This restaurant is the progeny of the original Tadich Grill in San Francisco which is apparently the oldest restaurant in the city.
As you enter the restaurant, which is literally on the corner of 10th and Pennsylvania, the reception desk is dead ahead. On each side of the reception desk there are high stools at a bar, a dozen stools to the left and 4 stools to the right. There are also some tables at this level.
The physical décor is mahogany and brass railings like the original in San Francisco and a number of other restaurants in D.C.
To get to the main dining room you need to go up a couple of stairs to another level. The person at the reception desk, seeing that I was using a cane, noted that at the other end of the bar was a sloped path which allows one to get to the next level without using the stairs. I chose the two steps.
To the far right of the main dining area, separated by a ¾ tall wooden wall is the open kitchen. To the left of the kitchen there are two private dining rooms which are separate from the primary dining area. The dining area provides many options for dining. There are tables for 2, 4, 6, 8 or 10 and I suspect pretty much any length can be accommodated. There are banquettes on the end and one side.
On each side of the dining there are a series of booths for semi-private dining that comfortably seat 4 and squeezing a bit can handle 5 or 6.
The restaurant seats about 245 people plus a number of other seats on the patio on the Pennsylvania Avenue side of the restaurant which of course are only available in decent weather.
For starters Bob chose Coney Island Clam Chowder; Rita selected a salad composed of Half Avocado, Lettuce, Tomato and Pickled Onion; Rhoda, Debbie and Dan all had Caesar salads and I went for the Lobster Bisque with Lobster Meat.
For our main courses, Debbie and Dan opted for Cioppino including scallops, shrimp, clams, mussels, bay shrimp, whitefish, crabmeat with rich tomato sauce and garlic bread. Rita selected Jumbo Prawns in white wine with mushrooms, tomato, scallion, and lemon served with rice pilaf and vegetable. Bob had charcoal broiled Tuna Steak with mashed potatoes, vegetables and herb oil. Rhoda went for the Pan Roasted Rockfish with braised fennel and endive and roasted fingerlings, with a red wine-sherry gastrique and organdies. I had the Chesapeake Seafood Stew with crab cake, mussels, rockfish, shrimp, old bay-sherry cream with corn bread.
The restaurant’s online menu lists Chilean Seabass, my personal favorite. Unfortunately, on the Friday, February 10th menu it was not included.
The extensive menu has seventeen Appetizers, three Soups, seven Classic Salads, six Entrée Salads, seven World Famous Louie Salads, nine Specialties of the House (all fish/seafood based) and with various sea foods dishes available cooked in a variety of ways, six from the Mesquite Charcoal Broiler, six that are Pan Fried, three that are Sauteed (seven that are Baked en Casserole, and seven that are Deep-fried. And for those who do not want fish or seafood, there are nine non fish meats that are from the Mesquite Charcoal Broiler various meats. Of course there is a selection of seven desserts.
Getting to the men’s room and the women’s room is a bit of a journey. The entrance to the hallways that lead to the two restrooms is at the end of the restaurant and marked by a bright red exit sign.
The men’s room is as expected given the décor of the restaurant. As you enter through the heavy wood door with an opaque window to the right are two individual white ceramic washbasins with individual mirrors above them. There is a single white ceramic hanging urinal in a walled but not enclosed area next to the large commode room. The commode room is large enough to accommodate all uses with appropriate bars. There is another smaller commode room at the other end of the restroom without the accessibility additions.
The floor is covered with large white ceramic tiles and the walls with much smaller white tiles.
The restaurant is open Monday–Saturday. Monday—Thursday the hours are 11:30 a.m. – 10 pm. Friday it is open from 11:30 a.m. – 11 p.m. and on Saturday it is open from 10:30 a.m. – 11 pm.
There is valet parking after 5 p.m.
Tadich Grill
1001 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20004
202-638-1849
www.icon.com