Dirty Habit

Location: Washington DC-Penn Quarter

Cuisine: Modern, International

Website: https://dirtyhabitdc.com/

Stumbled upon this place while looking for places to go eat during Washington DC’s restaurant week. Located inside Hotel Monaco in Penn Quarter, it’s pretty close to a lot of major DC attractions such as Capital One arena and CityCenter DC. It’s also just a short walk from many of the Smithsonian Museums.

Food: 8/10
Ambiance: 10/10
Service: 10/10
Value: 10/10

Food:
We each ordered the restaurant week $25 special:
-Greens Salad, Fish Sando, Sorbet
-Flamed Ambered Romaine, Torta de Birria, Churros
The Greens Salad was great, well balanced with high quality greens and not drenched in dressing, no complaints about it. The Flamed Ambered Romaine was very unique, the chicharrons were a great addition, and the romaine wasn’t overly flamed/torched, not complains about it either.

The Fish Sando was slightly disappointing, the ratio of fish to the kimchi slaw was poor, the apple kimchi was great but overpowered the fish too much. There wasn’t much fish to begin with, the fish filet was pretty thin, but all I could taste was the kimchi and yuzu aioli. The fries that came with it however, was perfectly fried and seasoned, no complaints about it.

The Torta de Birria however, was made to perfection; the sandwich was well balanced, the cilantro crema and avocado were subtle enough to not cover up the birria but added a layer of texture and taste to it. The consumé was a great addition to the sandwich and was bursting with flavor. Would definitely recommend this over the Fish Sando.

Dessert:
Both desserts were great, no complaints about either. The sorbet selection offered was: Mango, Raspberry, Passionfruit and came with an assortment of berries on top. The Churros were fried very nicely and came out hot and fresh and the three dipping sauces it came with complemented it nicely.

Overall:

Although the Fish Sando disappointed, we enjoyed the meal very much and will certainly be returning to try the rest of the menu. Beyond the Restaurant Week menu, they have a very diverse menu that that is priced very moderately for the quality of food presented.

Note: Dirty Habit does add a mandatory 20% service charge.

Cost: $66 with tax + service charge for 2 people