Eola

Went to Eola with another couple for wife’s birthday. Staff was great and attentive and first two courses were very good. Things went bad with a chefs treat when they served a serving called Lardo that was a radish with a special sauce. That special sauce looked and tasted just like Crisco. Then the final course came. Three of four of us did not finish. The venison was dry and tasted gamier than any meat I ever had. — I gagged on the first bite. The squab was undercooked but dried out after sitting under the heating lamp for probably extended period of time. The vegetarian dish was tasteless and the vegetables mushy. Only notable dish was the foie gras. Quite an expesive night for a mediocre meal. Only good part was the belly laughing over how bad the food was. I don’t know what happened with the chef but can’t be good as the place was less than half full on a Friday night.

Of you are looking for a true «foodie» experience run over to Eola. It may not be for everyone, but if you love intentive creative food that is usual, amazingly well prepared and delicious, all without pretense, run to Eola. Some of the dishes are bizarre, but if you are adventurous you will be amply rewarded. There is amazing craft in these dishes and a creative soul all too often lacking in DC’s corporate restaurant scene.
Compare this restaurant to Komi or City Zen. The food is just as good and creative, but at a much lower price point.
Décor & ambiance are lovely too.

Truly excellent. Interesting and well-​executed dishes, good wine service, attentive but not obsequious service. As has become more trendy lately, serious food in a less formal setting.
As noted earlier, vegetarian and offal menus available by request. One in our party was vegan, and we wrote ahead to see if the restaurant could accomodate this. They were very gracious and made several substitutions to the vegetarian menu.
One dish was rather salty, but everything else was extremely well prepared.

For the price there are better restaurants. You expect a lot from service to food quality with a fixed price menu. The service was fine, but not exceptional. The waitress was friendly, but not a well versed in the menu or the ingredients as servers in other restaurants I have been to. The food was tasty but not amazing. The serving sizes of dishes were small, which was great as our dining companions had small stomachs. The pours for the wine pairing started out fine (about half a glass), but then at the main course there was about a quarter of a glass. I would have preferred ¼ a glass with the smaller dishes and a half glass with my main course. Dessert was fine. It’s not that this place isn’t a good meal or bad ambience, I have just had exceptional experiences at other restaurants in this city for the same price. It was underwhelming for what I was expecting.

I had been really looking forward to trying Eola for dinner, after having a really great brunch there awhile back (they’ve since stopped serving brunch), but I was quite underwhelmed by my dinner experience.
My husband and I were both interested in the offal menu, but many courses only had one option, and we wanted to try as many dishes as possible, so he get the offal, and I did the regular menu. The second course on the offal menu had two options, so I asked if I could have the one my husband didn’t select for my second course, but the server said the chef wouldn’t allow substitutions. I really didn’t understand this, as I wasn’t looking to substitute ingredients in a single dish, just select one course from a different menu, when both menus were the same price, and there was a very similar dish on the regular menu (both ravioli dishes, slightly different fillings).
Most of the food was good, with the exception of my husband’s main course, the pork jowl, which was way too salty, as in all you could taste was salt. Often at home, my husband’s plate looks like it snowed on it by the time he’s done salting it, but even he found this dish way overly salty. My beef loin was by far the better choice, cooked to a perfect medium rare, tender, and nicely seasoned.
Additionally, the wine pairings were laughably small. I of course don’t expect, and wouldn’t want a full glass when doing a wine tasting, but these were about the size you would get at a free wine tasting at a local wine shop. I ordered a full glass of the Cabernet that was paired with the first course, as there was no way I could make that last through the main course. The full glass was $ 15, so assuming all the pairings were about that price, at $ 45 for 5 pairings, they could have done half glasses of each and still come out ahead. My husband ordered a glass of Calvados, thinking it would go nicely with the pork jowl, and over 20 minutes later, after he had finished that course, he had to ask the server where it was. Her response-«I forgot. Do you still want it?» Eventually he got his drink, about a half hour after ordering it, but was still charged $ 20 for it.
Much of the food at Eola was within the 3.5−4 star range, but between the one terrible dish, the several dishes that were merely average to slightly better than average, and the service, I can’t give more than 2 stars overall.

