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    Roaming Rooster

    4.3 (173 reviews)
    Closed 8:00 am - 11:00 pm

    Roaming Rooster Photos

    Business Info

    ROAMING ROOSTER ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Casual
    Trendy
    Dogs allowed
    Outdoor seating

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    Recommended Reviews - Roaming Rooster

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    Reviews With Photos - Roaming Rooster

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    Jazmin A.

    As someone who loves a good buffalo chicken sandwich, I've got got to say that it's sometimes difficult to find a pure buffalo chicken sandwich - not a Nashville hot, hot honey, anything like that. I love that Roaming Rooster has a variety and has a chicken sandwich for everyone's taste buds. Service is always friendly at this U Street location. I think you get a good amount of food for the price too. I always come hungry and end up feeling like it's a struggle finishing up those last few bites. Chicken always tastes fresh, fries always taste fresh. There's a bit of seating at this location, but this is one of the rare sandwich places you can take to go and it'll still be good when you get home. The price point is pretty economical too, for the area. I'm a big fan of RR and love my occasional visits for a chicken sandwich!

    Honey butter chicken biscuit
    Carmen H.

    I was near this location and decided to give it a try. Parking was a hassle--only paid street parking available. When I entered, the restaurant was empty. No one was taking orders, and I had to wait for someone to come to the register. I ordered the honey butter chicken biscuit, and it took about five minutes to arrive. The food was fresh and hot, but I'm not sure I'll visit again because of the parking and the lack of customer service.

    Mild honey butter chicken sandwich
    Luds F.

    My uncle recently passed this recommendation on to me for my stay in D.C. and I had to go try it! When I say this has got to be top 3 best chicken sandwich spots I've ever tried :) Service was smooth and food was out in less than 15 minutes. The one we visited was pretty small and had very little seating but that's okay, we ate here for dinner and enjoyed the rest of the night! Sorry Chick fil a, lol

    Hazel C.

    Serving perfectly crisp and juicy chicken, Roaming Rooster is worth trying at least once. I've eaten at a few locations and recently ate at this one after seeing a production nearby. Though I dined around 10p the customer service was still efficient and friendly. If you're looking for delicious bite on U street I recommend stopping here for either the Honey Butter Chicken Sandwich or the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich (my favorite). Not a lot of seating but big enough for a few couples and small groups.

    Nashville friend chicken sandwich
    Rumesh V.

    If you're craving fried chicken sandwich look no further. This place has the best fried chicken sandwich in DC. It's a fast food style of restaurant. Lines can be long sometimes depending on the time of the day. My favorite is the Nashville hot chicken sandwich and fries. It's nicely spiced with lots of flavor. Crispy from the outside and tender from the inside. You will hear the crunch when you get your first bite. Ambiance can be slightly off sometimes. They don't have a cleaning staff cleaning the tables all the time. So sometimes we have to grab some napkins and clean our table. Price is nominal. I am glad they also started breakfast sliders. I have tried sliders a couple of times and I liked it.

    Honey butter
    Kerri C.

    I stopped into Roaming Rooster for the first time today and was blown away at how delicious the chicken sandwich was. I got the honey butter (chicken with honey butter and cheese). The chicken was super crispy, and I loved that it was dripping in butter. I also ordered a chocolate shake which was fine, nothing special. The inside of the restaurant wasn't dirty, but could definitely use a paint job and some pictures on the wall. It was sloppy looking. Overall, this place is super expensive since the sandwiches don't come with fries. For a shake and a sandwich it was just under $19. I want to give 3 stars but that sandwich was too good. Go for the sandwich.

    Entrance
    Rowan E.

    I'm always looking for good halal chicken spot, and DC never fails. The food came out fast and hot. Each sandwich is $10, but it's filling. My husband and I were only able to finish half. The other reason for that was it was SPICY. We did pick hot, but we're not expecting such a kick. You can pick from mild all the way to extremely hot. I do consider myself someone who can take the heat, but I would precede with caution. Overall, if you're looking for a halal chicken spot in the DC area, this place is worth a visit! Warning: all the traffic in DC is ridiculous and a lot of the road were closed when we went to just be careful!

    Gwen B.

    We came here for a quick bite before meeting some friends at the 9:30 club. It's a clean, cute quick service spot with reasonable prices. We went with the OG Nashville and honey butter sandwiches to share with a side of fries. One side of fries was more than enough for us and I love that you can choose the heat level for the sandwiches. We did one mild and one medium. I like spicy and my husband likes things a bit milder so the medium was a good combination. It's still spicy though so if you're sensitive to spice, I'd go with mild The sandwiches were perfectly cooked and full of flavor. We really enjoyed our meal and thought the price was extremely fair if not cheap. Definitely would recommend Roaming rooster if you're craving a good fried chicken sandwich!!

