Kemble Park Tavern, Washington DC

Friday night, Kevin and I headed down to Washington DC for my good friend's birthday dinner.  I was asking the traffic gods to be nice to us and luckily we flew down there with no major problems.  

Kemble Park Tavern is located in The Palisades neighborhood of DC and even though it was dark when we arrived, the charm of this area shined through.  I had two unpictured glasses of pinot grigio and a few bites of others appetizer salads.  I most enjoyed the bites of Kevin's Roasted Beet Salad that came served with Orange Segments / Fennel / Goat Cheese.  

I ordered Shrimp & Grits that the menu described as Cheese Grits / Andouille Sausage / Seafood Broth.  This was good, but not great.  I did not enjoy having the remove the heads off the shrimp and I have had better cheesy grits.  I was having food envy of the other entrees ordered.  Kevin ordered the crab cakes and I was very impressed with the large amount of lump crab and little amount of filler.

The best entree was definitely the Atlantic Salmon. Grilled, Broiled or Blackened / Today's Sauce & Side.  The salmon pictured above was Blackened with a Tomato Buerre Blanc and came with a mixture of squash on top.  Next time I would definitely order this.  It was cooked perfectly.


Since this was a birthday celebration, we all made sure to save room for dessert.

SO many of the desserts sounded good that we almost ordered one of everything and alot of passing around for bites ensued.  (The camera flash had to come on for these next shots.)

Vanilla Ice Cream with a Hot Fudge Sauce.  I loved that the ice cream was served in a chilled marble bowl with the hot fudge sauce on the side.  Impressive presentation.  

Chocolate Pots de Creme.  Hershey's Chocolate with a Hazlenut Cracker.  Another great presentation, but the flavor was nothing special.  Did they empty a Snack Pack in this cute container?  Harsh, but it is truly what we all thought.  

Seasonal Fruit Crunch.  Apples / Cranberries / Vanilla ice cream and Hot Apple Cider.  I didn't get a taste of this one, but we were told that some people pour the hot cider over the ice cream to melt it more.  

Carrot Cake w/ Goat Cheese Frosting.  This was good, but there wasn't a huge goat cheese flavor detected in the frosting which was disappointing.

Butterscotch Bread Pudding.  Caramel Sauce / Bananas Foster.  This was my favorite.  Great combination of flavors and completely delicious.  I enjoyed every bite.


My overall experience here was a positive one.  I thought the atmosphere was warm and classy.  Great for our group of six.  The service was good and the food was also good.  Not incredible, but also not horrible.  I cant say it is my favorite new restaurant, but I would be happy to return.