Restaurant Finder
Rasika
| Address | 633 D St., Washington, DC 20004 |
|---|---|
| Phone | (202) 637-1222 |
| Fax | (202) 637-2444 |
Rater Comments
Review by caphillstyle on September 23, 2009
The key to eating at Rasika is being willing to try new things. It's very easy to fall into a pattern ordering palaak chat and chicken biryani every visit, but while you may enjoy you're meal you're doing yourself a disservice.
It may not sound very exciting, but the black cod is a phenomenal mix of sweet and savory that is a real treat. The Tawa Baignan is a savory, crunchy, slightly spicy comfort food that you will crave day and night. As for a cocktail, the restaurant has the best pisco sour I have had outside of Peru. And if you have room for dessert the toffee pudding with fresh berries feels healthy and sinful all at the same time.
Review by discojing on September 3, 2009
Rasika lives up to its one-of-a-kind website. (you *really* need to go and look at it, it’s amazing). It’s located in a part of Penn Quarter that I’ve never been to, maybe it’s the “real” Penn Quarter because its accessible by the Penn Quarter metro. I don’t know how I feel about the close proximity to it’s cousin ‘701’ which I know nothing about except that it’s mentioned on their website. But if its like other great restaurants (Great American restaurants), they can have them as many and as close as they want!
The glass doors open onto another set of doors, draped by oversized curtains (it’s a little clumsy getting into it). We arrived with a reservation at 6:15 and were seated in the front part of the restaurant (bordering a gauzy curtain that separated us from the back part of the restaurant but facing the glass windows to the street). Where we sat was well lit (I could snap a few pictures off) before they dimmed the lights at 6:30.
Our waiter filled our water, left and came back while we decided on food/drinks and then took our orders of Kingfisher and a “Chocolate Bunny”[too much alcohol] and an order of Garlic Naan that came with a mint chutney and sweet chutney (tamarind based I think). He brought them back a minute or two after the 630 cut-off for the three course pre-theater dinner menu ($30 each) to take our order, but didn’t even look at his watch. (After debating with myself on whether or not I wanted the pre-theater menu, I was antsy he wouldn’t let us since it was no longer 630).
Our tasting menus consisted of: first course: Kokum Scallops (coconut milk/garlic/cumin) and harra bharra tikka (chicken/mint/basil/cilantro), second course: lamb rizala (cashew nutes/cardamom/desiccated coconut) and tandoori salmon (atlantic salmon/cinnamon/black pepper) with a side of kela tamatar kut(banana dumpling/tomatoes.onion&mustard seed), third course: carrot halwa with cinnamon sabayon and gulab jamun with ice cream (plus bonus free gulab jamun for my birthday with a candle in it!).
The scallops had a great coconut milk sauce on them and they were free of any viens/grit or anything else that would have thrown me off. The chicken (harra bharra tikka, as recommended by our waiter) was great tasting! I loved how you could taste the flavor of the grill (in a good way, not like something doused with lighter fluid, but something that had been cooked correctly and with patience), and the texture was great!
The lam rizala, which had a square of edible silver leaf on top, was also delicious. I like how it was served with the rice separate so that I could dish out as much sauce/rice/lamb ratio as I liked. The rice was nice, fluffy, and natural, with no butter in sight. Salmon was an interesting protein choice for tandoori, but it tasted delicious. It wasn’t doused in sauce, and though it could use a little more flavor, it was a lot of food – at least twice what I though would have come as part of a three course dinner. The banana dumpling I had envisioned was, and I don’t know why, a pan seared or fried ‘gyoza’ style wrapper with crispy, sweet, banana inside (and I don’t know why—maybe because I didn’t read the menu after I saw ‘banana dumpling’). It was a tomato sauce that seemed like it belonged on some Italian dish or a breadsitick, and it overwhelmed the dumpling, which was a fried mound of some substance that tasted flavorless (not in a bad way). I was surprised at how meaty the banana was and how flavorless it was. Though, banana’s flavor does tend to be very weak. I quickly removed the 1-side-order-dumpling-that-was-$7 from its cute little dish and intended to eat it with some rice, but before I knew it, I was too full to eat the rest!
I had a hankering for a Forbidden City Tea (Long Island Iced Tea with Chai syrup) and one of their drinks had ‘masala chai’ in it, so I asked our waiter if I could try a long island iced tea with the chai tea on top (they have a nice, full service bar). A complimentary gulab jamun came with a candle in it (yep, emphasizing it again ^_^) and our server wished me a happy birthday. The gulab jamun’s intent was great, but it was left on either side of the ice cream to sit in a compartment of very very very sweet syrup which rendered the crispy fried dough a little soggy and way too sweet (for lack of better word) for me. Let alone two orders of it! If I would have known we would get this dessert free (as recommended by multiple friends), I would have ordered the only other choice on the three course menu, assorted sorbet. I think I had something like this at an Indian buffet in the Herndon area, except it was just drizzled with the syrup instead of drowning in it.
Unfortunately, I was far too full at this point to take more than a few bites of my carrot cake, so I can’t offer an accurate opinion of it. It reminded me of something like a bread pudding, and I was surprised at how substantial it tasted. We boxed up our bread basket of naan (which comes complimentary with the meal), the half-eaten banana dumpling, and my lamb leftovers to take home, but I forgot them at the table!!! And I had such great plans for those leftovers.
I can’t say how much of a “deal” the tasting menu is, but considering one drink is $12 here, I would think $30 for three courses is great! Though I don’t crave Indian food like I do Chinese or Japanese food, I don’t avoid going to Indian restaurants (like.. Italian places). My boyfriend had expressed that he would go here in the near future, whether it was with me or his brother, so I took the last days of fall and my birthday as an excuse to beat his bro and had a lot of fun doin it.
