Photo from Frozen Tropics Flickr pool user InspirationDC
I wanted to share a statement from Sticky rice regarding the restaurant's recent shutdown. For those who missed it, my understanding is that some random crazy guy attempted to enter Sticky rice, was immediately ejected, but ran back in and slashed another patron in the hand as he ran back out. He was arrested shortly there after running down the street while chasing someone with a knife. MPD then shut down the restaurant temporarily, and ABRA will hold a hearing to ascertain whether Sticky Rice employees behaved correctly, and whether this incident should impact Sticky's liquor license.
Sticky Rice will be reopening tomorrow, January 3rd. We will be open for our regular lunch and dinner service but will not be serving alcohol until after our upcoming Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration (ABRA) hearing. We deeply regret the inconvenience that the shutdown has caused our patrons and employees, but are greatly looking forward to being open this week and appreciate the continued support of the H St community.
Thanks,
Phil Rodriguez
Sticky Rice, DC
60 comments:
@ inked - in re: to your note "A Note Regarding Comments." Is there any reason you didn't just close the thread to new comments? It's your blog and you can do whatever you want obviously, but it seems a loss to have that thread gone.
Davy Crockett's Hat,
I'll consider it. I didn't have time to go in and pick out all the individual posts (or references to it at the time). It's in drafts, so it could come back. But also, I want everyone to realize that there are consequences to acting in that manner. Someone broke the rules, so now we all have to suffer because that person was a jerk and decided to act out.
I don't know if the post will return or not, I'm leaning towards not.
oh and about Sticky Rice -
*meh*... They've resumed serving average food with below average service. Whoopee.
It's a bummer that the restaurant had to close because through no fault of their own a crazy stabby person comes through.
Do we know when their ABRA meeting is?
how do you determine the difference between a "random crazy person" and a "crazy patron who stabs someone before they can buy something"?
so, there's no penalty to an establishment unless the stabber actually purchases something, e.g. h street martini lounge?
i don't know if venue owners should be penalized generally for isolated acts of violence by persons who come onto their public premises.
I'm glade they're reopened. As a server at another restaurant I know how much restaurant/ bar workers depend on New Years tips. The December holiday season usually makes for slower then average nights (and thus less tips) and alot of us depend on making enough money on New Years to make January rent.
I wonder if this will impact their customer base at all. I hope it does- maybe only a 1 hour wait instead of two? One can only hope.
I hope they are considering expanding. The last 3 times I've tried to give them my money I had to give it to another restaurant because of waits of 1-2 hours.
This reminds me- SOUK has amazing food, and I've never had to wait!
"We deeply regret the inconvenience that the shutdown has caused our patrons"...and look forward to returning to the only inconvenience being the interminable waits for your orders to come out.
So, there's no penalty to an establishment unless the stabber actually purchases something, e.g. h street martini lounge?
Wasn't there some question as to whether the management erased the surveillance tapes before the police could view them?
I just want to echo the comment about SOUK...give it a try! The food was really tasty the times I went there. Spread the love around!
Wait, are you telling me there was a presumtion of guilt before innocence? Or are there more details to follow. Since i don't know, i'll limit my comments to things i do know. The second of the three incidents that caused problems for martini involved patrons who were jumped as they exited by folks who had not been inside. Discuss.
As to the wait, there are more and more food options every day in our little h street village. I know the queen vic and toki underground will open before the trolley. I expect big things from both. Erik from toki will also be doing a menu for the pug, and the super swank commons serves food in their beautiful environs. It's interesting that people always comment on the bad service at sticky, but people always go. Must be something decent going on there besides sexy russel and his bad boss kareoke.
tonyt
the pug.
I love Sticky Rice's food, but I agree the wait is atrocious if you don't have a rezo.
As for Souk, it's one of my favorites on H St. Super consistent and the owner is super nice.
Sticky rice is no worse in service that granvilles...yes, granvilles food is killer, but the people who work there are generally obnoxious...yet nobody seems to complain about gm.
i've lived here a while now and would rather go to sticky rice for the less attitude....