    Chicken Sandwich
    Joshelyn ..

    I had heard this place has one of the best chicken sandwiches ever and I could be bias since I'm a southerner growing up on Chick-Fil-A since I was like 4-5 years old back in the early 90s. I must admit, this was a d*mn good chicken sandwich! The fries didn't make the picture because I ate them. No explanation needed there. I was shocked at how fast we got our food because the place was packed, but it was quicker than expected. From the pickles to the sauce that the sandwich comes with, I'm more than pleased. The parking for the area is DC parking, since it's off U-Street. It wasn't too too bad though. Will be coming back next time I'm DC.

    Honey butter
    Shelby P.

    I've heard a lot of great things about this place and for me who doesn't really like chicken to give it a try is pretty amazing. Food is super messy so get ready with a bunch of napkins The honey butter had a great taste to it. I don't think the rooster sauce tasted like much. And if you like spicy like me go with extra spicy. I don't think the spicy was hot at all. I love the coleslaw isn't saturated with oil it's very well done and has a fresh flavor to it. A lot of nice outdoors seating in this location as well

    Chicken club
    Laurel W.

    Had lunch here yesterday. Chicken club was really tasty. But the wait for the food took quite a bit. I suggest ordering before you go and just pick it up.

    OG sandwich

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    Ask the Community - Roaming Rooster

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    Le Diplomate

    4.3(5.8k reviews)
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    Fantastic dinner in a more artsy/hip area of Washington DC…read more In the beginning, the dinner's pacing felt a little rushed when we sat down, but after we ordered, everything came out at a sensible pace, they weren't rushing to have you leave so someone else can have your table. I'd request eating in the green room where all of the glass windows are for more natural light.

    This was the best meal that we had in DC, and the free bread definitely lives up to the hype! It's…read moreincredible. We were sat in the solarium area, and it was during the heat dome, and it was really warm in there. Otherwise, though, it's completely charming inside and reminds us of some of the best French bistros we've been to in the country (e.g. Balzathar, Le Supreme). The three cocktails we tried--the frose, le jardin, and the clouseau--were all stunners. And of course the bread deserves another special mention, *especially* the room temperature butter. Thank you for not serving hard as hell butter! We shared the warm shrimp salad to start, and for $31, we were expecting more than a few avocado slices and 4 shrimp on it, but c'est la vie. The dressing was incredible, and the greens were crunchy. That's actually the only dish of the night that we thought was unfairly overpriced. One of us ordered the burger and the other got the rabbit pappardelle--you've got to get rabbit when you see it on a menu, which isn't often enough! There was a good amount of super tender meat and the pasta was perfectly al dente, all in a lightly stunning sauce. Chef's kiss. The burger was, no surprise, another triumph. There was juicy meat, bun integrity, and all the right accouterment notes. The fries are standard. Our daughter got their mac-n-cheese, which is probably just the gratin dish renamed. It was OK. We kind of got out of control for dessert and ordered the pot de creme, the cookie dough ice cream, and the profiteroles. Honestly, these were all good, but nothing that stood out as exemplary as with the savory stuff. Our only major complaint was the service. It was really spotty and while there was a very, very long gap in between when we got our water and then put in our drinks, but our mains came out almost directly after the salad. And the guy was just not very hospitable. Not necessarily a "bad" experience...it just could have been a lot better. Four stars, and we have already declared that we will be back again to "The Dip" because there is so much else on the menu that we want to try.

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    Yep. If you're reading this, you should just make that reservation and go... and yes, I would…read morerecommend a reservation because this place is pop-u-lar, and I see why. The space itself is bright and airy and a bit on the noisy side. But the service was very good, and the food was served quite quickly. I've been on a shakshuka kick lately, so I opted for the the Sweet Potato Shakshuka, which is described as: Sweet Potato Curry, with Chickpeas and Sunny Eggs with a the chicken add-on - gotta get that protein in, after all. This was one of the most unique shakshukas I'd ever had... It literally tasted like a curry dish you might get at your local Indian restaurant, with a bit of a brunch flair to it. The curry itself had a wee bit of spice and was a bit sweet - but that could have been from the sweet potatoes. The chicken was served in a bowl on the side, which felt a bit... odd... I would've expected it to be incorporated into the main dish. It was kind of bland and a bit lukewarm, so I don't know that I'd order that again... but I would definitely order this again!

