Purple Patch — Restaurant in Washington

TL;DR - food was good, but terrible service, by which I mean there was none beyond the most very basic. Don't waste your money here, there are a thousand restaurants in this city where the servers actually try.

Had a reservation last night with a group of 8 for a birthday party. Started off fine, chairs are comfy, water already on the table, ect.

We had multiple drinks each, apps, entrees, desserts, the whole 9 yards. Total for 8 people was about $580, not crazy by DC standards but also not cheap.

Nice things:

There was a personalized card for my friend with his name on it and they brought him an extra dessert.

Issues:

Not a single empty cocktail/wine glass was picked up from the table all night. New drinks/glasses were brought, but honestly this is a basic step of service literally anywhere that serves drinks. Things get crowded, and also I don't think this is an unreasonable thing to want. The food runners ran all of the food AND there was someone else running most of the drinks, so I don't know what was keeping the server so busy.

All of the food was auctioned off by the food runners, meaning he wasn't entering in seat numbers for who ordered what. Not a big bump in the road (until later with the bill), it just took a minute for us customers to sort things out when food arrived, but still a simple thing for the server to do which prevents customers from being disrupted. The server was using a hand-held machine to enter the orders, so I assume he was using Toast or something similar. I am a server, I have used these same devices, it is easy to indicate which seat gets what. Modern POS systems have that built in. He could have done this right at the table, as he entered the order, but he didn't.

The bill. We asked for the bill to be split by seat, so we could pay for ourselves or as couples. Again, for only 8 people, as a server, this is not a crazy request. It can be a little annoying, but not unreasonable. Servers are paid for service. The server refused, said he could only split the bill evenly or do it all on one card. AGAIN, on a modern POS system, this is more than doable. I know how to do it. The server was lazy, and didn't want to bother. Simple as that. So, I put my card down just to keep my friend's birthday moving along. There was an automatic gratuity added. Not unreasonable for a larger party, but my ask is, what service was provided? No finished drinks were cleared (basic part of service), the server didn't run anything themselves, they clearly weren't telling the kitchen who ordered what (basic part of service), and despite having a modern and easy to use POS system they were unwilling to let us pay by individual (basic part of service). I have split parties into 14 or more separate checks before, using Toast. That instance was unfortunate, but doable and honestly takes a minute or two at most.

I would say the rest of party overall left happy, but to me the service here was absolutely terrible. The server didn't provide anything, he took orders and didn't even send them to the right seat. He barely cleared the finished food, brought boxes to the table for us to box instead of doing it for his customers, cleared zero finished drinks, and wouldn't let us pay the way we wanted, again a VERY BASIC request that modern POS systems make extremely easy.

Don't waste your money here, there are a thousand restaurants in this city where the servers...

First of all, service was great. And the place felt accommodating.

Now to the food.

I did two things: ate some inside, and had some stuff to go.

1. Lumpia: it was generally good. Nothing extraordinary. They were long, not short, and the vinegar sauce was good.

2. Pork Skewers: it’s their version of BBQ Pork on a stick. And it’s more of a pork satay. It was okay, not extraordinary.

3. Lecho Kawali: this was the most authentic Filipino of everything I got. The cook was perfect, and the crispness was on point.

4. Sinigang (Pork): when I visit Filipino restaurants, I always gauge it on their Lechon Kawali and Pork Sinigang. I understand this is a rendition, in a way, but this is when I realized that they cater to non-Filipinos who wants a “version” of Filipino cooking.

First of all, the soup wasn’t sour enough. But the major discrepancy was they had POTATOS in it. I was told it could be a version from a region in the Philippines. After googling, I saw that though potatoes “could” be put in it, there are no versions from any province that would include potatoes in “Sinigang.” This is when I realized, “Oh, they’re catering to the ‘local’ non-Filipino Americans.” This was disappointing.

I wanted to try more but I know I won’t be able to finish them all, so I bought some stuff to go:

5. Pork Adobo: The pork was perfect. The sauce was sweet, which is good, but again, it lacked sourness from vinegar. It had more of a hint of “paksiw na pata” than Adobo.

