Twist Dupont Restaurant and Lounge

I found out about Twist through a LivingSocial deal. The brunch is served buffet style. The food selection includes traditional American breakfast foods to Mediterranean style dishes; there are plenty of options. I found the food pretty decent, but not outstanding. The wait staff was friendly and attentive; my mimosa stayed filled, as advertised.
Now, for the bad. The Georgetown location requires a reservation for the Sunday brunch (you may have to plan for brunch there weeks in advance). While the DuPont location did not require an advance reservation, the line for the made-​to-​order items (i.e. omelets and waffles) can be ridiculously long. There is no way you will want to wait in them more than once. They simply cannot handle the number of guests their dining area seats. They only have two small cooking stations for the made to order items.
In a nut shell, I would not recommend Twist, even with the Living Social deal. The lines were too excessive for me to come back again. For the same price, you can go to Boqueria on M Street NW and get the same bottomless drinks along with actual waitstaff service and made to order, pre fixe menu items. And the menu items are amazing. I recently discovered Boqueria and hands down think it is the best brunch place I’ve experienced.

I got a Living Social deal for brunch. Have called multiple times a day for over a week and CAN NOT get anyone to answer the phone to make a reservation. How am I supposed to show up with 3 other people when I don’t know if this place even exists anymore as the phone does not work? So upset.

I visited the Georgetown location and found a nice parking spot behind the hotel, which from the looks of it is under construction from the outside. I took my sister since I had purchased a Living Social deal for two. I had made reservations (let me not get started on customer service on the phone) and we arrived 10 mins. early. I did read the negative reviews on Unilocal,but was hoping for a positive dining experience. I checked in with the hostess who never bothered to look up my reservation and were seated at a table for two. Which made it pointless to schedule a reservation. The tables were so close to each other, you could hear everyone’s personal conversation even though you aren’t doing it intentionally. So beware! And yes, my sister and I noticed a conference room turned dining room which was filled to the max. I was lucky enough to be seated in the café area where the bar is located. If you are able to request this when you make you reservation, do so or else.
Thank goodness we got seated next to a fabulous couple we met there and we ended up becoming friends by the end. The server came by quickly and served us our mimosas which were awesome! The food was pretty good in my opinion and my sister agreed. The beef dish and chicken dishes were so tasty, I went back for seconds. I also ate the lox and tater tots which were hot and fresh. I did notice the staff was having a difficult time keeping up with maintaining the food trays filled so you had to come back when the tray (s) was refilled again. I think the management should listen to their guests and note what each entrée, side dish, item is along with making sure their is plenty of food and drinks in stock if you going to take on such a high volume of people for brunch. And there was a wait for the omelet and waffle stations, though mine was about 10 mins. which I guess wasn’t bad at all. They had lots of bakery options to have. I loved the cannolis and mini tiramisu and so did my sister! and The coffee was mediocre at best and would skip it all together (unless you a desperate and need your caffeine jolt like me). I only had 1 cup and chose instead to have a few more glasses of mimosas. There is a Starbucks location a block away so you can get a real cup of coffee there. I notice a couple of men come in after 11:30 or so to play some nice jazz tunes which would be great to hear, but the place is noisy so I think you will miss out.
We struck up a great conversation with the couple from Olney and so time flew in my opinion. I was sticker shocked when I got the handwritten bill came. It was over $ 20 for both tax and tip for the 2 of us! How in the world can it be that much, when all the servers did was refill our mimosa glasses and removed our dirty plates!!! That left me dumbfounded to say the least! And like others have mentioned, they have doubled the DC tax which is unacceptable in my book. I understand they are charging tax and tip on the FULL amount of the brunch for two which is $ 70, but that is still very steep. The servers are charging a 20% tip on top of the elevated sales tax. So again BEWARE! I ended up paying the full amount listed on the bill since I figured I got my money’s worth on mimosas my sister and I drank and the great company we had with the couple next to us. That is why I am giving Twist 3 stars! This place has the potential to be a 4 star or more brunch place, but management really needs to read the negative reviews and listen to their guests to identify their deficiencies and correct them. This in turn will increase guest satisfaction and their ratings.

