Birch & Barley - Washington, DC

Wednesday, 12/23/09, 7 pm - Logan Circle

The decor in this new restaurant is stripped down and bare, just like the restroom.


The stones on the wall are the most decorative part of the decor. I liked the raised square sink. The stalls worked - nothing exciting. Across from the sink was a lounge-like couch, one of those powerful hand dryers and an out of place wicker trash bin (they should have gone stainless).

Here's more on Birch & Barley.

Hank's Oyster Bar - Washington, DC

Sunday, 11/8/09, 8 pm - Dupont

Despite being very close to my place, it had taken me a while to try this place. The restaurant isn't as small as you would think, but the restroom is. A single stall at the back of the place.

There was plenty of wicker (I think someone has to explain the chair to me) which I think is supposed to fit in with the summer-cottage-by-the-sea feel of the restaurant so I'll give it that. I always think it's odd when a restroom has a toilet paper stand instead of a wall mount. I did like the blue textured walls. I would have preferred if they could put the paper goods somewhere hidden and, despite it not being that late on a Sunday, the bathroom clearly hadn't been visited by any staff because the trash can was overflowing.

Check out more about Hank's Oyster Bar.

Policy - Washington, DC

Friday, 11/6/09, 10 pm - U St.

There were two single sex stalls at the back of the restaurant, fitting in with the trendy vibe.















Both doors are literally punctuated with an exclamation point - frosted, but I still didn't understand it. From the outside (the picture is taken from the inside) they glow red and blue, but I don't think that means anything. Back inside, the black, red and metal decor is sharp and works well together. As you can see, it also had the ever popular square sink and black toilet.

Here's more about Policy.

Loos From Abroad

Germany, Switzerland, and Italy 10/4-10/14/09

Spending some time in Europe, I thought I'd share some pictures of my journeys. I'm going to put them all in one post - good for comparisons.












First up, the museum at Goethe's House in Frankfurt, Germany. Very clean as expected.

Next, the paid toilet at the Frankfurt train station. 70 cents to get in, 5 Euros if you wanted to shower. Yes, they charged the same for the men's room.


Here's the view from a Bavarian restaurant in Munich, Germany. Notice the tight squeeze in the stall.































And then we got to Switzerland. At a very nice restaurant in Basel, the restroom was, shall we say, lackluster.







Here's a shot of the bathroom in our hotel room in Bern, Switzerland. Not much to write home about, but enough to post.













Below is the bathroom in our hotel room in Luzern. A step up - even some stylish black tiles and a stainless sink.
















The view of the restroom at a fish restaurant by the lake in Luzern. Although it was in a hotel (and you know how I feel about restaurant bathrooms in hotels), it did have its own bathroom. And it was rather nice. The raised sink sat on a marble counter top and the dark ceiling was spotted with little lights, making it look like a starry night sky.



















Then we got to Italy, which offered a very different bathroom setting. Here's the bathroom in our hotel in Lake Como. Notice the bidet (a frequent main stay in Italian bathrooms - there was one in my Milan hotel bathroom as well). And although it was a 4-star hotel, notice the lack of actual shower. The open bathtub and showerhead made for quite an interesting time showering and a wet bathroom.




Well, that was a brief look at the restrooms during my Europe trip - always interesting to see what else is out there.

Co Co. Sala - Washington, DC

Thursday, 9/10/09, 7:15 pm - Chinatown

Walking toward this restroom at the back of the restaurant, you pass a circle window on your left - a peak into the men's room. Rounding the corner, you're presented with this sign: men to the left, women to the right. There are no doors on the rooms and from the sink area, you can see the person across the way. But I'll get to that in a minute.

Inside the single stall, surrounded in almost all black, I missed the toilet paper holder. The roll was just on a shelf above the toilet. Odd.

Coming out to the single sink, you have another circle in front of you - the mirror, plus a tall, white ceramic column sink. The central stainless faucet was difficult to turn off. For all the attention to details and effort to be sleek, the garbage can seemed out of place as just one of those metal rectangular ones in the wall. The restaurant concept was carried into the bathroom, though I think a bit more attention could have been paid.

Here's more on Co Co. Sala.

Restaurants in Hotels

I don't using mention restrooms for restaurants in hotels because they're out of the control of the restaurant. But after seeing a few, I felt the need to comment on them, using my visit to J&G Steakhouse as a point of reference. If a restaurant decides to forgo its own bathroom in favor of the one in the hotel, the restroom really needs to be easily accessible. Now most of them are large and well maintained, but usually unremarkable.

The servers at Poste should hand out maps to find the restrooms in Hotel Monaco. I thought I might need a rescue team to find me when I was done. While the white and black bathroom worked with the modern hotel lobby (despite being up 2 floors), it was virtually impossible to find and not at all labeled.

The bathroom for Art and Soul is at least on the same floor in the Liaison Capitol Hill Hotel, but getting to it requires going through what looks like a fire door. Returning posed an obstacle when I couldn't figure out which heavy black door returned to the restaurant.

One of the best situated restrooms was at J&G in the new W Hotel. The bathroom is down a circular staircase close to the entrance of the restaurant. It does take a second to figure out which way to turn at the landing, but the bathroom isn't far. Here's a peak inside (which is much duller than the restaurant and the hotel lobby).

Black Salt - Washington, DC

Monday, 8/10/09, 2 pm - Palisades

I didn't intend to mention the bathroom during my visit here, but there was a special request and after using the restroom, I was happy to comply.


I can't say if there's other restrooms in the restaurant, but there was a wait for this single stall at lunch time.

Once inside though, the seafoam tiles had the glass appearance, but I believe they were ceramic. Given the mostly monochrome dining area, I liked the subtle color throughout. I thought the toilet paper stand and hand towel basket was a good use of the wall niche (not sure if that was part of the design, though I doubt that would be a good use of space voluntarily).





The sink and faucet was an uninspired choice, but I did enjoy the cloth hand towels despite the excess amount of them.

Here's more on Black Salt.

Cafe Asia - Washington, DC

Wednesday, 7/29/09, 6:30 pm - Downtown

I just wanted to update a previous post with a picture - I've described Cafe Asia as part of the reason I started this blog, so now I've got a better visual to show off the co-ed bathroom.



Each stall has a guy or girl figure on the front of it, but it doesn't really make a difference. The doors and walls go down to the floor but it might be weird if you were on a date there, going to the bathroom with your date. Just a thought.

Marseille - New York, NY

Sunday, 7/26/09, 11:30 am - Midtown

The Parisian-style cafe did extend into the bathroom, though I can't really decide if there's a bit of an English feel to it. All the wood paneling and titling reminded me of a pub (and a bit of a subway station). But it was well done and nice not to see a paper towel dispenser. The single stall was a little narrow, but the smoked glass helped let light into the dark room.


I will say, I've been to a few of the french places in this chain, and I was most impressed by this restrooms decor. Here's more on Marseille.

Black Mountain Winehouse - Brooklyn

Friday, 7/24/09, 10:00 pm - Cobble Hill

This cute little hole-in-the-hall place has exactly the restroom you would expect. A single unisex stall with quaint little touches but nothing over the top. I did think the sink looked a little raw in the cozy setting though I guess it fits in with the plumber right next to the toilet.

















Here's more on Black Mountain Winehouse.