rt's restaurant

good food, but way too expensive for the portion. one crab cake and potatoe for $25!:-(

dinner was very good. love finding hole-in-the-wall places like this. really enjoyed the following:

she-crab soup
death by gumbo
shrimp and crab étouffée
bananas foster cake (excellent!)
pecan pie

the only item that was forgettable was the jack daniels shrimp appetizer.

will revisit when back in the area.

don't let the exterior fool you! it's nice inside and the food is good. the crayfish étouffée and she crab soup were excellent! had the shrimp po boy on the second visit but it tasted rubbery (frozen not fresh). so i would suggest sticking to the sauce based entrees as that seems to be their forte. i plan to come back and taste their other dishes. so glad there is a bit of new orleans up here.

with a part of six and a reservation, that we arrived on time for, we still waited to be seated. the single waiter was serving six or eight tables, so it took multiple trips to get drinks ordered, which were not accurate when delivered and had to be re-ordered. a variety of dishes were ordered, and came out in a somewhat haphazard way. bread came after the salads, the entrees came when the salads were half-eaten, the special of soft-shelled crabs were tough and greasy, the flat-iron steak was more well-done than requested. the gumbo was enjoyed as was the étouffée. we were not in a hurry, but dinner took more than 1&1/2 hours, so plan accordingly.

such a little hole in the wall but absolutely delicious. i had stuffed haddock (which was the special). it had the creamiest, most decadent sauce that was perfect with my rice or for sopping up with bread. the fish was cooked well and really moist. my boyfriend had the crawfish etouffete and his sauce was equally amazing. we also had sweet scallops wrapped with salty bacon (how can that not be a winner?) you can't go wrong with flavorful, rich sauces and perfectly cooked seafood. surprisingly, they had some great wines as well.

great food and service.  had the fried oyster appetizer and red fish dinner special, both superb.  it's an old, neighborhood place, so not upscale ambiance.  went there on a week night, so it was not busy.  very friendly staff and fellow patrons, who all made a point of telling my wife and i how they had been coming there for years, and how consistently good it was.  they all made a point of asking us to come back.  i highly recommend it.

gone downhill. grade: c-

we have visited rt's many times over the years, and we used to love some of the dishes. today, though, we either hit them on a bad day or they’ve gone downhill. i doubt the former, as we were the second table to be seated after opening. in any case, especially since returning from new orleans a week ago, we were very disappointed.

first the good news. their crawfish & shrimp beignets are wonderful. wrapped in angel hair pasta and deep fried, they are addictive with the garlic mayonnaise. a half-dozen unspecified oysters on the half shell were decent as well.

now the bad news. the trout orleans was unsavory. atop the fish was a combination of shrimp and lump crab that was seasoned with something that browned the combination and made it bitter. thought i saw part of a mushroom in there but i’m not certain. blanketing the whole was an alleged hollandaise sauce, which was too thick and heavy and didn’t taste like hollandaise. this sauce suffocated the shellfish topping and i tried to remove as much as i could with only limited success. in any case, i could not taste the trout at all and could not finish the dish.

equally clumsy in preparation was the cajun veal oscar. a tough piece of veal was covered with what appeared to be the same shellfish topping as the trout. the béarnaise sauce drowning it looked the same as the hollandaise, but at least there was some difference in taste. also like the trout, it was too heavy and impossible to finish.

the side dishes weren’t that great either. a soup of thinned cream made the pale white corn mix taste like a bad canned dish. cajun onion straws were in fact a plate of floured, deep-fried onion slivers and rings that did nothing memorable.

after tax & tip, this was a c note down the drain. and the unpleasantness lingered.

i actually wanted to e-mail this to the proprietors but could not, after 15 minutes of searching, find any address whatsoever, and the contact section on rt’s website listed driving directions, a phone number, and a fax number. guess they can read it here instead. sadly, i don't know if we'll be back...just maybe for the beignets.

don't judge a book by its cover-- good food is served here. you can park in the autozone lot across the street. once inside fresh seafood and a skilled hand in the kitchen combine for a great meal. took our kids and the chicken nuggets were real chicken.

can't speak to the prices since a friend picked up the tab. but the food was outstanding. we had a variety of appetizers and two fish dishes. everything i put into my mouth was fabulous! great place close to reagan national.

food was good but a bit over priced. $4 for a pbr seems a bit expensive. oysters and crab soup were great, but the "death" by gumbo had some under cooked rice and wasn't the biggest portion. love the fact it looks like a dive bar. might go hear again if it was cheaper

me and my wife were in the area and were in the mood for seafood, rt's was highly rated on urbanspoon so we decided to check it out. we were skeptical upon arriving but once we entered the skepticism left. they treated us great and the food was awesome we will definitely be returning to sample other dishes on there menu.

great food. we were in dc for 5 days and this is the best place we ate. highly recommend spicy pecan crusted haddock, rt's special crab dish, she crab soup and fried oysters. all that we ordered was good.

one of the best restaurants i've ever been to. everything i've eaten there was off the charts. you can't go wrong here.

the service and food was very good. i will definitely become a frequent visitor.

long time customer ~ love it!. what do politicians of both parties agree on? that rt's is great! food is great and the atmosphere is unique. you're also likely to see politicians enjoying themselves here too. join them!