i went to the coupe this past weekend. if you haven't heard of it, it's a relatively new 24 hour diner-type establishment that opened up at 11th & monroe in columbia heights by the owners of tryst and the diner. since the only other sit-down late-night option in the 'heights is ihop, i was realllllllly excited when i heard this place was coming to the neighborhood.
after a night of heavy drinking, my friends and i were starving and we decided to give the coupe a try. we rolled up to the door around 3:30am. first impression as i walked in, this place is frickin nice. total 90's coffeehouse vibe with the comfy looking furniture. nice exposed brick wall, cool lead-looking ceiling, couches with coffee tables, nice clean booths, and some regular tables and chairs. we were seated on the right-hand side of the restaurant in a high half-booth: bar stools on one side, and an elevated bench on the other. super sleek seating with a view of the bar.
see the above (shitty) picture. i was mostly trying to capture the bartender who had sleeve tattoos (im a sucker for sleeve tattoos) and was generally pretty hot. but you can get a sense of the look of the place.
i think we enjoyed the view of the bar (and bartender) for 10-15 minutes before anyone even acknowledged our presence and brought us a menu. when the menus finally came, we looked them over and all of us decided on breakfast. the prices are pretty comparable to what you'd pay for breakfast at ihop: $7.50-$12 depending on whether you get the eggs/hashbrowns/bacon/toast, or eggs/hashbrown/bacon/sausage/toast/pancake combo. i went for the former and left my bacon on the side of the plate cause i'm not about that bacon life.
after we ordered, it took 50 GODDAMN MINUTES for the food to come out. we played a few rounds of darts, watched youtube videos on our cell phones, hell... i think i even dozed off for a few minutes in the time it took for us to get the food. look, i know its 3:30 in the morning... but if you're gonna be a 24 hour restaurant, it needs to be functional 24 hours a day. the food came out and it wasn't bad, though the toast was slightly chewy. it's hard to fuck up breakfast. was it worth an almost-hour wait, though? i dont think so. i'd wager that the majority of people who go eat somewhere between 2 and 4 am are probably drunk, and they just want to eat and go sleep. even if you're sober, waiting an hour for food at that time of night is irritating. hopefully they'll improve on this as time passes, but for now i'll go back to heading straight home after last call.
:) i love your post chloe!
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