SHŌTŌ Washington DC — Restaurant in Washington

Overall, this was a let down. We booked months in advance for my birthday, and with all the hype around the restaurant, we went in expecting amazing food and service. We got the "Premium" Omakase. The food was good, but overpriced for what you get - and premium just means A5 vs regular steak. That said, it tasted good and there was a good amount of food provided. It came out quickly, probably too quickly, and was poorly explained with multiple dishes coming out at the same time without really making sense and made the experience feel rushed and a bit disjointed. Our waiter was very nice and overall provided adequate service, nothing above and beyond but also not below the standard you would expect for a restaurant like this. He was knowledge about the food and menu, in fact he seemed more knowledgable than the sommelier when it came to the wine list and wine pairing against the omakase menu. He did instruct the sommelier to come over and help with the wine list, and this is where the experience went down hill.

First, we requested the sommelier to come over after sitting down maybe 10 or 15 minutes, before we even ordered, and it took him about 30 minutes to get to us, food had already started coming out to the table before he arrived. I watched him go to other tables before us, so it did seem he was understaffed in the area but they should have made sure the drink orders were handled before the food started making its way to us. When the Somm did arrived, he was very curt and was not helpful in answering questions - I asked about 3 or so glasses to pair across the meal and was told "We don't have a good by the glass list and I don't recommend doing that" and then proceeded to try and point me to a bottle of sake, which is not what I wanted so I reminded him I was looking for wine, not sake. He then asked about what type of wine, I mentioned a few varieties including Pinot Noir which tends to be a safe bet and he pointed to a basic bottle of Pinot, mentioning it was Volnay but when the bottle came out it seemed to be base Burgundy (though it did say Volnay on the label, it was small and did not seem to be from the AOC). Not saying he lied but there is a difference in AOC and quality that should have been mentioned. He then quickly left and had someone else bring us the wine, open, and pour it. I could probably have done a better job without him being there. I did see the Somm have a few interactions with tables nearby us and those interactions seemed poor as well, not up to the standard I would expect. Some comments, if the Somm of a restaurant does not think they have a good by the glass list, that is something they should change and probably not say to a patron even if they believe it. Second, any Somm at any restaurant should be able to immediately be able to recommend several glasses, 2, 3, 4 that will pair with the pre-fixe menu of that restaurant, that is literally the job. Looking at the wine list, it seemed like it was put together by someone that did not really know much about wine, I noted this early on, and after my interactions with the Somm, I could better understand why this might be the case. The final nail in the coffin was at dessert, I requested a glass of sweet dessert wine and was informed the Somm would have to come over to help with getting me the wine, I said excellent, hoping this could redeem the experience, however he never came back and I never received the wine.

The ambience was ok, it was a bit loud at times and having a DJ there, while a cool idea, seemed to take away from the experience in my mind. If you want a 20s/30s club/overpriced food/drinks location, this is what you will get, not a fine dining, elegant and elevated experience.

Overall, I would not recommend this restaurant unless some major things change, either the price comes down drastically or the service overall improves drastically. I do not plan to come back at this time, and I work down the street was looking forward to the lunch offering. I do not think I will be coming back for that anymore after this...

With the lack of variety in great dining options and the closing of some of many staple businesses due to COVID in the DC area, I was thoroughly impressed with the entire dining experience at the all new Shoto DC!

THE AMBIANCE

The interior of the venue is definitely social media content worthy, which makes this by far one of the most cutting edge and state of the art restaurants that I’ve seen in the area in quite a long while.

The highlights for me were:

· The ambient lighting to consist of fireplaces, lamps and up-lighting · The decorative, clear ice sculpture behind the bar · The lush hedge wall with 12 rectangular glass panels each containing a lighted fire embedded within · The coffered ceiling with a pattern that transitions into liquor bottle shelving and storage · The huge chandelier made from thousands of small lava rocks and fishing wire · The clean and pristine open kitchen and lighted countertops · The luxury, spa-like bathroom design

THE CUSTOMER SERVICE

The hostesses were uniformly dressed in a Kimono-styled, formal black robe with white trim and heels, that appeared both professional and elegant, while the gentlemen were either dressed in suits or collared with shirts with black slacks. Once we were greeted and seated, we were offered a warm hand towel to use and dispose of, and were offered a choice of sparkling or still water. Throughout the entire dining experience, either our server, manager, or restaurant employees were fully attentive and made sure we went without refills or a dirty dish on the table. This “all-hands” approach proved to be one that highly enhanced our dining experience, since everyone was fully present, invested in ensuring 100% satisfaction, and went above and beyond to make sure my guests and I were taken care of.