Well well well... I got just one word for yall- "Patronage"
There is a sense of entitlement among some of you that makes me queasy.
I have lived here ever since 1998 and have witnessed the near-complete transformation of H st and stayed loyal to businesses that decided to invest in this area.
I am sure a good lot of you come from far away places, full of privileges and status quo and think that you should not be allowed to wait for anything in your lives. Unfortunately, we spend a good amount of our lives waiting for something whether it is food or a roller coaster ride or parking in the middle of rush hour in the beltway.
So shaddup and show some patronage- not the "once every blue moon" kind but something more frequent than that and you will see how you can appreciate establishments such as Sticky Rice even more.
Adios!
Anon 4:25-
GM's is often slammed but I've never had bad service there. Any place can have an off night. Sometimes I feel like it's necessary to say that I haven't had any problems with service just to counteract all of the complaints on this blog. Jeez.
When I heard Sticky was having trouble I was super bummed for them. NYE should have had them rolling in it, and I know how much that can really hurt the employees. As an H St resident/regular/employee, I really hope they come away clear of all fault in this. From what little I've read, it doesn't sound fair to punish them.
As for the complaints against them for service (etc), I have to say I can't take most of them seriously on account of the attitude behind them. Every time I'm in there I watch the bartenders, servers, and hostess get treated like total crap for no reason because there's a wait for a table. Cut 'em some slack, they're running their butts off up and down stairs. It's a busy place and isn't that big, what do you expect?
Love to the Sticky Ricers! You guys run a great place. Good luck.
"I have lived here ever since 1998 and have witnessed the near-complete transformation of H st and stayed loyal to businesses that decided to invest in this area.
I am sure a good lot of you come from far away places, full of privileges and status quo and think that you should not be allowed to wait for anything in your lives."
--How do you think the area transformed? My hypothesis is that "a good lot" of us, "full of our priviledges and status quo" moved here and brought our income AND standards with us which is why H Street / Trinidad area is doing better now. If you dont demand better quality services and products, you probably wont get it. Also the "I've been here for XX years so my opinion means more than yours" argument is getting old.
Every time we've tried to Sticky Rice carryout we've waited, showed up 30 minutes after calling and STILL ended up waiting for 30 - 40 at the bar to get our CARRYOUT order. I'm taking a stand. We've got too many good options on H now. I'm baffled as to how many people still go there. The food is mediocre AT BEST and service is always slow. I am all for supporting local business, however they should not automatically get business because they are local - they should try to compete for your business or at least act like they give a damn.
Sticky Rice's food is ok - some of it is pretty good - but the service is painfully slow, like an hour and 45 min wait for sushi, even when the place is nearly empty. This is consistent, not the exception. As a restaurant employee who hustled for years for tips, it's baffling and pitifully unprofessional.
-Former waitress
the more people go sticky rice, the less crowds at the other places i like. so yeah, sticky rice is awesome. go there
Advice(s) for these who don't want to wait...
1) Make up your mind on what you want to order before you leave your home
2) Order a beer, mixed drink or even sake so it can lift your mood as you wait
3) Order Tater Tots or Sticky Balls as an appetizer (they come pretty quickly)
4) Flash a nice smile at a waiter/waitress... tell them how great they look and appreciate their hard work
5) Go to the bathroom to wash your hands
6) Go for a cigarette outside
7) Go back to the bathroom to pee and wash your hands again
8) Order another round of drinks
9) Lick off the sauce off your sticky balls plate
10) Watch some TV
By then, your food should already come.
Have fun!
Anon 4:25: Obviously I can't speak for anyone else, but the reason I don't complain about Granville Moore's is because I never find their staff "generally obnoxious". Never. Not once, not ever.
Bummer you keep having bad experiences at places.
In my experience, Granville's had a rough start in terms of service, but they have since become a lot better and a bad night is the exception rather than the rule. Some of that is, IMO, addition by subtraction in terms of jettisoning a particularly bad egg.