I found out about Twist through a knockout LivingSocial deal. The brunch here is served buffet style. The food selection ranged from traditional American breakfast foods to Mediterranean style dishes; needless to say there are plenty of options. I found the food pretty darn tasty! While I’m sure they have things like water, soft drinks and juice; I was more interested in the bottomless mimosas that came with my livingSocial deal. The wait staff was friendly and attentive; my mimosa stayed filled and I really appreciated that!
Now, for the bad. The Georgetown location requires a reservation for the Sunday brunch (you may have to plan for brunch there weeks in advance). While the DuPont location did not require an advance reservation, the line for the made-​to-​order items (i.e. omelets and waffles) can be ridiculously long.
In a nut shell, I would recommend Twist. The lines were not long enough to me from coming back again (worst case scenario those two lines can be skipped all together there are plenty of other egg and breakfast bread options on the buffet).

I am thiiiiiis close to calling the Better Business Bureau on Twist for the horrendous brunch they subject unsuspecting tourists to. I, should have known better. Or actually, my friend who bought a Groupon for brunch here, should have known better than to buy a deal without checking Unilocal.
But aside from the countless complaints about long waits, poor service and crappy food, there is something all together ridiculous about Twist. First up — It’s overbooked. It must be — because they have a small café (which fits around 20 people max), but they had two rooms opened up, that looked like low-​grade hotel conference rooms, where they had nothing to indicate it was restaurant seating, but were seating people there. Are we sure this isn’t a fire code violation?
The nerve of them to seat people in a conference room and charge $ 35 for it. I can go to a high-​end brunch at some of the nicest restaurants in this city for the same price.
Then let’s talk about the staff. There is no official hostess, just a waitress running around trying to make sense of things. There is another guy who doesn’t have any training in customer service just kind of shoo-​ing people away when they want to ask him when they’ll be seated. I saw no one walking around with authority, asking customers if they were pleased with their experience. Which leads me to this point — there is no one to direct your anger at when you’re here. You have really hard working people trying to deal with the chaos and get people their drinks and pick up plates and so on, but nothing they could do because this restaurant simply sucks.
Who ever owns Twist, or is in charge of Twist, needs to get fired. You need to remove your misleading sign saying ‘$ 15.95 breakfast’ when it costs $ 35. You need get rid of reservations, and only accept 20 guests at a time, and close those horrible conference rooms you’re seating overflow in. (FYI you don’t own enough plates/​glasses to serve more than this, because our water was served in Heineken glasses). And you need to close that damn online deal you have, and just accept walk-​ins, and turn people away the second you’re at max capacity.
Actually you just need to close. Shut the whole operation down.
If you have an online deal for this place, call and get your money back. Don’t waste your time. I beg you.

By far the worst brunch experience I have ever had in DC.
Made reservations way in advance. They made me and my date share a table in an overflow conference room with another group even though there were plenty of open tables.
Food was way below average. Not worth the money. McDonald’s would have been a better stop for brunch!

