200 E St SW
Washington, DC 20024
(202) 554-2100
Recommended
The Market Inn is an interesting throwback to restaurants from an earlier time. The whole experience somehow reminded me of a restaurant I used to go to with my parents in the early 1970s. The exterior looks like a dive bar and the interior is a bit dark and oppressive with tables a bit too close for my comfort. The servers all seem to be professional waiters. No one here is expecting to grow up to be something else.
Dinner began with a bread basket; dinner rolls and little packages of crackers and a side plate with a 1 ounce ice cream scoop of some kind of whipped cheese (maybe cheddar) sitting on it. I would recommend leaving the cheese alone. The dinner menu is extensive, with a focus on seafood. I chose to go with the "Before Theater Complete Dinner Menu" which is available from 4:00 - 6:30 nightly for $25.00. It came with choices of soup, entree and dessert. I ordered the She-Crab soup; a slightly sweet thick and rich cream based soup with lots of crab and dollop of sour cream. It was excellent! For my entree is ordered the Captain's Seafood Sampler . The selection of fish was fine: Jumbo Shrimp, Crab Cake, & Fillet of Fish...Served Broiled or Deep Fried, I ordered mine broiled. The crab cake was very good, the shrimp a little less so and the fish was boring and bland. However, I was not disappointed. For dessert I got the Key Lime Pie. Please do not make this mistake. I have eaten lots of Key Lime Pie and this was the strangest (and the worst) I have ever eaten. The flavorless (and unnecessary) graham cracker crust was stuck onto a gelatinous sort of confection that reminded me of citrus flavored petroleum jelly topped with marshmallow that had gone horribly wrong. Be safe and go for the ice cream.
Appetizers run from 8 to 18 dollars, soups 6 to 10, salads and cold seafood platters 4 to 25. Entrees will cost you from 19 dollars (fish and chips) to about 35 dollars (Steak and Seafood Combination platter).
Despite some of the shortcomings, I would not steer you away from the Market Inn. It is charming (the walls covered with paintings of topless women ensure that) and the food isn't bad. There is entertainment nightly. The evening I was there featured a piano player singing all my favorites from before I was born. There are much better choices in the city but not in the area. If you are staying at the Marriott Residence Inn you should go if for no other reason than it is just a couple of blocks away.
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