Kinship

For Valentines Day, I choose to select Kinship this year and it certainly held up its reputation. The service was outstanding. I had arranged to have flowers waiting for my wife, figuring they would have placed them in a vase. Instead, they were neatly placed in a bouquet on the table so we could still see each others faces. I also had an opportunity to meet the world-class chef, in his kitchen, at the end of our dinner. The decor is that of modern rustic, with a hint of sophistication with whites and grey. This allows the food to stand out on the plates. We shared a few small dishes as well as the sharable roasted chicken. The desert was also amazing. The menu is organized in a unique experience driven way, adding to the elegance. We highly recommend Kinship for your next special occasion.

Was in DC for a work trip and a coworker reserved this experience for us 4. Everything was amazing. Service,
Food, atmosphere. You really can't go wrong ordering anything off the menu. All 4 of my coworkers gave it 5 stars. Kinship is also Michelin rated. Def worth it. I can't wait to travel back to DC with my husband so he can try it out.

We made a reservation on Kinship's website which also required a deposit that is applied to your final bill. The food and service was excellent. The servers were very attentive to our needs. My only complaint would be that I could hear all the conversations around me. It was especially distracting when some of the tables around us were extra loud.

We got the catalan spiced confit squid, St. Martin cocoa rubbed duck breast, braised lamb crepinete, kinship opera cake, and they brought a surprise extra dessert for our celebration. The food was really well balanced. Our favorite dish was the squid. It was so smooth and it just melted in your mouth.

Price wise, this was as expected since this is a Michelin restaurant, but we had an excellent dining experience. The atmosphere though could use some work.

I visited Kinship again this week after many years away. The mushroom torchon is still on the menu, and I still enjoyed it, but the overall experience was disappointing because it did not live up to the prices or Michelin star status.

We visited on a Friday in the early evening and were some of the first guests in the dining room, but it filled up by the time we left. We sat at a very nice enclosed booth. It was enclosed on three sides, floor to ceiling, and I really appreciated the coziness. The dining room is also not very crowded, with a nice amount of space between tables, which makes it feel like a premium experience. We got a round of cocktails, a bottle of wine, four smaller dishes, and the roast chicken, all to share among our table of four.

Service was good but not great. The main waiter insisted on removing the drink and wine menus when we preferred to keep them. The waiters delivering dishes gave brief explanations, but were hard to understand through their accents. The sommelier did a very good job.

The smaller dishes were pretty good. They were attractively plated and tasty. We had the mushroom torchon, lamb rollatini, confit squid, and sea scallops, and each of us had our favorites. I particularly liked the rollatini and torchon the best, although the rollatini was not very warm (maybe intentional?). I don't personally care for scallops, but they were still well cooked and my companions enjoyed them. I was a little disappointed in the squid; I liked the tempura tentacles more than the confit pieces, which looked and tasted like pretty standard calamari rings (not fried, though).

One of my pet peeves is restaurants that cling to the old school notion of plating in threes, despite most people dining in groups of 2 or 4. All the small plates were a bit annoying to share. The torchon came with 2 pieces of bread, the squid had two fried tentacles, and the rollatini and scallops both came with three pieces. I know customizing dishes to the table size would be a hassle, but it would make for a more premium experience.

My main disappointment was with the roast chicken. I don't usually order roast chicken at restaurants because I consider it a pretty boring dish, but I've also heard that it can be a really excellent, satisfying dish that really shows off the restaurant. We decided to go for it. It came with fried potato wedges, a salad, and parker house rolls. It was just a really boring, bland dish. Everything had just a little bit of seasoning, but not enough. By the end, I was desperate for some dipping sauce. I've made better chicken at home. Shame on us for ordering it.

The cocktails and wine were good. We skipped dessert because we were plenty full. I expected the bill to come with small petit fours or mignardises, but nope.

I'm also disappointed that Kinship has a 23% service charge when the service was only adequate and 20% is the norm. I do not consider anything over 20% appropriate.

Overall, a few good dishes, but not good enough.

My only severe complaint about Kinship is the acoustics. I think it is unfair to dock them a star for it, but as someone who is sensitive to auditory stimuli, I found it very unsettling. It felt like you could hear everyone else's conversations.
But on to the food!
Everything we had was fantastic with a few "OK" dishes. My husband and I had the mushroom torchon, the lobster french toast, the black bass, and the cocoa rubbed duck breast. Our favorite thing was the black bass (the broth was incredible). The mushroom torchon was delicious, but probably not our favorite thing ever. The duck was good, but slightly overcooked. We like it much more medium rare and have had more tender duck in DC. The dessert and cocktails were very good with a couple of misses. My husband had two bourbon based cocktails (can't remember the names) which were very underwhelming. The cocktails were not balanced and all you could taste was the bourbon. I had the Aviation and the Last Word. Very similar cocktails and both very good.
I would visit Kinship if you are looking for a delicious meal, but maybe try to reserve a booth and definitely try the bass!

