Cashion’s Eat Place

It’s been a year and a half since I last dined here, so maybe it’s unfair to review it now. But I have a little story to tell.

On mother’s day 2002, I came here with my husband and parents. We had made reservations. The place was booked solid for brunch. So, you think that with advance notice that the tables would be full the whole time, management would be prepared... right? Nope. At one o’clock, only an hour and a half after opening, they had already run out of three main courses on their already short menu (the standard brunch menu that they’ve had for years, not a special Mother’s Day menu). Of course those three happened to be Mom’s first three choices. But she’s flexible. She ordered something else.

Half an hour later, when several parties seated after us had received and nearly finished their brunches, we finally flagged down a waiter, who checked on our order. It had been lost. And guess what? Several more main courses had run out in the meantime.

Two hours after we sat down we finally finished a very disappointing meal. What do you think the staff offered us in compensation? Nothing.

Steve went and found the manager, to whom he talked in hushed tones, because even when royally pissed off Steve’s polite and willing to listen to reason. But he told the manager that we weren’t going to pay for this meal. After leaving the waiter a moderate tip (most of what happened wasn’t his fault), we left. Without paying.

The whole charade was inexcusable. Steve and I had been going to Cashion’s every two or three months for brunch for several years. We knew the place had an annoying tendency to run out of food before closing, so we would go early. It was clear that brunch was just an afterthought for the chef, but it was always very tasty, and the space was comfy, so we kept coming back.

We are experienced enough restaurant goers to know that occasionally a player will fumble (like losing an order), and we’re okay with that. But not being prepared for a day when you’ve booked every table from opening to closing (as we were told)? That’s just damn sloppy. The management Just Didn’t Care. And so we, most likey, Just Won’t Come Back.

It’s a shame, because Ann Cashion has been a bright light on the DC dining scene for a decade or more. She cooked for Francesco Ricchi and Nora Pouillon. She was one of the originators of Jaleo, and Austin Grill was her baby (and it was good back then). Johnny’s Half Shell is hers. She’s a talent, and I have fond memories of meals at her various venues. But in twenty years of dining out (frequently) in the greater DC area, I have never refused to pay a bill for any reason.

I hope Ann Cashion reads this review someday and contacts me, because she needs to know how sloppy her eponymous restaurant can be. Unless she Just Doesn’t Care.