Obelisk

What a special place. We've been a few times over the past 20 or so years and last week we had a celebratory dinner that was just wonderful. Obelisk is a unique restaurant. Chef driven, small with a dedicated small staff somehow elegant and rustic at the same time. They have done a nice job sprucing up the Jewel box of a dining room. Maybe because it was a very cold night it felt extra warm and inviting. As for the food. It's a set menu, including an array of antipasto, a primi pasta, a main course, and a desert. The food is Italian, not American Italian, but true Italian cooking. Meal starts with antipasto like burrata, olives, artichoke hearts, lardo, and octopus. We had escarole ravioli which were bitter and nutty and delicious. Duck breast was perfectly cooked with a brown sauce and artichoke hearts. Sea Bream was lucious. The chocolate cake was moist and pudding like and the crostata was crispy and buttery. The bread was over the top. Sourdough focaccia and boules. One with duck fat and prunes was fantastic. There is a small bar with excellent cocktails and a fairly pricy list of wines. In DC this restaurant is special in both the experience and presentation and fantastic in its preparation.

We went here for my fiancée's birthday dinner and it's now one of our favorite restaurants in the city. It's a typical choice-style tasting menu where you choose a dish from each of the courses. We started by sharing the antipasti that everyone gets and it was so good. The bread was perfect and the burrata was incredibly delicious. There was an excellent wine list and the staff gave great recommendations when I couldn't decide. We found a new favorite white wine!Everything was delicious from beginning to end but our favorites were the eggplant fritters, the antipasti, the wagyu (not A5 but still melt in your mouth and delicious), and the desserts. The butterscotch custard is one of my favorite desserts of all time now, and the chocolate cake with raspberry chip ice cream was incredible. Would absolutely love to come back, especially since the menu changes all the time!

Dinner took 2.5 hours, which was a bit too long for my liking. We started at 5:30pm and concluded at 8pm. As others have said, the 5 course menu changes often. 1st is antipasti- we got five dishes that we both shared but we had our own burrata (yum). A person chooses one item from the first, second courses and dessert menu. And before dessert, every person gets their own cheese platter. What I ate didn't excite me enough to want to come back- the main reason for my 3 stars rating.I'm sorry to say that the cheese and the bread in the beginning were my favorites. They served the bread first, but without any plates, so we were confused, but they said we were to eat the bread with the antipasti which didn't arrive until maybe 5 minutes later with bread plates, finally. Sometimes you just want to eat the bread right away! They charge you $75 per person when making the reservation, and it doesn't go toward the check at the end, but they refunded the reservation charges the next day. The pros are: 1. Attentive service- always refilling your water glasses, describing the plates, and clearing away empty plates. 2. The restaurant atmosphere felt intimate- there aren't too many tables and I love the bread baskets on the long table in the middle in the restaurant. It feels like a quiet place for a celebration or nice date. Didn't see any kids. 3. There's a lot to eat! We went away feeling very stuffed.

Perfect as always in every way. Phenomenal service, a plethora of flavors, personal attention, perfect portions. We'll continue to come back until they close...which we hope never happens. People can keep fiola and other Italian spots, we'll keep Obelisk as our top spot.

We've gone to numerous special dinners here over the years, and it is always outstanding. Great service and food.

Awesome, especially gnocchi, mushroom soup, freshest fish! Freshest fish! Looking forward to our next visit!

Very good! Great service and nice quiet place. Loved the appetizers and breadsticks! Delicious burrata too. Not many choices but pasta is delicious!

A wonderful secluded and tranquil townhouse that serves as an intimate restaurant! Obelisk (which doesn't have a sign on its storefront) was a lovely experience. There are 3 options for each of your 2 savory courses and 3 options for your dessert. The meal starts off with a delicious bread basket (and tiny breadsticks) as well as a mix of small plates. This is followed by your pasta course (both amazing - ricotta ravioli was our favorite - see photos) and then a protein course. After this you can breathe a little before your small cheese plate (3-4 tastes) and then dessert. The wine pairings are wonderful and the service is personable! Somewhere between cheese and desert they lost us (had a really long lag) but overall we had a great experience! Come prepared with an empty stomach!

Rodrigo is the worst crew member he is so rude .small resto.. dirty restroom. To much big words.

We first enjoyed Obelisk in 1988 when we moved to the DMV. We had experienced real Italian cuisine when we had lived in Italy in the late 80s. We discovered that, as opposed to formulaic Americanized Italian food, Obelisk was offering unpretentious, creative, imaginative and delicious food inspired by regional Italian dishes. It became our go to restaurant for many years. We had to curtail our visits in the past decade due to personal factors, and Covid did not help.So, after a long hiatus, we went back to Obelisk and were extremely gratified to find the same warm welcome, the same serene ambiance, the same deliciousness in the food and the same understated professional service.Green olives with fennel along with wonderful bread and the legendary breadsticks kept us going while we waited for the feast to begin. We started by sharing the delicious appetizers: homemade burrata, small tomatoes stuffed with spicy anchovies, savory tarts filled with tapenade, grilled shrimp with a delicate spicy oil (I think I forgot one). The primi of small ravioli filled with cod and a delicate lasagna with short ribs were excellent and small enough in portion size to allow room for what was to follow. We shared a delicious roast rack of pork, brined and juicy, with escarole and borlotti beans, it was so generous that we asked almost half to take with us. Three cheeses and a dab of pear jam led to the finale of cake of shortbread cookies and a light chocolate cake with minty chip ice cream. Biscotti and almond cookies to go with the espresso ended the meal.The wine list is short but has excellent choices and for liquid desert, there are neat options, including interesting grappa and amari.Service was efficient, friendly and not intrusive.The small restaurant was full but the noise was at a very civil level, everyone must have been enjoying the food.Thanks to everyone who ensured a most pleasant dinner and see you soon.