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There are too few good places to eat in Foggy Bottom, so the F St. Bistro is a welcome treat. The big bonus is that the food is genuinely good and the atmosphere both inviting and casual. The big drawback is the deadly slow service and the English language-challenged staff. Having experienced the slow service there before, when I arranged a lunch for 6 there that absolutely had to be finished in an hour I arranged to pre-order everything so that we could save time up front. Unfortunately, it still took almost 45 minutes for us to get our orders (30 minutes just to get soup and salad appetizers!). Without going into the kitchen, we couldn't figure out what could be causing the delay. We arrived early to avoid the crowd and for most of the time we were there the place was never more than half full. What gives? There did not seem to be a staff shortage. Also, the staff need serious help with English. They are very nice, but I'll bring a Spanish dictionary next time.

The F Street Bistro is a wonderful place to take a soul mate or co-worker because it's cozy yet welcoming atmosphere makes it the place to be for a nice sit down lunch or early dinner. Just for the record, I was a big fan of the RH Bistro. I have been to the new location twice, and this second rendition is nothing like the first as far as service. The food is great, the value great, and the atmosphere great, but the service needs improving. Some of the non-English or beginning English speaking waitresses and waiters have trouble taking the orders. In my two visits, there has been a language issue. In the first visit, I ordered a burger with shoestring fries. My table mate ordered a side order of the sweet potato fries. When my meal came, I had a burger with sweet potato fries. My friends and I tried to explain to the waiter that the orders got mixed up, but he just did not seem to understand what we were trying to say, so I kept the sweet potato flies, which by the way are delicious. On my second visit, the waitress had trouble understanding that I wanted hot tea not iced tea. I did get my hot tea, however, when the bill came. Both iced tea and hot tea were charged to it. It took a few minutes to get the waitress to understand no one at our table had iced tea, and that the iced tea needed to be removed from our bill. The service on both visits was very slow, even though the restaurant was not full. It took a while for someone to take our orders and then another long wait to get our food. Aside from the service issue, I'd give F Street Bistro a B.