Spoken English

Spoken English is one of the most unique dining experiences in Washington, D.C. Located in an old church turned new lifestyle hotel, it's down a red hall just passed the lobby. You'll see it on your right. Walk down it, through the black curtain, and into an actual kitchen. There you will see two medium sized high tables with no chairs. This is where 30-40 people dine each night.

Most people have to come via reservations, but they do accept walk-ins if you are lucky enough to find a spot between reservations. Once "seated (remember: you stand the entire time)," the servers will walk you through their concept.

Inspired by the standing restaurants in Japan, DC chef Erik Bruner Yang asks patrons to slow down, put down your devices, and connect with the person across the table. They encourage that through bringing tasty Japanese food to your table.

For a restaurant that offers a unique experience, the prices are reasonable for DC. They offer several appetizers (I recommend the dumplings and mushrooms), craft cocktails (none are super sweet), and a small beer/wine list. My table ordered $7 cans of Founder's All-Day IPA and Dogfish Head's Sea Quench (a new favorite sour ale). For our main, we ordered the chicken served eight ways (skins, wings, thighs, skewers, and even chicken heart). We skipped the two desserts offered, but our server brought us each a delicious pistachio chocolate truffle with our bill (before that, another server brought us chicken broth compliments of the chef).

The service was great and the food good too. They pay attention to little touches like bringing us barley tea when we arrived and ending our experience with warm cloth towels to wash our hands (it felt so good and refreshing).

If you want a more unique experience, go to Spoken English.

Okay - yes, yes and yes. Fascinating concept: pocket restaurant with standing room only, accommodating maybe 20ish people. The staff was super helpful and willing to engage. Food was so weird, but in the best way. Cocktails were delicious and the entire branding of the restaurant was spot on. Coat rack was a nightmare but easily overlooked considering everything else this place in the Line has to offer!

Unique setting with amazing food. Really enjoyed the wagyu skewer and Chicken Skin Dumpling. Room is hot though due to being close to the kitchen.

Super small space with an amazing menu. First off, you will stand the entire night and be right next to it her people. So, if you are unable to stand for an hour and a half or have problems with talking to your neighbor, this is not the place for you. If you do enjoy stepping out of your comfort zone you will be taken on a fantastic culinary journey. Everything we ate and drank was thoughtfully composed and presented. Service was excellent and we really enjoyed a casual meal amongst been friends we met. We will be back soon!

This no-seats restaurant gives every diner a front-row view to all the cooking action. A very fun and effortless scene that delivers with such creatively rich bites. We enjoyed it! We somehow snagged seats on a Friday night, but I suspect we won’t be able to covet this nook of finger-licking dishes (seriously, forks are optional) to ourselves for long.