If you've been to the ESPN Zone in Baltimore, you know what to expect from the ESPN Zone at 11th and E NW. If not, well, it's sensory overload. Everywhere you look -- hanging from the ceiling in every alcove and corner -- there's a television, tuned to a different sporting event. Seven over the bar. One over each urinal in the men's room. More than 200 in all.
There are three different, noisy, pulsing levels here, and each can stand independently as an attraction. When you walk in, it's the Sporting Grill, a restaurant that features replicas of the "SportsCenter," "NBA 2Night" and "NFL Countdown" sets. You can sit in Dan Patrick's seat while you enjoy a steak and a brewski. But reservations aren't taken, so be prepared to wait.
The second floor is the Screening Room, which is the big attraction. The room is dominated by a giant 16-foot video screen, with six 36-inch screens stacked on either side of it, all showing different channels. Tables are arranged in tiers in front of the screen, and each has speakers placed on the headrest to allow diners to control which audio feed they hear. For example, you can listen to the news on "SportsCenter" while watching the NCAA tournament action. It's an ingenious concept, and a sports fan's dream. You do need to see a server to get one of these tables, though, and they're first-come, first-served. Then again, you don't get kicked out of them when you're done eating -- an incentive to keep ordering beers and watching the game(s).
In addition, a string of question-and-answer sessions with ESPN personalities will be held here via closed-circuit television. Schedules will be posted at the restaurant.
This is also where the main bar is, and it's overworked and understaffed. There are 12 draft beers, and while the frosted 22-ounce mugs are great, prices average around $7 each. Seats are scattered around the floor, so get a beer, wander past the pool tables, and find a set showing something that interests you.
The lower level has all kinds of games, most of which are interactive. Think Dave and Buster's with a "Jock Rock" soundtrack: virtual skateboarding, putting greens, accurate-football-passing games, accurate-hockey-slapshot areas. Great fun, but expensive.
What was most impressive was the diversity of people crowding the bar to watch the Wizards and Raptors (or Wake and Tulane, or whatever else was on). Young men in baseball caps and jeans, couples on their way home from work, a bowling team, groups of students on a school trip. This place is a bigger melting pot than almost anywhere else in Washington. If it takes sports to bring everyone together, we're all for it.
But here come the caveats. It takes forever to be served at the main bar -- there's only one on the Screening Room floor -- and still more time when you want to close your tab. Dinner reservations aren't taken, so if you want to eat here, your schedule should be pretty loose. The staff indicated about a 60-70 minute wait at 8:30 on a Tuesday evening. There's a gift shop. (One of my mother's rules when traveling in Europe is to avoid restaurants with gift shops. Sage advice, that.) And, of course, there's no sense trying to bring a date or even have a conversation. Take the noise from the main sports broadcast, add everyone else fighting to be heard over it, plus the noise from the arcade downstairs, and you have a cacophony that will not be to everyone's liking.
But that's not the point. ESPN Zone is a place for watching the game and having a Bud. True.
-- Fritz Hahn
