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| Meat Lovers Breakfast Platter |
Some say location is everything; but don't overlook timing (as in being open for business, when those around you aren't.) 14th Street Deli in the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center food court was one of the few eateries ready to handle the onslaught of attendees on break from Smithsonian Magazine's The Future is Here festival this morning... so it was only fair to reward them with a breakfast order. Was it a fair trade?
I suppose that depends on what you're looking for. If value is your thing, it's hard to argue against $6.59 for a Meat Lovers Breakfast Platter (Egg, bacon, ham and sausage with hash browns and white or wheat toast.) Add in a medium fountain drink ($1.69) and you have a generous breakfast with not one, not two, but three breakfast meats for $9.11 (including tax.)
On the other hand, what good is value; if the food isn't up to par? Sadly, that was the case with my plate. Service was fine (to be fair, they didn't have time for small talk) but I had to wait almost 15 minutes for my number to be called. By the time I had food in hand, I was pretty hungry. Eggs were cooked on the grill, nice to look at (rich yellow) and pretty tasty. Bread was low quality and lightly buttered... Passable. Hash browns were most likely nuked, and tasted like it (awful.) My trio of meats left lots to be desired. The sausage patty looked good, but was close to cold and flavorless. Four strips of bacon was (once again) generous; but each strip had more fat than the next. Ham was basically sliced cold cuts (warmed up as well.) B+ for quantity, D for quality (thanks to the eggs.)
Bottom line: Would I come back? Not likely, but at least they were open. That's more than I can say for their food court competition. 14th Street Deli has loads of choices, and you get good amounts of food for your buck. As for taste, I suggest looking elsewhere.
