Garrison

We, a family of four, were out celebrating Father’s Day. We tried Roses however they were booked solid. They suggested Garrison’s so off we went.
Upon arrival, we were met with a very helpful hostess that assured us that they could handle a «picky» eater. So far so good. The place was charming and we were seated where the expeditor works his magic. It’s a busy area but we didn’t mind.
After looking at the menu, we were a bit surprised that the breads had a cost associated with them. We ordered two of them anyway. One was underdone and should never have had the word popover associated with it. The other, parkerhouse rolls, were just okay.
We had two appetizers, cauliflower and smoked potatoes. Nothing to write home about.
Dinner was a grilled cheese, blue catfish, capretto and asparagus carbonara. The carbonara was the only thing that was decent. The capretto was incredibly salty, the catfish was inedible and I’m not sure how someone can make a grilled cheese flavorless, but they did.
The worst part, when the waiter realized that I had moved my plate to the center of the table, he quickly walked away. He never once asked us how our meals were. When he eventually came back, he removed our plates without saying a single word. We sat there dumbfounded. He came back with four dessert menus, again without a word. We looked, decided against dessert and placed the menus in the center of the table. He came by, removed the menus and still didn’t say anything. He came back within 30 seconds with our bill and said «have a good evening» and then walked away as fast as he came. I almost wish we had given him a reason to treat us so rudely.
We were left wanting. We believe in paying for good food and we don’t shy away from a pricey bill. You pay for what you get, right?. This restaurant, in my opinion, ranks among the highest for the most disappointing experience ever for food and service

We had great food but, horrible service. We complained but, felt like it fell on deaf general manager ears. Second time there but, we will not be back.

I was seriously disappointed mainly by he service/​ambiance.
This was supposed to be a special meal with my wife, which I made clear to the restaurant before I arrived (also this was a midweek dinner, so not the busiest time).
On arrival I asked for an outside table but was told by the hostess, sorry, the waiter would be too busy so we cant be seated outside (even though there were multiple tables available). Instead she put us at the back of the restaurant — next to no one for most of the dinner, close to where the expeditor is checking all the outgoing food. It really seemed as though they wanted us out of the way.
Near the end of the meal, another group of women arrived. Who were just saying racial stereotypes/​racist things amongst themselves — even about my own ethnicity. I know the restaurant can’t do much about the types of patrons they serve. However given the sense of being seated right at the back and then the other diners’ comments at the restaurant, I did wonder whether our treatment was something to do with our ethnicity.
Food was adequate, nothing more.

I have to agree with other reviewers that the food at Garrison was bland. It’s not bad, but when I go to a more expensive dining experience I expect food to be at a higher level. We had the bison steak and the special, which was salmon. The salmon tasted like farmed Atlantic salmon and the preparation and cooking did not add any flavor. The bison steak was cooked as we ordered, but it was small and there was very little seasoning and almost no sear to the meat. The sides sounded interesting but, again, tasted bland. The drinks were the best part of the meal and I’ll give credit to the waiter who recommended them. In all it was a nice dining experience, but not one that I’ll repeat since there are far too many great restaurants in DC in the same price range. Garrison just didn’t meet my expectations.

I dined alone on the evening of June 4. The meal signified a restaurant that is on top of all the technical elements of good cuisine, but fell short in several material respects.
First, I was seated in the dining room, but overlooking a supply closet. Usually, the protocol for a solo diner, at least in my mind, is to place him/​her overlooking the kitchen or the rest of the restaurant. This diminished the quality of the ambience substantially.
Second, the meal began with a glass of Nebbiolo that was good, but not great. On a normal wine scale it would fit in the «88» category — better than drinkable, but not memorable. The same goes for the Albarino that was suggested for my main course. Both were well-​balanced, but just not quite there.
Third, no espresso. How does a restaurant that endeavors to be in an elite category not have an espresso machine? Baffling.
Now for the food.
The meal began with an arugula salad with strawberries and fresh feta. The arugula was described to me as «beautiful» because it was grown locally on the premises of the restaurant. A for effort, but the salad kept the dressing as a separate component of the dish, diminishing the overall balance of flavor. This seemed to me to be a prime example of prioritizing presentation at the expense of taste. Each of the ingredients themselves were flavorful and I enjoyed the dish on the whole.
I proceeded to enjoy a tortellini dish with peas and ramps. The pasta gave a new definition to the term «al dente.» Both the pasta and the peas felt undercooked, on the verge of raw, but not quite there. I respect that some part of this was deliberate, but an extra few seconds in the water would have gone a long way for these pillows of pasta. Unlike pasta at Osteria Morini or Red Hen, the dish lacked a cohesive flavor. Disjointed, really disjointed. But, once again, the quality of each component of the dish was stellar.
A theme emerged for the Garrison: high quality individual ingredients, but questionable commitment to unified flavors.
I decided to finish the meal like I began — with strawberries! The strawberry soda was playful, tasty and what I was looking for. I think the dish would benefit from a degree of crunch in the future. Almonds? Oats? Something similar? «More spoon and less straw» might be a good way to describe it?
Despite the above, I’d return, but not before several other D.C.-area restaurants.

