Grillfish

Washington, DC, United States

3.7

Open now

21 reviews

Accepts Credit Cards
Free Wi-Fi

Contacts

QR code, vCard

Telephone:
+1 202-331-7310
Website:
www.grillfishdc.com
Address:
1200 New Hampshire Ave NW, Washington, DC, DC, 20036
b/t N Ward Pl & N M St
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
0.3 miNW Pennsylvania AV & NW 24th St
0.3 miMTA Bus Stop
0.4 miFoggy Bottom-GWU Elevator
Categories:
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Bussiness info

Takes Reservations
Yes
Delivery
No
Take-out
Yes
Accepts Credit Cards
Yes
Good For
Dinner
Parking
Garage, Street
Bike Parking
Yes
Wheelchair Accessible
Yes
Good for Kids
Yes
Good for Groups
Yes
Attire
Casual
Ambience
Casual
Noise Level
Average
Alcohol
Full Bar
Outdoor Seating
Yes
Wi-Fi
Free
Has TV
Yes
Dogs Allowed
Yes
Waiter Service
Yes
Caters
No

Today

Today 11:30 am – 10:00 pm
Open now
Local time (Washington, DC) 3:46 PM Tuesday, June 24, 2025

Business hours

Monday 11:30 am – 10:00 pm
Tuesday 11:30 am – 10:00 pm
Wednesday 11:30 am – 10:00 pm
Thursday 11:30 am – 10:00 pm
Friday 11:30 am – 11:00 pm
Saturday 11:00 am – 11:00 pm
Sunday 11:00 am – 10:00 pm

Description

Specialties

A seafood and fish specialty restaurant favorite in the Foggy Bottom and Dupont Circle neighborhood, Grillfish is located on New Hampshire Avenue, at the corner of M and 21st St. The 100-​seat restaurant offers business casual dining, take out, delivery, reservations, as well as private dining; and is dedicated to sustainability-​sourcing, eco-​friendly practices, wind power, and local sourcing as much as possible via EatWell DC’s own Natural Farm in La Plata, MD.

History

Established in 1996.

We source the finest, sustainable & local ingredients to create handcrafted food & beverage.

Proud to still be serving fresh seafood, simply and lovingly prepared, to the Dupont neighborhood after 16 years. Thanks for everything!

Meet the Business Owner

David W.

Business Owner

David Winer was born and raised in Newton, Massachusetts and has lived in Washington, DC for the past 14 years. He owns a home in Logan Circle. Winer has spent 26 years in professional restaurant management, beginning in 1984 at the acclaimed Division Sixteen in Boston, MA. In 1993, he and his partners opened Grillfish Miami Beach, and he moved to Washington, DC and opened the GrillfishDC in 1996. In 2002, after 18 years, Winer and his partners separated amicably. Winer retained principal ownership of Grillfish DC. In 2003 Winer and his new partners, Antonio Oquendo and Josh Hahn, formed EatWell DC Management and opened Logan Tavern, in the Logan Circle neighborhood of DC. In 2007 they opened The Heights, another casual American, in the newly emerging Columbia Heights neighborhood. In 2009 Merkado Kitchen was transformed into Commissary.

The partners now own a small farm in La Plata, MD, to provide fresh vegetables to all four restaurants for the bulk of the growing season.

Grillfish also recommends

Logan Tavern

513

reviews

Bars

,

Burgers

,

American (New)

David W. says,

«The place to be on P Street!»

The Heights

525

reviews

American (New)

David W. says,

«Break away from the chains at this great Columbia Heights neighborhood restaurant.»

Commissary

716

reviews

American (Traditional)

,

American (New)

David W. says,

«Great hours and a great concept; Red, White, and Blue, and Green all over!»

