Vermilion

We came for Restaurant Week and we will be back. We all agreed the food was exceptional in both taste and presentation. Chickory Apple Walnut salad was delicate and not over dressed. The Trout entrée was perfectly prepared and topped with just enough sauce as well as spinach and some little potatoes that melted in your mouth. The suggested wine pairing was perfect. Service here is equally attentive to details. It makes for a very special meal. My only knock, which my dinner mates also echoed, was the weird dark lighting. It made it hard to see the menu or each other! Tweak the lighting and you are one of the best spots in Old Town

I had a long and rough week and I just wanted to enjoy my Sunday brunch and read the WP Sunday print .
I got there around 11 and was received very nicely, I sat at the bar, it’s a beutiful bar, seats are very comfortable. Bar tender was very nice and engaging but also very professional. I did not know today was the last day of resturant week (lucky me :)) i decided to go with 3 courses 20 $ package .
I started off with a bloody merry. Comes to BM my favorite vodka is always gray goose. It was delicious and very well served .
I ordered broccoli soup, it was served with some home made ham, delicious. For entrée I had farmer’s omelet with sausage and home made fries, delicious.
I am definitely going back, I might have actually found my Sunday chill place ;).

I can’t believe I forgot to review Vermilion!
My boyfriend and I came here for our anniversary a few months back. Our food was good. Well-​prepared, beautifully plated (as you can see from all the photos people have posted) and good portions. The cocktail menu is diverse and inventive, and thankfully when the cocktails hit the table they were crafted impeccably. We tried two cocktails each and they were all balanced nicely and corresponded with their description.
The ambiance is nice, we were seated at the high tables at the front window so we had great people-​watching opportunity, and a view of the stretch of the restaurant. The best part (ok, maybe tied with the cocktails) was our server. He was fun, attentive, knowledgeable, and really passionate about what was being served. The kitchen also brought out a little tasting after we ordered, which is just a nice addition.
Obviously, it’s pricey, so we can’t go back too often. It will be at the top of the list for special occasions or a nicer drink date. I would love to try their brunch!

Went there for brunch. We had Pulled pork, fried egg with grits, and the apple butter French toast. Both were fantastic. The wine selection is amazing as well. The restaurant is beautiful. The staff knows their menu but they are less attentive when busy :(.

It’s not often my wife and I go out for fine cuisine, but Vermilion was the first time in a long time we were able to. We had 5:30 reservations on a Thursday in an effort to miss the possible dinner rush, when we showed 15 minutes early, we were told our table wasn’t ready and invited to sit in the lounge area. It’s fair, we were early, and I could understand them wanting to make sure everything was perfect so why not. We went and sat in the lounge area for about 25 minutes while they prepared our table. It looked like initially we were going to be sitting upstairs, when the hostees was seating us she asked if it was ok that we sat downstairs in seat that had a window looking out on to King St.
We weren’t really interested in any starters and wanted to dive right in to dinner. I was really torn between the Tagliatelle, the pork, and the steak. Asking the waiter for a recommendation, he highly recommended the pork over the other three.
While waiting for the mains, the waiter brought out a beet salad compliments of teh chef. It was a small portion of beet on a sliced cucumber which was pretty refreshing, and would have been great on a hot summer day. There was also a bread basket that came before the mains that had some great rolls.
The pork came on a bed of pea’s and mushrooms, and a light sauce. The pork was delicious and the peas were a great touch. It was actually one of the best cooked pieces of pork that I have ever had. The peas and the mushrooms were a great accent to the sweetness of the pork glaze.
While the main was delicious, the stars of the night were the desserts. To celebrate the end of the night, my wife and I decided to try and poppyseed ricotta fritters and the apple crumble. The staff, knowing that we were celebrating a special night, sent out the Giandujana Panna Cotta on the house.
It was a great gesture by the staff and an opportunity to make a special night even better. Like I said earlier, the desserts were able to overshadow the main courses. The fritters were by and far my favorite, almost a benignet kind of feel to them. The Panna Cotta was awesome, almost like a huge reeses peanut butter cup. The meal was great and as we were walking out my wait made a comment about how the staff made it even better, one of those places that you want to return to celebrate other special events.