I took advantage of a $ 35 LivingSocial deal. Called that night (Saturday) to make reservations for brunch the next day and was told that they are booked until the second week of December but try calling back in the morning to see if someone cancelled. They have 2 locations 1 in Georgetown and 1 on New Hampshire Avenue. I tried calling the one in Georgetown numerous times but no one answered. I called the one on New Hampshire Avenue a few times and finally someone answered. I was told they had a cancellation and I could take a 1pm slot, I agreed. They have valet and street parking. I lucked up and found a parking spot about a block away. The line was a little long to get to the Hostess. Waited about 10 minutes and than we were seated right away. It was CRAZY CROWDED! I mean so crowded that I promise you that the fire marshall would have shut them down if they knew about this. I saw a sign that said capacity of 87 (they have 3 areas they seat people in) and it was definitely close to 100 people in that one area. We were seated at a table for 6 and I immediately wondered why are they seating a party of 2 at a table for 6 especially with how crowded it was.
Imagine that moment when you are at a banquet for a church event and your’re sitting at that long a&* table and you can barely get up because of hitting the persons chair behind you… YEP THAT’S WHAT THIS WAS! #disappointed
So as always I remained optimistic because I was hungry and looking forward to brunch with unlimited mimosas. I head over to the section where they are making omelets and waffles. There was at least 7 people ahead of me and the line was moving S.L.O.W. There were tables set up in the middle of the floor where people were seated and eating. The place was just completely overcrowded and uncomfortable. I had to have heard «excuse me» at least a 100 times while I was there. After waiting a good 20 minutes in line I finally got a waffle and omelet. Moved around to the other tables they had set up with food and decided to get the smoked salmon. They had various pasta dishes, potato salad, chicken marsala, some kind of dish with mussels in it, salad, desserts/​cakes. Nice selection of foods but the line was horrible and it was just too many people.
After making my way back to my seat I realized that the reason they sat us at a 6 people table is because they were actually mixing up parties. That would be cool and fine if they disclose that little important tid bit before you decided to dine with them but after checking there website AND my voucher thoroughly there was no mention of that anywhere. I don’t mean any harm but if I want to have a «romantic» or «quiet» brunch and you as an owner know there is a possibility that won’t happen; I think its your responsibility to let me know that.
Because it took so long to make my way through the line and the crowd my food was cold by the time I sat down. The food was just ok. Nothing to jump up and down about. The waffles were good (but how can you mess up waffles…). Mimosas were on point! Customer service was pretty good. Be aware that they add on gratuity at the end of your bill, voucher or not so be prepared for that.
At the end of it all I decided that this is not the brunching spot for me if this is how they run there establishment. Clearly they get a lot of business so it would behoove them to schedule only the allowed amount of people per day/​brunch session. No one wants to stand in line for 10 minutes, fight through a crowd for 5 minutes EVERY TIME YOU GET UP, get to the table to eat and your food is cold AND you have to constantly steal salt and pepper from other tables because it’s not enough to go around… yeah no I’m good.
I am giving them 2 out of 5 stars. They would have got 1 but I gave them 2 because customer service was good.

What a terrible experience! The food was fine, but the service and the set up were just awful! My friend and I ordered our bottomless Bloody Marys and Mimosas together, and they brought her drink out and not mine. I had to ask at least 5 times for my first Mimosa!
Then the line at the waffle/​omelet bar was a 30+minute wait just to get up to get a plate — which they ran out of & you had to wait even longer to get one. In any decent brunch place they would have these to bars separate, but since the space is beyond small they are making people not want to come back.
We noticed when we first got there and had a 1:30 reservations, they weren’t even checking to see if you had a reservation — we heard the host telling people «Everyone has a 1:30 reservation that is here in line — seriously do you not know how to take reservations correctly? Of course we were on a Living Social coupon which for the price we thought would be a great deal, but with the time and the crowds it wasn’t worth it.
When we got our check, they charged us a 18% gratuity for two people. I went a bit nuts, and refused to pay that much, even with the coupon you are suppose give at least this much as a gratuity. But why should I give a bonus to someone that I had to beg continuously to get my mimosas, and when you asked them to take your plates away they ignored you.
As good as the Mimosas were (Bloody Marys were weak), there were some good dishes once you go up to get something (Omelets overdone, waffles they ran out of the berry topping and no one was available to fill the container), I would not go back to this place for bunch. Don’t waste your money — there are much tastier and friendlier places in DC for bunch and breakfast.