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21 reviews of Grillfish

No registration required
Place rating: 4
Orange, CA
Stopped by here for Happy Hour. Not too shabby. $ 1 oysters were good. Tried the Kale Cesar (not on the HH menu) which was also good. Got the mussels in garlic, wine and cream sauce with linguini (on the HH menu) which was pretty good. Overall, good food and drinks. May have to come back and try something off their regular menu.
Place rating: 5
Baltimore, MD
The food at Grillfish was wonderful, and our server Maya was fantastic! She was attentive and the food was very tasty. The drinks were fret also.
Place rating: 5
Kendall Park, NJ
I recently went to Grillfish with some friends for restaurant week. Grillfish’s restaurant week deal is $ 35.00 for a three course meal (off of their full menu).
I had the ginger calamari (appetizer) and chicken piccata (dinner). My girlfriend had their shrimp scampi (appetizer) and swordfish (dinner). We both really enjoyed our meals. The food was extremely fresh and nicely plated. The server was attentive and friendly, and I would recommend this place to anyone who enjoys fresh seafood.
I did not find anything negative about our experience at Grillfish.
Place rating: 3
Rochester, NY
Went here during lunch for taste of DC but ended up getting the grill special, not as part of their deal. I’m giving it three and not one star because our waiter was super attentive. But the food was mediocre. Salmon was dried, the shrimp was covered in excessive oil, the serving was extremely small for $ 15 (I’m talking 4 bites and that’s it).
Redeeming qualities, the rosemary butter for the bread was pretty delicious.
Place rating: 4
Brooklyn, NY
Sunday Brunch with the bae
We made reservations via Open Table
We had a bit of trouble spotting this restaurant but once we got settled in we were served with great service and great food!
Oysters: 10⁄10
Its really hard to go wrong with these wonderful morsels. We checked in on Unilocal for the freebie and a dozen more for good measures, I probably could eat 2 dozen by myself but self control!!!
Mixed grilled fish: 8⁄10
I would give it a 10⁄10 if the serving size was bigger. It tastes great! Lightly seasoned but very fresh and sweet. None of the fish were over cooked either. Salad pairing was over dressed and a bit too strong.
Crabcake Benedict: 8⁄10
The crabcakes were smaller but tastes delicious and the eggs benedict had that perfect flowy yolk. Delicious. Salad pairing was also over dressed (ahh) This needed a slice of whole wheat toast but didn’t want to bother the server for one.
Cocktail: can’t remember what it was… but it was good! 8⁄10
Place rating: 4
Allentown, NJ
Service is excellent, seafood is very good. Sides were good and prices reasonable. The portions are a little on the smaller side.
Place rating: 5
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Absolutely delicious restaurant. Great portion for crab cake dinner and that sauce, THAT SAUCE in the shrimp linguine. Guys, I’m a fat guy, trust me!
Place rating: 3
Alexandria, VA
Most noticeable was the great service by friendly and knowledgeable staff.
Comfortable and casual environment.
It wasn’t the best seafood I’ve ever had but it was good and reasonably priced.
Definitely a good place for a casual dinner with friends.
Place rating: 1
Arlington, VA
One word: Roaches
I went to Grillfish after work and sat at the bar with a friend for Happy Hour.
Had the fish taco: Not good, very liquid
Wine was fine
Had chicken tenders which were very good and fresh
Problem: A roach passed on the counter of the bar. Yes, I froze and pointed it to the bartender who took a towel and removed the roach. He didn’t looked surprised at all. Later, the manager came to apologize and give us a drink on the house.
Still, I won’t go back to a place where I see a roach pass near my plate!
Place rating: 5
San Ramon, CA
Several blocks from our hotel, we had the opportunity to dine outside on a beautiful evening. Started with calamari as an appetizer and go figure I over-​ordered (again!). This appetizer could have served as a main meal! Cooked perfectly. Also had a bowl of the house seafood chowder. Once again very well done.
For the main dish I had the mixed grill (swordfish, salmon, mahi mahi, scallops & shrimp). I’m usually not a fan of combination dishes, but each fish was done perfectly. (And plenty of food for two!).
Grillfish has a full bar so after having a few libations and a fantastic dinner, we had no room for dessert. Timothy was our server and he was fantastic. Great food and great service make for a great evening.
Place rating: 3
Miami Beach, FL
