MASON SOCIAL
ADDRESS: 728 N Henry Street, Alexandria, VA 22314
WEBSITE: http://www.mason-social.com/
Before heading back into DC for our second full day of our trip, we decided to go and get brunch at Mason Social in Alexandria, at the recommendation of my friends Mario and Kiera. We were within Sunday brunch timeframe, so we ended up making a reservation just in case it turned out to be pretty packed. It still worked out in the end, as there was a moderate crowd when we got there. But by the time we were leaving, the place was jam-packed.
Once inside the restaurant, you’ll find it seems like there are two different dining areas: the more casual one in the front, and then the more elegant one in the back. It definitely looked like there was a way to partition off the two spaces, likely if people wanted to rent out the back area to host an event or something. Either way, both seating areas had a nice décor to them, with a mix between wood and brick elements while also having really good lighting layouts. The front area benefited from the natural lighting, while the back solely used track lights or fixtures.
We were greeted at the hostess stand by two women, and the immediate vibe that I got from them was that we were an inconvenience to them for stopping in. Definitely felt a little odd to start off our experience, but we were shown to one of the longer tables out in the front area to get seated immediately.
Their full page brunch menu definitely provided a lot of different options to sort through initially. I’m usually either an omelette or eggs benedict person when it comes to ordering breakfast food, but both the Chicken & Waffles and Brisket Hash were two other dishes that caught my attention. I went back and forth between them before ending up choosing the chicken & waffles. There’s just something about that dish where I enjoy checking out different restaurants’ takes on it. But nothing has come close up to this point of matching how much I enjoyed the dish from Miss Shirley’s in Annapolis.
Our waitress, Gwen, was one of the women who had greeted us at the hostess stand; the cold, distant demeanor carried over from that initial interaction as she was taking our orders. To her credit, however, she did make the effort to check in with us during the course of the meal to see if we needed anything. The time ended up passing pretty quickly, as it was about 20 minutes or so before we ended up getting the food for our entire table.
I will admit that I was a little underwhelmed when the chicken & waffle plate first got set in front of me. The waffle itself was the standard size from one of those waffle irons, but the piece of fried chicken on top was probably no bigger than a large chicken tender you might get at Raising Cane’s or something like that. For $24, I definitely had some major eater’s remorse, especially after seeing the brisket hash that one of my friends had gotten, which was the other dish I was strongly considering.
From a taste perspective, however, it was good, with the breading nice and crisp while the chicken stayed moist on the inside. The sweet and spicy combination of using the maple syrup and hot sauce was a good touch (along with some melted butter), helping to provide some additional moisture to each bite. If there were two large pieces of the fried chicken, I could have leaned towards agreeing with the $24. But for what I got, I’d say that’s probably worth closer to $14 – $16. On another note, the $6 bowl of home fries that I got to supplement the main entrée was solid, also mixing in some peppers and onions along with the potatoes. They were seasoned well and exactly what I needed to offset some of my disappointment.
Ironically, it was during the previous high school reunion trip in Chicago where I had a disappointing plate of chicken & waffle at a place called Chicago Waffles. I guess I was due for another repeat of that during this high school reunion trip. I really liked the atmosphere of the place and the food did taste pretty good, but unfortunately the service and pricing of the food holds this place back. I wouldn’t have issues with returning back here if others wanted to go, but it’s not a place that I would recommend on my own.
Let’s now take a look at the Mason Social Dish Spotlight. Asterisks (*) below mark my recommended dishes.
Chicken & Waffle
Fried chicken served on top of a waffle, with maple syrup, butter, and hot sauce.
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** Home Fries **
Roasted potatoes with peppers and onions, served with ketchup.
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And finally, here are my rankings for Mason Social:
Food: 4.25 / 5
The taste of the food was there, with the quality of the chicken and waffle plate along with the home fries being pretty solid. I did also like that the brunch menu offered a pretty decent variety of options to pick from, depending on your mood.
Atmosphere: 4.5 / 5
It was nice to have the slight contrast between the two areas, where the front was more casual and the back felt a little more upscale. The mixture of the wood, brick, and lighting elements to help bring a modern feel to the ambiance was well done.
Service: 3 / 5
Our overall impression did not give off a welcoming feel as we would have expected. Our waitress Gwen did feel rather cold and distant when interacting with us. On the flip side, I thought that the kitchen did a good job with turning out our table’s large order of food in a reasonable amount of time.
Price: 2.25 / 5
I cannot get over that $24 plate of chicken and waffle. In that photo of the two dishes within the main write-up, you’re looking at $30 worth of food. The value wasn’t there as much for what I had ordered, but other items on the menu do appear to be more reasonably priced, it seems.
Overall:
14 / 20
(70%)
Categories: Restaurants, Virginia
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