I go to Sticky Rice because I like the personality of their wait staff, even if it's not the best their sushi is still good, their tots are great, the atmosphere is fun, and I'm all about patronizing H Street establishments. However I go there less and less and now exclusively midweek because while Granville's bad service nights are the exception rather than the rule, good service at Stick is the exception rather than the rule.
I recognize that it is taboo among some to point out any shortcomings of H Street establishments and we should just shut up and take what we get, but I can't say I agree with that.
Folks,
If you don't think the service is great at Sticky Rice, vote with your feet and patronize one of our other H Street establishments. But I really feel like we're missing the forest for the trees here.
A successful business was forced to lose out on major business, in the midst of an extremely difficult economic environment, for a random situation that likely had nothing to do with the long delays in getting a Fantabulous Amazing Roll.
What if this 96 hour closing had caused them to go out of business? If you know anything about the restaurant industry, you know that's not that far-fetched a scenario. Even good, well-run restaurants are often operating with tight profit margins at best. We should consider working with our elected leaders to consider some sort of preliminary hearing or something prior to a mandatory shutdown. As with all zero tolerance policies, they seem good on paper but are largely impractical and dumb in practice.
Forcing a business to close with absolutely no due process strikes me as a major issue. I hope it strikes you the same way.
H Street is just not yet at the point where we can afford to lose businesses for no real reason.
will the stabbing victim go back? this is the true test.
will the stabbing victim go back? this is the true test.
More to the point, will the stabbing perpetrator go back?
What's the penalty for stabbing a random stranger in the hand in DC, anyway? 72 hours in the pokey and confiscation of the weapon?
I agree with Snirtanion.
Requiring a restaurant/bar to shut down New Years Eve because some nutjob entered their bar (which they can't legally prevent) and stabbed someone is pretty stupid.
I continue to say that more businesses in DC need to start suing the DC government over stupid policies like this. That, and when an ANC arbitrarily denies a liquor license, sue them too.
It's incredibly hard to run a business in this town. And most of that difficulty comes from people that have never run a business but seem to relish the idea of telling someone else what to do with theirs.
Suppose you sue and win. How receptive will the city be when you planyour next venture?
tonyt
the pug
hillman wrote: and when an ANC arbitrarily denies a liquor license, sue them too.
How does an ANC deny a liquor license? Has that ever happened? I thought all they could do is file a protest with ABRA, which is required to give their protest "great weight" but is not required to agree with it. Is that wrong?
the best way to enjoy your visit to sticky rice (or at least it has always worked for my husband, my friends and myself):
-Arrive early because Sticky Rice fills up fast.
-If it allready has a wait we put our names on the list and head to The Pug for a few beers and a shot of whiskey untill they call us for our table.
-If their is a space at the Sticky Rice bar we take those instead of waiting for a table.
-We order PBR and a saki sampler and a few appetizers along with our sushi.
-Almost always our apps come quickly, about the length of time it takes me to chug a can of beer.
-We get another round of PBRs and chat up the bartender or server.
-We finish our sake and apps, having such a good time we don't notice the wait for sushi.
-Our food comes and we enjoy dinner.
As someone who patrons Sticky Rice once a week or so, i can say I almost always get good friendly service. I do notice that the people who complain about bad service are the people who loudly complain about waits for table and treat their servers poorly. Is their a direct relationship between the way a person acts and the enjoyment they get out of a resturaunt experience? I can't say for sure, but it has been my observation.
I'm glade they are reopen and I hope they can start serving PBRs really soon.
after being seated is it ok to leave sticky rice and go elswhere while waiting for your food? i don't care about sticky rice anymore. i stopped going there. but they make it so easy and fun to rip on them. i feel like i get a little bit of my life back that was wasted there the last time i went
Man, some of ya'll must give off Sucky People Pheromes because I've never had much of a wait at SR and the service is always great. Then again, I don't go places during normal dinner hours and expect to be the only person there and treated like royalty. I chalk all the negative comments up to the entitlement complex* most people have these days.
