Soussi
2228 18th St. N.W.

The weather is beautiful. The temperature is calm, the breeze is crisp, and it just feels right to be outside this time of year. Before we know it, fall is going to turn to winter, and making a trip outside my apartment, let alone to any bar, is going to seem like a chore.

And since I couldn’t remember a time when the weather has been this nice in D.C. this many days in a row, I opted out of Senior Night at Lucky Bar as well as the usual “Group Therapy” at Tom Tom to go experience a more laid-back scene while enjoying the wonderful D.C. night air.

Walking up 18th Street in Adams Morgan can be tiresome, so when we caught a glimpse of a nice outside patio at the corner of Kalorama Road, we stopped in at the bar: Soussi. The staff was friendly and helped us to an outside table, handing us the drink and dinner menu. Entrees averaged about $15 and small plates at $8, but nothing looked spectacular and I had already eaten.

The cocktail menu looked much more appetizing with martinis ranging from $7.25 to $9. The most interesting-sounding drink was the ginger vanilla martini made with vanilla vodka and a splash of ginger. Seeing as I was in a summertime mood, however, I opted for the watermelon-tini.

The drinks arrived and I was disappointed from the start – because as we all know, size matters. And when the waitress delivered my $8 watermelon-tini I felt a little shortchanged.

Unfortunately, the taste wasn’t spectacular either.

I wasn’t the only one disappointed with my drink. Complaints of not-cold-enough beer and other small cocktails were muttered among friends. As we sat and debated our next plan of attack, our nostrils filled with the familiar scent of hookah tobacco. Soussi’s large patio is not just a place to wine and dine but also to enjoy a nice tobacco water pipe. Though I cannot think of a more relaxing way to spend an evening like this – with $15 per hookah – we decided our money might be better spent at another bar.

I picked up a dinner menu again, and while the waitress told me that the kitchen had closed for the evening, I tucked Soussi’s into my memory for a cold winter night when I want to heat things up.

Bar Belle Rating: 2/4