Walked in on a whim, (we thought we were going to the sushi spot). Service was friendly and I spotted the words «duck» and «goat»… So we stayed. Solid wine list, not overwhelming, but you should be able to find something for even the pickiest of palates. It was 89° so I went Verdejo. Great meal, we tried two entrees off the specials menu, both goat. Food was well cooked, warm. Great flavor and the plating was solid.
Garnishes were a nice touch but neither of us are very into flowers.
Our waiter was excellent, professional, friendly and helpful. Even gave us a helpful dessert recommendation (not at his restaurant). Great date spot in the middle of a busy area.

Fresh pea soup amuse bouche garnished with preserved lemon bits, Arctic char tartare on blue corn blinis, my old faithful fluke crudo with fennel and lemon. Amy had the fresh tortellini with peas, ramps and morels. I had a Farro crêpe with Housemade ricotta, ramps and grilled mushrooms on spring pea purée. Every bite fresh and delicious.

The food met expectations for the price points, nothing I wouldn’t order again. The cauliflower and sweet potato tortellini were highlights. The tortellini was perfect. During the meal and after even today what I feel was a rare exception was the service that Moe provided. Communication was naturally professional… the kind where you feel like you are being serviced in a royal way yet still having personality. Recommendation were given, table maintenance was ¹⁰⁄₁₀. Overall Moe and her back server provided one of the best service experiences I’d had in several years… very refreshing.

Almost there, but not quite. That is, this place has nearly all elements for a better review but it falls short on service.
Came here for Sunday brunch. The food was lovely and the cinnamon raisin house-​made toast was delicious. I like the cozy, trendy atmosphere and thought the food was well-​presented. But the service was a bit – clumsy? Though friendly, they lacked the attentive and service-​oriented attitude that would have given the experience one more star. I’ll be exploring other spots before coming back. Not blown away, but not disappointed either.

My partner and I chose the Garrison for our annual obligation (aka Valentine’s Day) dinner. We actually went the night before Valentine’s Day, which was frigid to say the least, and almost cancelled our reservations. We started out with a glass of rose and a cocktail, and after looking at the specials, we decided to split the following:
–Poppyseed gougeres (very similar to the Brazilian Pao de qeuijo, salty goodness)
–Seared Foie gras, raisin toast (the most expensive dish, but soooo decadent and so worth it!)
–Cider glazed rutabaga (executed perfectly, made a rutabaga lover out of my boyfriend)
–Roasted cauliflower (simple, but paired beautifully with the brininess of the peppers and the richness of the pinenuts)
–Crispy envelope of pig’s trotter (my least favorite of the dishes, as I wish the egg was firmed up a bit more, but nonetheless very tasty)
Personally, I thought everything was delightful. I can’t really think of anything that I disliked. I know from previous reviews that the portions are small for the pricing, but not including drinks we spent about $ 40 a person and left pretty full. My partner likes his food on the salty side, and did mention that he wished the dishes were seasoned more. I thought it was seasoned perfectly, but I like vegetable dishes to be lightly seasoned to highlight the natural bitter flavors. The ambience is cozy and romantic, but we were seated in between two couples, and I felt we were competing with them so we could be heard. Overall, we ate a lovely meal in a lovely setting and would love to go again.

We chose to celebrate Valentine’s Day at Garrison after looking at their unique menu. Well, we left pretty disappointed after a bland and underwhelming dinner.
We started with the poppyseed gourgettes (cheese popper type things). These were the best part of dinner, and we are glad we got them as our main entrees were very little.
I ordered a dish off the specials menu which was tagliatelle with fresh truffles and parmesan. At $ 35 I was expecting something substantial and delicious. This was boring pasta with a few truffles on top. No texture, no flavor. Waste of $ 35.
My husband got the chicken liver which was extremely rich, decent but nothing we would get again.
He also had the fingerling potatoes with black garlic aioli. These were tasty, and was a very nice sized portion.
We were still hungry and ordered the baked hot chocolate to share. This is a small dessert, not really big enough for sharing. The chocolate was too hot, so we didn’t really get the flavors.
The restaurant is very comfortable, decorated beautifully and well staffed with knowledgeable servers.
In the future when looking for an expensive, nice meal I would look elsewhere.