Pretty overpriced. The daily happy hour is only at the bar (very misleading advertising). Food is mediocre at best but the crabcakes were fresh and good.
Place rating: 3
Waldorf, MD
Came here on a Sunday for a friends birthday lunch. We pretty much had the whole place to ourselves since it was a weird time between brunch and dinner. They had all menus available to us which was good. $ 1 oysters. They were pretty good. They cut the adductor muscle with the oyster so you ended up with it in your mouth. I wasn’t a fan of that. I ordered the seafood pasta in the spicy red sauce. It was really good. Sauce wasn’t that spicy but still very good on flavor. Hubs ordered the crab cake sandwich with fries. The fries were good and the crab cake was decent.
I also tried their desserts. Peanut butter pie was awesome and very rich. Brownie sundae was delicious but the real winner in desserts was the chocolate cake and ice cream. Portions for dessert are big so definitely share.
Service was excellent but we also had the place to ourselves so I would hope that they were attentive. I would come back for brunch because I love a $ 1 oyster special.
Place rating: 5
East Meadow, NY
I loved this restaurant. The food blew me away. The service was good. I’m getting so starving just writing this review because I’m thinking of the amazing cheesecake and kale cesar and shrimp and steak that I had. It was so good. I’d love to come back the next time I’m in DC. That cheesecake though. Oh my goodness that cheesecake. It was so good.
Place rating: 4
Boston, MA
Nice restaurant for lunch — good food for adults but accommodating for children (nice kids’ menu). Had the calamari appetizer and mahi sandwich — both very good. Friendly service. There is a garage in the building where you can park ($ 20 if memory serves). Many restaurants in this complex including a Potbellys.
Place rating: 3
Seattle, WA
Service: excellent!!! Everyone was extremely pleasant and genuinely friendly. Our main waiter answered all our questions, made jokes, and split the bill on 7 credit cards without any hesitation.
Atmosphere: pretty nice and open feeling. Nothing crazy special but an overall hip atmo.
Food: overall good satisfying meal and good portion size, but nothing special. Maybe I have high expectations for a big city. We went for restaurant week and the selection was the same as the menu which was a great deal and really nice not being limited!
–The apps I tried were the fresh oysters and cornmeal deep fried oysters. Fresh oysters were good but not the most juicy or super fresh as I’ve had before. Fried were just ok but could be been more moist. Just good not great.
–entrée was seafood linguine with a generous variety of different seafood. Flavor was nice and cooked well. Best part of meal! :)
–dessert was not that good. It was like something you could buy at costco and put store bought ice cream on top. Portion was big though but really not great. And I love sweets so it made me sad :(
Overall I thought it was a satisfying meal (except the dessert) with great service!!! (I feel bad giving it 3 because everyone was so nice).
Place rating: 2
Washington, DC
Total disappointment. I’ve been here twice. The food is extremely bland. Not worth the cost. Service was good but food was a major disappointment. Out of the two visits we’ve had…
Salmon, cooked to perfection but bland as hell.
Talapia, bland
Mahi Mahi — undercooked and bland
Crab cakes — butt
The only thing that was amazing was the fried calamari. I did learn the first time I visited that the place sucked. But I think it was so uninspiring and so unmemorable I went there on a date some months later not realizing I had been there before. Though the odd looking décor made me think «I’ve been here before».
Skip this place. Unless you like undercooked or bland food.
Place rating: 5
Montclair, NJ
Love! I just went here 2 nights ago for dinner with my SO. The atmosphere is fantastic and luckily it wasn’t packed so it was nice and intimate. I appreciate it when restaurants still give complimentary bread and this one was so delicious! I’m usually good at holding back to not ruin my appetite, but man that butter! We just got wine, so can’t comment on the cocktails, sorry. Luckily we came during Restaurant Week and I love that DC (unlike NYC) offers it on Saturday nights! So an app, entrée, and dessert for $ 35… awesome! First, appetizers. I got the portobello app (which was a little heavy with the sun-​dried tomatoes, but the sauce made up for it). He got the crab cake, very nice. Next, entrees. I got the scallops over greens (turned out to be Swiss chard which I love) and it was incredible! The scallops were melt in your mouth and overall just very nice. He got the mixed seafood with the curry sauce (they put it on the side). Also phenomenal. For desserts, I got the Caramel Cheesecake Brulee. I don’t really like caramel, but they said it was the crust and I was just so interested as what a cheesecake brulee would be like. Well, it was so decadent and delicious I couldn’t finish it! He got the Mango Key Lime Pie and as someone who doesn’t like Key Lime Pie, I thought it was equally good and much lighter than mine.
