Wash DC: Area around Ben's Chilli Bowl
 

Is this area safe at mid-day for two women...will be parking in a nearby parking lot and walking to the restaurant.

Yes, utterly. It went through a period of being sketchy, but that was a long time ago. It's a bustling area, the U Street corridor.

Yes, it is a safe area these days. It is right across from the U Street/Cardoza metro stop if you don't want to bother driving.

TY all for help. Would LOVE to use Metro, but this will be part of a day trip which includes areas not accessible by Metro...sigh!

Ben's Chili Bowl was great!

Thanks, pollyvw :-)

You are most welcome. Recommend about 2 to 2:30 to avoid the LONG line.

Parking is quite a challenge in that area. In some blocks, one side of the street is off limits to any vehicle that lacks a local residential parking sticker. Read the signs carefully.

LOL! Tell me about it. I have a $30 ticket on my desk that I still need to pay. High for parking, but not for the experience.

<<<I have a $30 ticket on my desk that I still need to pay>>>

That's an expensive bowl of chili though! (we took the metro)

>>I have a $30 ticket on my desk that I still need to pay. High for parking, but not for the experience.<<

Ooh, sorry to hear that. Do remember to pay it on time. A reminder from your good buddies in parking enforcement will be significantly pricier.

Ben's is a hoot.

sf...would have taken Metro, but our two other stops that day were not metro accessible. Yes...expensive for chili, but not for the experience. I have spent more and received less pleasure for it. No complaints here. :-) Life is good.

I luz me some Ben's. I went to Howard, so I enjoyed it often :D

polly had it well planned...but the parking garage she scouted out was under demo/renovation. It was a great experience! So glad she suggested it and loved the smoke dawg at Ben's :-)

Parking shouldn't bee too tough. If you can't find anything on U Street at a meter, just drive around a few of the nearby small streets, and you should be able to find something since it will be in the middle of the day. kayd is so right about the signs though. Parking fines have been a hallowed source of revenue in DC for a long time! But even though most streets are restricted for residents, they mostly allow non-residents to park for an hour or two. The neighborhood is fine.

We tried that. We talked to one meter maid and she said she would not ticket us.
Another one did.

No, what I mean is, the signs indicate that cars without resident stickers can only park for an hour, or maybe two hours. I'm pretty sure that there really aren't any areas where non-residents aren't allowed to park at all. But if you go over the time limit they will ticket you for sure.

We weren't there more than an hour.

Residential parking in DC permits cars without a residential sticker to park for up to two hours. Is it possible you were in violation of one of the many other parking restrictions? Of course DC is notorious for issuing unjustified tickets.

We parked two blocks up on a side street. We didn't see any signs but wondered if it were residential only. We walked a block and there was a meter maid on a segway. Polly asked her and the mm said there might have been a sign on the corner. She said they she would not ticket us but couldn't promise that someone else wouldn't. The parking garage was under reno and we had driven around looking for a parking spot. We took a calculated risk. We lost. I offered to split the cost of the ticket with Polly. It was expensive parking but in the afternoon on a very hot day (almost 90 degrees in April) it was pretty much worth it. That's not a recommendation for others to do the same thing. ;)

Face it starrs, you just didn't wolf down that half smoke with chili quick enough!