vermilion restaurant & bar

for special occasions. back at vermilion for dinner, this place is slowly becoming expensive but remains very good. the service is excellent, and the dinner room upstairs looks very elegant.
i recommend the $60 four course tasting menu, as we ordered 3 courses and ended up paying the same amount. the crab salad starter ($15) was delicate and tasty, my main of rabbit sampler – rabbit done 3 ways, $33 – was very original and enjoyable, and the desserts ($10) completedperfectlythe meal. we chose from the excellent wine list a 2009 burgundy pinot noir @ $48, good but maybe not worth the expense.

amazing family event. this is the restaurant you want to go to if you want amazing food and to be treated like you're their most important customer. i coordinate a lot of dinners and gatherings for friends/family and have done so at many restaurants in the dc area. my experience at vermilion was the best i have ever had planning something like this.

i contacted vermilion to see if they could accommodate our party of 6 celebrating my parents 40th wedding anniversary on a saturday night. the general manager, dave, worked with me the week of our dinner to prep a selected menu based on the current weeks options, which they printed and had waiting at our table when we arrived to make the evening extra special. our waiter was extremely knowledgeable and explained in detail each item on the menu. he knew we were celebrating a special occasion and made sure to space our courses outperfectlyto give us time to talk in between. we stayed for 3 hours and never once felt pressure to hurry up and leave as you do in so many other establishments.

the food was out of this world. my husband and i have been to vermilion before and have always been impressed by the food, but you do get a little worried when you are taking people out who have never been there before and are celebrating a special event. everyone is still talking about how delicious the meal was from the appetizers to the desserts. chef chittum is a magician with food.

it was a wonderful night that my parents will forever remember. whenever i have planned a special dinner out for a group in the past, i've spent days calling around to restaurants only to be told that i have to work with an outside company to reserve for a large group and sign a contract for minimums to be met (which are usually extremely high for a weekend). none of that was the case at vermilion. i simply picked up the phone to see if they would be able to accommodate a party of 6 for a special event and everything flowedperfectlyfrom there. no additional fees or forms to fill out. just great customer service and food that we'll surely go back for many times over.

i wish there were more establishments out there like vermilion. it's now at the top of our list of restaurants in the dc area.

nice!. four of us went on a rainy tuesday evening, and by 7:00 the resturant was full. nice bread basket and drinks. i had the rockfish entree, which was aperfectlysized portion for me, but a heartier eater would have been looking for more. (no vegan entries, and slim vegetarian options. mushroom ravioli was the only veggie entre.) for dessert, we shared the hostess cupcake and other goodies that came with it... perfect for sharing. also, the chocolate tart was superb! cool bar ambiance -- with cozy sofa/booths.

vermilion was a wirlwind of amazing tastes, all so very exquisite. i look forward to eating here again and again in the future. i had the taste of the night, which is a four coarse menu, with complimenting wine. every coarse wasperfectlymatched with the wine and the portions were perfect. the wait staff was a little slow at first, but apologetic and on par the rest of the night. i definitely look forward to bringing my friends and family here.

unusal food, set in an atmosphere. of both comfort and elegance. service was awesome. the food was remarkably different set at a low speed, but with high impact. the flavors are at once bold and subtle, as you try to identify exactly what that one spice or element may be. our appetizer was a little late, but they scored with an early tuna tar-tar, gratis. the halibut and potatoes wereperfectlycooked and was solid on the deliver, being upscale comfort food at it's best. the buffalo skirt steak was delightfully one two jab and punch to the breadbasket of taste. a word of warning, when they say medium rare, they mean rare. the service was awesome, but apparently not up to their standards, as they apologized for the slowness. we didn't notice, as refills and checks on us were constant. from someone who's eaten everything from alligator to camel from one end of the earth, i say go check it out.