Desperados Burgers & Bar

A friend and I came here last night and were happy with it. We had, as you can imagine, beers and burgers. He got the cajun quesadilla burger, which he really liked. I wanted the bulgogi burger, but they were out of kimchi, so instead I got the bacon cheeseburger. It was good, but not stand-​out. People who like bacon a lot more than I do probably would have been bummed to find just three small pieces of bacon on a rather large patty. The sweet potato fries were fantastic — best I’ve had in a while. And the spicy sauce that came with our fries was great, too.
They could do a better job pointing out their happy hour specials — they have a sign out front, but the actual drink menu makes no mention of them, so you have no idea what costs what.

Wandered into this tiny gem. The blue cheese burger was topped with generous amounts of bacon and avocado.
My wife had the chicken sandwich. Again very generous portion. She has lunch at home with the leftovers.
The service was good and we totally enjoyed our experience.

We were craving burgers on Friday night, so we decided to grab takeout since we have a baby who needed to get to bed. We sat at the bar and grabbed a beer while we waited for our order. The baby enjoyed the scene. We enjoyed some adult time. Back at home, the blue cheese burger and portobello mushroom burger and onion rings were delicious. Both come with avocado and the fries have great spices and a spicy dipping sauce. Good customer service and good burgers and sides. We’d come back again. They forgot one of our bags and the bartender even ran down the street after us!

A bit disappointing.
Ordered food for delivery to my hotel — it arrived ~20 minutes after the stated 60 minute delivery/​wait time.
I couldn’t decide what I wanted, so I ordered a variety of things:
* Hamburger (came with fries)
* Frickles (fried pickles) — these, so I could ‘test’ them for my daughter
* 2 Cokes (1 for later)
* Cheesecake
On the surface, the food didn’t taste bad, per se, but it seemed as though maybe they just saturated the fries and burger patty in pepper, as an excuse for flavor.
And maybe the delay in delivery didn’t help. The fried pickles were only warm-​ish — these tend to taste better served hot.
The piece of cheesecake looked as though someone had shaken up the container it was in… and they did NOT include any utensils to actually allow me to eat.
To top it all off they committed the cardinal sin of bringing me 2 cans — of PEPSI, not Coke! That is just WRONG!!!

Was craving a burger and my friend recommended this place. Had a Hawaiian burger and it was really good! I liked the Cajun sauce that was served on the side. Definitely plan on returning

One time is all it takes. If perfectly round, half inch thick, frozen hamburger patty’s are your thing, have at it. If tomatoes so mushy they couldn’t get a slice out of it; if a perfect four by four single square of iceberg lettuce is your thing, have at it. By far one of the most embarrassing terrible attempts of a hamburger ever. I honestly felt sad that a cow lost its life for this atrocity they served me. After you attempt to stomach this atrocity you’ll ask yourself why you ever stray from Five Guys.
Done. Once is all it took. Good thing they just pour or pop tops on beers because food certainly isn’t their business plan, obviously. Oh, and the Pine-​Sol aroma inside doesn’t titillate the senses.

We were here somewhere between dinner time and bar time. The service was good, but not amazing. The burgers had huge portions of meat– I could barely finish half of it.
If I were to come back, I would only order fried pickles and a beer. Forget the mediocre burgers.

Fuck this place.
I came in today around closing, I asked if they were still open and they bar tender told me yes, for shots only.
He then charged me Crown Royal prices, for well whiskey. I guess he didn’t realize I could see both the bottle and the screen. $ 15.00 for 2 shots of well whiskey?!? Rip off.

This bar is my favorite on U street, the Burgers are killer and the staff are exceptionally amazing and keep it real.
Hard to find sincere good people these days who really make you feel welcomed, I love the music I love the Mystery Shot and Beer Combo for 7 bucks !!!
Go Desperados !!!

Stopped by here for burgers after an enthusiastic recommendation from my boyfriends roommate.
I must say, when I first walked in I was not immediately impressed. The single occupancy toilet is right next to the bar. Practically on top of it. You can SEE the toilet bowl when you are sitting at the bar and pretty much anywhere else in the place. Pretty gross. Also the entire room smelled like bathroom cleaner, which I guess could be worse but not exactly appetizing. The most unfortunate location for a bathroom at any establishment I’ve ever been to.
After sitting down as far away from the toilet as possible things improved significantly. The bartenders and wait staff are super friendly and genuinely want to talk to you and make sure you have a good time. Our burgers and fries were really tasty and I am not sure you could do better around U street for the price.
All in all I would go back but if someone ever used that bathroom while I was there I might not be able to take it.

Cheap, delicious burgers and beer.
A friend recommended this place to me, and I’m glad he did. They have great craft beer happy hour specials ($ 3.50 draft Sam Adams Seasonal, for example) and their burgers are delicious. Our server was extremely friendly and personable, and she and the bartender were grooving to their indie/​country playlist, creating a lighthearted vibe. It attracts a mix of creative hipsters and white collar workers, lured by the affordable culinary favorites into Desparados’ wooden, faux-​Western décor.

The bar service here is pretty sub-​par, there weren’t a lot of people around the bar however it was still chaos to get a drink. On top of that, getting appetizers such as the fries was such a hassle and i got overcharged for it. Albeit the fries were pretty good.
One cool thing is the mystery shot (a concoction) that the bartender makes. You have to guess the type of alcohol, sugary liqueur and mixer used and you get the shot for free. Don’t have to be specific regardless still worth a try.

