Meridian Pint

TLDR: Decent food, subpar service. We went during happy hour, just a little after 5. There were very few patrons but that didn't stop our waiter coming over every two minutes to see if we were ready to order yet. Sadly, he couldn't explain the drink menu at all. The food was OK, nothing wrong with it but nothing to write home about either. When we asked for more bacon for the tater tots, because there was very little, they did bring us some more but didn't tell us that it was going to be a dollar for a very small remiken of crumbled bacon. The half order of nachos for happy hour was a good portion size and my friend enjoyed it. They had to remake one dish because the waiter misunderstood what "no peppers" meant. Sadly, my mom was unhappy with the tots and so is her stomach. The rest of us were/are fine. I think the worst part was when I knocked my drink over on the table, myself, and the floor. Lucky for me it was only water. Unluckily, the waiter walking by glanced my way and kept going, walked by twice more without us being able to get his attention. Asked the manager for something to clean up with, he went around handing out more trivia forms and chatting then I flagged him again when he walked by and remembered about the person soaking wet with an ocean on the table and no napkins. Our waiter came out with a wet rag and wiped at the table. I let him know that another waiter had been walking by when I spilled but hadn't helped. All he said was, "oh". He asked if the seat was wet, I said no because I'm wearing it. He just said ok and asked if the table was good enough. It was still wet but we decided not to stay for trivia so said it was fine. No empathy or anything. No one was rude but it was perhaps the most apathetic staff I've encountered.

Meridian Pint had been one of the best destination craft beer bars and creative kitchens for American pub grub in DC when it was in its longtime Petworth location. Their nachos -- especially their pulled pork nachos -- were reason enough to go. Their friendly bartenders knew everything about their wide beer selection in two huge bar areas, including a downstairs that had seating perfect for gathering in groups for a game. Much like the circle of life -- this hip kid from Pentworth, grew up, moved to the burbs, and became completely boring. The chorizo nachos were dry and overpowered by either parmesan or a weird feta, no longer made with love. The burger of my neighbor at the cramped bar was more bread than burger. Gone were the beer experts of yore tending the bar, replaced by indifferent barstaff focusing more on each other in the cramped space. Still a great beer selection of about two dozen unique brews on draft brings this up to two stars. Not metro accessible but abundant parking for those with wheels; about a $10-20 Uber from the city for those without.

I used to love the one in DC because they had a killer brunch and excellent beer list. This new location in Arlington was not that busy even tho I stopped by around noon on a Saturday. No wait as there were plenty of open tables, I guess the locals haven't figured out what they are missing yet. The staff didn't seem to know the menu that well but they were friendly. They still have a solid beer list tho I think Dominion W&B restaurant still has the best one in NoVA. Anyways, the pecan encrusted bacon with caramel was pretty good with a solid bba stout (Big Baptista from Epic).

So happy to welcome this place to the neighborhood! The service the food and the drinks were all outstanding. We had a short wait for a table on a busy Saturday night and the place was jammed with neighbors and locals. We had wine which you wouldn’t expect a good wine list from a place focused on beer but in fact they have a very good wine list. Started off with the fried oysters and the brussels sprouts as appetizers and they were both fantastic everyone literally at every table around us was also eating brussels sprouts and raving about them there trust me they’re good. We then had burgers for dinner which were well done if it’s smaller than I expected but quite frankly that’s fine because in this day and age of gigantic serving sizes sometimes you just don’t want to gigantic burger. Again service was outstanding the whole time and does everything we had was very well-made and presented. Will definitely return here again to enjoy the local atmosphere and the great food and maybe even next time bring the kids.