Review by audreys on September 2, 2009
I went to Rasika with two other couples, and between the 6 of us, we ordered quite a bit of food - most of it was very good, but nothing was so outstanding. Their menu is split between small plates/street food and traditional Indian dishes. Though everything we ate was good, the bottom line for me was that if you want small plates/street food type things, go to Heritage India cause its better and cheaper; if you want regular indian food, you can go to may other places around town and get an equally good meal for less.
As for specific food, of the appetizers we had, the fried spinach (which was highly recommended by our waiter) we good, but the avocado chaat (also recommended) was basically just a pile of mashed avocado. For mains, a few in our party ordered the green curry chicken - described by our waiter as the spiciest thing on the menu - which was medium at best. I did enjoy ordering the small portions of their vegetarian dishes - a nice option.
Review by eae430 on May 4, 2009
I started with a wonderful cocktail - HOT green chili-infused gin with lime and simple syrup. My friend had a mango cosmo which was excellent as well. We had an Indian bread basket with 3 chutneys which were spectacular, a lentil rice onion pancake with capers and coconut chutney - delicious, and the most amazing dish of the night which is really hard to picture unless you've had it, crispy spinach with sweet yogurt, tamarind and date chutney. I had black cod, friend had tandoori lamb, and we had a side dish I was crazy about -- smoked eggplant with ginger and green chilis. We shared a date and toffee pudding with berries which was very good. Oh, and a bottle of wine, of course.
I ordered the black cod because people in my office were RAVING about it. I was rather disappointed. Mind you, it was a very nicely cooked piece of fish done with dill, honey, star-anise and red wine vinegar. I certainly had no trouble polishing it off, but it wasn't far enough off the beaten path to excite me. Friend's tandoori lamb was very good, but rather tiny I thought. I would love to go back to this place and explore side dishes and appetizers and not do an entree.
Wonderful restaurant -- really hard to get into. Call weeks in advance if you want a weekend evening.
Review by joanog on February 23, 2008
Rasika is a phenomenol restaurant- one of my favorite dining destinations in DC. Their palak chaat is incredible and a must-have. It is one of those dishes that you will have cravings for. The food is visually stunning and service is great. The sommelier is particularly helpful and they have a great selection of wines to compliment their menu.
Review by jennynathan on January 16, 2008
I lunched at Rasika for Restaurant Week and was extremely pleased. I was able to find ample options for my appetizer (chicken tikka), entree (a lamb dish), and dessert (honey ginger ice cream). The service was really fantastic. Our server brought me a second Diet Coke before I had even finished half of my first! I thought that the meat was extremely tender and delicious, the presentation was beautiful, and the ambiance was really pleasant. As for portions -- I filled up on half of my lamb, and was given extra naan and rice to accompany my leftovers at home.
Review by Sue on December 25, 2007
Any restaurant that has as classy and creative a web site as Rasika (www.rasikarestaurant.com), I figured, is probably extremely attentive to details regarding the food as well. How right I was. From the modern décor, including glass chandelier beads as a room divider, to the conversation-piece silverware to the knowledgeable waiter to the “where do I begin” comprehensive menu and subsequent exceptional quality food, Rasika lived up to everything I’d already heard about it. The menu is familiar to those who already love Indian food but includes dishes never before seen in a traditional Indian restaurant: asparagus uttapam (from the griddle section), sliced asparagus with spices served over a rice lentil pancake with coconut chutney (my favorite of the three small dishes I tried); broccoli cashewnut poriyal (a vegetarian entrée or side), essentially a bowl of the best tasting broccoli you’ve ever had in a restaurant, served with grated coconut, lentils, and mustard; sev patata puri (from the savories section), crispy biscuits (which I admit reminded me a little of shredded wheat) with potatoes, mangoes, vermicelli, and chutneys; and more. A champagne toast with candied ginger was a nice start, and the apple beignet and gulab jamun (sweet lentil flour ball), both served with cardamom ice cream, were a nice close. There’s nothing I’d change about Rasika—-except its popularity; this was the first time I could get a reservation on a choice night with less than a month’s notice.
Review by dclizzy83 on April 8, 2007
For a nice dinner out that that won't break the bank, Rasika definitely fits the bill. The City Paper review is right on about the Palak Chaat. I never would have thought to order it, but it was heavenly. The lamb masala was also excellent, but spicier than I am used to. I think the menu items were maybe a dollar or two more expensive than I would have expected, but overall a very good experience.
Review by fsuboy81 on July 22, 2006
Don't be fooled by the chic decor! Although Rasika's decor is enticing, I cannot say the same about the food. I met the boy there for lunch recently and our tastebuds were not pleased (neither were our wallets). We ordered the "ragda patties" as an appetizer. Three things were wrong with the dish: first, there weren't "patties", there was "patty"; two, there was more salt in the chickpeas than all of the oceans; and three, it wasn't appetizing. For the main course, I had the promising dum ka duck and the boy had the chicken makhani. The duck was a failure of a dish! I could no taste the sweet, wild taste of the duck breast through the glue-tasting sauce it was submerged in. The boy's chicken makhani was an also-ran compared to others had in similar establishments. It was a shame that the food did not match the decor or the price!!! I say, go there for a drink at their stylish bar, but skip the food.
- Crafty Bastards!
Blog
- Win Advance Screening Passes to Transylmania
- Win Tickets to Chris Brown
- Win A Copy of the Unwigged & Unplugged Concert DVD!
- Win a copy of Bruno on DVD
- Win Tickets to See Seasonal Disorder
- Win tickets to see IMusical
- Win Run of Engagement Passes to see The Road
- Win a $50 Gift Certificate to Nage Bistro
- Win Passes to an Advance Screening of Armored