Kinship is a solid four. The winter menu of 2023 was inventive but didn't have dishes that excited me. We kept it simple, ordering cocktails, salad as an appetizer and surf and turf as our mains.

Execution and seasoning of the steak and lobster was perfect.

Ambiance was lacking - felt very sterile and not inviting, but service made up for that kind of atmosphere.

It was pricey but quite good. I would come back for a special occasion.

I got the sashimi for an app, the duck for the entree, and a collection of desserts.

The sashimi itself was quite fresh and tasty. I wasn't the biggest fan of the other parts of the dish like the radish(?) and the jello like food. This might just be personal preference though.

The duck was cooked beautifully. Nice and soft and delicious.

There was also a scallop dish my table shared. Those were probably the best scallops I've had!! Very fresh tasting and you could taste its natural sweetness.

We got too many desserts so I don't remember each one but I don't think you can go wrong.

Service was impeccable (to be expected at restaurants like this where you're paying much!)

The ambiance inside feels pretty corporate. Lots of grays whites and blacks nothing too fancy.

Super bright bar and dining room really didn't have a great ambiance, but the food and service were both pretty good. I had:
- Butternut squash soup (4/5) - Really nicely flavored soup, although the little chunks of pear tasted too tart and distracted from the overall taste. The best part might have been the excellent crostini with finely chopped ham on top.
- Grilled lamb offal (4/5) - Heart, liver, and kidney, each nicely grilled with its own unique texture and flavor. A larger portion than I expected.
- Sweet potato vacherin dessert (3/5) - Certainly unique, with some unexpected textures and flavors that I had to dig around to understand which ingredient they came from.
- Cocktails (3.5/5) - Good but nothing memorable

Overall it was a pleasant meal, but I wish it didn't feel like the inside of a bright dentist's office.

After many years of not returning to Kinship (because we couldn't find a reservation), we squeezed in on Superbowl Sunday : - ). I write this for both the good and bad reasons why this meal may not be representative of the typical experience, because the restaurant was calm and very well staffed.

For the food, all were well prepared and presented. We shared everything.

To get the negative out of the way, the mahi-mahi was our least favorite. Not bad, but not too interesting. I purposefully selected it because of the flavors identified on the menu, but for us, the described flavors did not transfer to our mouths.

Our favorites, on this visit, were the rock shrimp salad, duck, and quail. The rock shrimp salad invited a nice balance of texture. Also, the pickled vegetables and chilli peppers were proportioned fantastically to enhance the shrimp. We could have easily eaten another rock shrimp salad and when I got home actually wondered why we didn't ; - ).

Also, because of our lactose allergy the kitchen suggested some reshuffling of our original main course selections, so we had 1 duck and 1 quail for the main course. This would not have been my first choice (to order two birds), but it worked well (and interestingly) because of the way they were both prepared, they were fantastic complements.

The duck was not too sweet which is often a danger with duck courses, but once again, the balance with the savoriness and fat of the duck was in perfect harmony with the cocoa and cherry. For the quail, the grapefruit and cilantro really brought out the flavor of what is, often, a not interesting fowl. Just like at Métier, Kinship's menu shines when balancing textures and flavors. I think this is my favorite part of both restaurants.

For this price, service was where it needed to be. Prompt and friendly. Wine arrived before each course. Also, our server and sommelier used some real thought in pairing our selected courses with the wine. Tableware changed on cue, and water and bread were always refreshed as needed without being too intrusive. My one nit is that if we can't have a tasting menu (like at Métier), we like a server who will take the reins and make the menu for us. This did not happen even though he tried to helpful, and much of this is personality driven, so it may be us finding the right server who likes to share what she or he believes are the best courses.

For the price, after reincluding the $50 deposit when making the reservation, the total price including the automatic service charge/ tip of 23% was $291.

We had 5 glasses of wine, two main courses, two starters, two desserts, and one coffee. At first, I thought we had a really good value for the price and food. When we left, we felt satisfied. However, we both felt a little hungry within an hour. Therefore, to be fair, we probably should have had one more course to feel satisfied, so the price should have been around $350.

However, this is still a pretty good value for what you get and worth another visit (assuming we can secure another reservation before the next Superbowl : - P ).