We were excited to try Garrison, given the strong reviews it had received when it opened especially for the treatment of vegetables. Overall, we thought the food wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t particularly good.
We ordered the poppyseed gougeres, which I thought were a bit undercooked (they were mushy in the middle and soft), though they tasted good. They were probably the best thing we had.
We also ordered the cider-​glazed rutabaga, the cauliflower with pickled peppers and mint, the smoked potatoes with black garlic aioli, and the farro cavatelli with broccoli and garlic. My friend said the cauliflower was a poor approximation of the one she had at Stephanie Izard’s The Girl and the Goat in Chicago. Everything was… ok. The potatoes I thought were underseasoned and the garlic flavor was not very strong. The smokiness was VERY subtle — I don’t love smoky things but it was barely discernible to me. The cavatelli was just… not good. There was barely any flavor in the dish, and it DEFINITELY was not worth $ 25 dollars — the portion size and quality put it more in the $ 10 – 12 range, like the rest of the dishes we ordered. Everything was just. meh.
We ordered the winter citrus cake as a dessert and were not impressed by that either. The cake itself was dense and very dry, and the way the dish was composed made it awkard to eat. There was some sort of citrus curd on the bottom, which helped balance the dryness of the cake, but there wasn’t enough for each bite of cake to have some. The frosting was hard and not very flavorful, and dotted in little white «kisses» around the plate. There was also a blood orange sorbet which was… very meh. The whole dish has a sort of metallic tang to it which I found distracted from the citrus flavor. The best part of the whole thing was probably the one slice of candied citrus that was an accent on the plate.
Overall, we paid $ 50 each for a dinner (no drinks) that was probably worth about $ 35. It was not bad, it just also was not good. My take-​away was that at that price point… we should have just walked down the block and waited at Rose’s.

I would say Garrison is 3.5 stars more then 3 stars. We came here for dinner on a Saturday night so we could only get a 530 reservation. Ivan was our server and he was super friendly and fantastic from the start!
We started with the poppyseed cheese bites and were not disappointed. We also ordered the cauliflower which was slightly spicy but very tasty. For our entrees, we got the Arctic char and both the pasta dishes (a half order of each) to share. The pasta was positively divine and the char was also well done.
As others have noted, the portions are rather small so I would probably recommend getting an additional dish to share. We weren’t really hungry so we were satisfied but I could see how mothers would leave hungry. We skipped dessert and went elsewhere.
The meal wasn’t cheap, however we still enjoyed the good service and quality of the dishes. While it was all tasty, I expected to be more wowed than we were for the price and reputation. There wasn’t any dish that amazed us so we likely wouldn’t come back.

Wow! Where to begin???
This place provides a dining experience of world-​class quality. The mix of flavors & food combinations is absolutely spectacular.
We started with the poppyseed gougeres & they were as good as all the gushing reviews said they were.
The vegetables were excellent as well. The rutabagas were the best I’ve ever had. They tasted like candy!
Our favorite entrée was the sweet potato pasta. Perfect! The char was good, too.
We finished with the baked hot chocolate – if I could think of another superlative, I’d use it here.
The service was flawless as well. Then again, I will say quite a bit of time passed between the vegetable course & the entrees. We were with fun people so we didn’t mind at all.
If you’re looking for a dining experience that you will remember fondly for a very long time & you don’t mind spending $ 150 for four people, you can’t do better than here.

Went for dinner. Cost atmosphere, attentive service and above all delicious food.
I had a dinner Special, the duck cassoulet (out of this world) and the poppy seeds were piping hot and absolutely delicious. My girl got the arctic char and she loved it!
I would recommend this place to anyone! Best dinner experience I’ve had in DC so far.