*I will exhibit an EC at the Pug, because it annoys Tony T. Hi Tony T!
-Airborne
this afternoon, i convinced a group of 8 people who were DEAD SET ON STICKY RICE, to avoid them like the plague. instead of going there for dinner, we went to wolfgang puck's "the source". no wait, price point is similar, and the staff is PHENOMENAL. sticky rice only seems to attract hipsters with *just enough* money to eat there, and plenty of time to sit around and wait. it's a catch 22. the less the hipsters have to tip, the more the SR staff seems to take their own sweet time to cater to customers. pretty funny. and people wonder why the EMO movement started in DC. sticky rice, for now, sucks balls.
Poo,
i occasionally hear people talking about the pug as a hipster bar. As one who's too old to be an aging hipster i can't really argue with you, but i always thought emo started in the other northwest. The other washington. Not sure enough to argue, more of a question. When i went to the source it was great, but we needed a rez and still waited long enough to get drunk at the bar before dinner. It's a tricky enough business as it is and i'm not sure if the city is making it more dificult. Good service or bad. I don't think i could survive a 96 hour weekend closure let alone 7 days. Should i start charging more for natty bo just in case?
Tonyt
the pug
i only keep responding because people keep mentioning entitlement complexes. i can tolerate waiting if a place is popular. or i'll just avoid it. i can kinda tolerate slow service. when it happens repeatedly and finally one time i wait for a table, get seated at the sushi bar, watch the dooshbags behind there half ass it for an hour and half, roll their eyes when the order ticker prints out another order, and see someone get seated after me order, eat and pay before i receive anything (i think i even ordered an appetizer), sorry if i think i am fucking entitled to more than that. and then i start to get the feeling that the other times i have less extended waits for food after being seated, maybe just maybe they weren't always trying their best to get me my food in a reasonable amount of time.
maybe service is improved. good for them.
i'm sure there are others like me who have had similar stories. and i havent had these experiences anywhere else i have eaten regularly.
so i dont feel like anybody on here can be accused of feeling overly entitled to anything when it comes to complaints at sticky rice
Wasn't there some question as to whether the management erased the surveillance tapes before the police could view them?
^ was there? i suppose that makes a difference. so it's all about how the staff handles the disturbance then, i suppose. that makes sense. so maybe that's why VII is still open despite its detractors on this board, they must do a good job of damage control.
side note: i never had service problems at sticky rice, but i only went there twice.
Chris:
You are correct. ANC only 'advises'. But that advice is often taken (depends on the political power of that particular ANC).
Tony:
You have a valid point.
But I for one am a bit sick of living in fear of the stupidity and narrow-mindedness and unprofessionalism of my local government.
Does that mean it's not smarter to just go along with their stupidity? No.
But at some point it'd be awesome if people with enough $$ to not feel threatened by DC government would actually start suing and demanding a better local government.
STABBY RICE
or
STICKY KNIFE
ah. remember when the argonaut was the bar that everyone loved to hate?
how times have changed.
@Dave B,
your comment would be taken more seriously if you didn't refer to this restaurant's staff as d-bags or use curse words. Your comments make you appear like that kind of customer that no one would want to serve.
Did I mention I really like SOUK?
I went to Sticky Rice a couple of times back after they opened, and just like the other commenters say even when it wasn't busy the service was verrrrry slowwww. So I never went back. Problem solved. The tater tots are good, though, have to admit.
I think people relating their experiences--good and bad--on this blog is helpful.
I have to admit, I've been sticky rice a few times and never had a problem with the service. Maybe its cause I'm cuter than the rest of you. Who knows?
I'm not cute, but I just take a few thumbtacks with me, and, believe you me, as soon as you yank your coin purse through your fly and start messing yourself up funtime, the staff usually pays attention to you real quick. I've even received free tots from time to time it's so impressive.