THE DRINKS

Shot Highball, Shoto Old Fashioned, Shoto Whiskey Sour Lychee Martini

THE FOOD

While they offer an Omakase experience that consists of an extensive selection of dishes curated by the executive chef (you can choose between the Signature experience for $115 or Premium experience for $195, in which the entire table must participate in), we decided to go the alternative route and pave our own way through the eclectic and wide-ranging menu:

· Shoto Tacos: While the entire menu was quite delightful, I must say that the tacos were a bit underwhelming and set the tone for the start of the experience, since it was the first thing we decided to order. While the flavor of the Kani tacos were tasty, they were pretty minuscule – the filling is served inside of a homemade potato chip shell with hint of avocado – and reminded me of a Super Bowl party snack.

Aside from the tacos, I’ve listed our favorites from the menu below, and have also included photos for your reference:

· Miso Shiru: white miso soup with tofu, wakame and scallion (pretty standard) · Ika no kari kari age: baby fried squid with Serrano chili and lime (yummy, but wish they were served with some sort of sauce) · Robata skewers: While all of the skewers are highly recommended, our top three were the chicken with scallion and yakitori glaze, beef with shishito pepper and spicy chili soy glaze, and pork belly skewer with honey glaze · Ebi no tempura: Rock shrimp tempura with lime salt and chili (delicious!) · Kuruma ebi no tempura: tiger prawns (soft, light and mouthwatering) · 45oz Wagyu tomahawk steak with fresh wasabi (while a whopping $295 in price, this was my favorite item on the menu – extremely succulent, flavorful and melts in your mouth like butter!) · Maki Rolls: Literally, everything we tasted from this menu was amazing and nicely presented, but our favorite was the prawn tempura roll with avocado and spicy mayo · Dessert: each of the desserts were uniquely different and heavenly in their own way, we recommend the dessert assortment which comes with everything from the lava cake, mochi and fresh exotic fruit, perfectly arranged and presented on an...

This delightful downtown restaurant offers a massive -- albeit pricey -- Japanese menu in a super trendy, vibey space. Shoto has been on my bucket list for a long time; I walk past their restaurant nearly daily and always see the logo projected on the sidewalk and rows upon rows of fancy liquor bottles lining their walls. It has always seemed like a cool, slightly mysterious space, and I've felt my intrigue grow with every passing. When I finally got the chance to step inside, the interior of the restaurant felt every bit as cool, mysterious, and trendy as the outside; aside from their display wall of liquor, the rest of the restaurant was almost completely shut off from the outside world. We were seated next to the wall of fake leaves, and it honestly felt like we were transported into another dimension.

The service was phenomenal -- they added all the nice, classy touches like pulling out our chairs for us, giving us little hooks to hang our bags from instead of putting them on the floor, and walking us through the expansive menu. The restaurant has multiple independent kitchens, including a sushi section, a robata section, and a kitchen for everything else. As a result, your food won't all come out at once, but that gives you plenty of time to enjoy each dish when it's at its peak. It was nearly impossible to decide what to order and how to balance our meal between the three sections, but, since we had a fairly large group, we decided to just split a bunch of starters and robata, and then each get our own order of sushi.

For our starters, we got the shrimp tempura, prawn and black cod gyoza, ceviche, robata cauliflower, and robata salmon. The shrimp tempura was delightfully crispy, although I thought that it had slightly too much batter, which weighed the dish down a smidge. The gyoza were phenomenal -- prawn and black cod is quite a unique combination, but they did an outstanding job. The prawns and black cod both have a ton of seafood-y flavor, and the fry on the bottom of the gyoza had a delightful crunch. It went wonderfully with the chili ponzu sauce, which was the perfect balance of spicy, savory, and tangy to balance out the decadence of the gyoza. Also great for counterbalancing the rich gyoza and tempura was the ceviche, which was super fresh and had a lovely tangy flavor from the lemon and tomato. It was served in a giant bowl of ice and with the largest rice crackers I've ever seen, so it ended up taking up nearly half the table space, but it was quite the impressive centerpiece.

From there, we moved onto the robata third of the menu. The cauliflower was outstandingly tender, with a great char on the outside and delightful pops of flavor from the tiny red peppers and kernels of puffed rice. And the teriyaki salmon robata was probably my favorite bite of the entire evening -- it was remarkably tender and flaky, but also incredibly buttery and rich. The skin was super crispy, and the salmon was perfect with a squeeze of lemon or when paired with one of the grilled shishito peppers.

Each bite of sushi was incredibly fresh, and everything, whether it was the nigiri or the rolls, had the perfect balance of rice to fish to everything else. It was a bit confusing when our orders first came out, as we had explicitly mentioned that we had separate / individual sushi orders, but it all came out on combined platters. That would have been totally fine if they hadn't combined orders from people who were sitting on opposite ends of the table, so we had to do a bit of creative shifting with the plates.

The thing that bogs down my rating for Shoto just a bit is the price -- while the food is delicious and the service outstanding, I wasn't quite as wowed as I would expect when paying $100+ per person on a meal. The minor service mishaps, while small, spoke to a larger lack of flexibility and attentiveness to individual tables' needs. The portions were also quite small, so you probably need to spend a minimum of $50 per person to get even...