Xiquet by Danny Lledó Washington - Buy Reservations

A few friends and I went to Xiquet for dinner to try out a Michelin one star, and overall, I thought the restaurant had the bones to be a very nice place to eat, but the food and the wine prices were only satisfactory. From the outset, there seemed to be a lot of pomp and circumstance to this restaurant. Throughout the meal, we sat in three different locations on three different levels of the restaurant. Thinking about it afterwards, it was all somewhat unnecessary and confusing. The beginning bites on the ground level were fine for amuse-bouches. They hit you with some very unique and potentially unusual flavors like plankton butter and dried tuna. Not to say that they were bad, but there’s certainly strong flavors that won’t agree with everyone. (And that’s OK.) We went upstairs for the main meal, the restaurant itself in terms of silverware and ambience was quite nice. Clearly a lot of investment in that side of the house. I will say that we were placed right on the glass near where the paella is cooked, and being there is quite hot. You wouldn’t really notice it unless you’re sitting in that particular seat, but for that particular one guest, I could see how it could be too hot even though the overall temperature is cool in the room. The night started with scallop in blood orange, which was very delightful and had no fishy taste whatsoever. A good start. Next was a beef tartare with egg yolk, which again was a very nice bite of food that had a nice balance of acid and savory flavors. The next course was a baby octopus with green peas and green pea velouté (or something like that) — not altogether a successful dish because all you could taste was green pea. The octopus was rubbery and did not have much flavor or seasoning. This dish needed salt. It was clearly overthought with a lot of different random additions while the octopus did not shine through. Finishing the appetizers was the best dish of the night, grilled eggplant and grilled peaches with candied almonds — there was earthiness and sweetness and textural difference, a highlight of the meal! Unfortunately, the highlight came at the beginning of the meal. The fish course of turbot was curious and uneven. Two people had very crispy, almost burnt skin and two people had completely raw skin even though they all were 2 ounce fillets, presumably from the same fish. There were parts that were raw, especially towards the end. Nothing else of note to this dish. Next came the very delicious paella with duck and figs. A very simply executed dish, that by no means was simple. (While I do not mean this as a slight, the paella from start to finish was created by a 21-year-old sous chef preparing it the entire time because it was right next to us.) Next came the palate cleanser of cucumber mint sorbet and green apple espuma. However, on the menu, this mini-course was before the paella. I asked when the paella was served if we had missed a course, but she said that the palate cleanser would come later in the meal because the paella was ready now. That’s not really how palate cleansers work… There’s no real point in having a palate cleanser between a fish and a meat course to then have it be switched to between two meat courses. That being said, the palate cleanser was fine, but not that inventive. Almost every dish was a huge physical plate with something small in the middle. They could’ve had a different presentation with this one, almost like tiny little ice cream sorbet glasses so you can better appreciate the texture difference between the sorbet and the espuma. The next dish of dry age squab was an absolute fail across-the-board. First off, there were differentiations between the dishes served at the table, some being rare and some being almost bloody. The meat was very gamy and the duck liver mousse only enhanced the gaminess of the meat, which was not altogether pleasant. I am not one to speak on what Valencian cuisine is, but I’m rather sure that raw pigeon is not what is marketable in Washington, DC. No one finished this course at the table. The night finished with the Australian Wagyu filet, which was fine. Nothing to note about this particular dish, which isn’t altogether great that I don’t remember anything about it. The tree dessert of almond semifreddo and chocolate cake was nice. Well executed. The lemon tart, on the other hand, was overly sweet and there was no saltiness or texture difference, except for a very thick crust on the tart that was almost hard to break through with a spoon. At this point of the meal, they invited us down to the second level to have some petits fours. Not to compare restaurants, but at the Michelin two-star Jônt (I mention because it is in the same price level), there is this whole production for the desserts in a different part of the restaurant, and that’s what I had in my head that was going to happen. Unfortunately, it was just some sweet bites and where the tea is served. A little bit too much production because that could’ve been easily done at the table in the main dining room. Service overall was fine. They have a lot of people working at this restaurant and it was not even half full when we went on a Thursday night. Sometimes they are officious, such as filling your water glass 1 mm even though it is completely full already. It seems like they are just trained at the Michelin standard as opposed to being welcoming and observing what is going on at the table. They’re very proud of their wine list, and they do have some very nice wines. Unfortunately, most of the wine list is absolutely unapproachable. The average price for wines at this restaurant, conservatively, for a red is around $400. The wine pairing is $200 before tax and tip for three glasses of wine. That is not the kind of establishment that is welcoming to wine guests. Yes, they have high level wines from Alvaro Palacios, who is the king of Priorat, but not for $2200 or however much they were charging. They don’t publish their wine list on the website for good reason….Because you would bring your own bottle! I want good restaurants to succeed, but Xiquet is a very expensive restaurant and it needs to hit it out of the park every time when charging that much, and that is just not what happened during out experience.

Read More in Xiquet by Danny Lledó Washington Tripadvisor Reviews

If The Inn at Little Washington deserves 3 Michelin stars, then Xiquet deserves 4! Everything was fantastic, from the food, to the service, to the ambience…

Read More in Xiquet by Danny Lledó Washington Tripadvisor Reviews