Guy greeting people at the front door was friendly. Service was on point for what it was. People were friendly at first but of course they was getting a tad bit annoyed it was a buffet with unlimited drinks. I understand servers point.
Mimosa was on point. They were strong and very good. We saw the bartenders at the bar dumping a bottle of champagne into each pitcher of orange juice. The servers were on point of coming around and refilling the mimosa glasses at first. Then slowly we had to ask for refills. But every time they refilled it the mimosa stayed strong and got our table a bit buzz.
I wish they were more choices of the «non breakfast items» it was the basic salads, and random lasagna,.The bacon was terrible. The sausage looked pale. I found dolmades (stuff graped leaves). I ending up just filling myself my with dolmades leaves.
Another thing my friend and I wished they had on the buffet was regular scramble eggs no eggs to be found unless its a omelet from the long line.
My BIG suggest to the restaurant get rid of the one table with a random trays of breads. Maybe squeeze the coffee table together and put the bread next to the coffees? Use that space to make a second omelets station and a waffle station.
Our group and we saw other customers get annoyed of the long wait for waffles and omelets Kind of got out of control. The waffle station was right next to the omelets so people were like might as well get both on one trip and make the wait longer.
Only thing I really enjoyed was the omelets, dolmades, and mimosa.
Another pet peeve they could have not added the tip as a part of tax. It just feels like we got robbed. I wonder if the servers all get in on the tips? I hope so. I mean if it was a large party I understand some restaurants add it on. We had a party of 3 adults an 2 little kids. We could have done the math of 15% of $ 69. It should of came up $ 26.45 instead of the $ 35 they charged us.
We purchased a living social deal for $ 69 for four people. Comes out to $ 17.25 per a person. Then added tip and tax at the restaurant. You do the math to see if yalll feel like its a good deal. I know they have 2 for $ 35 for living social deal as well.
I star for ONLY MIMOSA !

So glad that I came here despite the negative reviews! Had a living social voucher, made a reservation and was seated right away. The main room and buffet stations were crowded, but what do you expect for Sunday brunch while there is a living social deal out? The food was very good, although labels would have been appreciated. Try the dolma, and any of the yummy desserts! My mimosa was never less than half full, and we were not rushed out even after two hours. It was my friends birthday and I had brought a gift for her, and our waitress saw the wrapping paper on our table and brought over cheesecake with a candle without me having said a word! We were pleasantly surprised.

If you have the living social deal return it for credit ASAP. The food is gross. Nothing seems fresh and most of the food is bland. Service was alright though, your glass is never empty. If you do have to go, the only things even remotely satisfying are the smoked salmon on a bagel and maybe the omelettes, but they were pretty average too.

Yet another great brunch here!!! The manager David went above and beyond.
My only two suggestions /​wishes for improvement would be the extreme difficulty getting in touch with the restaurant (there answering machine was full for two months and no one ever picked up) and the amount of time we had to wait for a table (we had reservations at one and were sat at 130).
Still great food, bottomless mimosas and good service.

One of my favorites for brunch all the issues I have with the place come from it being popular. I can’t really be upset other people love it too — so definite 4 stars.
I’ve been three separate times for brunch. Each time with a Groupon or LivingSocial deal. Normal price for brunch (buffet w/​bottomless mimosas) is $ 35 which is right on target with almost any good to great brunch in the city, especially in the high rent area of Dupont Circle.
There buffet is diverse. There is even a seafood medley with shrimp, fish, and calamari in a lighter sauce. I love it. Waffles, made to order omelets, chicken, beef, desserts and more. All delicious! Finally mimosas. Bottomless with refills that seem to come out of nowhere.
Reservations are a must, but sometimes there can still be a wait. They expanded in to other rooms to accommodate more guests, but it made the omelet and waffle lines longer. But like I said — the food is good so the place is popular. There is a bar in the hotel you can relax at while you wait of there is a wait. Very, Very well stocked bar. I was actually surprised and impressed by the bar’s selection.
So if you’re looking for a good brunch, you won’t be disappointed with Twist. If you are you want a brunch that probably doesn’t exist but in your dreams.