I’m surprised many Unilocalers gave Eola 5 stars. I was satisfied with my meal, but it’s definitely not in the same caliber as CityZen or even Marcel’s.
Overall, a recurring theme is that the dishes are clean and simple. It’s almost as if the chef made it mid-​way through the Top Chef contest, but didn’t quite elevate cooking technique beyond a certain level. As I told my boyfriend «I can’t help but feel Eola serves wannabe fancy dishes from a home kitchen.»
We tried the regular tasting menu, which comprised a chef’s selection of 4 mini amuse bouche and 3 courses. I must highlight that portions are all minuscule aside from the third course and dessert which are regular size. Granted this is supposed to be a «tasting menu» but if a tiny person like me can feel just moderately full at the end of the meal, I’m not quite sure how other people with much larger appetites would feel.
None of the dishes were memorable (at least to me) but I do remember my main course (the fish) being a tad bit salty. And it looks like i’m not the only Unilocaler to comment on this.
Also, I must highlight that Eola was alot more casual a restaurant than what other Unilocalers made it seem. I thought that with the «wooden floors and quaint townhouse feel» this would be a jacket for men type of place. Howevey, my boyfriend ended up being the only male diner with a jacket. Most were dressed in collared polo shirts.
Service was food, our waiter was very attentive — but for the price you’re paying (and I’m not the kind to complain about paying if the food is good) i really think you can get better value and quality at other restaurants in DC.

I wanted to like Eola, but it just didn’t work out for me. I went with my wife; she had the normal tasting menu, and I had the offal menu. The offal menu had fewer choices than the normal menu, but it sounded better to me. For some reason, they weren’t able to substitute between menus, which disappointed my wife.
Most of the food we had was very good. Several of my dishes were far too salty (NB: If I think a dish is too salty, you’ve got issues), but that was generally the only issue we had with the food. But the pacing was pretty terrible. I expect a tasting menu to be a leisurely affair. That’s a large part of the attraction. But Eola seemed to take the wrong lessons from the concept of punctuated equilibrium.
We did the wine pairings, which were each two or three sips of a glass of wine. It was not generous, but was enough to go with the dishes, except it showed up inevitably 10 minutes before the food came. And that even took 10 minutes from when we finished the previous dish. Once we gave up and ordered additional drinks, my wife’s wine showed up fairly quickly. However, the Calvados I ordered took at least 20 minutes — by the time it came, I had more than finished the dish I was hoping to drink it with.

I went to Eola with a group of friends with pretty high expectations (as a friend had told me about a mind blowing meal she had their recently). While there were some dishes that were delicious, there were a few that missed the mark. There was a lemon dessert that was airy and light and a fish in a broth for the main course that I still remember, as well as fettuccine pasta that was fresh and flavorful. Oh and I can’t forget the amuse bouche (x4) especially the little deviled quail egg — although there was a weird aloe gele that I didn’t dig.
The downfall of the other dishes such as the pork belly, poussin, and risotto was salt and this is coming from a girl that loves her salt.
I must make note that the ambiance in the little townhouse and the service was impeccable. We were a large group of hospitality peeps so we can be a bit difficult and our server handled us with grace.
I feel there is still room for a lot of potential at Eola and look forward to trying their food again soon… hopefully with less salt.

In a nutshell, at Eola expect to spend the evening dining on the cutting-​edge at an innovative New American restaurant, where a $ 75 five-​course prix fixe menu (no à la carte) is served at a leisurely pace in a quiet townhouse with beautiful aged wooden floors and sparsely decorated with exposed bricks and ochre walls.
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We have had a wonderful experience at Eola in the past — great food and great service, but this last time was not as good. We went on New Years Eve, and it’s possible they were just really busy.
Service: The woman who took our reservation and checked us in was fantastic, but it was sometimes difficult to get our waiter’s attention to order drinks.
Food: They always bring out a series of 4 starters, and this time, 3 of the 4 were seafood, which seemed like a lot, especially because it is not my husband’s favorite type of food. The pasta course was a highlight and both of ours were good. The salmon main dish had a very «fishy» taste, and was served with a clear broth poured over it, which really brought out that flavor. None of the three dessert choices had chocolate.

