I had one night at the adjacent Resident Inn and being tired did not want to walk far for dinner alone. My previous experiences at Mimi’s had been mixed, and against my better judgment decided to give Stars a try.

I was seated quickly enough at 8:05 p.m. The restaurant had few diners inside even though the sidewalk seating seemed pretty active.

I ordered one wine and after a few minutes wait was told was not in. I asked for the second and the waiter said “We are out of a lot of wines.” Giving up, I asked her to bring me a glass of house red.

It took so long that I began to calculate a “get up and walk out” time. Finally, just before my deadline, she appeared with the house wine. No complaints with the wine. It was reasonably good. It had certainly been aged a few extra minutes.

3 interjections: (1) I was never offered any bread or asked if I wanted a salad or appetizer. (2) No new diners came in from 8:05 until 8:24. I thought this rather odd in such a bustling area on a Friday night. (3) A nearby diner appeared to return to the kitchen a mussel dish. I did not wish to intrude or be too obvious, so I can not verify the cause of this apparent return.

My entree was an aged beef tenderloin with a wine demi-glaze sauce. Under it were helpings of spinach and potatoes. I ordered the beef medium rare, but the cut was so thin the request was pointless. The sauce overpowered the meat and gave it a salty, frozen dinner flavor—certainly not the one I expect with a premium piece of beef.

The singing? Well, it seemed to be “rare” between 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m., but what I heard wasn’t bad. I would have enjoyed it more if it had been over an excellent meal rather than a mediocre one.

Jurys Washington is perhaps my favorite hotel in DC and I love the excellent breakfast buffet.

This buffet is not the “Dupont Grille” that you get at lunch and especially evening.

I will review an evening meal at a later time.

I have walked by this restaurant many times without considering it as a real option. This past weekend I took the walk upstairs and was very pleasantly surprised.

The interior is simple, not distinguised, but there was a little table in the corner of the bay window that juts out a bit with a view of P Street and I was seated there. I faced the street and did not get a feel for the restaurant which was behind me.

My wait-peson was quickly attentive, but didn’t quite want to wait while I poured through the menu trying to decide what a single diner should order. She was very pleasant though and didn’t rush me.

I am not a sushi gourmet so I want to be cautious in my review. I think it is a very good restaurant, but I don’t consider it as particularly distinguished.

The window view was nice and occasionally passers-by would wave.

Afterwords is a fun place to go even though it is not my favorite restaurant by any means. However, last Saturday (29-Mar-08) I ordered a Jumbo Lump Crab Quesadilla ($14.95) and thoroughly enjoyed it.

The lump crab portion was generous; the quesadilla was just the right texture. (Serving is 2 quesadillas)

I barely remember the side or two that came with it because I focused almost totally on the main dish.

Abby, my wait-person, suggested this entree because it apparently is one of her favorites. She was a great waiter, and gave good attention to me. (I was alone so I sat at the bar.)