Palena

Never had anything like this type of French-​Italian food. Very homestyle dishes. I tried the 7 course. I enjoyed every dish. Every dish was cooked with care and precision. Nothing was overdone or too salty or too sweet. Just right for my palette.

It’s a shame Palena closed its doors. I absolutely loved the gourmet eggs, potato pancake, and pork belly. It was on the pricy side as far as brunch went, but I loved it. The café was amazing, and more then once we hit it at just the right time to walk away with free baked goods before they closed.

Best burger ever. A couple of things you need to know:
1. Order the burger less cooked than you normally would, and send it back if it’s not done right. I’ve eaten here maybe 15x and never received a medium rare burger when I’ve ordered one. Now I just order it rare, and by the time it gets to me, it’s medium rare.
2. If the wine tastes flat, send it back. The bartenders will serve wine that’s been opened several days, so send it back.
3. The burger is not served with ketchup, but with a garlic aoili. Suspend judgment. Taste it with the aoli, then with ketchup, and I think you’ll agree, the aoli tastes better.
4. The bread is extra — $ 3 — but well worth it. Next to Le Diplomate, this is the best bread at a restaurant in DC.
5. The ambience is rustic Olive Garden, so be prepared.

I read about Palena’s burger being lauded as one of the best, if not the best, in the District. It is not. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice burger, but it’s nothing special, and mine was somewhat mishap-​prone. While the menu doesn’t state it, I learned from the waiter that the burger is served with garlic mayonnaise (a big no-​no for me). So of course I ordered it without mayo, and I was of course served a burger lathered with mayo. Hey, mistakes happen, so I sent it back. Two minutes later, I get my plate back. To my astonishment, the kitchen took the patty and put it on a new bun, but there was still mayo all over the burger. I got the waiter’s attention, and at first he thought it was just cheese, but it was 100% mayo.
To our nice waiter’s credit, he confirmed what happened with the kitchen and came over to apologize, but I finally got my mayo-​free burger when my friends were on their last bites. The burger I finally got was a nice blend of premium beef with melted cheese on a nice brioche bun. Good, but hardly exceptional, and with fries (that were cold by the time I got my burger), my plate was a whopping $ 19. Not worth it. I’m sorry, but if you’re going to charge $ 19 for a burger and fries, it had better knock my socks off, and this one just didn’t do it.
Three stars overall because my friends loved their sourdough pancakes and fish sandwiches, and the waiter was friendly and and apologetic for the kitchen laziness. The grapefruit vanilla soda was also a big hit.
Also — next door is Palena’s small coffee shop, and their citrus glazed donut was heavenly.

Dear Chef Frank,
What sorcery is this?!? I must know the secret to your roast chicken. How do you get the skin so wonderfully crispy, but keep the meat so moist and flavorful?!
Dear Chef Aggie,
My biggest regret is that I do not have the stomach capacity to consume more than one dessert. The pineapple upside down cake was perfection.
LOVE this restaurant. Definitely worth the trek out to Cleveland Park.

Palena
We arrived about 5 – 10 minutes early for our 8:30pm seating on a Saturday night. They took care to give us our requested type of table. I ordered the 3 course dinner which included 2 amuse bouche, a pomegranate prosecco ice cream intermezzo, and a plate of candy.
The first amuse bouche was a sophisticated deviled hen egg. It had anchovies, caperries, and topped with a pickled red onion. It was very cold and solid, smaller than a regular egg but bigger than a quail egg. The second amuse bouche was a piece of fried testa (cheese). It was hot, crispy, and delicious. But a little too salty.
My first course was the consume with foie gras. Each bite was its own deliciousness– whether it was broth and chard, broth and foie gras, or broth and mini proscuitto ravioli. Even the broth alone was substantial. Next was an American Red Snapper and Shrimp dish with curried chic peas. Both the shrimp and the piece of fish were cooked to perfection and melted in my mouth. I loved the addition of the beans to dish and the curry was very subtle. The portion was perfect. The next course was a roasted Striped Bass (aka Rockfish) superbly done so that it was firm and yet flaky. The pear dessert included pears different ways (poached, roasted, purée, dried). I didn’t taste the ginger in the purée but it was still good.
Although I give it 5 stars, it is really 4.75 due to the noise at the serving station. The room is small with only 11 tables. At one point a guy decided to put away (throw) a million pieces of silverware into the draw.
By the time we were on ours main courses, the dining room had nearly emptied to the last 5 tables and the music was sensuous and romantic.
The service was excellent. Roger was extremely knowledgeable about the dishes.