This place is so, so impressive. There are a lot of expensive and trendy New American restaurants in DC, and most of them serve bland, uninventive food and are not worth what they cost (like, really, how many times can I eat a «fancy» burger, or a «fancy» steak, «fancy» shrimp and grits, or a «fancy» salmon fillet?). Not Eola! This is definitely the type of restaurant DC needs more of, and now that I’ve moved down here, this will be a go-​to for special occasions! Very accomodating for all sorts of palates, but meat lover’s heaven!
They serve three tasting/​prix-​fixe menus: regular, offal, and veggie. The first time I went a year and a half ago, the boyfriend and I got the regular menu: super fresh and very seasonal ingredients, interesting and unique combinations (definitely some touches of molecular gastronomy there, in the best way), and very classy food that showed a lot of love, knowledge, and respect for the ingredients. The menus start with a chef’s welcome, which is a series of amuses-​bouche that usually involve some sort of mouth-​watering seafoods, and some things that are very interesting (we’ve had spicy pepper gelato, and something with bacon foam, for example) then an appetizer, a pasta, a main, a dessert, and some nice cookies to wrap up.
We noticed last time that there is an offal menu (which is on the website, but usually you have to ask for it) which really interesting seasonal delicacies. We made a point of going back there on an anniversary to get it, and we had some amazing things such as chicken-​fried pig tongue with lentils, lambs neck with parsnip purée, rabbit ragu, ravioli with squab innards, etc. This stuff is prepared excellently (almost in a way that de-​emphasizes that it’s offal), in a very classy way, so if you can get over the silly notion that offal is weird, you can be treated to some excellent flavors and really tender cuts. The wine pairing is also really reasonable, as far as wine pairings go!
The service is great — super attentive and so so nice, and unpretentious! They even started us off with complimentary bubbly because of our anniversary. So, so excellent at refilling water, asking us if we needed anything, wiping off the crumbs, etc.
The downstairs is very intimate, while upstairs has a ton of seating for overflow or larger groups.

Eola is amazing and hands down has to be the best kept secret in DC. I really can’t believe it has taken me so long to try this hidden gem. The interior is romantic and quiet but still has a nice sense of ambiance that makes it special. Everyone is working together as a wait staff and the service is just perfect — not overbearing but always making sure everything is ok at your table.
On to the food — it was absolutely delicious and had some very inventive and unique dishes. We had a number of exciting dishes based on the evenings menu of courses to choose from, and at $ 75 it was a steal. We also did the wine pairing, and based on experience I always expect to have one or two glasses that are just off, but these wines shined, there wasn’t a bad wine in the batch.
This is my new go to place for those special nights. Just wonderful!

This is a very small and low-​key sort of restaurant that packs a big punch. All of the ingredients seemed super fresh and each course was creative with a delicate yet complex flavor profile. The desserts were also amazing.
If you are a foodie who is into pork, this place is your nirvana.

Eola prides itself on being unpretentious fine dining. It’s one of the few places in the city that has both a vegetarian and offal tasting menu. As well, they have a FOOD EVERYONE ELSE IN AMERICA EATS tasting menu which is what I chose since I’m not with colleagues I need to impress with flavor profiles of blackberries, chocolate, graphite, and a freshly mowed grass finish. So before I forget, I thought I’d sit down at the office on company time and punch out a short 500 character review.
Interior is warm and relaxed.
Service was happy but somewhat overattentive.
Meal time was excellent. It’s very contemporary American fare but their flavor pairings are very good. The kitchen was generous with amuse-​bouche.
The desserts were ok. Strange of the 4 coffees on selection, 2 were from the same field with an identical flavor profile.
Wife ordered the vegetarian tasting menu which she absolutely loved.
Disappointed Unilocalers, and one in particular who didn’t even eat a meal here (WTF are you reviewing this place for then???), thought it pretentious and expensive, not I.
The menu flows at a nice pace. And look, not a week went by and they have a new menu.

Yikes.
The expense didn’t match the experience.
The food was somewhat bland and service took way too long.
I wish I could rave about the staff but they were totally «affected» and thought they were hipper than hip. They suffered from a chronic case of DuPont syndrome.
It’s a four course meal and while you won’t leave hungry I doubt you’ll be inspired which is what I think this place wants you to be.
It is NOT better than Corduroy.
The gnocchi tasted nothing like gnocchi but rather like hush puppies. Weird. The spaghetti was okay even though they tried to jazz it up with lamb. The beef loin was «aight» but nothing at all to write home about. The curry braised lamb was perhaps the highlight but at this place that doesn’t say much. For dessert the chocolate mousse and the ginger pudding … Ugh, yuck! I am a dessert snob but seriously … No.
I really wanted to like this place and it was all so disappointing.
When the check came I felt a little robbed. First time in a long time.
Boo!

