Eating Out in Georgetown: A Return to Clyde's

Since we were in Georgetown, we decided to have lunch at Clyde's, the only D. C. restaurant that looms large in Price family lore.

In 1977, we visited Washington with 2 other Bridgeton couples, Bob and Marion Spence and Yosh and Karen Hanzawa.  We brought our 4-year-old son Michael with us, and the Hanzawas were accompanied by their 6-year-old daughter, Kristin.  Based on its strong reputation, we decided to have our Friday night dinner at Clyde's.  And we are still joking about that dinner more than 30 years later since it took us more than 3 hours to be served. I don't remember all the details about that night, but I do recall our waiter coming back to our table after about 2 hours to tell us they hadn't prepared our order yet because they had run out of baked potatoes. I also vividly remember that when the hot dogs we had ordered for Michael and Kristin finally arrived, they remained uneaten since both kids had been sound asleep in their chairs for more than an hour.

So how did Clyde's fare on our revisit? Well, the wait was still a little long. (However, half an hour is a dramatic improvement over 3 hours). They still play good 60s music while you wait for your meal (Ironically, one of the choices today was "Hungry" by Paul Revere and the Raiders).  But, most importantly of all, Clyde's still deserves its reputation for serving quality food at a reasonable price for D. C.

For the record, I had the backyard burger (a well-done barbeque-sauce-drenched burger topped with salt-and-pepper beef brisket, melted cheese, and cole slaw) and a side of southern green beans for $10.95. Judy had the crab cake sandwich and fries for $2 more.

Travelers Tip:
Even though I was fairly certain Clyde's was on M Street, I still used the Yelp app on my cell phone to confirm the location.  For those of you who have Android or I phones, Yelp will point you to restaurants wherever you are. I use it constantly and highly recommend it.