I’ve wanted to try Palena for a long time and should have kept waiting…
1– The burger is mostly bun with some dry looking cheese and the saddest little collection of pickled veges (your ration includes: one piece of beet, a single floret of cauliflower, and about a quarter of a pickle)
2 — You can order by the glass, carafe, or bottle. The carafe is just a large pour. I had to send this back because my wife and I were expecting to be able to get two drinks out of it (and asked for two glasses, so that might have tipped the waiter off)
3 — That carafe of wine that got sent back a) still ended up on our bill and b) was charged at a higher price than listed on the menu
4– The strip-​mall-​chic atmosphere they are going for is totally overwhelmed by the fact that they’ve jammed way too many tables in this place. The hostess actually struggled to find a route to our table.
5– To end on a high note — the bolognese was better than Olive Garden

Palena Café is like every other «great“restaurant in DC. Overhyped and overpriced. Is the food tasty? Sure. But it certainly won’t knock your socks off. The prices, on the other hand, might. Don’t be surprised of you leave having paid $ 130 for 2 people to eat and drink and then end up ordering pizza because you’re still hungry.
I honestly do not understand the heaps of praise this place gets for its food. In DC, it seems anything that is slightly better than mediocre is labeled «great». This city has very low expectations when it comes to dining out.
If you go here for dinner, don’t let them sit you up the steps past the coat closet. You’ll feel like you’re at Panera for lunch. Terrible ambiance in that section. We asked to be moved, and they obliged.
Our waitress was friendly and competent. Service was good.

Note: This is a review for the DINING ROOM!
Another year older, another fancy birthday dinner. We’ve hit most of Tom Sietsema’s biggies now (CityZen, Rasika, Minibar, Komi, Inn at Little Washington, and now Palena), and Palena certainly stood up there with the rest of them. When we were seated at 6:00 on a Saturday we were the only table in the dining room area (a much smaller space behind the café and coffee shop), but other tables came in over time, and when we left the space was at least half-​full. Unlike Rasika, Minibar (the old one at least), and Komi, Palena was both intimate and quiet; we never had to raise our voices to be heard, even with two four tops and an eight top within 15 feet of us.
For food we went with the five course tasting menu (plus dessert, two amuse bouche, and a small plate of candies with the check), and were not let down by even a single course. For our visit the five course menu progression was:
Amuse Bouche: some sort of savory flan (delicious, with just a couple of salmon roe on top to give it a hint of salty without being overwhelming), and an espresso cup of rich squash soup with a hint of mushroom for the umami.
Arctic Char Crudo: I do love good salmon, and this was good salmon. Lentils, mushroom, and a touch of bitter greens offset the richness of nice fatty salmon.
Consommé: Beautiful clear golden broth with wood pigeon raviolini, carrot, a few brussel spout leaves, and black trumpet mushroom flan. For a clear broth, this was a remarkably hearty flavor, and there was a deft touch with the salt, which could easily have been overwhelming.
Cauliflower Pot au Feu: Risotto style rice with small pieces of cauliflower, reggiano for creaminess, topped with a softly coddled egg and thin slices of black truffle. Mixing that egg yolk in to the rice made this the richest course of the night!
Squab: Nicely roasted so that the skin was crispy and the fat fully rendered out; I’d have been licking my plate if I’d paced myself better; I was starting to get full and wanted to save room for dessert. Unfortunately this was the only dish of the night that could have used a bit less salt; that said, I like less salt on my food than almost everyone, so YMMV.
Grilled New Zealand Venison: Perfectly cooked with a crisp and smoky exterior and a warm but pink interior. Notably lacking in the gaminess that most venison has. Again, I’d have been licking my plate for this one.
Pre-​Dessert: An espresso cup of warm apple cider with a tiny spiced meringue floating in it was a nice little palate cleanser and transition to dessert.
Dessert: Deconstructed eggnog parfait; a white-​chocolate dome of custard, scoop of cinnamon ice cream, and a soft ginger cookie with scattered candied fruits and caramel. The portion size was perfect; large enough to enjoy, but not too much, and the candied fruits were left tart enough to balance the sweet custard and ice cream, with the ginger cookie and white chocolate dome providing some different textures.
One final thing worth mentioning; unlike far too many nice restaurants, Palena actually had some pretty good non-​alcoholic cocktails. It’s nice to see bartenders paying some attention to those who don’t want to drink and offering them something more sophisticated than fountain soda or water. My wife’s grapefruit vanilla soda was fantastic; the hint of vanilla for sweetness was perfect.
Overall a fantastic meal with great service (the pacing was excellent, and the servers were friendly and attentive). We would absolutely dine here again!