Loved our experience here. My boyfriend and I were in the area recently for a Saturday night so we did some Unilocal research to find a place to have a nice celebratory dinner. We’re suckers for a good tasting menu, and Vermilion’s sounded perfect. We made reservations for 6:30 and after showing up it seemed unnecessary as the place was empty. That worried us, but luckily the place filled up as we went through our meal so I think we were just too early. The service at first was also a little concerning since our pre-​dinner cocktail took quite a while, but the server apologized that they were out of berry jam for the Slight Figure of Speech and had to make a fresh batch — getting it fresh was fine by me! The rest of the experience was great.
Every course from the tasting menu was delicious, but the standouts for me were the frisee and fennel salad with cottage cheese which I hadn’t seen before, and the seared albacore with trout roe butter. Yum! The duck was also perfectly cooked so no complaints there. I think what put the meal over the top however was the wine pairings. Each wine was excellent with the paired course, and the server made sure to explain the wines to us. I do wish he had explained the food at each course as well as that was lacking. Yes we read the menu before ordering but we couldn’t remember the specifics and ended up looking it up online so we knew what we were eating. Oh well, it doesn’t hurt my rating for the restaurant overall.
I would definitely recommend for a nice night out and a delicious dinner (don’t forget the wine). Hopefully we’ll get the chance to go back!

Vermilion is one of those restaurants you go to for a very special date or anniversary. The restaurant has a lovely romantic atmosphere with dim lighting and private tables. I’ve been here twice and both times, Vermilion didn’t disappoint. The food is a work of art. Every course beautifully plated and garnished. Not only does it look good, it tastes good too! I love their ever changing menu using local and seasonal ingredients. We will definitely be back for more!

I really enjoyed dinner here on a Sunday night. Lovely ambiance with some great albeit a little bit pricey food and attentive service. Our waiter was super friendly and offered some solid recommendations.
Of the two dishes I shared, I would definitely recommend the rainbow trout, really just an overall great dish. The butter melts off the beautifully seared fish onto bulgur and vegetables below. The bulgur really brings the dish together, adding a nice base that absorbs the flavor of the fish while providing a nice grainy texture. The vegetables add a loveliness and dash of color. Great presentation and super tasty.
The bistro filet was also quite enjoyable, especially the meat itself, although the dish as a whole was somewhat underwhelming. The steak was incredibly tender and flavorful but a somewhat small portion. Really I just didn’t care for the sides. Sure they were good but they felt disconnected and didn’t complement the steak at all. They were relatively fancy versions of standard sides (potato, brocollini, and onions) that felt disjointed from the rest of the plate. Unlike the rainbow trout, the steak and its sides lacked cohesion. Don’t get me wrong, still quite a good dish, just somewhat less exciting than the trout.

I really wanted to like this place more and last time we were here I recall it was a better experience. This time it fell a bit flat, as Vermillion tries to be in the same arena as many of the nicer establishments in DC but doesn’t quite get there.
Attire is casual, you’ll be great in nice denim and a solid evening out top. Ambiance is nice with exposed brick, sconces on the wall and dark lighting.
This is a place where you will want more than an entrée as it definitely crosses the line into «it’s so fancy the portions are small.»
I started with the «wait wait don’t tell me» signature cocktail, seemingly a house Manhattan spinoff, which was heavily spiced — unfortunate as it was difficult to enjoy an otherwise top shelf bourbon it features.
The Virginia oyster bisque was just OK. A very basic flavor profile that I wish they did something more with. It featured two oysters and perhaps four tiny sugar cube sized potatoes, so as you can imagine it was a heavy broth dish, very light.
The Zatar lamb entrée had really good flavor. Perhaps 4−5oz of meat, nice fluffy couscous accompaniment.
Dessert was a big letdown. We got the pumpkin cheesecake which was a moist square of pumpkin pie filling with some cheese blended in I’m sure (indiscernible in taste however). On the side were some razor thin pieces of pound cake which were dry and almost stale, and a scoop of ginger ice cream. This ice cream was so acutely spiced with ginger it was nearly inedible by itself and required mixing of all three ingredients. All in all a sad dessert, a sentiment most all at the table with me shared.
Struggling between 3 and 4 stars here. Rounding up because my first experience was better, but Vermillion needs to up its game with starters and desserts to compete with the great downtown restaurants.

