Menu/Mbk in Sunderland

I really want to like this place, but after last night, I am still taking blood pressure medication! The waiter takes our cocktail order, so far so good... We wait for the cocktails while looking over the menu. ........and wait. Order appetizers, ..still waiting for cocktails Appetizers arrive, we eat them.... Still waiting... "How's everything?" The waiter asks.....Really? "Where's our cocktails," I ask? He mumbles an apology and says they are coming... We order salads and entrees... Yep, still waiting for our cocktails.... Salads arrive, manager drops by, I assume to apologize, but no, HE asks, "how's everything?" At this stage, it' a joke, I look at my dining companion and say, "the food's fine..." Obviously, the waiter hasn't informed the manager about the problem.. Meanwhile, guests next to us sat down 15 minutes ago and are already enjoying THEIR cocktails and wine...... As I am finishing my salad (now 30 minutes since we ordered those drinks) ....Low and behold, the cocktails arrive, no explanation.. (We are left to wonder, perhaps, that they had to go and buy ingredients from the Safeway on 5th street).....a mumbled and embarrassed apology and a mention of taking them off the bill.... It continues.... We order wine with dinner.... he manages to get one of the two glasses right. We both order steak for entree. Steaks arrive.... No preset steak knives.... We look at each other... and at our steaks, .. I get a steak knife... Waiter asks, can I get you anything else? "Can HE get a steak knife?" I ask, indicating my guest.....waiter disappears, we overhear some frantic silverware rustling in the back, (guess he can't find another knife)... He goes past our table to somewhere else, and finally, we both have steak knives and can eat... Yippee... Like suckers, we order dessert; after all, it was supposed to be a birthday celebratory dinner... The perfect ending- a stale chewy lady finder on top of their deconstructed tiramisu finished it off perfectly. Waiter drops check on table while we're still eating, no offer of coffee or espresso,( guess he wants to get out of there, too,) then grabs it back off the table. Obviously, he forgot to take off those drinks. Par for the course, since he seemed to have memory problems all night... Manager drops the check, apologizes because we apparently had to wait a while for the drinks.. Oh, so NOW the waiter has finally told the manager because he needs his approval to take something off the check... Sorry, we liked you the first time we were here a month ago, but it may be some time before we can subject ourselves to this kind of experience again....

En primer lugar este restaurante está en Washington, DC no Washington Inglaterra como indica la dirección. No Seamos pelea esa guerra otra vez! En un concepto restaurante con un mercado en la primera planta, bar en el medio y el comedor en el nivel superior....

My wife and I shared a date night out at MBK's Kitchen and overall we came away very impressed. We were seated a bit later than our reservation but the manager came over immediately after we were seated at the bar to wait to apologize for the delay. My wife is a vegetarian and the menu for this month happened to be vegetable themed and meat free (although the chef did indicate that he would be happy to accommodate vegetarian diners even on months where the menu was not specifically vegetarian). The five course meal was very good overall and two of the dishes (the appetizers course focused on basil and the tomato themed main) were outstanding. The chef was very social and did a wonderful job explaining both his cooking philosophy and the concept driving each of the dishes he presented. The wine/cocktail pairings were well worth the additional cost, as each complimented their paired dish exceptionally well. Overall our experience was very pleasant, and we will be returning in the future.

This restaurant is located in the former Cafe Atlantico/American Eats Tavern space. The concept is charming but the execution is lacking. The drinks and wine list are INCREDIBLY overpriced. The food is good but expensive for portion size. Overall, I would not return given the other options in the area.