Ok I came for the living social deal which was $ 35 for two for brunch. If I consider I paid about $ 18 per person I can say I’m very dissatisfied and would have been way better off going to a Golden Corral or Great American Buffet. The food choices are limited and if you don’t eat beef or pork forget about it. They did have a seafood slop and a chicken slop but I don’t eat unidentifiable food. Be prepared to be seated so tightly that if the person at the table next to you passes gas you will feel the rumble. The buffet layout is laid along the perimeter of the main dining hall so I felt bad for the people who had to eat with my ass on their backs as I stood in line. The line was super long and is backed up by the omelet an waffle station so we waited in line for about 30 minutes. Also, the plates kept running out so people had to wait to get a plate to get food. One couple had to choose a dirty plate that had been laying on the omelet station all morning EWWWWWWW. By the time we sat down to eat the food was cold. The waffle and omelet was acceptable. That’s all I ate. My dining partner had bacon, vegetables and ham, pasta salad, omelet, waffle, and some pastries. He thought they were average he noted it was worst than Great American Buffet. He asked me if it costs more than Great American I confirmed it did and he said «F$&k we got screwed!». Atmosphere wise the place has potential but they pack it in entirely too tight. The people who attended were also rather tacky. Eating in line, pushing through and cutting the line and behaving like savages at a soup kitchen for the entitled and spoiled. Anyways I will not be returning even if another Living Social deal was available. The service, food, atmosphere and experience left way too much to be desired. Btw I’m super compromising and I allow a lot of graces so if I won’t return, please believe you will probably think it was the Devil’s Playground.
Ok the bill just came and I change review to to one star. The bill was $ 16.80 on top of the $ 35 living social voucher which meant we actually paid about $ 53 or about $ 28 per person. The $ 17 was for gratuity and tax. This is the first time I have had to pay extra for taxes. However, the voucher did say tax and gratuity were not included. Also, this explains the piss poor service because the servers knew they were getting a lofty tip regardless. My dining partner wants me to add that the food was bland and he would have rather spent that money at IHOP. So there you go. Skip this place, don’t get the Living Social voucher, just take your money somewhere else TRUST ME

I came to Twist for a friend’s birthday brunch celebration. I was somewhat excited to come because I had never been here. But excitement soon ended when I reach the venue. First off, you must first know that Twist is actually a hotel restaurant that is randomly located on New Hampshire about 3 – 4 blocks from Dupont circle unfortunately there isnt much signage labeling the hotel so you could easily bypass it. Of course parking is virtually impossible. The hotel does offer valet for $ 12. However, after a 10 minute search, I found parking on the street. Upon entry to the restaurant I was greeted and escorted to my party’s table. The décor in the restaurant is somewhat dated in my opinion even though its supposed to be as such. I think it needs to be remodeled.
But anyway, on to more important things… THE FOOD. Twist offers a buffet arrangement of assorted breakfast and dinner meats, cold salads, breads, deserts, cooked-​to-​order waffles and omelets. There is also unlimited mimosas, bloody marys, and juice. All of this for $ 35. This all sounds good but honestly the food is average at best and the service is spoty. Nothing on the buffet stood out to me. To make things worse the setup is NOT good esp. when there are long waits largely because the omelet anf waffle stations blend into the main course area which causes the line to become extremely backed up. I literally waited 20 mins to fix my first plate. Rediculous!
Bottom line: there are better brunch places in city. Not sure that I would return.

My GF and I went here for Sunday brunch after purchasing a Living Social voucher.
Arriving: — The parking wasn’t too bad. We got there early (10:50am) and without any reservation, we were seated quickly. Brunch starts at 11am and goes until like 2 or 3pm.
Immediately upon being seated, the waitress brought two glasses, poured us some water and asked if we needed any other beverages.
Of course, I immediately asked for a mimosa, I mean after all, they’re bottomless right? My GF ordered the same…
Food Service: For the most part, this is a «buffet style» brunch but there was an omelet/​waffle station that began flipping the first omelet at 11:00 sharp.
Although there was only one cook, he kept the line moving swiftly and the omelets were decent. The waffles were hot fresh and so were the berry toppings that went along with it.
Other breakfast items like French toast, ham, bacon, sausage, and fruit were also available. They also have several types of breads and pastries to select from.
Our mimosa glasses never went empty. They worked very efficiently as a team to make sure that the glasses stayed full and that our dirty plates were picked up. My only grievance was that the mimosas had WAAAY too much orange juice in them. The ratio of orange juice to bubbly was off. The orange juice ended up making me feel extremely overstuffed (I had about 4 glasses)
We stayed for about 1 ½hrs. I will tell you, that place can get pretty crammed really quickly. The table where we were sitting was right by the omelet station and so once the people really started to roll in, it became uncomfortable. That definitely should not be an area where people are seated. It makes for a very on edge experience. However this occurred at the tail end of our meal. We probably would’ve stayed longer if we had better seating once it got packed.
Overall if you want to go to a place that has a nice atmosphere, decent food and is reasonably priced come here. Brunch is a little pricey if you don’t have some type of voucher. If you go on Living Social (or any other comparable site) to purchase a voucher, read it. Most of the time (if not all of the time) they’ll charge gratuity, usually 25%.
I hope this helps.