Lovely in general (many a meal) but this is for the COFFEE SHOP. Went here to meet a friend and work for a little while. Comfortable, warm space with lots of light from the huge front windows, creating a perfect little table nook to sit and people watch.
We had a blood orange tea which they do loose leaf in a tea bag. None of the pre-​bagged stuff here! I really wanted to try their chai latte, but they were out so went on to get a regular deliciously foamy latte instead. I’m a little bit of a coffee weakling so I can at least tell you it had me strung out. I should have asked for a 1 shot latte in fact!
I also had to try one of the pastries, knowing that Palena does bread products well. I chose, with some help, the honey ricotta mini loaf. It was divine! Lightly sweet, moist and just the slightest bit crunchy on the outside. Thank god they are only mini loaves.
Would love to go back again! Hopefully I can try their chai latte… and of course another pastry.

Best part was the food — GREAT, especially the Autumn Salad.
Everything else — service, atmosphere — was good, but not great. Service was slow.
Overall a pretty good restaurant — I would recommend it.

I am writing it with a great deal of distaste, sadness bc I patron regularly Palena. I d like the restaurant to do well.
The host was extremely rude to our family. It seems that now is a policy to have a reservation when is almost empty. Plus aggressive in front of a kid. Very sad we ain’t coming back. I don’t know the problem with that guy; don’t now what is going on in the restaurant but that s too bad.

What a disappointment!
After catching a movie at the Uptown I went across the street with a friend who said he’d heard that Palena had one of the best cheeseburgers in DC. WRONG!!! It was kind of dried out and had the thinnest slice of cheese imaginable on top. For $ 14 I expected something special… the truth is Five Guys or the Shake Shack are so much better for less than ½ the price. Restaurant was exceptionally noisy, service slow and haphazard.

I have eaten in the Palena Café several times. The burger is as good as everyone says. Pasta has also been quite nice and the bread is delicious. It is relatively easy to walk in and eat at the bar, which is what I like to do before a movie at the Uptown.
Last night I tried the Dining Room for the first time, and I have to say I have never experienced so much hassle prior to dining. I made my reservation on Open Table two weeks ago. I confirmed when they called three days ago. Yesterday I called to let them know my party of 4 had shrunk to a party of 3 and confirmed again. This morning I got another call to confirm, but the person calling didn’t have a record of my call yesterday. But what really made the whole thing frustrating was that the person called again five minutes later to ask for a credit card to hold the reservation. Huh? I need to have four phone conversations and now, at the end, a credit card to confirm my reservation? That is too much. I understand that with how easy it is to book an online reservation, some people don’t value those reservations and no show, but four calls to confirm? Nope. The person on the phone said that they were overbooked for tonight and that’s why they needed the credit card. I am actually ok with a request for a credit card, but it should have been made upfront.
The food ended up being wonderful, especially the seared tuna and squash agnoletti with lobster. Service ended up being very, very slow. We didn’t have our first bite of food until one hour after we arrived and our four course meal ended 3 hours after we arrived. A VIP was in the dining room and that may have been a part of the slow down, but I would expect a restaurant that’s been around as long as Palena to be accustomed to handling VIPs and not letting the rest of the diners suffer.
Another issue that came up twice was unavailability of wine on the very short wine list. It is clear that the menu is always changing and the menus are set up to be printed weekly, if not daily. The wine menu is very short. I should not have picked two wines that were unavailable during the course of one dinner. In addition, each time I was offer a replacement, the proffered replacement was 20% more expensive.
The food was great, but the service experience just doesn’t match it.

My friends and I came here for lunch on a Saturday afternoon. No wait at all.
I ordered the Soft Shell Crab sandwich. DELICIOUS! Flavorful sauce and good bread.

Another overpriced DC restaurant. Food was good if not a tad bit on the salty side, but not enough to complain about. What really got me was the price — the cheapest starter was $ 12 and that was basically for an iceberg wedge. The pasta dishes are small and meant to be that way according to the Staff, but at $ 16+, they can’t be the size of a small cereal bowl, I mean come on.
The menu follows, pricey mains and desserts, the latter which were quite small — I mean gobble in three spoonfuls kind of small.
If you really want to give this place a try, then go for it. But if you’re tired of overpriced DC restaurants that love shoveling ‘small plates’ at large plate prices over and over again, then I can’t but feel that there are better options.
I especially feel bad for the dudes who want to please their ladies here — you’ll be wanting a burger after having spent mucho dinero.

