Highlands Cafè and Grill

Get in here yall! They got parking! I love that I can park in the lot and not ride around until someone leaves. The food was pretty decent to where I'll give it another shot; just wasn't blown away. Very nice staff, my server just never came over. We also didn't have utensils so had to wait for someone at the bar to see us aimlessly lookin for someone to notice us. Iced coffee not great but the chai tea made up for it. Highlands has the most beautiful mural inside. It was a nice place to go grab a bite and chat with friends and family.

Was invited by a friend and her daughter and ended up having a great time. I ordered the shrimp omelet with grits and it was delicious. I also had 2 beers which was great. The service was excellent! In a mall on the backside where the dmv used to be. Great updated and modern look inside! After I learned about the purpose of the place I was glad to support! I would recommend this place!

I've heard great things about the food, service, and the prices. I'm a sucker for a great mural and this place has a beautiful atmosphere that radiates joy. As for the food. I ordered the blackened salmon, with mashed potatoes and sautéed spinach. Everything was seasoned perfectly and the food is amazing. I can't wait to try something else on the menu. I hear that the breakfast is phenomenal.

I will forever love this place! I used to go to the one uptown but now this one is closer to my house. The food is always consistent! Drinks are good and sometimes great! The customer service is always great! They know us when we walk in we come here so much lol my favs are the gumbo, turkey club, shrimp and grits, blackened salmon so many things are good here. The painting inside are so pretty and it's always nice and clean inside! Love love love it here!

I've been to the original location on 14th st NW, but this was my first time visiting the Southeast location. The ambiance is very eye catching, when you first walk in you notice this beautiful mural on the wall and the customer service was excellent. My mother and I had the deep fried salmon, garlic spinach, and jasmine rice with a lemon butter caper sauce which was amazing. The salmon was fried to perfection and the spinach was so flavorful. We didn't eat anything else the rest of the day that's how full we were from our meals. I also had a chance to speak to the owner Chef Moe and hear his story about his upbringing in DC and his rise to opening up Highlands. I highly recommend checking Highlands out and enjoy some amazing food.

Highlands Cafe and Grill is a D.C. institution and I'm so glad they opened a location East of the River. Located by Planet Fitness in the Penn Branch Center, there's a spacious parking lot right outside.The inside is a single, cozy dining room with along bar and a waiting area. Wait to be seated or order takeout at the register. Waiting only 10 minutes for my to-go order, the po boy sandwich was really flavorful and the roll it's on is soft. The lava cake was good too. (It had a slight raspberry taste to it.) Service was friendly and quick.The space's walls are decorated with murals of the community as are the inside of the restrooms.

This place gives an urban vibe. I love their food they never disappoint . My most recent order was the Cesar salmon salad. The salmon was cooked just right.

Great parking, great service, great food, and great music! I've heard about Highlands and I'm so happy that I've finally given it a try. We went for dinner and drinks and both were delicious. Can't wait to try them for breakfast.

How? How is this review on this establishment so high? Were some of these reviews inadvertently on this location and should have been for the location uptown because NO! My food lacked seasoning (so essentially FLAVOR). To be fair, I ordered through UberEats and some of the presentation was list during the transport. You can't lose FLAVOR though! Definitely a big disappointment!

This is my update to the original review I posted about eight months ago. THIS time, the service was horrible. And I'm not even talking about the wait staff. I'm talking about just getting seated. Mark down the date of this review: February 18, 2024. Took my wife, my son, his girlfriend and the grandson to get something to eat. This was on a Sunday. We get there at 12:30 PM. I asked how long was the wait for a table for five, and I was told 15 to 20 minutes. Seemed reasonable.As we're waiting, we're looking at the tables that cleared out. Mostly seating for two. There was a manager who came over and said "I haven't forgotten you, I'm waiting for this one table to clear and I'll get your party seated." Fine. So we're in the waiting area, and I'm looking at the table he's waiting to clear. They stopped eating and began watching some video presentation on a laptop. The guy looked over at them but was afraid to say anything. So I made my way up to the host desk and spoke to another guy. By now, it's 1:25 PM (55 minutes have passed since we first arrived). I asked him about the people at the table and his response was "do you want me to ask them to leave?" My response: "yes. They're not eating anymore." His reply was that he couldn't do that. He asked would I want him to do that to me, and I replied that I wouldn't take up space and cost him business. We left. Ended up going to Silver Diner in the Navy Yard area. Think about this: we got there at 12:30 and waited 55 minutes. Those people were there well over one hour and took up space. Once they stopped spending money, they should have left, or, because the restaurant was absolutely full, been asked to leave so that other paying customers could sit down and eat.You wonder why money doesn't stay in the community? THAT is why. Poor customer service.