Gravitas Washington DC

Gravitas and its sister restaurant, The Conservatory (on the rooftop) are both excellent and I believe you can’t go wrong with either one. Gravitas has an incredible tasting menu and Conservatory has some of the most delicious food I’ve had in a long time. Their sommelier, Angelo, is also amazing. Would recommend!!

Gravitas is a wonderful 1 Michelin star restaurant, complemented by an incredible seating area, good service, and decent food. We visited Gravitas during restaurant week, and selected their 3-course menu. Right from the start, the hosts were kind and welcoming. They showed us to our table. It took some time for the waiter to appear; however, no big deal. He was very professional and polite. After selecting a few drinks and the menu, we got the bread. It was well made. Nothing out of the ordinary but we were happy. The heirloom tomato appetizer was a better option than the Thai-inspired shrimp dish. It’s delicious basil oil worked perfectly and the tomato appetizer looked beautiful. The shrimp was a bit too raw for my liking and there wasn’t enough sauce. Yet, it had merit. The mains were a bit disappointing. I have yet to find a good DC Michelin starred restaurant that serves incredible mains. The roasted chicken was stew-esque. Their supplemental wagyu was unbelievably tough. I could barely slice it with my knife. Felt a bit like a rip off - never tasted such terrible wagyu (not for its flavor but for its lacking tenderness). Otherwise, their wagyu dish had some positives: I loved the panisse and you can’t go wrong with chanterelles. I wish their sauce didn’t look like grey mush, but it was tasty nonetheless. Overall, there was no uniformity in the dish - a bit of flavor shopping by combining ingredients that did not unite into a single, meaningful dish. The desserts were great though! We thoroughly enjoyed their coconut-chocolate mousse and peaches and cream. I forget the name of our cocktail but it was also an incredible choice. Overall, Gravitas fell short of expectations on some key dishes. However, the flavors were good, service was on point, and the dining room was gorgeous.