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    Very good service! I will definitely come back to this place. All of Telma's recommendations were…read moreexcellent and she gave us great suggestions. The service she provided was outstanding!

    This place is sooo good! Perfect ambiance, the vibe is kind of a modern pub without being dark and…read moredreary, big comfortable booths, plenty of space to not feel like you're part of someone else's conversation. Honestly we were so pleasantly surprised by how good the burgers are! I had the Capital Burger which had such incredible flavor and the burger itself is thick and juicy. Despite having just had a big dinner somewhere else, as I write this, my mouth is watering. My daughter had the wild mushrooms burger and she loved it -- the aioli had the perfect tang to go with the mushroom and Swiss, both burgers were cooked perfectly medium as requested. The old fashioned was just your typical old fashioned with a slice of candied bacon attached to the outside of the glass. We were hoping for something smokier and a little different but it was still a very good Old Fashioned. We shared the chocolate mousse and it was perfection. Yum! If I lived here this would be my new regular spot.

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    The Smith - Potato Chips

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    Excellent lunch at The Smith! We came in for a late lunch without a reservation. We had our baby…read moreand stroller with us, and they were able to seat us with enough room for our stroller next to the table. We could tell that they had all the families with little kids grouped to one side of the restaurant, and we felt that was clever and convenient. The food was great! We both got salads. I loved the snap pea chicken salad. And my husband really liked the soba noodle salmon salad. He had a Bloody Mary, and I had a yummy mocktail. Everything was great, including the service!

    First, the service. Our waitress said they had "Coke products," so I ordered a Coke. I am from…read moreAtlanta, so you can't trick me. If that Coke wasn't a Pepsi, it was definitely a Coke Zero or Diet Coke. It tasted awful. Now, the food. The fries were pretty decent, but the au jus that came with my French dip wasn't hot, and it wasn't enough for the whole sandwich. The bread is supposed to get lost in the au jus with every bite. I had to ask for another boat. The menu said the sandwich had Gruyère, but if it was there, I couldn't taste it. I could taste horseradish and arugula. It wasn't worth the $33 menu price. The ambiance is a bit loud. The restaurant is very reverb-y, so I heard lots of talking (though some of it was probably due to the music's being too loud), but the waitstaff didn't compensate, so it was hard to hear their voices.

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    4.4(1.2k reviews)
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    Had a great dining experience and will definitely be back…read more From the complimentary deviled eggs to the salmon collar, glazed carrots, mushrooms, carrot cake, chocolate cake, root beer float, and buttermilk biscuits, the meal was full of standout dishes. The recommendation to pair the honey with the cheese on the biscuits was excellent and took an already great item to another level. The broccolini, coffee, and espresso shot were not our favorites of the evening, but honestly, the other dishes were so good that we quickly forgot about them. Every course seemed to have something memorable to offer. The bartender service was stellar throughout the night, attentive without being intrusive, and helped make the experience even more enjoyable. We left full, satisfied, and already talking about what we'd order on our next visit. Looking forward to coming back.

    Finally got to check out St. Anselm and it did not disappoint! It's a cool vibe for dinner with…read morefriends or even a date night. The staff are super attentive to everything going on. They made sure to keep our table clean and gave us new silverware and plates before or entrees arrived. Any food that we did not finish was boxed up and put into bags for us. The manager was actively walking around the restaurant, making sure that every guest were enjoying their dinner. The food was good all around but there are some dishes that outshine the rest. The ribeye and New York strip were very good. The butchers steak I got for my son and he didn't really like it, it was lacking flavor. If you do anything when you go, please make sure to get the biscuits. Hands down THE BEST BISCUITS I've ever had lol. They are the most flaky and buttery biscuits, you can count each layer that these have. Pro tip is to ask for butter and the house made jam. The pimento cheese is good with them but it becomes a little too decadent. Overall I'm happy we made the decision to come here, we will be back soon.

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    Great beer selection and a nice environment. Our servers were very friendly and I like when there…read moreis a QR code AND you can place orders as you go. Pretzel: These were amazing! The pimento cheese dip was great. Pulled pork nachos: Huge portion! These were also exceptional. BLT w/ tomato soup: "This hit the spot". Nashville Fried chicken sandwhich: I was quite disappointed in this, considering how good everything else was. The chicken was very dry and overly salty IMO. Not at all spicy either. Thyme fries: Loved these! Really cool flavor profile. I would happily come back and try a different entree.

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    Roaming Rooster - chickenshop - Updated July 2026

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