| Address | Marriott Courtyard Embassy Row, 1600 Rhode Island Ave., Washington, DC 20036 |
|---|---|
| Phone | (202) 448-8005 |
| Website | www.nagerestaurant.com/ |
We were pleased by the friendliness of all of the staff and the personal touches on the menu, like seasonal and local goodies and house- made bread and hummus and the willingness of the waiter to let me taste a wine by the lass before choosing for my meal. The portions are hearty but not overly large and the menu has clearly been well thought out and carefully prepared. The decor is pleasant, if not memorable; but one of our favorite touches was the foodie version on "Trivial Pursuit" cards which are on each table. They were a fun way to get the palate excited and ready for the meal.We will go back
I went here for a birthday celebration with a group of friends. We started off with some great cocktails. I had the Fahrenheit 451, which has ginger, lemongrass and jalapeno infused vodka. Friends had the Scarlett O'Hara, a yummy watermelon infused brandy drink. We ordered a lot of appetizers to share and they were all nice portions. I most enjoyed the mushroom baklava (savory with pistachios). It had a rich flavor and the phyllo was just crispy enough. Would definitely go back for happy hour to try some of the other drinks and small plates and specials.
Great staff, nice beer selection, great burger and fries, and for you vegetarians - they will create a custom meal for you based on your preferences. My wife does not eat mushrooms or tomatoes, yet they dazzle her every time.
Nage is absolutely fantastic for brunch, particularly if your Sunday morning needs include hangover help. If the bottomless Mimosas and Marys ($12 for a mix and match of their fabulous and spicy traditional, tequila, or bacon Bloody Marys and/or fresh and delicious Blackberry, Blood Orange, White Peach Ginger, Pear, or Lychee Mimosas) don't do it, the Kill It Skillet (also an amazing value at $12 -- truffled mac&cheese, potato sticks, chorizo, bacon, and a fried egg) will. The short menu includes an array of tempting options, from the aforementioned skillet to decadent french toast and an underrated but highly flavorful grouper. The only drawback is that food can seem to take a while to be delivered, but the addictive herb biscuits, friendly service, and ultrafast drink refills make the wait quite bearable.
I recently visited Nage this past Saturday night after a busy day. I had heard of Nage from a friend and was convinced to try it out.
Upon entering, the place had a great energy with a dining room that was 3/4 full. It was a small, intimate place with glowing reds that made me feel very cozy. We were sat within a minute or two and kindly greeted by a prompt server.
After ordering a cocktail, a summer Canteloupe Martini that was very refreshing, the server pointed out a number of specials on Nage's blackboard. Not having looked at the menu, I found myself getting very hungry as I read and reread a number of enticing dishes -- my favorite being a Seafood Ceviche.
Looking over the menu, my date and I decided to split a few items for appetizers. The Seafood Ceviche was as good as it sounded. We also had the Baked Oysters which were very good, but a little too strong in fennel for me. Finally, we had the Mushroom Strudel which was a simple preparation, but with amazing flavor.
After the 1st course, we decided to split an entree and selected the Roasted Halibut Dish over Gnocchi. This was out of this world! The Halibut was cooked to perfection and the combination of fava beans, asparagus, and tomato with the Gnocchi was quite flavorful. Not to mention the Gnocchi was very light.
Our server throughout the night was good. Very professional in approach, he was very busy with us and other tables. Overall, he did a fine job.
We decided to end our night with the entree as we were too full. As we left, we thanked the manager who was there to open the door for us as we made our exit. Leaving with this subtle attention to detail, we both felt the experience was an exceptional one.
Eh.
I read about Nage in the Post, perused its menu online, and very much wanted to give it a spin. My girlfriend and I got there Saturday night around 9:15 p.m. without reservations and were led to a table after a brief wait while the hosts chatted amongst themselves, presumably ensuring that offering us a table would not affect any reservations.
The restaurant is smaller than I expected. It sits in a narrow space divided between a formal dining area on the right and a bar area to the left, with an open kitchen at the far end. The music is geared more towards the clientele Nage may wish to attract, as opposed to the crowd that was dining there last night. Clubby electronica, not so fast that it could be played at a rave, but not so slow that it qualified as lounge electronica, flooded the space, loud enough that communicating with the waitress (and each other) required raised voices. The diners were not, however, young, hip, and appreciative, but, rather, middle-aged, simply dressed, and probably wondering why the music from the club scene in Basic Instinct was drowning out their conversations.
