Rasika — Restaurant in Washington

Rasika is a high end Indian restaurant located in the Penn Quarter section of DC. It's 1-2 blocks from the DC Superior Court Building. The restaurant offers valet parking in addition to the pay for park lots that are across the street. Metered street parking is also available however finding a spot is highly unlikely during lunch or early dinner times.

Walking in, I was immediately struck by the elegant decor of the restaurant with hints of ethnic flair mixed in. I also noticed how small the space really was, which no doubt contributes to their long wait list for reservations.

The service is good as the wait staff is attentive and professional. They're not going to make jokes or small talk, but your glass will be filled pretty quickly and your food will be in front of you as soon as it's ready.

Speaking of food, I tried the Garlic Naan, Palak Chaat, Roti Pe Boti, Chicken Tikka Masala and the Lobster Pulao.

The Garlic Naan (flatbread) was pretty good. The naan was nice sized and light. The garlic was pronounced though....in fact a little too pronounced. What happens when someone snuggles up to you and during what is supposed to be a warm and fuzzy moment says....you smell like garlic??? AWKWARD!!!!

The Palak Chaat is a hugely popular side dish that has become the restaurant's signature item. It's comprised of crispy baby spinach, sweet yogurt, tamarind and date chutney. The texture of the spinach being crispy obviously makes the dish unique and the sweetness, acidity and sourness of the other elements make this dish very flavorful and addicting. Greatest thing ever? NO! Really good though and definitely worth ordering.

The Roti Pe Boti consists of tandoori lamb, paratha and mint chutney. Paratha is a flatbread, which was relatively chewy as opposed to being hard and dry. It served as a nice base for the tandoori lamb, which was made into a stew-like form and placed on top. The mint chutney adds an additional flavor component. The dish was definitely on the salty side and the lamb, while tender, also lacked the smokey flavor that is supposed to project from being grilled. The amount of lamb was generous and the dish in general was unique but was average at best.

The Chicken Tikka Masala dish was decent, but not memorable The chicken was fairly moist and tender. The sauce was creamy and well seasoned with a kick. As with the Roti Pe Boti appetizer, there was a strong hint of salt.

The Lobster Pulao consists of rice, lobster chunks and a broth made with bell pepper, cumin and mango kadi. Also known as a pilaf dish, the appeal for me is typically there's a good depth of flavor from all of the elements coming together in harmony. Additionally, there is a certain richness and comfort that radiates from Indian cuisine in general. Rasika's take on this dish failed on all those levels. While I was happy to see a generous amount of nice sized pieces of lobster, I was not thrilled with the muddled flavors. Too many ingredients either conflicting or canceling each other out. On top of that, it lacked the richness of a typical Indian main course and the sauce, while colorful, was missing the proper consistency.

If a person hasn't had a lot of experience with Indian food before, Rasika can pass as an option to try although I don't think it's the most authentic representation. Where's the comfort and the soul? There's also a balance of complex, bold and rich flavors that are hallmarks of Indian cuisine. Rasika seems to be ignoring those core elements by trying too hard to make food that's dainty and sophisticated. Add that to the relatively high prices and I'm missing the allure of this place completely. You can definitely find better and cheaper options...

TLDR: They’re racist!

DISAPPOINTING!

If I could this 0 stars, I would. I’m sorry this review is long but please read through this.

Rasika came highly recommended by a close friend, so I was genuinely excited to try it. I didn’t have a reservation, so I walked in and politely asked if they took walk-ins. Anna (the woman at the reception desk) told me the best they could do was offer me a seat at the bar. I noticed plenty of open tables both inside and on the patio, but assuming they were all reserved, I agreed to the bar because I was grateful to be accommodated at all.

What happened next left me honestly stunned.

While sitting at the bar, which is located right by the host stand, I watched several other walk-in guests arrive without reservations, and they were taken to tables without hesitation. All of these guests happened to be white. I’m of Indian origin, and while I initially brushed it off as a coincidence, the pattern became hard to ignore. I grew up in the U.S., so I don’t have an accent, and I decided to test whether what I was seeing was just in my head.

At 5:55 PM, while still at the bar, I called the restaurant and asked if there was availability for 6 PM. The host told me there were multiple tables open on the patio and confirmed the reservation. I got off the call, walked right up from the bar to the front desk, and asked to be seated at my newly-reserved table. The staff seemed surprised to see me again but eventually took me to the patio.

The food itself was good, flavorful, and the portions were decent, but the service continued to disappoint. After we finished eating, it took 14 minutes after asking just to get the check. When it finally came, I placed my card down, but no one came back. I eventually had to walk inside and pay at the front myself. Meanwhile, I could see other tables being promptly attended to and checked out, even though they had asked for the check after we did.

This may have all been coincidence, but it didn’t feel that way. There were simply too many small moments that added up to an experience that felt, frankly, targeted and exclusionary.

The food may be worth the hype for some, but the service I received was far from what I expected from such a well-reviewed and highly praised restaurant. Please be very mindful when you go. I left feeling disrespected and disappointed. I won’t be returning, and I will ensure all my family and friends don’t go here to receive this...

HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE! If I could give minus stars, I would. Went there while visiting my son. It was restaurant week AND his boss recommended. Given the last minute booking, we had a late seating: 9pm. My best guess about the inedible food is that they ran out of food and tried to whip some stuff up in a hurry. The only decent dish we had was the fried spinach appetizer, though it was a little greasy. Everything went downhill from there. Instead of naan (which was listed on the prix fixe menu, they served some stale strips of bread that resembled flour tortillas. When I asked for naan later, the waiter said the kitchen was closing up. lol. My son went with the safe choice of chicken tikka masala, which tasted funky (nothing like any we had before). I went with a fish dish that came slathered in a soup of grotesquely bitter sauce. I could not eat it. Once the waiter noticed our dissatisfaction, he stayed away from our table, it seems, because we had a hard time finding him. He was terse. I almost didn’t say anything about the bad food bc I just wanted to get out of there (and not embarrass my son) but when he asked how everything was, I told him it wasn’t great. All of a sudden he acted so surprised & gushed about how I should have told him sooner (despite him having told me earlier that the kitchen was closing/closed down & unable to give us naan like they were supposed to). That made me more annoyed, as if it was somehow my fault that we got bad food. Even their desserts, which he promised were great and had an “Indian” twist, were pretty generic & disappointing. At no point did the waiter apologize or try to make things right. I even tipped 20%, figuring it would go to all the staff and not just our waiter. However, the more I thought of it, m I felt I had to say something. The following week, once I returned home, I called the restaurant and spoke with a manager who identified himself as “AJ.” I explained everything in detail and he sort of apologized but asked me to put everything in an email. I did so and —not surprisingly—I never got any sort of reply back. Even my son who usually doesn’t like to complain in these situations agreed the food was horrible and definitely worth saying something. The food we got was definitely not worth $135. Panda Express or subway would have been...