And AGAIN: POTATOES! Now in this case, some version DO include potatoes, but in general, we avoid potatoes in Adobo. If there is no rice available, then maybe one would include potatoes for starch, and for a more filling effect.

6. “Binagoonang” Fried Rice with Longganisa: now this is trickier to critique. They make their own bagoong, so I’ll give them that. The Longganisa was okay, but not as sweet as I would’ve hoped.

The one that disappointment me was the use of carrots. I’m telling you, they’re changing the recipe to cater to non-Filipinos, really. There are no carrots in Fried Rice: ASK UNCLE ROGER!

7. “Arrozcaldo”: this was okay. It was good. The texture was definitely “lugaw,” as the rice was very much “porridge” in texture, which is accurate. This was close to accurate and authentic.

8. Ube Dulce de Leche: this was very good. I would prefer more ube flavor, but very tasty in general.

So that’s my review.

My suggestion is read other people’s reviews and see what they say. This place is a little streamlined, so some of the authentic flavors are lost. I don’t know if I’ll go back, though. I ordered my go-to dishes, and I usually base it on those. The only dish I would get whether dine-in or to go would be “Lechon Kawali,” if I really want that real authentic Filipino flavor. Mind you, the co-owner is from Bicol, but I didn’t order any of the Bicol Express and Sisig, so it’s up to you to try them out for yourselves.

I wish I could give this place a much better review. I’ve been to other streamlined Filipino restaurants, but the one that really did it for me was potatoes in...

Absolutely incredible! Purple Patch has been on my restaurant bucket list for years, and I was SO excited when I finally got to try it. Whether you're visiting for brunch, happy hour, or dinner, Purple Patch is sure to offer a cozy dining experience and top-notch Filipino food.

I first visited Purple Patch for brunch in early 2024 and was thoroughly impressed by this Mt Pleasant gem. We were seated at a small two-top nestled in the window bay on the second floor, which made our table feel the slightest bit separated from the rest of the restaurant, making the meal feel a lot more cozy and intimate. We couldn't decide whether we wanted a sweet or savory start to the day, so we split the ube French toast, mushroom sliders, and crab with garlic fried rice. The toast was the level of sweetness -- i.e., not too sweet -- and had a great ube flavor. The shiitake mushroom sliders were phenomenal; the mushrooms themselves pack a huge umami punch, and the atchara and banana ketchup give the dish a hint of sweet, salty, and tangy. The mini pandesal rolls were light and pillowy, and I loved the pickled veggies on the side for a hint of freshness. The star of the meal, though, had to be the crab; it was incredibly rich and fragrant from the coconut milk, and the garlic fried rice may not have looked like much, but it had a great flavor and texture. The dish also came with a generous helping of salad, which helped to break up the decadence of the rest of the dish.

I'm not sure what took me so long to pay Purple Patch another visit, but the next time I had the pleasure of visiting was in September. This time, I came with a pretty large group (~15 people), and we were seated outside on their patio. The patio wasn't heated, but we definitely didn't need it for September in DC, and I loved how cozy the space felt with the string lights, linen curtains, and plants. The staff did an amazing job dealing with our giant group, and even left us a little sign on the table welcoming our party to the restaurant, as well as custom menus with a little welcome note. Everything we had that night was absolutely incredible, but a few highlights include:

(1) Tokwa appetizer -- I don't think I've ever had such an incredible piece of tofu. These lovely nuggets of gold are stir fried to create a slightly crispy exterior and soft, melt-in-your-mouth center. They're then coated in a perfectly sweet, savory, and spicy calamansi sauce that is absolutely addictive. I ended up taking a box of these home to enjoy for dinner the next day.

(2) Red snapper relleno -- unbelievably good. The red snapper was remarkably tender, with a slightly charred flavor from being broiled. The fillet was then coated with a generous helping of lump crab and then coated with a rich, creamy beurre blanc sauce. Everything about this dish screams decadence, but they do it so incredibly well -- it's typically served with rice, which does a great job of just soaking up all the extra sauce, as well as a...