It took close to ten minutes before our server came over to ask for our drink order, but the service was fine thereafter. I have become so accustomed to restaurants priding themselves on quality coffee (thank you Oya, Cafe Atlantico, and Tallula) that I was surprised to get a cup of totally average, well, joe. The second cup was more of the same. Not bad, but no different from the stuff in my office's coffee vacuum-pot contraption. I appreciated, however, that the coffee did not show up on the bill, presumably because they considered me (correctly) to be the designated driver. My girlfriend loved her cantaloupe martini.
The waitress described the bread in a way that made me think that Nage either bakes it on site, or came up with the recipe used by whatever commercial bakery from which they get their bread. I did not get all of the adjectives, but I distinctly remember the word "honey" being used as one descriptive term. The bread, however, was simple white bread with more flavor than Wonder Bread, but by no means anything special. The green olive tapenade was, however, quite good, and I say that as someone who generally dislikes olives.
We opted against ordering any of the entrees, instead choosing to focus on the salads, starters, and sides. We both had the mixed green salad, a small-ish (on a large plate) mix of greens, currants, pineapple chunks, heart of palm, candied pecans, and bleu cheese tossed in a passion fruit vinaigrette. I passed on the bleu cheese.
The salad reads far better on the menu than it tastes in reality. I am a big fan of mixing fruit into salads and entrees, but I was disappointed in how understated the pineapple flavor was, as well as by how little the dressing reminded me of passion (or any other) fruit. There was nothing wrong with the salad; it was just anticlimatic and, ultimately, boring.
We split the foie gras and crab cake appetizers, as well as a side of the "Nage Frites," (listed on the menu as a "Signature Item"). Let me start with the fries. I order french fries a few times a year, at most, but I have a weakness for anything sweet potato, and the Post review of Nage stated that the fries, made with white truffle oil, are a mix of potato and sweet potato fries. Sign me up. The Post review also noted that the fries are shoestring-cut, which is generally not my preference, but can be done well, e.g., the fries at the Great American chain. Nage's fries are presented in a medium-sized, squared-off bowl, and look like a shiny pile of Potato Sticks. You know, the Potato Sticks that come in foil-sealed canisters that one sees in the grocery store but does not actually buy. Nage's fries taste very similar to those Potato Sticks, too, with the added benefit, however, of having just been fried. This is not necessarily a knock on Nage's fries. As a child, I loved those Potato Sticks, and used to lovingly eat them with ketchup. But I did not expect them at a supposedly high-caliber restaurant, and I did not understand Nage's failure to recognize that they are, essentially, serving Potato Sticks, as demonstrated by the overconfident lack of ketchup, or any sauce, accompanying the fries. We had to ask the waitress if any aioli or remoulade was available to serve as a dip, and ended up with a subtly spicy serrano chile aioli sauce that was creamy and rich, but not overwhelmingly so.
The lighting in Nage is minimal and vaguely reminiscent of the reddish lights one expects to come on during emergencies in office buildings. I was thus unable to tell whether the crab cake I tried had crab in it. Barely tasting crab, I examined the cake's interior for the seemingly absent meat, but it really is dim in Nage, so I cannot attest to having seen chunks of the normally tasty invertebrate. The accompanying succotash was fresh and enjoyable, and the small amount of tomato jam was pleasantly sweet (and interesting for its rare appearance on menus). The asparagus spears raising the crab cake from the plate, however, were slightly undercooked.
The seared foie gras was the best part of the meal. The eighteen-dollar appetizer is served on a rectangular plate, with two small pieces of grilled ginger bread on one side and a pickled-watermelon fruit mash on the other, balanced by a filet-size slab of seared foie gras. My first bite of foie gras was so rich that I thought I'd never make it through my half, but I quickly learned that the flavor was very nicely balanced by the memorable ginger bread, and equally as well-complemented, though in a different way, by the fruit mash. I do not think I would order this dish again, as I generally do not order foie gras, both on principle and because of its nutritional profile, but I believe that any dedicated fan of foie gras will think highly of Nage's version.
My girlfriend and I did not have a bad meal, and are not permanently writing Nage off. I am aware that we were at Nage on a somewhat busy Saturday night, did not try any of the entrees, and have only visited Nage once. Still, we had an underaverage meal for higher-than-average prices ($86 with tip), and while I am happy to pay for good food, I am not happy to pay for what amounts to food that is well-described but prepared with a shrug.