Went for brunch after a 5k race and was really pleased– it was Recommended by a friend (and employee of Vermillion). Despite working in Alexandria for a few years, I never ventured in here. I am interested in returning and trying it again for sure!
Brunch menu was small, which I love, because I usually want to try everything. We ended up going with the Oyster potato bisque, mixed greens and BBQ pork with cheddar grits and fried egg. While the bisque was tasty, I was all about the salad. Great dressing over mixed greens sounds basic, but I couldn’t stop eating it. And then coming from a girl who doesn’t like grits, I was thoroughly impressed! Mix the egg, grits and pork together and it becomes this magical dish of goodness! Loved it! We finished off our meal with the almond cake… and OMG, was it good!
I would recommend stopping in here if you are walking around Old Town especially since the service was nice and sometimes that’s hard to find. They even split the dishes for us before coming out– awesome! It was a good time!

We had our annual Thanksgiving Eve dinner at Vermilion. First and foremost, super friendly and wonderful customer service. Our server was very accommodating and all other staff we encountered were excellent at their jobs. We never wanted for anything and were taken care of very well. One small thing– stop pushing the featured drink/​dish so much. That can be dialed back a bit.
To the food: The food good but not up the level I was expecting. Given the glowing reviews about this place, I think I was anticipating one of those meals you can still taste six months later. This wasn’t it. Nothing wrong with any of our dishes, really. it was just not as memorable as I wanted and for $ 30 a plate, I should be raving.

It’s always nice to try a completely new place for me. Vermillion has a really great atmosphere as well as extremely nice staff. Linsey has been a fantastic host and excellent bartender. I had the steak tartare as an appetizer and honestly the carpaccio style was to die for. I’d tell any of my friends to come here. Nice place !

I had never tried hush puppies before, and don’t think I’ll need to try them anywhere else. Ever. It has to be the sauces that come with these puppies at Vermillion. It’s really life-​changing.
Aside from the hush puppies, the service is great. Both times I’ve been – once at the end of the lunch rush, and once for late night drinks – we’ve had fantastic service. I’ve come to expect very little from the wait staff at restaurants on King Street, but Vermillion is above the rest. We were pleasantly surprised at the attentiveness and genuine friendliness we’ve received here.

My husband and I had a wonderful meal here the other night to celebrate our third wedding anniversary. The food was great and so was the atmosphere, but what really made it special was the fantastic service. They asked us if we were celebrating anything, and when we told them it was our anniversary, they congratulated us and thanked us for spending it with them. They also hooked us up with a free dessert and a HAND WRITTEN thank you card. Amazing. I’ve never had that happen before! Such a nice touch.
The menu is definitely for foodies, which I consider myself to be, but I still had to ask about quite a few ingredients. It’s not a very large menu, but it’s diverse enough that I think there’s at least one thing on there to satisfy almost every palate. We started with the scallops, which was a very small portion (3 scallops, a few small potatoes and sunchokes), but perfectly cooked and seasoned. My husband had the steak and pureed potatoes and I had the gnocchi. Both were excellent.
Since it was our anniversary, we both ordered desserts. My husband got the cheesecake and I got the chocolate mint tart. However, the best dessert was by far the poppy seed and ricotta fritters they brought as our anniversary dessert (we didn’t know they were going to do that — 3 desserts for 2 people was an embarrassment of riches!). It came with blackberries and this amazing whipped cream flavored gelato. My husband and I devoured it and I ended up taking the tart home to enjoy the next day.
All in all, a wonderful experience! I think this will be our new special occasion place.

This place is great! This isn’t quite a casual atmosphere but it definitely isn’t too stuffy either.
Our waiter was very attentive and knows his stuff! Very professional service.
It’s a bit on the pricey end but the quality of the food is unbeatable. If anything, you will be paying for the quality, creativity and uniqueness of the ingredients.
The upstairs is quaint and downstairs has an intimate bar where you can pay a crap ton for alcohol.
We got the Salmon, Trout and Pork Loin and they were all excellent and extremely creative.
Naturally it’s one of those restaurants where it’s so dark you can hardly see your food but it’s great for dates.
Lots of couples! If you want to feel like a 3^rd wheel, you should eat here but you can also be like us and go with your group of single friends. That will balance out the couple-​y vibe going on there =) Happy Grazing!

