Bottomless brunches used to be prolific around DC—but like everything else, the pandemic has changed the landscape (blame staffing shortages and shorter table time limits, among other things). Still, those looking for free-flowing mimosas, all-you-can-eat brunch plates, and other trappings of a hedonistic morning—or let’s face it, mid-afternoon—aren’t without options.
Ambar and TTT
Ambar (523 Eighth St., SE; 2901 Wilson Blvd., Arlington) TTT (2900 Wilson Blvd., Arlington; 8407 Ramsey Ave., Silver Spring)
There’s a reason restaurateur Ivan Iricanin is known as the All You Can Eat King of Washington. His Balkan concept, Ambar, and TTT Mexican restaurants serve AYCE food menus for both brunch and dinner, with bottomless drink options in DC (libations are a mere .25 cents in Virginia, per state laws). Options are plentiful on the menus, which are mostly below $40 per person—it just depends whether you’re more in the mood for rakia cocktails and Southeastern European fare, or margaritas and huevos rancheros.
Compass Rose
1346 T St., NW
Rose Previte’s globetrotting Shaw restaurant is a relaxing space to linger on a Sunday, when endless orange or grapefruit mimosas are yours for $30. The menu spans from North African shakshuka to the restaurant’s famed Georgian khachapuri (cheese bread). While it’s not bottomless, per se, you can get a very filling taste of all small plates in a “brunch tour of the world” ($30 for omnivore or vegetarian).
dLeña
476 K St., NW
Restaurateur Richard Sandoval’s new wood-fired Mexican restaurant in Mount Vernon Triangle serves bottomless food and drink for weekend brunch ($49 per person; $30 without drinks). Plates include options like birria tacos, tuna ceviche, shrimp enchiladas, and Mexican scrambled eggs, which you can wash down with any of the four M’s (mimosas, Marys, margaritas, and micheladas).
Duke’s Grocery
Locations in Dupont, Woodley Park, and Foggy Bottom
In addition to having one of the lengthiest happy hours in DC (it runs from noon to 7 PM on weekdays), this string of gastropubs encourages patrons to linger—up to 90 minutes—on weekends with bottomless “bevvies” (their word). Pick between mimosas or house bloody Marys ($24) and then order up one of the decadent brunch burgers or a proper English breakfast.
The Fainting Goat
1330 U St., NW
The U Street corridor gastropub dishes up a comforting, no-fuss brunch menu with dishes like sausage-egg-and-cheese sandwiches and waffles. Soak up bottomless sangria, bloodies, or mimosas—with a choice of orange, cranberry, or mango juice–plus a must-share for the table: goat cheese fondue. The all-you-can-drink option is $22 per person.
Palette 22
4053 Campbell Ave., Arlington
All-you-can-eat isn’t just a weekend affair at this artsy-industrial space in Shirlington. Diners can order bottomless menus for lunch ($29.22) and dinner ($34.22) as well as brunch ($26.92). There’s a lot to choose from on the eclectic menus. At brunch that means anything from pizza to tacos, bao buns, waffles, and lumpia spring rolls. Add on brunch drinks like bellinis, mimosas, and bloodies for $4.22 each.
Mission
1606 20th St., NW; 1221 Van St., SE
These sister Mexican bars in Dupont and Navy Yard throw brunch for a young party crowd with bottomless house margaritas, Bud Lights, mimosas, and Marys ($26.99 per person). The menu chides that you must order a food item—one taco doesn’t count! You must get two!—and adds: “It’s a marathon, not a sprint—please drink responsibly” (responsibly-ish?).
Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.
