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Saturday, October 11, 2008
Major Retail Coming to Columbia Heights
Columbia Heights is poised to become the shopping destination for the entire Washington, DC area. Hundreds of thousands of square feet of retail space are in the works including DC USA, a 500,000 sq. ft. retail complex that will include major retailers such as Target, Best Buy, Bed Bath and Beyond, and possibly Whole Foods Market! More exciting retailers are planning to open in the newly renovated Tivoli Square and other developments across Columbia Heights. Read more in the Retail News section.
A new pizza restaurant, Red Rocks, will be coming to 11th St NW and Park Rd NW. This new restaurant will be brought to you by James O'Brien, the former owner of Staccato in Adams Morgan. Red Rocks will feature brick oven pizza and other cafe fare as well as a full bar. It is scheduled to open in February.
Owner James O'Brien introduced himself and his new restaurant venture a few months ago on our forum:
Thanks for the interest everyone. I just heard about this site so i wanted to check in and give everyone an update. We had a bit of a delay with permits (its a DC thing), but we're all good now. And the protest / voluntary agreement with the ANC and next-door neighbor issue has been resolved. If all goes well, I'm looking to open in late January or February. I'll have a website up soon: redrocksdc.com with menu and opening news. I hope the restaurant can meet everyone's expectations. If anyone has any specific questions, for now, you can reach me at .
Hope to see everyone there in a couple of months!
- james obrien
RedRocks, Owner
You can read the rest of the forum discussion here: Red Rocks.
We also just received an email update:
James O'Brien, the former owner of Staccato in Adams Morgan has changed venue and flavor. O'Brien's new venture will focus on brick oven pizza and other cafe fare at the corner of Park Road and 11th St. NW in Columbia Heights (near the Tivoli and the new Giant).
The new place is called Red Rocks and is scheduled to open in February. It will also feature a full bar with tasty beer (look for some good Belgians) a brunch menu and outdoor patio seating.
An official press release should be announced soon.
Comments
what a fiasco Written by
on 2007-07-16 14:07:31My wife and I met three friends at Red Rocks on Sunday night. I cannot belive how bad the service was - by far the most dismal attempt at hospitality I have ever witnessed. We arrived at 7:30 pm and were told to wait outside for a seat. No problem, but after 35 minutes of waiting, with no sign of the hostess during that time, and people arriving after us and seating themselves at prime tables, we finally complained and were seated upstairs and promptly forgotten. We waited another 20 minutes for our waitress to arrive at which point we ordered drinks, appetizers, and pizzas. 35 minutes later we received our drinks. The waitress, who had earlier commented on how pregnant my wife looks, proceeded to serve her the vodka tonic that someone at another table had ordered. Upon realizing what was in her drink, my wife alerted the waitress, who realizing she had given someone else my wife's Sprite, which had been about 1/4 drank by said stranger, simply switched the two drinks and went on her way. No fresh drinks, no apologies. Our appetizers never came, and we only realized afterwards that we had still been charged for them. I am glad that we stuck around long enough to receive our pizza (many other tables didn't, leaving in disgust), which finally arrived 2 hours into the meal, because it was the only saving grace. It was by far one of the best pizzas I have ever had in my life, and I've eaten the real thing all over Italy. If this place can get it's shit together it will have a bright future.
Red Rocks service and food gets progress Written by
on 2007-07-29 19:13:20This place is not consistent.
I'm tired of never having the beer on the menu. No dessert available either. Tonight it was raining and I noticed that the food runner has to bring the food outside to bring it in. Sorry, but I dont want soggy pizza. The pizza/food is never consistent in multiple visits i have had. It's sometimes thinner than others. Tonight I had to go fetch my own beer glass bc we had a really spastic waiter who seemed to be like George constanza...stressing about his shift but not really doing anything. He only came by to ask if my husband wanted beer #2, but not once asked how our service was or if i wanted another coke. Also, sunday night is a big dinner night for most people, they were out of sausage for pizza! That is being pretty unprepared. The other thing is they dont always carry the beer on the menu or worse yet, the desserts.
Has anyone else noticed these things? the first time we went there, we were so happy just to have a place like this and the food was good, but on my 5th visit now , i noticed the service and food dont meet my expectations. And it's not exactly a cheap meal once your add two beers, tip and tax
Please share your thoughts and let me know I'm not crazy or being a jerk
Good, but needs a little help Written by Rachel on 2007-08-02 14:11:04That last commenter is not being a jerk...
I have only been there once, but they were out of the "Sweets", several beers and a couple of the appetizers that night. It's a good thing I just wanted pizza. The pizza was pretty decent and the food service was relatively fast. However, bringing food in from outside will get tricky when the weather gets bad. I hope things get better.
