself one of these.
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