Eola was amazing, quite a treat. Really Erin and I couldn’t remember being as surprised and happy at a new restaurant in a long time. Sure we have some old favorite’s that we return to and often enjoy, but when trying new places they frequently are good but don’t really stand out. Eola stood right out and we took notice.
The chef’s tasting to start off the meal are fun little samples of interesting dishes. I like the pre fixe setup, which works out pretty well. Honestly I would probably skip the soup/​salad and dessert courses to save a bit of cash if I could, but it isn’t a big deal. I think we enjoyed every single thing put in front of us, it was well paces and the portioning was as perfect as you could get.
So the ambience was great, the sound levels perfect, lovely and romantic for a couple to chat away the evening with some cocktails or wine.
The short and sweet I will be back.

Eola = part of top ten best restaurants in DC, fo’ sure.
Eola has been a fantastic experience every time I have visited, for a multitude of reasons. Let’s begin with the service. The apparent head waiter, Jean Paul, is knowledgeable, friendly, and seems very interested in making sure that the guests are happy. He’s great at describing the food, isn’t overly effusive about the food if it doesn’t deserve the praise, and could make intelligent wine suggestions.
However, while the service is good, the food is the true star of the show. Everything, absolutely everything, on the offal menu is perfect: delicately cooked lamb’s neck, soft pig brains, salty and flavorful tongues and trotters, all could not have been more enjoyable. The bacon flight for brunch is a bacon lovers wet dream: you get not just slices of bacon, but actually three ½″ thick SLABS of delicious salty bacon. Everything else I’ve ever had off the dinner and brunch menus have also been flawless, fresh, and unique. And the icing on the cake is you get all that goodness, four courses of it, for only $ 65.
Major props also for having a vegetarian menu – a rarity in far too many restaurants, and annoying, given the prevalence of vegetarians in DC. My only complaint about the restaurant overall in fact was that the one vegetarian main course I had, a squash terrine, was undercooked and flavorless. It appears to have since been taken off the menu, and hopefully it will never come back, and they’ll stick to the many other tasty dishes they’ve perfected over the past three years.

This review is only meant to share information that I wish I had when I visited — I didn’t actually get to eat here, so I can’t even comment on the food.
Eola has a lot of good reviews, and it is a cute restaurant located centrally in Dupont Circle, so we were excited to have dinner there, but when we went, we were the only ones there (at 7pm on a Thursday… weird).
They poured our waters, and then brought the menu. And only then did we realize that they only offer one set menu — for $ 65 per person.
The food looked good, but we weren’t really in the mood for a four-​course meal. If we could have ordered just one or two dishes, we definitely would have stayed, but since that wasn’t an option, we headed out, leaving the restaurant completely empty once again.
If you go to dinner here — just be sure you’re ready for the four-​course set menu!

After graduating from Georgetown 3 years ago, I finally made it back to DC. I made sure I reached out to my favorite DC resident — a friend from Orlando, my hometown. It was his decision to take me to Eola, named after Orlando’s famous downtown body of water, Lake Eola. The chef is also an alum of our high school too, so our meal paid tribute to all things Orlando.
The cozy dining room is very pleasant and relaxing. Soft lighting, exposed brick, accented with simple fixtures.
After relaying to each other our very taxing and tiring weeks, we started our dinner off with a cocktail and a beer. I had the Bees Knees and my friend had the Dragon’s Milk beer. I was very happy with its honey and lemon taste. Super delicious! I immediately forgot all my worries… Accompanying our cocktails were the amazing bread rolls. Soft, warm, and flavored with a hint of lemon.
Onto the ordering! The menu is an education on meat, specifically pork. I thought I would start with the shoat and lentil salad. I figured ‘shoat’ was some vegetable I had never heard of. I was way off. Shoat is really a young pig, so I had really just ordered a pork salad. And it was awesome. My friend had the gnocchi, which was also a solid choice. He left nothing on the plate.
My next course was the duck. It was drizzled with this amazing ice wine syrup. And the duck was super tender and flavorful. I was very happy with my choice.
I was too full from dinner for my own dessert, so we split the warm apple upside down cake. It was a perfect ending to our meal, along with a visit from the chef! Sweet!

Eola has cute comfortable ambiance. I felt like I was in somebody’s dining room.
— Egg Benedict: Egg was the highlight of the entire meal. Fresh organic eggs were perfectly poached. For the first time, I thought the eggs taste so fresh and creamy, I didn’t need additional hollandaise sauce.
— French toast: Good use of day-​old rustic bread. Nothing special. Very good maple syrup though.
–Donut: Fluffy donut. If you like donuts from Tabard Inn, you would like this one.
Overall, it was simple brunch. Nothing fancy. so Don’t expect too much. You might like everything here if you want simple breakfast items made of organic ingredients.