Castle Cafe

Castle Cafe is located inside the Smithsonian Castle Museum which is a great one stop location while visiting the area, the Smithsonian Castle Museum helps you understand what to see in the local Smithsonian Museums, there are restrooms, information desk, small gift shop, ATM and this cafe. The Castle Cafe is overpriced way more than any other coffee/food place in the area. I find it to be a ripoff, If you want to pay $5 for a bottle of water Castle Cafe is your place to go. They sell coffee, pastries, pre made subs, a selection of a small cup of nuts for $5, wine and other refrigerated items. Do the high cost of the food contribute to the Smithsonian museums? Otherwise big thumbs down for taking advantage of thirsty/hungry tourists.

Only 1 star because 0 is unavailable. Sky-high prices for pre-prepared food and we were refused a courtesy cup to share a bottled $4.20 20 ounce Minute Maid drink. They would sell one for 39 cents though! Like so much of the Smithsonian, a lousy attitude towards visitors although the employees on duty were apologetic and polite about it. Hard to accept this after two weeks visiting UK museums and dining in their museums' restaurants and cafes.

The manager Sharon looked like she just woke up out of bed. Unkept appearance to be a manager. Food was hard, old and stale. Overpriced food for poor quality food and service. Lines long. Poor customer service.

I was cold, I was hungry and I needed to get something to eat. I saw there was a cafe option in the Smithsonian Castle, so I opted for it. What did I notice? The cashiers and all other staff - except the cook , all stood outside of the registers and chatted VERY LOUDLY around the table and condiment area. They did No busy work, did no cleaning, nothing. The cook, he was busy on his cell phone, texting someone. When I asked if they had soup, I was directed to the kettles off to the side. It was all self service, and so I helped myself to a bowl of chicken noodle soup and a bottle of water, paid my $9.00 and took a seat. The soup was mediocre and the water was just fine.

We were hot and hungry so we scurried over to check their menu. Prices are exorbitant. The best deal we could find was probably their soup. About 5 bucks for a medium I believe. They'll give you a plastic cup if you want water from the soda fountain. This place will do in a pinch but if you can hold out for food, go elsewhere. The soup was enough fuel to get us to a real restaurant.

Just go to Subway or Starbuck....It could save your money and serve as better quality

A nice food & beverage option on the Mall.A decent selection of fresh salads and pre-wrapped sandwiches.They have some tables where you can rest & relax.

After a day full of museums walking around in the hot sun I was so happy to find a nice shady place to sit down and have lunch. Skip the pre packaged food. They make them fresh in the back for the same price and they are 10000x better.

Pleasantly surprised by the selection and flavor of our lunch today at this cafe. Chef salad was under $12, side salad (quinoa cranberry and Brussels sprouts with goat cheese) were under$6 each. The Simply Lemonade was $3.70 and chips were $2.75 which is a bit high even for me. Overall the experience was good and convenient. We expected crap and were delighted with the choice. Lunch cost $36.52 for 2 of us. Any other restaurant would have been that cost for each of us.

Got coffee and snacks which was fine but just after we sat down one of the workers came by and said that everyone in the section had to get up and move to the other section so he could clean it. The other section was full so we just left.