The Oak Room

The Oak Room at 1218 Wisconsin Avenue NW is a restaurant and bar on the mid-Wisconsin commercial block in Georgetown, in the section between the main boutique commercial cluster and the lower Wisconsin Avenue commercial district. The oak-wood restaurant interior that the name references places this establishment in the tradition of the American bar and restaurant that uses the warmth and durability of oak as the defining material of its dining room identity: the bar top, the paneling, and the furniture that the oak interior provides create the specific warmth that a wood-paneled room delivers.

The Wisconsin Avenue address at 1218 is in the commercial block that houses Two Nine at 1218 31st Street and is accessible from the main Georgetown commercial corridors on both M Street below and Wisconsin Avenue’s commercial cluster above. The mid-Wisconsin position gives the restaurant a neighborhood character that is appropriate to the American bar and restaurant format: not the tourist-facing commercial strip of the lower M Street but also not the quiet residential streets of upper Georgetown.

The American food program at The Oak Room serves the neighborhood dining market with the dinner and bar food categories that the mid-Wisconsin customer expects: the appetizers, entrees, and desserts of the casual American restaurant format, served in the wood-paneled dining room environment that the oak interior provides. The bar program accompanies the food service with the cocktail, wine, and beer selection that the neighborhood bar requires to function as the neighborhood gathering place for the surrounding Wisconsin Avenue community.

The weekend lunch service allows The Oak Room to serve the Georgetown residential customer who uses Wisconsin Avenue for midday dining on Saturday and Sunday.

Hours run from 5pm weekdays and noon on weekends. The mid-Wisconsin commercial position at 1218 gives The Oak Room access to the Wisconsin Avenue foot traffic that the commercial section between the main boutique cluster and the lower M Street generates. The customer who has been shopping in the boutique section of Wisconsin and who wants a drink before the walk home or before the next Georgetown errand is the natural customer for the mid-Wisconsin bar. The oak interior that gives the restaurant its name is the material choice that the American bar and grill tradition has used as the defining design element since the Gilded Age saloon established the mahogany and oak bar as the architectural center of the American drinking establishment. The wood-paneled room has a specific acoustic quality that the hard-surface contemporary bar does not have: the wood absorbs sound rather than reflecting it, which produces a room where conversation is possible at normal speaking volume. The American bar menu at The Oak Room covers the food categories that the wood-paneled neighborhood restaurant is most appropriate for: the burger and fries, the club sandwich, the steak with the classic sides, and the seasonal specials that allow the kitchen to express a changing menu within the consistent comfort food framework. The wine and cocktail program accompanies the food service with the selections that the neighborhood bar and restaurant customer expects from a mid-Wisconsin Georgetown address. Hours run from 5pm weekdays and noon on weekends.