Xiquet by Danny Lledó

Wish I can give them a Zero!! This place isn’t professional and they disrespect they employee!! My favorite person ,Kathy was amazing !! Love her‼️ recommend her always

Extremely disappointing experience and horrendous value. The only thing that brings it up to two stars are rare flashes of quality to begin to justify the price tag. Let me say that we are happy to pay top dollar for gourmet tasting menus. I would rate Pineapple & Pearls, Metier, Minibar, and Jont 5* and not grumble about their pricing. So when you pay $500 per person inclusive only of a little glass of wine you expect exceptional quality and service. You will not find these at Xiquet and we aren’t the only ones judging from the reviews below. The Michelin star doesn’t appear to be justified. The problems started at the door where you are met at an institutional looking and cold downstairs room. This was incidentally the only time someone acknowledged the event we were celebrating — otherwise no champagne, no candle, nada. You get handed a glass of cheap welcome cava while waiting to be escorted upstairs. The dining room is austere and also institutional looking with a too loud soundtrack of 90’s Spanish pop and really bad one (one Oreja de Van Gogh track was the best sound all evening). Service was very uneven and badly choreographed. We had a tired and distracted looking woman and a guy who was overly eager to fish for compliments. He quickly switched from “are you enjoying this dish” to “this is amazing, right? Right?” Someone else noted how stingy the wine pours are especially given the outrageously overpriced wine. A “half glass” of OK white that barely coats the bottom of glass will set you back $50 and that was a bargain on the menu (the woman also yanked it away unfinished). Basically they push you to opt for the “standard” wine pairing of $250 per person which can quickly balloon with supplements. They don’t have a cocktail program. They say they can make “classics” but both a gimlet (no limes) and a dirty martini (no olives) were rejected as options. The whisky sours they agreed to make looked fine (egg whites, bitters) but were weak and unbalanced. The food was fine but not worth the price. Ultimately nothing was that memorable despite the showy ingredients — caviar, truffles, foie gras. The last savory dish was a pork Wellington where the kitchen sink of luxury ingredients was thrown in including iberrico ham and pork and more foie gras. This all felt oddly 1980’s as if the kitchen wanted to impress you into submission with loudness vs charm or delight you. “Amazing, right?”

This three level restaurant is what it claims to be. We went for our anniversary and we're sceptical about a meal that is $1000 plus but for a foodie, it's an experience that is worth the steep price. Chef Lledo's food is artfully plated and every bite is was delicious. The food is thoughtfully prepared with each bite bringing a wonderful harmony of flavor. From sauce to the star of the plate, the combination of flavors was complimentary.We also found that the progression from course to course to be absolutely wonderful. Being as all of the food is prepared over an open flame, each dish has that pleasant, smoky flavor. The Spanish influence also creates an unexpected change to each dish served. With the addition of wine, each glass or bottle's region and flavor profile is expertly explained. Nothing that happens in the dining room happens by accident. We were there for their Valentine's Day menu, all of our courses were set, the only choice we had to make was which wines we'd like to enjoy with our meal. Each meal was accompanied by a playing card which were, of course, all hearts. From the ace to the six, each card explains each dish and where the influence comes from. We had one issue with our courses, skipping the two of hearts proceeding to the three. I should explain, this IS NOT staffed by waiters. Each person in the dining room may as well be a manager that is determined to make your dinner the best it can be. But I digress, as our courses were discovered to be out of order by one of their staff, the incredible Kathy, the erroy immediately corrected and we were brought the appropriate plate. From that point on, Kathy became our guardian, ensuring everything from that point on was absolutely perfect. Kathy is an asset to Xiquet's staff who went far beyond anything that we could have imagined. If you meet Kathy when you visit, please, please know that you are in the best possible hands. The restaurant has three floors with their greeting area on the first. Their second floor, which they refer to as the mezzanine, houses their bar. A nicely appointed, intimate space that's perfect for that cocktail before dinner or a nice place to settle after your meal. The third floor houses the dining room. As soon as you enter, you are face to face with the beautiful kitchen filled with an excellent chef team. We were served a wonderful little bite at the window and seated after. The dining room is small with seven tables wrapped around the wine service station. Six of the tables seat four people and one table, which sits right up against the kitchen. The noise level was fairly high but you could still hear the person seated across the table from you. If you want to spend a large amount of money on a meal, this would be a great place to go. I do know, at least for us, this will be a fairly rare stop.

Fui con mi pareja por mi aniversario y me fascino, que manera de maridar los platos mediterráneos en estados unidos. Sin duda volveremos!

I love rhe service. The chef was amazing explaining us the dishes, also the pairing with the main ones. Finally we finish with the mignardises and some oportos from Spain. We recomend it 100%

Xiquet came highly recommended, and we planned a birthday weekend in DC around it and another Michelin Star restaurant. The head chef/owner and sommelier were off site at a function and that maybe had an effect on our dinning experience. The food was good, but nothing stood out particularly. We are very much into wine and looked forward to the premium wine pairing. It became clear right away our server didn't have knowledge required to do the wines justice. For the price this was very disappointing. We typically received our food then waited quite some time before the next wine paring was presented. I did like the idea of a flight for two courses, but there wasn't any explanation on the differences, why it was chosen ect. Overall I would say it was a very disjointed experience. Timing was definitely off for most of the evening. One bright spot was the sous chef. He took time to greet us and even sit down for a few minutes. The server in the bar area was also amazing. She definitely took care of us and made for a pleasant end to the night. It appears there is a high turnover in staff which might also account for our experience.