This review is solely for drinks! After a night of drinks on a Monday night, my desperate ass stumbled upon Desperado! With a nice wooden sign and cool wooden yet divey vibe, this was love at first sight.
Right out of the woodwork, our server asked if we want to get a mystery shot and beer for 5 dollars! If you guess the three ingredients in your shot, your shot is free! Just your regular beer, but the shot was interesting. The server kept giving us tips, but our 3^rd bar of the night selves were just not thinking! Our mix was pineapple, pomegranate liquor, and Bacardi. How did I not know!!!
Oh desperado why don’t you come to your senses and just tell me all the three ingredients next time. KAY COOL.
Overall, the service was very good and it wasn’t empty for a Monday night. Will come again next time and get something to eat! Thanks desperado for serving my desperate craving for a late night cap!

I have been wanting to try this place for a long time. Not because of the Unilocal reviews but because it just looked interesting. Well, we tried it today. My husband had a classic burger and I had the Cajun quesadilla burger. We shared the nachos for an appetizer.
The Cajun quesadilla burger was very very salty and it was soggy as heck. The fries were also extremely salty and there were multiple fries old and burnt. I took two bites and stopped eating.
My sweet husband offered me half his burger. It was cooked medium. It had all the toppings. I took one bite and was also unimpressed.
The nachos were typical. The chips were decent. The cheese tasted like ballpark cheese (like at a game). The toppings were minimal. It had black beans (tasted straight out of a can), pico de gallo, onions, and tomatoes. It was not that good.
This place is not worth a visit. Honestly. You need to be pretty drunk in order not to notice how salty the food is. Or maybe just get really high and then try this place, you may like it then ;)

How do u not love $ 5 beer and shot– free mystery shot if you get it right plus legit good burgers and loaded fries from a basement dive bar??? I can see you don’t love the small space, smelliness, dank, and elbow rubbing if you get here to late. but I think you should’ve stopped reading at $ 5 beer and shot and get you butts over there now!

This spot was a cute little spot tucked away. We didn’t try any of the food, but we did stop in for the «mystery shot.» It cost 6 dollars, and if you were able to guess the three contents in the shot, you were able to get another one for free.
It was fun guessing, and we got it right! The one we had was a parrot bay run, pineapple juice, and a pomegranate liquor thing. That little mixer for six bucks? I got one for free and still left feeling ripped off.

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People Watching: This little bar that just off of 14^th is great for people watching – whether you are here for HH or later in the evening, any Unilocaler can either sit outside or just inside by the window, have a burger with a beer and enjoy some great people watching. Everybody knows that DC has so many types of people and there is no better place to see this than in and around 14^th St. This location is ideal to just hang out and relax! A++ for location and people watching
Décor: To go along with the people watching, the bar stools are over sized and and extremely comfortable. This place is a little dark and little small but overall is a small comfy dive bar that is perfect for jeans/​t-​shirt type night.
Food: Oh year, this is a burger joint. There are a few places in DC that are top notch burger places (i.e. Good Stuff) but this place combined with the atmosphere can’t be beat. The food is about ⁷⁄₁₀ to be honest but Unilocaler’s don’t come here for the «best burger» in town — they come here for the chill atmosphere, a beer, and hanging out.
Beer: The beer selection is lacking to be honest. To be just down the street from Churchkey, almost everyone looks bad but this place only has a few beers on tap and in bottles. Now I am not saying that this place had Bud light or anything that piss poor — they do have a few craft beers but very limited. With that being said, the atmosphere is still great and I will come kick it here and chose a beer from the limited selection.
Service: I usually don’t discuss the service b/​c on any given day any Unilocaler can have a different experience. With that being said, I have had a couple really good experiences here so I feel safe in saying that the staff is pretty chill and will help anyone and everyone
Good: Location & Food
Bad: Beer Selection
Ugly:Umm. There has to be something but I can’t think of it.
Overall: I will give this place about 3.72 stars eh?! Come check it out and hang out for a few hours.

Chill hole in the wall underground dungeon bar on U Street. These types of places are quickly becoming my favorite kind of U Street haunts to visit. Desperados is a no frills spot with a simple and easy laid back vibe, they also have decent burgers.
I went with the Desperado burger, this is their supreme build it yourself. You get the basic burger and up to five add on topics, I went with the fried egg, bacon, pulled pork, mushrooms, tomato, onions, etc. Burger came out like a mountain, the burger was of decent quality, cooked well but they use pre-​made patties which is bit of a disappoint, the other ingredients were fresh and tasty. Not the greatest burger but good enough to satisfy.
Music wasn’t my favorite but it’s picked by the bartender and they all appear to be hipsters or European so I guess I forgive their taste. They were nice enough to reduce the volume so conversations could be had at the bar.
All in all a cool little spot to grab a burger and a cheap drink while strolling the U Street Corridor.

This review is based solely on their delivery!
Which came much sooner than the 45 – 60 minute estimated window.
This by far was a damn good burger I had. The bleu cheese bacon burger was cooked well done on a soft bun that was toasted and a nice hearty size. The fries however were waaaaay too salty. Im not sure if I asked for Cajun fries but they were too much, hence the reduction in 1 star. Good thing I ordered sweet potato fries as well which were not salty at all but a perfect substitution. The jumbo garlic chicken wings were a disappointment. They lacked flavor and I’m not sure if they were cooked all the way.
Next time I’m on U Street or have another hankering for a bacon cheese burger with sweet potato fries or their $ 6 shot and beer I will be back to Desperadoes.

Just arriving here for your first semester at GW? Need a can a beer and a shot at rock bottom prices? Then this English basement grub pub is for you.
How do I know that young undergrads go here?
Check out the bar patron question to the bartender I overheard…
«Hey, you are a really cool bartender. You are the nicest one I’ve met since I got to town. Everyone else ignores me. Hey, if I was to find really hot girls, what night should I come in here?»
I think I see why other bartenders ignore him.
I heard they have good burgers here, but I was here for the 2.50 can of Genessee Cream Ale, so watch for a review update.