My husband and I came here to celebrate our anniversary and while the food was great, I left the meal with mixed emotions. As others have said, the Poppyseed Gougeres were divine! We split the artic char cones, I had hangar steak (which was cooked perfectly!), while my husband had the the sweet potato tortellini (also delicious).
My biggest problem with the Garrison is how closely they put the two top tables together. Just past the bar to the left, there are 4 two top tables in a row, we were placed in the middle. I’m not exaggerating when I say there were 10 – 12 inches between tables. I’ve NEVER been in a restaurant where the tables were placed so close together. I could have easily reached over and taken a bite of food of my neighbor’s plate! Truthfully it was uncomfortable and I just wanted to get out of there a soon as we finished our food. We could hear EVERYTHING the tables were saying on either side of us and it was distracting, not romantic or relaxing at all. Since the restaurant was packed there was no option to change tables.
For what it’s worth, I’m 31 and go out to restaurants a lot, I love sitting at the bar and don’t mind communal tables in general. But, this is upscale dining and I expect to have a little more space when paying $ 30 for an entrée. At restaurants I want to enjoy the company of the people I came with and enjoy the food. Sadly, you can’t do that at the Garrison because of the poor restaurant design. I live in the neighborhood and probably won’t go back.

The Garrison doesn’t stick out until you give it a chance. It has 3.5 stars on Unilocal and hidden at the end of 8^th Street on Barracks Row. The first time we went, we only grabbed a drink and almost missed out on this 5-​star restaurant’s food. We recently went back and wow. Amazing.
Every dish uses seasonal ingredients and change all the time. Ask your server what s/​he recommends. We ordered the seasonal sweet corn tortellini and was the best tortellini we’ve ever had. We also ordered the roasted cauliflower and that grilled mushrooms. Both were simple but looked beautiful and tasted amazing and fresh.
No matter what drink you get, you’ll savor ever sip. If you like sweeter drinks (but not overwhelmingly sweet) order the Right Stuff. If you like a little spice, try the Siamese Fireback. You won’t be disappointed!
The service was spot on and the atmosphere inviting (though, a bit dark).
We’re looking forward to coming back!

I visited Garrision in mid-​October 2015 to celebrate a friend’s birthday. I had never heard of the spot so I was really excited to go. Tapas is usually on the pricey side especially when folks order several items. However, its never a good sign when the restaurant is tapas AND had a limited menu. While the waitress was pleasant, service was slow with food being sent out in random order. We tried several items including the poppyseed gougere, parker house rolls, castelvetrano olives, eggplant, grilled mushrooms, roasted cauliflower, sweet corn tortellini, farro cavetlli and the pig’s trotter. For desert, we opted for the pear and concord grape cobbler. Folks in my party enjoyed the pig’s trotter and eggplant. Unfortunately, for me, this place overall was a miss. I found the food to be just okay and extremely overpriced.
Personally, I would only suggest this spot for drinks and desert. The cobbler was actually amazing and the spot is intimate and cozy which makes for a decent after dinner outing.

This new addition to the neighborhood is conveniently located in the middle of barrack’s row in SE DC, near Capitol Hill. We came here for brunch this past Saturday and the food and service=solid. Another plus? It has outdoor seating y’all.
While the brunch menu was not extensive, each dish sure packed a mean punch with reasonable serving sizes.
We ordered three dishes. All three dishes made our bellies very happy: Duck Sausage and Biscuits (I know, duck sausage!?! It was delicious and very tasty on sexy butter milk biscuits), Red Flannel Hash (house made pastrami! the pastrami melts in your mouth… MELTS in your mouth) and the Gougeres and Soft Scramble (think smoked trout and caviar).
Their mimosa was pleasantly different from the norm with a ginger twist. LOVED IT.
Overall-​this place was a great time. However, the price was a little high for brunch in DC (no brunch specials). Definitely great quality food and service though. I will definitely come back.

I went to the Garrison for dinner on 9÷11÷15. I was very surprised by how much I liked this restaurant. I am not usually a fan of tapas. I feel the quality and money don’t mesh well. However the Garrison was the exception to that rule. Everything I had was delicious (e.g. squash, eggplant, chocolate cake, cauliflower and cheese puffs). Although, my least favorite was the cauliflower; it is by no way a reflection of the food. It was just a little too spicy for my personal taste.
I thought our service was good and frankly was impressed and happy to see that a new waitress in training was shadowing our waiter. It gave me a sense of confidence that the restaurant has consistent service (and doesn’t just throw anyone on the floor).
The only reason the restaurant cannot get a higher rating from me is the seating arrangement. My friend and I arrived early and were able to chat for some time but after the tables around us filled up I felt like we were having a close and personal conversation with 2 other groups of people.
In a nutshell, I highly recommend this restaurant but arrive early if you don’t want to feel like you’re sitting in another person’s lap.