ISLA Restaurant — Restaurant in Washington

🚨 New Restaurant Alert!!!!! Long post alert! Detailed breakdown

Added to the DC culinary scene, Isla, pronounced I-La. This Caribbean fusion restaurant is the place where the African diaspora comes together to prepare various culinary traditions, all of which can be tasted in the variety of spices. Bravo to the owners for presenting this vision.

Service: every good restaurant has a great staff and this staff was nothing short of amazing. Leading at the top of the service was our waiter, Marcus. Marcus! You're a rockstar.

Ambiance: The decor was breathtaking.

Appetizers: Scallion bread- This bread was freshly baked and buttery soft. The yuzu kosho honey butter was literally the icing on the cake lol it was a hint of sweetness and spiciness paired together. Highly recommend.

Lamb Tartare- my goodness! This lamb presentation of the dish was exquisite. Robust flavors with a balance of fattiness, sweetness, pickled flavors, and the winner-green seasoning. A staple in any Caribbean home. Highly recommend.

Main Dishes: The Chargrilled octopus, which only comes as an appetizer was DELICIOUS! Perfectly charred to perfection, with some subtle balance of acidity. Highly recommend as an appetizer because it is a little small.

Fried snapper: honey, this is STELLAR! Some fried dishes can taste like the oils they're fried in, or you can capture the flavors in the batter-the flavors were oozing out of the batter making this dish a 10/10. Paired with a perfect side of pickled carrots, an ode to Jamaican escovitch-nuff respect! Highly, highly, highly recommend!

Side dish: cook up rice. Whether you're Trinidadian, Jamaican, Guyanese, Bajan, or from any of the beautiful islands, you understand how important cook up rice is. This chef used coconut tea, a milky substance which I imagined was used to help boil the Carolina gold rice. Having just learned about the origins of the Carolina gold rice, read "High on the Hog". I loved seeing Afro-Caribbean excellence on a plate. This rice was remarkable and I wanted to keep eating scoops of if.

Dessert: Miss Paula's Carrot Cake- DIVINE! Order it! Rum Raisin ice cream- If you aren't a rum drinker, don't try. I love good Caribbean rum and this ice cream wasn't shy of it. Creamy with a buzz.

Drinks: Trini sour: perfect if you understand bitters and are looking for something that isn't sweet.

I also had a couple glasses of crisp sauvignon blanc.

I heard that they are preparing to launch brunch and happy hour soon, so count me in for both! Cannot wait to return here! Definitely a beautiful date night experience and it wasn't crowded...

A beautiful new place with delicious food!

Went on a Friday night with a +1 and the ambiance was stunning. Definitely upscale in the best way.

Cocktails: we had their take on a passion fruit marg and the whiskey sour. Strong and well balanced drinks!

Food: everything we ordered was delicious. We started with plantain chips and snapper crudo. The snapper crudo was in this delicious passion fruit sauce that stopped up in our tracks. As our second course we had crab patties and rock shrimp. the crab patties which were also diving and came with a very spicy sauce. The rock shrimp was perfectly fried! For entrees we had snapper and branzino with the rice and cabbage. Both the snapper and branzino were delicious with Amazon flavor and cooked perfectly. The cabbage was unique and paired well with both entrees. We did not love the rice as it was a little more moist than we would like but still good and I’m sure someone would like it.

Service: as this is a new place the service was pretty slow especially when it came to ordering drinks. At one point we did wait 30 minutes for our second drink order to come out. They were apologetic.

Overall will be back! Loved...

From the moment I stepped into ISLA, I felt surrounded by warmth and elegance. The restaurant’s atmosphere truly reflects its philosophy — a blend of island soul and global sophistication.

I started with the Oyster topped with hibiscus granita and scotch bonnet mignonette — absolutely incredible! The balance of floral, spicy, and ocean-fresh flavors was unlike anything I’ve tasted before. It perfectly captured the “island through a global lens” theme.

The service was attentive and friendly, the bartender Kristina and Alex did the best to serve us going through the menu itams and I can tell every dish that followed carried a story and a sense of creativity. The presentation was stunning, and the flavors were bold yet refined.

ISLA is not just a restaurant — it’s a culinary journey. Whether you come for the artistry, the flavors, or the atmosphere, you’ll leave inspired...