This is what passes for «haute» food in DC — food that would be laughed out of New York or San Francisco. Just atrocious, with the worst service I’ve had in the District. Prices are high in the bar; in the restaurant, they’re obscene.
The «famed» Palena burger and deep fried lemon/​onion rings are a joke: a small patty, made of cheap cuts, that’s been cooked to grayness, and two or three over fried batter rings with a shriveled onion inside.
You’re better off at Shake Shack in Dupont Circle, or, really, any other bar in Georgetown. This is a place for poseur-​ish Washington «insiders» from Northwest who don’t know better and pretend that they do.
Prices would be unacceptable in NY, but the patrons here are expensing it, and don’t care. Normal people gag.
And the service stinks.

I’ve dined at Palena Café several times now for brunch as well as dinner. I often hype it up for my friends as one of the best brunch spots in the city in terms of food. Beyond that, the restaurant is conveniently located right across the street from Cleveland Park Metro and the interior is adorable. Unfortunately, the service somehow always manages to fall short. I don’t want to be the guy that picks at small things and posts them on the internet but just know that it needs a little more polish in comparison to the delicious food.
As others before me have mentioned, the portions at Palena can be rather small. However, the quality of food has never disappointed. Their burgers, Sunday pizzas, burata, pasta, etc. It’s all great. One of the best brunch dishes I have ever had in DC was here a couple of years ago. It was a confit duck leg with sunny-​side-​up eggs and polenta. I still salivate a little thinking about it.
I need to mention that I don’t like eating a $ 14 burger with a small paper napkin… Please start using linen serviettes for brunch.
Oh, you should also know that bread service is $ 2 for brunch… They’ll give you sourdough, pumpernickel and wheat. I’ll let you decide if it’s worth it. I mean $ 2 is almost nothing but it’s not the best bread I’ve had in the city and it’s free everywhere else…
Pro Tip: Getting a last minute brunch reservation in the city can be tough at the nicer spots. I’ve never had trouble getting a table at Palena so give it a shot if you’re struggling for ideas.
I realllllly want to like you, Palena! You’re food is superb! Just need to fix the small things.

2.5 Stars – This is for the Café:
Sometimes less is more; so here it is…
Good food, but too expensive for the small portion sizes. Just not worth it.

Now Palena Café takes reservations. Yippee! You can either call the restaurant or go to
to make a reservation. So I took advantage of the new policy and had a nice Valentine’s Day dinner here at Palena.
We were seated in the elevated area close to the open kitchen this time. That was great because the food could get to us without getting cold. Very important.
The server came and asked if we would like tap water or bottled water and we said «tap water is fine» and he poured tap water from the bottle he was already holding. That means most people are okay with tap water I suppose.
The bread basket had 3 different kinds of bread and a bread stick. They were all house made that day and tasted really good. I particularly liked the bread stick.
The winter vegetable salad «Insalata d’Inverno» was beautiful with blood orange slices and delicious with the light dressing.
The pasta «Torchietti» with cotecchino sausage, lacinato kale, provolone picante was served somewhere between very warm and hot, and tasted heavenly. One of the best pasta dishes outside Italy and my home. :)
The Palena Chicken was very tender and moist yet completely cooked. It must have been well brined for a couple of days to give such flavor to the chicken. If you go Italian way and have a half portion pasta before the chicken, you might want to share the chicken with your friend. It’s a good size half chicken.
The Palena Cheese Burger was simple with cheese only, but the patty had a good beef flavor and tasted like it was just ground in house and seasoned properly.
The dessert «Red Velvet» was European style and not too sweet. Excellent.
And our glass was constantly filled with water by our very attentive server.
Another great experience at my favorite Palena Café. Another perfect 5 stars!

