Dinner at Dirty Habit

Summer is here and I’m currently tackling the events and restaurants that I have on my DC Summer Guide. One of the restaurants on the list is Dirty Habit, so I took advantage of a Saturday night I was free and had dinner there. Dirty Habit is the resident restaurant for the Monaco Kimpton Hotel located in China Town. I’ve been stalking Dirty Habit online for a couple weeks now and totally fell in love with the aesthetic of the place.

Location and Parking: Dirty Habit is located at 555 8th Street NW Washington, DC. Gallery Place - Chinatown Metro station is conveniently located directly across from the restaurant. I attempted to find street parking for t- minus 3 minutes; before I got flustered and realized that a parking garage is located directly across from the restaurant. Parking was $17, which is a tad bit pricey but it was worth the convenience.

Ambiance: Dirty Habit is the definition of modern and sleek. Everyone there was dressed to impress. It’s definitely somewhere you put a little bit of thought in regards to what to wear. We sat in this enclosed indoor outdoor space because the seats were still wet outside which was a major bummer. A bar is located outside with various seating areas and fire pits, which makes the outdoor area absolutely gorgeous in the night time. The restaurant was smaller than I thought it would be, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing just an observation. Just judging Dirty Habit based on ambiance I would give them an A+( in my past life I'm convinced I was an interior designer ).

Food and experience: Let me start off by saying that the customer service was on point for me and the manager was very personable. Customer Service to me is just as crucial as the food and the ambiance. I was already aware beforehand that Dirty Habit specializes in small plates, but I was still disappointed in the portion size compared to the dollar amount for each dish. Granted all the dishes were pretty good, but it was definitely not filling even after ordering a couple dishes. I like to eat, so that was a big caveat for me. I went with a friend and we sampled each other dishes. We ordered the shrimp dumplings, which was $14 and only had 3 dumplings. I would recommend a hard pass on the dumplings because it’s really not worth the price. We also ordered the crispy calamari, truffle fries, and the smoked Chilean sea bass.

The sea bass was my favorite probably because the portion size was the largest. Personally, no meal is complete without dessert so I ordered the banana pudding under the petite sweets. They were not exaggerating when they said it was petite. The banana pudding was tiny, but it was also $3, so I guess you get what you pay for. Nonetheless, it was delicious but I definitely would have liked more.

I wouldn’t recommend dining at Dirty Habit for dinner, but if you’re looking for a new spot for happy hour or a nice hotel to stay at there would be your spot.