Took myself out to lunch at Iron Gate on 12-30-2016. It was part of my parenting unicorn day, where daycare was open but work was closed. I started at the National Gallery of Art, had lunch here, saw Jackie in the afternoon and finished with date night dinner with my husband. It a magical day and while the food at Iron Gate was up to the challenge, the atmosphere unfortunately was not.
Atmosphere: 2 out of 5
Food & Drink: 4 out of 5
The restaurant is spread across two buildings. The first part is so unique and really stunning. I mean look this place! No wonder it’s the oldest operating restaurant in DC!
The back building looked so cozy and reminded me of an historic English pub. However despite sitting next to the fireplace I was absolutely FREEZING. Also the music sounded like a random hipster waiter’s spotify playlist and just did not go with the space at all. If it were warm with more appropriate music the atmosphere would easily have been a 4. Maybe someday I’ll be back for dinner in the summer and it’ll be better.
While the space may have felt lacking, the food was a different story. First off, they had sparkling tap water. I almost died. I love sparkling water (or “sparkles” as we call it in my house) so much so that I have a SodaStream in my office. This was a huge selling point for me, +1000 points. I also really liked the “Anthillia” white wine from Sicily.
Fried haloumi (lemon vinaigrette, capters). I started with the haloumi and I can still taste the lemon vinaigrette and capters. It was so good and so large I actually took half home.
Pork gyro (red onion, feta, yogurt, potatoes). Is this not the most beautiful gyro you’ve ever seen? It was quite tasty but I can’t get over how visually appealing it was.
And obviously ain’t nobody gettin’ Greek food without some baklava.
MissionMichelin 