TL;DR: Disappointing food and overall experience. Not a single dish WOW-ed us and service was awkward and inattentive

For a spot that has a Michelin star, we had higher expectations for the service, food, and attention to detail. Lesson learned that Michelin star doesn't automatically mean good

ARRIVAL/SEATING:
I had made a reservation for 6:15 via Tock and had to put down a $50 deposit (plus tax), and the $50 is applied toward your final bill. When we arrived, there were about 3 people at the bar and one table. The hostess mumbled something about other reservations or large parties and asked us if we were okay with sitting downstairs. Felt a little odd, but we said sure. Downstairs was completely empty and had a nice atmosphere, but you can see the window into the kitchen and see anything and everything the BOH was doing (not cooking or anything like a chef's table though). Not sure what their criteria for seating people downstairs on in the main room, but it felt a little off.

Website/Menu Inconsistencies:
The menu on their website is what really grabbed my attention to want to visit this place. When we arrived, the menu was changed, but the main items I wanted from the online menu were not available on the paper menu. We ordered off the paper menu, and when some of our food came out, we noticed that the paper menu was not even correct and we got accompaniments that were not on the menu. If we had known, we likely wouldn't have ever ordered those dishes.

SERVICE:
Our waiter was friendly enough, but not very attentive/limited follow-up after we got our dishes and was a little awkward. Runners were friendly and ensured our drinks were always full. Note: they let you know when making the reservations, that they put an automatic 23% service charge.

FOOD/DRINK:
~Tall Grass Cocktail (2/5): Wayyyyy too strong and unbalanced flavors

~Garden Party Mocktail (4/5): Yummy if you like ginger beer and some fruitiness

~Chips and Dip: Comes with Caviar (4/5), Crème Fraiche with Chives (4/5), and yukon potato chips (2/5). The chips texture was great, but it was SO extremely salty, borderline inedible unless lathered with the Crème Fraiche

~Spring Garlic Agnolotti (3/5): I liked the actually agnolotti, but it was hard to find under all the different toppings. The supporting ingredients were overwhelming, and weighed down the dish

~Quail (2.5/5): the quail was seasoned okay but was on the dry/overcooked side. It came with a jalapeno strawberry sauce. I feel like incorporating fruit into savory dishes needs a delicate balance, and this dish just missed the mark

~Scallops with Sturgeon Sauce (3/5): Scallops themselves were cooked well and flavorful. Sauce was really good but a little on the thin side. My problem is the "vegetable medley" that came with it (peas, carrots, ramps, onions). It was like an elevated version of frozen bag veggies. The cut on the vegetables were also not uniform

~Rack of Lamb (4/5) with Harissa Toast (2/5): the rack of lamb itself was good. Well seasoned and cooked right to temp. The toast was so dry.

~BIGGEST PROBLEM: the menu stated that the rack of lamb came with saffron rice. My husband ordered it, but when it came out, it came with a chickpea cucumber salad with saffron yogurt sauce (which was not good) instead. When we asked about it, the server went to look at the menus and noted that it was, in fact, incorrect, but did not offer to correct the situation it in any way. I asked if there was any way we could change the salad out for another side that they had, and he went to check and came out with a bowl of white rice... it looked like they took it out of someone's lunch box and microwaved it and brought it out to us. NOT what we expected from a "Michelin star" restaurant.

~Parker house rolls (4/5): like little nuggets of Hawaiian rolls

~Chickpea cucumber salad with saffron yogurt sauce (1/5): I like chickpeas, I like cucumbers, I like saffron, and I like yogurt. I HATED this. Under seasoned and the texture of the yogurt was soooo pasty. Very off-putting. (note this came with my husband's dish and he doesn't like cucumbers at all)

Overall, our experience was not great and fell so short of our expectations in EVERY category. Do not recommend and will not be returning.

TL;DR - One of the best meals I've had! This 1 Michelin starred restaurant lives up to the hype and sets the standard for fine dining.

Food: each dish was refined to what I'd expect from a Michelin star restaurant, and my party and I especially loved the Yuzu Tart, Grilled Japanese Kuroge Strip loin, Lobster French Toast, and Parker Rolls! The Japanese Kuroge was so tender and juicy (what's not to love about Wagyu?), and the Yuzu Tart is probably the best dessert I've had in my life! It was a perfect balance of sweetness and tartness, warm and cold, and smooth and crunchy. The most meh dish of the night was the pork belly, because while it was cooked and seasoned well, it just tasted a bit lackluster (maybe because I'm Asian and eat pork belly all the time).

Service: warm, professional, and attentive. Just what you'd expect from a restaurant of this caliber. Nothing particularly above and beyond stood out, but nothing went wrong either.

Atmosphere/Ambiance: I loved the cozy and intimate interior and atmosphere. The area was spacious and warmly lit, and tables were spaced apart generously. We were seated in a booth seat and enjoyed the privacy. The noise level was just right: not completely silent or too loud, just the perfect low hum of chatter and restaurant activities. Loved this environment through and through :)