That said, when they do ignore me, I buy crazy black dudes chicken wings in exchange for their dashing into the place and slashing the first hipster they lock eyes with. That way, I give my patronage to Sticky Rice, the 7-11, and the local schizos. I'm covering all my bases, yo.
tubbs for ANC.
I almost stabbed my roommates hand for trying to take the last tot.
I can appreciate negative comments as a voicing of your opinion which everyone is certainly entitled to. What I can't understand though, is the lengths some people seem to want to go to convince others not to patronize places. Driving other people's business away from our neighborhood places because you don't like the service seems ridiculous.
Comments regarding waits for tables carry no water with me. How can you possibly blame a place for being busy. Waits for food or bad service is another thing and does seem to be a recurring problem although as a sticky rice regular myself; I can't say it's an issue I ever have. And to be frank, when I go to sticky rice, it's not usually to grab a quick bite, but rather to enjoy the incredibly fun atmosphere, and enjoy the company of the other patrons and staff.
I very much hope they make it through this just as I would for any other place in the neighborhood, even the ones I don't like that much or frequently patronize.
Tubbs, why are you bringing up race? "Crazy black dudes"? Really? You need your ass kicked. You are probably one of the neighborhood's new jacks. You can kiss my black ass!
Tubbs, why are you bringing up race? "Crazy black dudes"? Really? You need your ass kicked. You are probably one of the neighborhood's new jacks. You can kiss my black ass!
Offer accepted! But I'm a real in for a penny in for a pound kind of guy. So, let's start off with a little black ass kissing, and then move on to some real stuff. I'll bring the thumbtacks and the anal beads. I'm a grower, not a shower, so we will balance one another out perfectly. I only ask that you bring chicken wings and tenderness.
You seem a little twisted but what's new with you buster ass psyco freaks. You don't move me with that bs that you are poppin' off the lip about. As a matter of fact, you disgust me. I'm sure you can move on to some real stuff with your partner while he shoves broom stick handles and chicken wings in your ass punk! If you want tenderness, you'd better get out your copy of Wham and listen to that while you cuddle with your blow up because the only thing that I will bring you is pain, 2 times!
*psycho
I could not understand a word of that, probably because they cut funding for ebonics. Nonetheless, it made me hot. Where shall we meet?
Ebonics? You are really a total dumb ass aren't you? Here's what I want you do instead of hiding behind this blog. Go out on H Street or anywhere else in DC and say this dumb crap to one of the "Crazy black dudes" on the street, and don't forget to mention that you want them to put anal beads up your butt and see what your ignorant ass gets. You might get what you are looking for. You are not worth the time or effort to keep responding to your garbage because you are obviously are racist swine.
swine? Whatever, you anti-semite. Meet me at the temporarium. You can temporarily kick my ass, and I will permanently practice my love on you.
I have to admit that I do love Stick Rice food. That being said I don't feel as welcome there because we have a 1 year old in tow. My husband and I always get attitude when they see us walk through the door with our little one. We never have to wait because we are always there right when they open so we can be in and out before the crowd and before our little tots bedtime. They clearly don't like kids in their establishment!
It's because your child is even more irritating than your dog, and even less tasty. TUBBS FOR ANC. Vote early, vote often. Chicken wings for my constituents!
Wow! I feel sorry for you, Tubbs. You clearly are in ignorant jerk. You are a very disturbed sad human being and a waste of space!
that's where you're wrong. I'm a very knowledgeable jerk. And, of the many things I know, the one of which I am most certain is that I want to use you as a hand puppet. A lovely, gooey hand puppet.
Hey guys,
could we keep it a little more clean and also more friendly? Please. Thanks in advance. Though I'm certain that it is mostly adults that read this blog, I really don't want to gross any of them out. I contemplated pulling some of these posts. Please don't make me regret letting them stay up.
Indeed, my apologies. I will henceforth limit myself to references to the grabbing of junk and "Clams Casino" and her outrageous sexual fantasies; for, verily, that is the information to which the children of H street must rightly be exposed.
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