Amparo Fondita

Visited Amparo Fondita for dinner the other night and it did not disappoint! The ambiance of the restaurant is perfect for a get together with friends or even a date night! We had a reservation and were promptly seated! The margaritas were just right and the trio of salsas that we started with were some of the best I have ever had! The big winner was the pork belly tacos! There is nothing I hate more than overcooked pork belly but Amparo got it right! The pork was tender juicy and full of flavor! 10/10 recommend! I wish I had taken photos but we were starving and there was no time to wait :-)

Five stars for the food. Four for the experience. Running a restaurant is hard work, especially since the pandemic. Because of that, take everything I say with a grain of salt. After dining here with my wife for Valentine's Day, we have a few notes and I write them as suggestions. Overall, Amparo Fondita was a great experience. Starting with the food, everything we got was really good and our dishes came out fast despite being busy. To start, we enjoyed the chips and three salsas. The chips are very good as are all three of the salsas. The pork belly tacos were superb! We also loved the ceviche, plantains, and the salad. For dessert, I got their sipping chocolate. After the ceramic cup cooled down, I enjoyed it! The cocktails were well done and the menu has something for everyone. I got their mango drink and then a Valentine's Day special.The decorations inside are simple, yet elegant. It reminded us of restaurants in Guadalajara, Mexico. The only suggestion is to figure out a better system at the bar. We sat at the bar for 30 minutes before our table was ready and it took that long for our drinks to come out after having two different wrong drinks sent to us. The experience was just as slow at our table when ordering cocktails. We all have off days so it could very much be that.Overall, if you love Mexican food, book a table here. We'll be back for sure!

KenScale: 8.0/10Visit: September 2024My wife Jun and I have traveled to twenty countries at this point since we became couples, yet Mexico has evaded us thus far. We are strongly considering rectifying that glaring omission by visiting Mexico City sometime next year and exploring the country's rich culinary tradition. In the meantime, though, I am confident that we will have plenty of options for delicious Mexico food in the DC metro area. One of the more exciting restaurant openings in the city in the past year or so was Amparo Fondita, led by chef Christian Irabién, a native of Chihuahua, Mexico. The restaurant initially started as a pop-up inside La Cosecha at Union Market, and later re-emerged with a new space in Dupont Circle. Our experience at Amparo Fondita on a recent visit was quite satisfying with chef Christian's soulful take on modern Mexican cuisine.As Jun always says, you can more often than not predict how good a Mexican restaurant is based on the quality of guacamole. Just based on the way Jun eagerly scooped up the guacamole (along with three salsas) with fresh nixtamal tortilla chips, I knew that Amparo Fondita had something special going on. The grilled head-on white prawns with blistered shishitos were very solid as appetizers, and I was very impressed with the smoky flavor of the assortment of mushrooms ("hongos") that would win over any vegetarian diner. We were somewhat split on our opinion of the carne asada tacos; I very much enjoyed how well the grilled skirt steak came together with guacamole and pico verde to pack complex flavor, while Jun thought the steak's texture was slightly tougher than she would've liked. The best dish of the night was the pan-seared halibut filet, and I would encourage anyone who visits the restaurant to try this dish if it's on the menu. What really stood out was the spicy kick of red mole that was so addictively delicious and worked beautifully with the halibut in a way that was hard to forget and led me to think we should order more seafood dishes at Mexican restaurants (yes, we are somewhat biased toward meats for Mexican cuisine). For dessert, we split tres leches vanilla sponge cake with seasonal fruit that was not overly sweet to our liking. Getting a reservation at Amparo Fondita is not as challenging as other more popular restaurants in the city, but I would still recommend booking in advance given the relatively modest size of the dining room. While we haven't been to Mexico City yet, the sleek minimalist décor of the space made me think it wouldn't have been out of place in an upscale neighborhood of the city. There are creative cocktail offerings as well as a short wine list from Mexico and elsewhere that would suitably complement the food. Amparo Fondita is another welcome addition to DC's thriving Mexican food scene, and I am very excited to come back again in the future with Jun to try other dishes on the menu.

I attended Amparo Fondita for my cousin's birthday dinner. We intended on getting the tasting menu. The chef told us with our table's food restrictions (1 vegan, 1 pescaterian, 1 no red meat) they could not provide a tasting menu experience for us. Their tasting menus are offered family style and it would be challenging to accommodate all the dietary restrictions in one meal. We ended up ordering food a la carte. I am vegan and enjoyed the spicy margarita and the vegan tacos. I thought the price point for both my drink and tacos was extremely fair for DC. This business was just awarded a Michelin star and I cannot believe I could afford a dinner at a Michelin level restaurant. The spicy margarita was memorable and fantastic. It was clearly made with fresh ingredients and had the right level of spice. I would certainly return here for a cocktail. The tacos were just ok and nothing I would go out of my way for again. Aesthetically they were not pretty. I thought the taco tortilla was very high quality and held up well with the generous portion of taco filling. The flavors in the taco were not innovative or memorable. It all tasted good, however, I expected to amazed with the reputation this business has and the tacos tasted very familiar and ordinary to me. Overall the service was great, the aesthetic was trendy, I left full and satisfied, I did not break the bank for my meal and I was happy with this dining experience. I do want to return for their vegan tasting menu. I have heard rave reviews about that, and I hope after that meal I will have a better understanding of what this business is capable of.

The food here is delicious. The service and wait time is atrocious. We waited 40 minutes before getting our drinks, well after our appetizers came out. Then we waited nearly another hour for our entree. The wait and bar staff are clearly overworked and this place needs to hire more people. Hoping they fix the service issue soon.

Really good food and service. Loved the minimalist decor, simple and elegant. Cocktails were amazing. There were a lot of people here but never felt crowded. Looking forward to going back

This is my absolute favorite Mexican restaurant in DC. The drinks are great, too. They make a fantastic mezcal margarita.

Really awesome Mexican place! The sopecitos is a must, so good!Got the sopecitos (which was a new menu item), carne asada tacos, and tres leches. All tasted very good and the decor was super cute. Sat in the window side nook which was nice but a little hot bc the ac didn't come to this side of the restaurant as much. The rest of the restaurant was fine and bathroom was clean and modern. Service was top notch. They even asked the chef about an ingredient I had a question on! I'll definitely be back to try other menu items and the flan! I'll sit towards the inside of the restaurant next time though.

What a great addition DuPont Circle. Mexican high end with a low key vibe, high class service, low and stylish seating and high rate service....perfect. D.C. has struggled to do Grandma's Mexican but has found niche with elevated takes on classics. The cochonita Pibil is a great example with the chef using stone fruits to add sugar and a complex spice blend that gives flavor punches of chilies and florals with a burn that's beautifully simple but present. Another example of elevating classics, chorizo, a sausage staple in Mexican food is turned down in flavor to focus on the quality of the meat and paired with muscles, potatoes and shallots to give a French influenced surf and turf. Quality shines and flavors combined to be both hearty and light. Well done!Quality does come at a cost, so be prepared; but the cheerful serves staff and prompt but relaxed pace, you can bring a date here, or stroll in sweating and in flip flops. All are welcome and everyone should enjoy!

Mexican in DC is a crapshoot, but this restaurant is so much better... the real deal! The house grinds its own masa, for one thing. My friends had fish tacos, tortilla soup, and and tuna tostada and fish tacos, and thought they were amazing. They said the cooked papaya dessert was also interesting. I'm looking forward to our next visit.