Fiola Mare

I had lunch at Fiola Mare with my friend and coworker Heather on 8-18-2017. What a fantastic experience! The entire staff was so amazing and the food was delicious! I love what the Trabocchis do!!

This is what I call a “large format restaurant” meaning it’s not only really big but has many different rooms all distinctly decorated. A blue and white nautical theme ran throughout and was absolutely gorgeous. Upon entering is this stunning white bar.

Then you come to the main indoor dining room.

At the far end of that is a smaller dining room.

And another bar.

This bar has an indoor/outdoor vibe since it opens to a great terrace.

And here is said terrace, which is where we sat.

Here’s the actual outdoor area of the terrace just beyond the covered sort of indoor portion.

Here is the patio below that. How spectacular is this view of the Kennedy Center right on the water?! Heaven.

And now back up to the terrace to see what we ate!

We let the chef guide us on what to order and it was fantastic!

They sent us prosecco to start, which was such a lovely touch. Cent’anni!!

Bluefin tuna tartar (spiced condiment, radishes, mint). This was awesome and had a really bright flavor from the mint. The tuna itself was great and sat atop an olive puree that I loved.

Burrata (porcini mushroom conserva, Manodori balsamic vinegar). I loved this. Not pictured are two little crisps that came with it: one was a salty, savory mushroom and other other was tomato that reminded me of the pizza margherita crisps at minibar (tomato dust on point!). They provided really nice balance along with the the balsamic and the mushroom conserva. Speaking of the conserva, it was deliciously rich and the burrata itself was a good consistency–not too wet like some I’d had recently.

Fiola Mare Lobster Ravioli (ginger, chives). This dish was not surprisingly out of this world! It was at once both light in consistency yet rich in flavor and really beautifully done. The ravioli was like a perfect little lobster dumpling and the little lobster tail was a nice touch!

Mixed grilled seafood (lobster, langoustine, branzino, calamari, salsa verde, captrs, olive oil, parsley). This was ammmmmazingly good. It came to the table like this.

Then it was prepared table side by our waiter (how sharp are those outfits by the way!?). Love me a table side anything!

And this was the final product. Note the fantastic wilted spinach made with Meyer lemon and olive oil. The calamari was grilled to perfection. The branzino was out of control delicious–tender and flavorful.  The langoustine was sweet, light, and delicious.

Bomboloni. Wow were these good! They were lemon and ricotta and just perfect. They came with chocolate sauce and gelato, which were delicious.

Tiramisu. Now this is a tiramisu I can get behind! The zabaione was really the focus rather than the booze/coffee soaked lady fingers. It was perhaps the best I’ve ever had.

Pistachio chocolate cake. OMG was this good. It was a dense flourless cake with salty, minty accompaniment and a really great pistachio crumble.

At the end I got to go back to the kitchen to meet Chef Brinn Sinnott who is now the Culinary Director. Thanks for the pic and signing my Guide, Chef! Also a shout out to the restaurant manager Christopher Van Jura who was so sweet and helpful!

Overall this was an absolutely fantastic meal. Honestly the location and decor alone had me convinced I loved it here. Add to that impeccable service and over-the-top delicious food and you can see why Fiola Mare is so loved by folks in DC!