Chef Jon Sybert is the co-owner of Rye Bunny, a counter-service restaurant in Washington D.C., known for its fancy-fun comfort food. He previously co-owned the acclaimed Tail Up Goat and Reveler's Hour. Sybert is...
Rye Bunny is a hospitality-driven, counter-service restaurant in Washington D.C., known for its seasonal fare. It is helmed by award-winning chefs Jill Tyler and Jon Sybert, who are also behind the acclaimed Tail Up Goat. The unique service model involves ordering savory dishes at the counter upon arrival, followed by table service for drinks and desserts. The restaurant aims for a casual yet high-quality dining experience.
Customer Perception
Customer feedback is mixed but generally positive regarding food quality and ambiance. Many praise the delicious and fantastic food, particularly vegetable dishes, fried chicken, focaccia, and ravioli, as well as the friendly and knowledgeable staff. The atmosphere is often described as cozy, beautiful, and well-decorated. However, common criticisms include small portion sizes for the high prices, a sometimes confusing or stressful counter-service model, and occasionally disappointing desserts or small cocktail portions. Despite the casual vibe, the pricing is considered upscale.
Additional Details
Rye Bunny is a new venture from the team behind the well-regarded restaurant Tail Up Goat. They donate proceeds from two nightly OpenTable reservations to local charities, @doldc and @amica.center.
As a first-come, first-serve counter service spot for most tables, arriving early for walk-ins is advisable. They offer two nightly reservations via OpenTable, with proceeds benefiting local charities (@doldc and @amica.center).
Outstanding. From the moment you walk in we were greeted and had our drink order taken so while we waited to be seated we able to start enjoying our time at the restaurant. Our food order was placed before we sat down and the servers were very fast to bring out dishes at a reasonable rate. The food was outstanding and fun. It felt like everything on the menu would have satisfied our want for an enjoyable dinner. The restaurant space is very very cute and located in a beautiful neighborhood. Would return and recommend
TLDR: Get there early as the line builds, but the wait is completely worth it. Rye Bunny offers a warm, remarkably intentional dining experience with service that makes you feel at home and food that is genuinely laugh out loud good. Jill, Chef Jon, Nicholas, an the rest of the team are worth it to visit alone.
When you arrive, you're met with warmth, a quick introduction to their concept, and a drink order right away to pass the time. The space feels like an upscale home; unpretentious, almost like sitting under a tent, paired with an upscale dining experience.
What really sets Rye Bunny apart is the intentionality behind the service. You notice it in the heft of the silverware and the perfectly chilled cider glass. Jill checked in multiple times. It genuinely feels like eating in the home of someone who cares about you, yet they haven't lost their fine-dining polish. They replaced plates after every course and folded our napkins when people got up. They also had my strict dietary restrictions completely mapped out before I even ordered and everyone on staff just knew exactly who I was without me having to explain a thing.
I came back a second time and everything, from the bites to the service was just as good as the first. Highly recommend.
Food: 5/5
Service: 5/5
Price Point: 4.5/5
Atmosphere: 5/5
Overall: 5/5
5
Was lucky enough to win a pre opening dinner from an Instagram giveaway. Food was incredible and the vibes were amazing. you walk up and order whatever you want at the counter and they walk you through the menu and the order every dish will come out in, and then when you sit you have a server checking on you the entire time if you want to order more.
the vibes and atmosphere are amazing. think “cozy kitchen with your best friends” with some of the best food you’ve ever had. the staff was so friendly and knowledgeable about the menu. the food was delicious and i want to go back and try the rest of the menu.
MUST order potatoes, fried chicken, ravioli + focaccia (dip the bread in the sauce!), grilled beef
5
the food was really fantastic! no doubting that. really solid cocktail and wine menu, loved all the vegetable dishes, and a fantastic angel food chocolate cake at the end.
the counter service vibe combined with the decor makes it seem much more casual than it actually is. expect a hefty bill, each dish is $20-40 per dish for quite small portions. this is a beautiful meal for a small appetite — but not fine dining. 5 people and the whole menu - like 15 dishes, was apparently appropriate lol.
definitely would still recommend, the kitchen is doing great work! but go in knowing it’s $$.
2
I went with a group of friends to try Rye Bunny, and sadly it was a very disappointing experience.
The set-up: You cannot make reservations and it is partially counter service. All guests must order all of their savory food immediately at the counter. However, after doing so they have a waiter and put in drink or dessert orders with a waiter. Why have a separate line that complicates the process and puts so much pressure on the party to decide in seconds everything they will want that night? We all found the model baffling and, in the case of a friend with a mobility issue, frustrating.
The interior: Beautiful, spacious, and well-decorated. There are a few larger tables (we were at one that seated 6), but for the most part it's better suited to small parties.
The staff: kind and helpful, albeit definitely stressed about getting us to decide what we wanted to order as quickly as possible upon entering. It felt like a poor set-up for everyone involved, both staff and diners, especially since dishes came out at a fairly desultory pace after that and the wait staff were around constantly and could have easily taken additional orders at the table.
The drinks: my friend's cocktail was insultingly small. The picture attached is the full, untouched drink. None of us had ever seen a stingier portion for such an expensive drink. They frankly need to fix this - it started the meal off on a horrible note as we all looked at it being brought out and wondered what we were in for. Unfortunately, that feeling turned out to be accurate.
The food: The savory food tasted good, though it sadly wasn't outstanding or memorable, but the portion sizes were minuscule for the price. We were told the portion size increased as you went further down the menu, but that ended up not being true - particularly for vegetarians, this menu is not designed to have any larger plates; the only thing that goes up is the price. We enjoyed the cheesy potato pancake and the beets. The wild greens ravioli was good but definitely missing something (a squeeze of lemon? Anything to make it less one-note), and again it was five (5) tiny pieces of ravioli for $28. The maitake mushroom was the worst offender of the night: $30 for one teeny bunch of maitake that you could have bought at the grocery store for $3. It was fine but again, not memorable, and at that price and miniature size for the only vegetarian "large plate" it needed to be. The fried chicken tasted very good and had fantastic sauces, but for $29 there is simply no reason it couldn't have come with rice or bread to fill out the dish, which as it was was a tiny serving of chicken. Rice costs virtually nothing. Why serve unsatisfying dishes like this?
The only bad food was the dessert. I'd seen early raves about the chocolate cloud cake and I honestly don't know what they ate, but it can't have been what we were served. It was objectively bad: the angel food cake was dry and had an unfortunate texture. It did not pair at all well with the sauce. The whipped cream tasted good, which is the only good thing I have to say about this cake. People at our table wondered if it hadn't maybe been baked earlier in the week and left to sit out for days to get stale. The creme brulee was overbaked and had an unpleasant texture. All 6 of us were shocked at how bad the desserts were from a technical standpoint: they were significantly worse than even the quality of cakes you'd get at a grocery store. I forced myself to eat everything because it cost so much. I can't believe the people making them have eaten them. I wish restaurants would think about last impressions when they put out a poor dessert menu like this, but then I'd hope they'd think about poor first impressions when they make cocktails like the one my friend was served.
This restaurant was billed as a more casual, affordable version of Tail Up Goat, but it's equally expensive with much worse quality with a baffling and needlessly stressful counter-service model. Service and atmosphere are wonderful. I hope they improve everything else.
