Last week, I was invited to attend a reception hosted by the Houston Convention Bureau for meeting planners at the newly opened Buddha Bar in DC. While, I'm not a meeting planner, it's a field I'm interested in as well as planning special events. I'd been planning on going to Buddha Bar since I first heard about it several months ago and have been anticipating its opening since.
Buddha Bar officially opened on May 13. According to several reports, it cost $10M, yes as in the number 10 with 6 zeroes behind it, to build it. Although Buddha Bar is new to DC, they have established locations in London, Paris, Las Vegas and New York.
When you walk in the first thing you notice is their massive bar which could easily accommodate 20-30 patrons. The space has incredibly high ceilings, with dozens of large, red chandeliers hanging down throughout providing very dim lighting for the venue. It wasn't until we walked down the bar and to the center of the restaurant we saw the huge golden Buddha, the namesake for the restaurant.
For the event, we were treated to several choices of beverages but the best by far was a champagne cocktail with pureed strawberries. Delish! Let's just say we had more than a couple. The attentive wait staff walked around with tasty appetizers including some of the most mouth watering spring rolls I'd ever had and these ever so tender beef satay skewers with a tiger sauce. Eventually, they opened up a sushi bar and guests sampled all kinds of rolls from California to eel to tempura shrimp. I'm not a fan of sushi, have tried it several times but for some reason it doesn't agree with me, but everyone else raved about how amazing it was. All in all, I was pleased with my initial experience at Buddha Bar.
Ambiance: A+
Food: A
Service: A
Buddha Bar
455 Massachusetts Ave.
Washington, DC 20001
202.377.5555
http://www.buddhabardc.com/
Thanks for the review. I was considering checking it out next week for my birthday. Glad to know it's good
ReplyDelete