Service was great, and overall just a wonderful experience, which is what I always look for when dining out!
Place rating: 5
Louisville, KY
Some of the other conference attendees and I came back to Grillfish on Tuesday night. It was another great dinner! I ordered the scallops and they were cooked to perfection. The marinated kale was delicious and the exact mixture of wilted without being mushy. I love this place!
Place rating: 3
Chantilly, VA
I’ve gone to Grillfish twice now for their weekend happy hour. An establishment always gets a thumbs up from me for offering HH during the weekend! (11a-​7p)
My first visit was definitely more impressive than the second. Don’t you hate it when you bring someone to a restaurant because you had a positive experience before, but then you leave disappointed after the second visit? I always have to convince my guest that it was better the first time around.
Anyways, lets get to the service & food.
Service = average. Sat at the bar for the happy hour specials. While the bartender wasn’t rude or anything. he wasn’t the friendliest. He didn’t interact too much and we were the only ones at the bar.
Food = The first time I went, the food was great. Oysters ($ 1) were fresh and clean — Oyster sliders were good as well. Not too much to them besides the fried oyster, sauce, and bun. The bun was sweet and paired well with the oyster. The second time I visited, my sister went a little ordering crazy and got 18 oysters, 2 orders of sliders, clams, and calamari. As I was preparing to eat my 3rd oyster, I noticed something on the shell. It was a tiny crab-​like bug. Initially I just brushed it off, thinking well… it’s all part of the sea, so simple mistake to have that in there. But, they really should have examined the oysters before presenting them to us. You really can’t miss a little creature inside of an oyster! Also, some of the oysters were just not shucked very well — had bits of shells in some and others were just not clean. The calamari was pretty good. Clams were underwhelming. Didn’t have too much flavor in the sauce.
Although it was happy hour, I still paid quite a lot for a meal that was disappointing.
I probably won’t be returning again.
Place rating: 3
Alexandria, VA
Went to Grillfish for brunch using a Gilty City deal. The food we ordered was ok, nothing inventive — typical brunch fare.
The oysters were fresh and enjoyable. The table side mimosa was a nice touch. They had a variety of mimosa flavors including peach, mango, strawberry, etc.
As for the entrees themselves, I ordered the oyster benedict. The fried oysters were good but the rest of the dish was just so so. There was a lack of flavor overall to the spinach, hollandaise, etc.
Service was quick and attentive.
Place rating: 3
Vaugirard/Grenelle, Paris
Grillfish est un restaurant de Washington que j’ai pu tester et qui comme son nom le laisse entendre est spécialisé dans les poissons.
Idéalement situé c’est un grand restaurant avec une très très belle salle a l’intérieur et une petite terrasse protégée.
Alors pour moi le gros point positif est sans aucun doute la salle intérieur, très joliment décorée avec une ambiance plutôt tamisée. Au fond de celle-​ci vous verrez une cuisine ouverte avec parfois des flammes qui montent haut quand le cuisinier fait flamber des mets, c’est le côté show du restaurant.
La carte est juste énorme et on est vraiment perdu… Mon choix s’est arrêter sur des spaghetti aux langoustines et oursins, elles étaient bonnes mais si la partie fruit de mer dans l’assiette était un peu trop mince a mon goût. En revanche je me souviens qu’en attendant les plats, ils donnent du pain et un petit condiment en sauce (que j’en n’ai pas pu identifier) qui était excellent.
Petite déception: j’y suis allé notamment car avec Unilocal il y avait une promo au check-​in qui était une huître gratuite (que mon accompagnatrice se serait fait un plaisir d’engloutir) mais quand j’ai montre mon coupon au serveur il m’a dit que ce n’était pas suffisant et qu’il fallait aimer la page Facebook… Ce n’était pas indiqué et trop contraignant pour un étranger qui n’a pas de wifi grutier a proximité !