Acqua Al 2

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner here for Christmas Eve while visiting family. We had lunch the day prior, and it was so good we scheduled dinner for the next night. Keith, our server, was outstanding. The steaks were perfect and the rigatoni was delicious. My husband and I also enjoyed the craft cocktails. I highly recommend Harvest Tide if you're in the area.

What a lovely (early) dinner.. it’s our 4th visit and We absolutely love this neighborhood resto. We had few shareable dishes: The chimmicurri shrimp, the sorrel beet salad and the super yummy mac & cheese. The Artisan pizza was light and delicious. And of course.. the peanut butter pie was a perfect ending to a delicious dinner. happy holiday.. kiss, Olan

Let me start by acknowledging the mixed reviews: This restaurant appears to have struggled, slightly, in it’s year on Capitol Hill, to offer a consistent experience to all its guests. Because the pricepoint places it in the range of a top tier steakhouse, an inconsistent experience is unacceptable. But, my overwhelmingly positive review may suggest that the ship has steadied itself and many more positive reviews are just over the horizon. On to the review… First things first, the steak was excellent. I ordered the Tomahawk steak, which clocks in around 36oz, and it was well seasoned and well cooked. I ordered it medium rare and, if anything, the steak was tilting very slightly toward rare. In my opinion, that’s perfect. Tomahawks are notoriously difficult to cook to precise temperatures and a slight undercook, if unappreciated by the customer, is correctable. Bravo. The taste was also excellent. It has a clear dry aged taste, without being overpowering. It is seasoned, but gently. In other words, you taste the beef. If you truly like dry aged steak, you’ll appreciate this fact. If you enjoy steak as a vehicle for seasonings, then this may disappoint you (but, don’t worry, Outback Steakhouse isn’t far away and they’ll happily serve you). The side dishes we ordered, mashed potatoes and mushrooms, were good compliments to the steak and didn’t compete with it. Another nod to the chef - well done. Our starters were also amazing. We ordered the burrata and the scallops. Both, frankly, were excellent in their own right. And, while both showcased bold flavors, those flavors never upstaged the cheese of seafood. Well done. My ONLY critique with the food was the bread and butter. Here, I’m forced to agree with other reviewers: The savory seasoning on the bread does not, at all, mesh with the fruity sweet butter spread. It’s a nice attempt to give the guests something more exciting than simple bread and butter, but it does not succeed. In my humble opinion, either lose the seasoning on the bread, or use a normal butter. Easy fix here. The wine offerings were a touch limited, but totally within the range of acceptable. If I had a suggestion here, it would be to offer a few more wines by the glass and broaden your selection of heavier, bolder reds. But, I have to say that we really enjoyed the wine we selected and this small issue would not stand in our way of returning in any way. Service was on par with the price, if ever-so-slightly slow. This appears to be because our server, Petro, was managing all the tables. But, if you have to choose between overloading Petro slightly and compromising on the quality of your servers, then you’ve struck the right balance. Petro is excellent and we enjoyed his company. On the service front, my wife and I only noticed one small peculiarity: The menus were printed on questionable quality paper and had seen better days. Small suggestion here: Replace them and pop for a better quality product. These types of small details aren’t critical, obviously, but they distract from the kind of immersive and luxurious experience you expect in a top tier steakhouse. All in all, this appears to be a restaurant that deserves a higher rating. I’m giving it five stars and it deserves it, based on our experience. That said, I think this is a 4.5 star restaurant with the potential to become a 5 star restaurant very easily. Harvest Tide, you’ve got the hard stuff down - it’s just the small things now. Good luck.

This place definitely gives a high end steak house vibes. The menu and the prices at least screams of that. The food was good. Not overwhelming and for the price ii guess you xan expect overwhelming, right? We had the NY strip and Prime rib and they were good. I usually get medium and for that temp the meat felt a little overcooked. The truffled mashed potatoes were outstanding.

We came here for dinner last night and were mostly happy with the experience. The staff were all friendly and our server in particular (Petro) was great - very attentive, explained items on the menu, and interjected appropriately with pleasant conversation. When we were initially sat the host/manager offered a window table because they weren't that busy which I always think is a nice touch. The bread was good (I think I detected a bit of onion or garlic) but was paired with a sweet butter which, in my opinion, didn't pair very well. We got the Petite Filet and Dry Aged NY Strip which were both very good and what I'd expect to get going to a top tier steakhouse. My steak was a bit overcooked for medium rare but just ever so slightly. We accompanied the entrees with asparagus and the pecorino brussel sprouts. I loved the spouts, not over cooked or over salted, but the asparagus were a bit overcooked and droopy (admittedly, I like my asparagus more on the 'al dente' side than most). I also loved the space - it's kind of laid out as a bar with a few tables in front then a hallway that opens into a larger dining room in the back. The bar, though not very busy when we were there, looked like they could mix a cocktail and would be a nice place to grab a drink after a long day at the office.