I had been to vermillion years ago and found it kind of overpriced and meh. I heard the chef changed and saw some good reviews, as well as restaurant week happened to be this weekend.
The service was extremely good by the waiter with beer and wine pairings as well as just overall friendliness. Other friendly folks would bring over food as well. The bread that comes with was super tasty as was the butter.
We all had the shrimp and grits appetizer which was heavy and a bit big for an app but really good. It had a marinara type sauce I wasn’t sure I would like but turned out to go well with the shrimp.
For entrees we all had the filet which was cooked perfectly medium rare or medium depending on how ordered. There was a garlic butter on top that I which was more plentiful because it was so tasty. The veggies and sauce added to it but nothing too special.
For dessert the fritters were really good, just warm donuts with some good sauce and ice cream. The chocolate cake dense thing was real rich and good.
Overall experience and ambience is great. Nothing blew me away but all really solid and not a single misstep all night.

Having recently moved to Old Town, my husband and I were looking for a special place to have our first meal out as residents. I am so happy we chose Vermilion. This place seems tailor made for us, what with the inventive food options, fantastic ambiance, and great service. That’s not even to mention the perfect location (very close to King Street Metro).
We were seated in their upstairs dining area right next to a front window. It was the perfect spot that allowed for a view of sprawling King Street. The dining area upstairs is very nice with beautiful brick walls, lanterns, and bottles of wine on display near the stairwell. The bar and lounge downstairs seems very inviting as well, with low lighting and a lot of seating options. We can’t wait to return for a drink or two there.
To start, we had the corn soup and roasted potato gnocchi. While the soup was tasty, the gnocchi was unreal in its deliciousness. The complimentary bread and butter was also a standout. For our meals, I ordered the Berkshire Pork Loin and my husband had the Shenandoah Beef Bistro Filet. The pork loin was served over a yummy pea purée that really hit the spot. The filet was so tender it seemed to melt in my mouth. The artichoke and carrot purée was the perfect side to go with it.
The only downside to our meal at Vermilion is that it set the bar so high for eating out in Old Town. We may end up being slightly disappointed with each future visit to other area restaurants because it’ll be hard to beat Vermilion on almost every level.

Finally got the chance to try Vermillion at the invite of a sweet sweet friend. I had heard good things about this place but hadnt yet found an occasion special enough to have dinner here. The quaint restaurant and bar are set nicely from the moment you walk into the front foyer. We ordered a beer and a cocktail called «A Father’s First Spring», which was strong and delicious. A good start!
We then decided on the charred octopus to start and the wild mushroom risotto, and bistro filet for entrees. The octopus, risotto, and steak were perfect and I could see how the restaurant earned its good reputation. My disappointment lied with the sides that came with the steak… «potato cake», soft cabbage, and roasted carrots. The potato cake was nothing more than a glob of fries shredded hashbrowns with no seasoning, the cabbage was also not seasoned, and the carrots were charred beyond recognition. I couldn’t believe a restaurant of this quality would serve sides so thoughtless.
Would I give the restaurant a second try? Probably… but not anytime soon. Hopefully they will reconsider a couple things in the meantime.

I had higher hopes for this place. Place was tiny and we had a table by the front window.
Instead of a main entrée I went with the steak tartare, beet salad, and the octopus off the small/​app menu.
Bert salad was good. Not much to it but it was flavorful and plating was pretty. It was the best of all three.
Steak tartare and octopus were each ok but nothing great. Tartare was mixed in some cream sauce that just took away from the beef. Plus, it came with two potato chips and that’s it.
Octopus again was ok. Texture was good so it wasn’t over cooked and rubbery. However, there was no char on it.

This is a fancy restaurant and knowing your food is «farm to table» and extra fresh makes you feel even better about yourself. We were seated upstairs and had a nice window seat overlooking King st. The ambiance was fantastic and very romantic. I really liked how the staff was not pushy and they would wait for each course to be finished with a few minutes in between before bringing out anything else.
The chestnut soup was fantastic and full of flavor (highly recommend). I couldn’t get enough. The meat on the other hand was pretty tough to cut and my jaw was sore from all the chewing (I ordered it medium), the chickpeas that came with it were pretty good. I noticed in some other pictures the smear affect they put on each plate, it must be their signature move. I also ordered some chocolate dessert, the ice cream was probably the best part. The chocolate part was pretty much just a solid bar of chocolate with some caramel swirled on top.
I dont think I would eat here again but I would probably come back for drinks. Looks like they have a nice lounge area on the first floor. Beer on tap ranged from $ 4.50-$ 8 and a huge wine selection.