The jazz and the bottomless mimosas attracted me here. Nothing kept me here.
Liars! This is not a jazz brunch. There was a guy in the corner with a guitar and an amplifier plucking sounds. If you don’t care about the jazz portion, then ignore that part.
The bottomless mimosas are only bottomless until they need your table for other guests. Yep, that’s right. They stopped serving us and actually asked us if we would mind finishing our brunch at the bar because a lady was waiting on a table for two. Never in my life, have I been kicked out of restaurant. And no matter how you try to put a spin on it, I was kicked out. I know for certain there were others there longer than me. Instead of protesting, I just left. After all, its not like I was enjoying myself so much that I just HAD to be there.
As for the actual brunch it is just ok. Nothing worth traveling from VA to DC for on a Sunday morning.
Also note a 25% gratuity is added to each check.

I went for Sunday brunch. There is nothing special about this brunch. There was the typical breakfast spread: omelets, waffles, bacon, sausage, pre-​packaged syrup. There were some other dishes offered but the meals were not labeled. Folks with food allergies can’t eat unidentified foods.
The service was poor. The waitresses forgot to clear the table after my second trip to the buffet line. The mimosas were mostly orange juice (with pulp). Oh and parking is a nightmare in that neighborhood!
Would I return? Highly unlikely.

I went with girlfriends as I purchased the Living Social deal. We sat out in the atrium, which is nice, but can be cramped as they stuff a ton of people in… plus, it’s where the food lines are!
The unlimited mimosas were awesome and the food was really good. I tried almost everything except the omelettes because that line was always long. It’s in a residential area so parking can be hard to come by.

I went to Twist for the first time with my hubby and a girlfriend of mine this past weekend and was not expecting to find such a bevvy of healthy brunch options (including cous cous, quinoa, fresh fruit, and assorted veggies), in addition to the brunch staples of omelettes made-​to-​order, waffles, breakfast potatoes, etc. That the first thing.
Second thing: the ambiance of the place. Some may all it kitschy; I call it cute! The fake French façade was reminiscent not of France, but Vegas casinos made to look like France. Weirdly cute and unexpected for a hotel in the heart of our nation’s capital that few people remember is even there. The jazz guitarists? Très Bön!
Lastly — what sets this brunch apart: the mimosas and some little chocolate cake square that had no business being as good as it was. For the mimosas, they were unlimited, plentiful, and strong — no skimping on the champagne! If your glass just fell a little bit shy of full, someone was right there to top you off real quick. Even when I was done, they filled it up again. I happily slammed just one more, as not to be rude.
As for the chocolate cake square? If you see it, seize it IMMEDIATELY! I am convinced, it has been sent by the gods to make you happy and please us all. SIMPLY PERFECTION! You won’t know it’s that good looking at it, but once you take a bite: HOLY MOLY! Go to the pictures for this business to get a look. I took a photo so you, my fellow Unilocalers, would be able to clearly identify which chocolate cake square I am referring to (as there as two, if not three).
I’ll definitely be coming back to Twist with friends and family in the future. Didn’t even know about this spot until it was brought to my attention. Thirty-​five dollars for all you can eat and drink? No rushing you out the door either? I’m there!