It was fun while it lasted. The Coupe, the all-night diner, bar and coffee spot at 11th and Park, announced recently that they’re no longer going to be 24 hours.
They’ll now be open from 6am to midnight from Sun-Thurs, and 6am-1am on Friday and Saturday. And aside from shorter hours, they’re going to focus more on having a good wine selection rather than just being a general bar — they’ll still have some beers and a full bar with a focus on martini and champagne-based cocktails, but wine will be the main show here. PoP reports that the menu will evolve to more of a cafe than a diner — too bad, I liked their breakfast stuff.
Interestingly, in DCist’s post about it, general manager Maxwell Hessman said “We’re working on making The Coupe a little more focused.” To me, that’s a reference to continued complaints about poor service and average food at the spot, with which it’s been dogged since opening.
As for why the change, Hessman told PoP:
The Coupe management has decided to move away from the 24 hour cycle for one very basic reason, after a year and half the sales are not there to support our large scale operation late night. We labored over this decision for quite some time and feel it is in the best interest for our company and our customers. We will still be open from early morning to late night to provide each and every guests a wonderful experience.
I’ve always liked the place for lunch, coffee or an after the bar meal, but it still only has 3 stars from 300 Yelp reviews with the highest number of reviews being 2 stars — meaning lots of people really don’t like it.
What do you think? Good thing?
Photo by Mr. T in DC
