Masa 14

This place blew me away. Between the food, the drink, the service, and the atmosphere, it’s no wonder why Masa 14 is one of the most highly sought after brunch places in DC.

It is in such high demand that the Brunch Quest visit to the restaurant was limited to only 3 people. I am told that trying to get a reservation there last year went something like this:

Masa 14: Hello, Masa 14.

Quester:  Hi there, I would like to make a brunch reservation for 10 people in 3 weeks.

Masa 14: How about 4 people in 2 months?

Quester: We’ll take it!

This past New Year’s Day, however, we were able to secure a reservation for a larger group. That experience I’ll detail below.

 

The Deal

Masa 14 offers an “Unlimited Pre Fixe Brunch” for $35. That’s bottomless food and drink until 3pm and it’s perfect for Masa 14’s small plate style. It allows you to sit back and hang out with your friends while the wait staff brings you a variety of delicious food and drink. The plates range from $5-12, so as long as you put in your fair share of eating, it comes out to a really good deal.

Drinks

#NailedIt. The mimosas here were perfection in a glass, the ideal combination of champagne and orange juice. However, most of us didn’t start with a mimosa as Masa 14 offers 5 other brunch drinks and you can switch between them throughout the meal. The other drinks include the Masa Mimosa, Bloody Mary, Bacon Bloody Mary (with bacon-infused vodka), Lychee Bellini, and Lemon Lager. I started with the Masa Mimosa, which is made with champagne, mango puree and blood orange. It was really good but super sweet. Not ideal if you plan on drinking quite a bit, which is easy to do since the wait staff is so attentive to refills. Side note: in case you’re wondering, the Lemon Lager tastes like cream (vanilla) soda.

Food

You can get bottomless drinks at all of our brunch stops, but this bottomless food deal is more rare. And with so many interesting options on the menu at Masa 14 you just want to try everything. And you should. And can! Basically you order your food in waves, run down the list of the things you want to try. When you’re done with those, order again. And again.

From the egg dishes to the burgers, everything we ate was delicious. A couple of pizza shout-outs go to the Masa Breakfast Pizza (bacon, egg yolk, jack cheese, pico de gallo, and arugula) and the Prosciutto Flatbread (goat cheese, cantaloupe, arugula, truffle, and lime). I also have a new food rule: all rice should be bacon fried rice. No exceptions.

Make sure you save some room to make a strategically placed order in the Pan Dulce. We saved it for last and it was a sweet end to a sweet brunch.  I recommend you do the same.

Service

I alluded to this earlier: the service here was phenomenal. (Shout-out to our waitress Ivana!) We were seated right away, and our food and drinks came out immediately. Our waitress was excellent, attentive and always around to refill our glasses, which is essential if you want a top score on this Quest. She was so good that when I wanted to switch to the traditional mimosa, I couldn’t because each time I turned around my glass had already been refilled. I literally never saw the bottom of my glass. I eventually had to order the next drink while still on my previous and had two going for a while.

Around 2pm, our waitress came over to apologize that the kitchen was backed up because the second kitchen was down. Honestly, we hadn’t even noticed; a testament to the service here. Regardless, we were there past the 3pm brunch closing time, and they were still serving our drinks and checking on our food. Awesome. I also know from last year’s more intimate Quest visit that the staff can guide first-timers through the ordering strategy for bottomless food. So never fear, this place is great for brunchers of all levels and parties of all sizes, assuming, of course, you can get a table.

Atmosphere/Overall

This was a memorable brunch experience and definitely a top contender for the best brunch in DC. Since there is barely any ordering and the food and drink just keep coming, it’s a great place to focus on conversation and hanging out with your friends. Plus the bill is really easy at the end, a consideration when you’re in bigger groups. I loved the atmosphere and their music selection is great for a feel-good brunch. Some music highlights include: Jackson 5, Parliament Funkadelic, I Heard it Through the Grapevine, Low Rider, Superstitious, and Staying Alive.

Make your reservations now. Masa 14 is in demand and you should be on the inside looking out.

Masa 14
1825 14^th Street Northwest
Washington, DC 20009-4425
tel. 202-328-1414
www.masa14.com