It's not the greatest location for bars etc. but it's also not a bad location. You have a lot of options for food as many have mentioned, but union station at noon is pretty packed, plus in the spring you have to deal with hordes of kids.

The NoMa area has a lot of food trucks, and several restaurants.
There is violence and robberies in the NoMa area. A person in our office was robbed at gunpoint on K and 1st at 3 pm.

Otherwise, there are many worse places to work at.

Anonymous wrote:You can also walk over to H street and there are some lunch options there. I like the Nando's and if I have time I like to take the free streetcar to the other side of H street to have lunch at Maketto's.

Zillow says that's an 11 minute walk from the front of union station. All the offices are west and south of there, so you're talking 15 minutes to walk to nandos. No one who works here goes to H street.

Anonymous wrote:Food: No good sit down restaurants, but lots of fast casual options.

Shopping: Not great, but decent if you need a last-minute gift. L'occitane, MAC, Papyrus, The Art of Shaving, Victoria's Secret, Body Shop, Ann Taylor, more here - http://www.unionstationdc.com/directory

Commuting: Super convenient if you have a train or flight in the middle of the day or after work, as you can take your luggage with you to work and hop on metro/train.

I don't understand how this is "No lunchtime shopping whatsover. . . " Curious how much time above PP has for lunch.

Because all those stores are "gift" stores that are specifically set up for tourists to grab and go. Not real life stores. When working at metro center you have: macys, anhtro, j crew, banana, ann taylor, tj maxx, gap, ross, shoe stores, zara, h&m, forever21, cvs, walgreens, eyeglass stores, salons, banks. So at lunch, you say to a colleague: hey, let's run to tj maxx for twenty minutes. Or, I need a pair of shoes or new bed sheets so let's go to macys. At union station, you might as well be working in a strip mall in Herndon. Big difference, esp because most of the employers at union station are employers that used to be at metro center or K street -- so it's a step down in convenience for employees.

Signed, an employee who's about to go to Pret at union station for the 37th day in a row because au bon pain and sbarro are gross, and the line is insane at chopt and chipotle.

Union Market is a quick uber drive away.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:By the way, I just had a salad at Thunder Grill in Union Station and it was fine.

Yeah, the rats don't like lettuce.

They have rats all over DC, including Dupont Circle, 14th Street, and Georgetown.

You can also walk over to H street and there are some lunch options there. I like the Nando's and if I have time I like to take the free streetcar to the other side of H street to have lunch at Maketto's.

Anonymous wrote:By the way, I just had a salad at Thunder Grill in Union Station and it was fine.

Yeah, the rats don't like lettuce.

By the way, I just had a salad at Thunder Grill in Union Station and it was fine.

Food: No good sit down restaurants, but lots of fast casual options.

Shopping: Not great, but decent if you need a last-minute gift. L'occitane, MAC, Papyrus, The Art of Shaving, Victoria's Secret, Body Shop, Ann Taylor, more here - http://www.unionstationdc.com/directory

Commuting: Super convenient if you have a train or flight in the middle of the day or after work, as you can take your luggage with you to work and hop on metro/train.

I don't understand how this is "No lunchtime shopping whatsover. . . " Curious how much time above PP has for lunch.

Easy to get here, but parking is expensive if you're driving. The food options are okay, and the new H St. Whole Foods is awesome.

My firm moved here from metro center a few years ago. The general consensus from almost everyone is that union station sucks compared to where we used to be.

There are several lunch options at union station, but union station is a fair walk from any offices (versus metro center, where there is always a couple restaurants on the ground floor of every building). As others said, LOTS of homeless and panhandlers around, and so many tourists, and union station is so chaotic, so my colleagues almost never walk to get lunch there. A lot of people started bringing from home. Food trucks help. Other than union station, there's a Philip's café, Corner Bakery, Bistro Bis, Art & Soul, and everything else starts being a farther walk.

If you are on commuter rail or red line, public transportation options are great. I gather the drive from Virginia is pretty good. Driving from Maryland is terrible. I live near U street in DC, and finally gave up on public transport because it was often taking an hour (metro delays; and no bus routes that run diagonal in the city).

No lunchtime shopping whatsoever, save for the Walgreens in the basement of union station, a handful of small-scale stores in union station (ann taylor, victorias secret, mac and a few other randoms). Walmart is within walking distance. People think of that new development at K and 5th (safeway, restaurants etc) as being in the same neighborhood, but those 5 blocks are super long blocks and cross the highway, so it's either 20 minutes to walk to there or 5 minute cab. No hair salon, nail place, etc that you can just run down to for lunch. No banks, no other services.

In sum, getting here is okay. Once you're here, absolutely nothing to do. Unless people are going to the foodtrucks, most people don't leave their offices during the day.

Anonymous wrote:

bad: security, bomb threats, homeless people with nowhere to go, tourist hordes, protestors, noxious senate staffers at happy hours

good: food truck lineup outside 20Mass is the bomb-diggity, Toscana café. ready access to public transit. picnic lunch on the mall in pleasant autumn weather. and for your convenience even if it otherwise sucks: walmart.

honestly, a few years ago, the food options were limited to the food court and handful of mediocre restaurants. and anything else was a metro ride away. not so anymore. so, naturally, my office is moving to cheaper real estate, alas.

+1 to all of the above. Plus, there's a bikeshare station right there which increases your range for lunch options possibly to include union market. I've been working here over a decade and it's a great location.

bad: security, bomb threats, homeless people with nowhere to go, tourist hordes, protestors, noxious senate staffers at happy hours

good: food truck lineup outside 20Mass is the bomb-diggity, Toscana café. ready access to public transit. picnic lunch on the mall in pleasant autumn weather. and for your convenience even if it otherwise sucks: walmart.

honestly, a few years ago, the food options were limited to the food court and handful of mediocre restaurants. and anything else was a metro ride away. not so anymore. so, naturally, my office is moving to cheaper real estate, alas.

The commuting options are amazing (MARC, VRE and Metro). The VRE is so much nicer than the metro albeit a little more expensive but this also allows me to live a little further out and still have a reasonable commute. Also, there's a Giant nearby so if you need to grab a few things during your lunch hour it's very convenient. There's also a fair number of places to eat in Union Station if you don't bring your lunch.

If you hate crowds that's probably a negative because there's often people lined up for Amtrak and you have to dodge through them and their luggage. Another negative is that there's always a panhandler down by the McDonalds.

Thanks!