*This review is for the café side only.*
The four stars don’t really show it, but I was a little split on the Palena Café. The food is outstanding. .. very pricey, but outstanding. The rotating entrees are full of rich flavor, and are made up of numerous interesting combinations. The desserts aren’t quite at the same level as the entrees and sides, but they’re still good for fancy-​ish desserts (which I often find to be long on presentation but short on flavor).
The atmosphere on the café side was lower down the scale to me. It seemed cold, with a generic-​coffee-​shop feel. (Meanwhile, a glance in the dining room revealed a warm, intimate setting.) This might be because there’s little decoration on the blank, light-​toned walls, and the wooden slats on the ceiling don’t really stand out much to bring in warmth. Also, the windows look out primarily onto a strip mall parking lot, except for the little bit of Connecticut Ave. that’s visible through the door to the Palena Market windows.
I was _​really_​impressed with the food. However, if I return it’ll be to try the fancier, warmer dining area.

I’ve been dying to try Palena Café after hearing that Food and Wine named their burger as one of the top burgers in the US. I finally made it there last night with a friend.
We were easily able to get reservations, and were seated immediately when we walked in. The waitress was nice, and we decided to split a bottle of the sangiovese. We started with the grilled octopus, then both got a burger and split an order of fries.
The octopus was excellent. It was grilled so there was a really great flavor, and the texture was perfect. I’ve had grilled octopus before that was slimy, however this was not fishy or slimy at all. The octopus came served with chick peas and crispy kale (like kale chips). Then came our burgers. They come fairly plain, with only cheese and aioli. The burger was cooked really well, not over or under the temperatures we asked for. It was nice and juicy, seasoned simply, but well, and there was truffle in the cheese which was really delicious. The fries are crispy and served hot, with a side of mayo and ketchup. Compared to other burgers in DC, this one is really good. The best? I don’t know that I can list it as the absolute best, but it sure is up there and I will definitely be coming to eat here again.
Overall, the burger did not disappoint, and I think the other options on the menu make it a great place for a nice dinner date or something a more upscale. I appreciate that I can get a fantastic burger AND really good grilled octopus in the same meal. Can’t wait to go back!

Although it came recommended, our party of 4 thought that Palena was quite regrettable of a dining experience, not the least because we spent several hundred dollars a person and have little to show for it enjoyment wise.
While the service was more or less attentive (as in more in the very beginning and then progressively less towards the middle of the meal), the timing of courses was poor so the person who ordered the 5-​course would often be eating alone while we watched or vice versa (the rest of us had the 4-​course so the discrepancy should not have been that stunning). The meal also took a very long time even though it was later in the evening and there were maybe 2 other small parties around us. On more than a few occasions, our entire party sat and hungrily looked at each other with only bread and our drinks to amuse us! I am not talking about before the meal: we got so listlessly peckish between servings that we actually requested more of the so-​so bread!!!
As for the food itself, meh is the best I can do for a description. Some courses were exceptionally undersalted, others just mediocre and overall lacking in any wow factor – just standard fare here, folks! – declared practically every spoon– and forkful.
Our wine pairing course resembled amature night of wine pouring: waiters would come out and just splash wine into glasses as if to say, «There. It’s the next one. Have some!» This isn’t to say that the pours were particularly generous – just regular, standard servings – but without any description of what we were having! Our group is really into fine dining so we are used to being shown the bottle and receiving a little education with our drinking – as in, this is x type of wine from region y… at least! Heck, I would have settled for being told this is a cabarnet sauvignon called z! Really, people?! I thought we were in a fine dining establishment.
While the atmosphere was nice and – as if to make up for timing and starving us throughout half the meal – the deserts quite large, I left feeling somehow unsatisfied with what was supposed to be a very fancy meal. Sigh.

Three and half star.
Palena burger seems to be very popular but I wonder if it’s still one of the best burger when many burger places recently opened to offer all different kinds of burger with top quality meat and especially when Ray’s steak has ½lbs presidential burger made of top-​quality steak meat for $ 8.
Palena’s burger is simple. Big buns with meat patty and a slice of thin cheese. No sauce or topping. Nothing else. I don’t get the hype.
Fry plate has two interesting fries, fried soft-​creamy potato-​like ball and fried sliced lemon. This dish was fun since you don’t find this easily at other restaurant.
You can get individual dish from the menu for a course meal. $ 13 – 18 for dishes in the 1^st and 2^nd course. $ 25-​over $ 30 for main course dish. No price on the menu for individual dish so you need to ask the server for the price. Gnocchi was soft but the flavor wasn’t that great. I’ve had much better gnocchi in terms of texture and flavor (without any complex sauce) in a nearby neighborhood restaurant.
Server’s assistants (food runners?) were very friendly and attentive but I wasn’t impressed by the main server.
Palena might be a good small neighborhood restaurant but I would rather go to somewhere else where I can get better service and more interesting menu.