National Press Club

The National Press Club is a venerable DC institution, rich with journalistic, DC and American history and located at the top of Columbia Square. I could spend a couple hours looking at the all the wall artifacts which includes many autographed photos of important past visitors. I loved seeing the piano that President Harry S Truman used to play. Until today I never knew Truman tickled the ivories.An integral part of the NPC is dining at the Reliable Source. My dining experience was absolutely fabulous. Service was exceptional and I liked how the head chef came out to check on us.On this particular day (Wednesday), a salad and prime rib buffet was available, as well as a regular menu. We opted for the buffet, which also came with an absolutely delicious cream of chicken soup. I loved all the flavorful salad condiment options, including pickled onions and multiple types of nuts. The prime rib was tender and delicious. They had cheesecake as a dessert.At the end of lunch, they served a most excellent coffee. I loved how they did it the British way, pouring cream in the cup before pouring in the coffee. Coffee is provided in a li'l coffee pot for each person, with plenty of coffee for refills.On special occasions, such as Chinese (Lunar) New Year, they have more elaborate meals.Frequently, the NPC has pressers where people in the news come and talk and answer questions from the audience. The day I was here, Robert Rand, author of The Menendez Murders and Anamaria Baralt, a cousin of the Menendez brothers came and spoke about the case.You do have to be a member or be escorted by a member to enter the NPC.

Great food, atmosphere, service and price located in the historic National Press Club, "Where News Happens," and the respite for real journalists working in the DC Metro area and DC bureaus of worldwide news agencies.I last visited this place 4 years ago when the 5-Star restaurant was located in The Fourth Estate restaurant on the lower floor.Now, due to the downturn in the economy, increasing costs, and massive layoffs of traditional journalists due to non-professionals contributions to social media and mainstream media for free, all of the food services were consolidated to the lounge/bar area but maintains the 5-Star service, food among the historic images and front pages of newspapers decades old on the walls.Journalists can apply for membership and enjoy the Club without restriction. Others wishing to dine here must be invited and escorted by a member.Another opportunity to enjoy the food is to attend one of the special events open to the public (see press.org for calendar) or by an organization renting the banquet space for an event.As a bonus you can see and touch the famous piano played by President Harry S Truman often when he made frequent visits to the Club. And on which actress Lauren Becall laid across in a sexy pose while the President played. See the photo online.I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS PLACE!

Clean. Accessible. And fascinating. The Muscular Dystrophy Association hosted an event there last week... catering and drinks -- all good, and the servers very friendly. Love the photos and flags along the walls...

Inside a 1927 downtown D.C. building surrounded by deep American history is the National Press Club started in 1908 across the street from its current building. Once only open to white male journalists, the club now welcomes all through membership and public events. It's also a popular wedding venue.I went for a free screening of a documentary film by The Washington Post Opinions section and Ray Whitehouse on a Monday evening. Here's my experience:1) Space: With a rich legacy, it screams old-school Washington, D.C. from the dated carpet to the media tokens on the walls from statues honoring journalists to old newspaper clippings. The elevators are regal and the bar wooden. There are several meeting rooms and one larger room for their main speaking and panel events. Off from the bar is a dining room with stunning views of the Willard Hotel and Washington Monument. There are plenty of restrooms throughout the floors (the 13th and 14th floors of the building)2) Parking: For evening events, there's usually street parking for a few dollars along F Street NW. 3) Location: There are plenty of restaurants nearby that stay open through dinner from District Taco to Rice Bar.

This is old school DC. Great place for high profile events. I will never forget being here for when then CVS Health CEO announced CVS would no longer sell tobacco products.

Quite a "club"! Situated downtown just 2 blocks from Metro Center station, the National Press Club (renowned for the annual presidential dinner among other things) offers an elegant setting. The room we were in had mahogany lined walls and an old school fireplace. Cozy and sophisticated. Walls were lined with newspaper relief and other memorabilia. Downstairs there were regular shops such as Marshall's. Beautiful lobby. However, the "reception" simply pointed us to some elevators (confusing set-up because the first bank of three elevators we came across turned out to be the wrong ones). The actual reception of the Club is situated on the 13th floor, not in the lobby, even though it's called the National Press Building. There's a fitness center too in the lobby.

Five stars just because of the history of this place!We hosted a catered dinner here with a performance by the famous comedy troupe, The Capitol Steps. It was a great venue and a fun place to visit. The photos on the wall ran the gamut of all the politicians and celebrities who had visited the Press Club, as well as some classic news photos.

I enjoyed everything about this visit/meal at the National Press Club and The Forth Estate restaurant. We were greeted by a very nice lady at the counter when we reached the 14th floor who helped us navigate our visit. On the building itself, it was fascinating, filled with history and great pictures. Because we visited during the holiday there were beautiful decorations and Christmas trees displayed throughout the building. The entrance had a spectacular tree and wreaths placed nicely above doorways etc. There was a large television playing a montage of pictures of events held at the National Press Club. I was surprised by the type of events and guest shown on the screen, very diverse subjects and people.Being a total tourist I purchased some of the items for sale, a tee shirt and baseball cap with the name and logo of the National Press Club. Well I'm part of the Yelp press, :-)!!!

If I could give a 0 I would. I called to inquire about a memorial being held for my God mother and the person who the operator referred me to hung up on me twice. I am disgusted by that type of customer service. I hope that she is fired.

Beautiful venue, but the logistics could use some work. I came here for my alumni holiday party. There were about 75-100 of us, and only one bartender. The poor guy was struggling, and at one point the line had well over two dozen people in it. He wasn't serving anything complicated: Red and white wine, Prosecco, beers, and bar basics like rum and coke and vodka soda. Several times they had to bring out someone to help him manage the volume. That person should have stayed with him at the bar all night because he was definitely having a rough time managing on his own.The food was decent, but inconsistently replenished. They never bothered to replenish the shrimp dish (which I heard was a hit), yet the other items seem to be replenished constantly...so much so that catering staff were conspicuously in the way of the guests. Aside from the shrimp, we had other items such as chicken and beef skewers, tiny rings of fried calamari (which were a pain in the ass to eat with equally tiny forks), bruschetta on crostini, assorted shaved and sliced Italian meats, a small variety of cheeses, potato chips, pita bread, guacamole and hummus. We also had a delightful assortment of cupcakes for dessert. The chocolate cupcake with chocolate ganache topped with chocolate shavings was my absolute favorite. I'm not ashamed to admit that I tried (but failed) to eat two.In addition to inconsistently replenishing food, it seems that some members of the catering staff also seemed to lack basic common courtesy. At one point during the night, one of them brushed past me and almost knocked me over into the food table. He never even bothered to apologize, and he was very fortunate that I did not feel like making a scene.