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This place was not good: bland food in unfortunate combinations, spacey service, an oddly designed space that recalled the underground lab area on Six Feet Under. Where to start? I was the first of my party to arrive and was asked to sit at the bar, and told I would be informed when my party arrived. Didn't happen - I eventually found them by hunting around the dining room. The lighting was funereal, so it was hard to read the menus. One of my friends had a cauliflower and carrot combination that was straight out of the commune I lived at in college, only there it didn't cost $12 and it had more flavor. My scalops had zero taste whatsoever, and somehow the fennel too had turned bland. The halibut too lacked zing. Good service might have helped things, but that's not what we got. The waiter consistently mixed up which person got which food. (There were only four of us.) It was difficult to get his attention and when you did get it the service was condescending, even though we were all a good 10 years older than he.

Great food and a very cool wine bar. The staff seemed attentive and friendly. I had a great time.

Basement interior of this restaurant feels corporate. Waiter very reverential and longwinded about the food. Pasta dish was made with penne, not garganelli, and boar sausage, not wild boar as stated on the menu. Ingredients not integrated well -- dish tasted tossed-off (In fairness, friends' pasta dishes were better). Wine list very interesting and varied, but prices high. This place is marketing itself as an event restaurant but seemed pretty pedestrian. Aimed at people who don't really know anything about food.

Eating out a lot in DC, I like flavorful and healthy cuisine. I also expect that restaurants with good food should offer good wines at reasonable prices as well. I guess that my expectation were too high for this restaurant. The food was good, but not great. The restaturant space is very cool and modern. While the drinks are relatively pricey for even DC, the wine list markup was outrageous, charging 3-5x the cost of the wine by the bottle. For a decent bottle of wine, that is simple price gouging. I doubt that I would make it a regular dining out site.

It opened only about a month ago and I have been there 5 times to eat. Try the Osso Bucco or the Lobster Agnoli. And the Gaspacho is fabulous too.