vermilion restaurant & bar

vermilion can be found on king street in alexandria which is essentially a murderer's row of really good food. from hank's oyster bar to the majestic, there isn't a shortage of places to find an enjoyable meal. vermilion (for some reason i just like typing that out) has a lunchspecialcalled the ceo where you can get a starter and a main course for a discounted price and if you add a dessert, they take a bit off of that also. um...sold! i've noticed that most of the nrg's restaurants offer similar specials and while they're not fast food joints (i think the proper term may be casual fine dining though i would hope any place i eat is fine dining...), i think i "combo" meal is a great idea for any restaurant since it gives more leeway to try bits of their menu.

forspecialoccasions. 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) completed perfectly the 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 aspecialoccasion and made sure to space our courses out perfectly to 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 aspecialevent. 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 aspecialdinner 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 aspecialevent and everything flowed perfectly from 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.

excellent. the atmosphere at vermillion is awesome. i have gone there from time to time over the last 5 years or so forspecialoccasions and the chefs now recognize when my party is eating there. they have treated us with appetizers and desserts the last few times we have gone. otherwise the food is interesting and fantastic, the chefs are creative and offer a variety of foods that can please everyone in a large party, and the wine selection is immense.