Debbie and I went there with Amy and Peter at Amy’s suggestion on a Tuesday night.
The restaurant opened February 11 of this year and is in the same building – the old Washington Post Building – as Dauphines (WW #196, 12/11/21). SHOTO is on the other side of the building. The entrance to SHOTO is on L street.
SHOTO includes a restaurant, bar, lounge, terrace, and private dining area. It showcases the unique flavors of modern Japanese-influenced cuisine.
We had a table for four in the front window to the right of the entryway. Debbie and Amy were on a couch for two at one side of the table looking into the restaurant and Peter and I were in heavy chairs at the other side of the table looking out to the street. There is a designed wall that separates the dining area from the entry.
It is quite loud in the main room.
Dishes are prepared in three separate areas of the restaurant, a principal kitchen, a sushi bar, and the island robata grill.
There are 70 items on the menu and if you don’t want to spend your evening making selections off the a la carte menu there are two opportunities to have the executive chef make those choices for you.
There is what is described as the “Signature Selection” at $115/person and the “Premium Selection” at $195/person. Everyone, in your party must choose the same form of ordering. So, if everyone chooses Premium everyone will have access to the same dishes the chef selects. We ordered the Premium menu. Our check for the evening, including the gratuity was $990.
Our server, Su, was very patient and helpful in describing the various dishes including dealing with the fact that I cannot eat raw fish or meat.
Here is the list of foods that were selected for us which were delivered whenever they were ready.
Age watarigani fried – softshell crab with yuzu koshu mayo;
Wagyu beef – grilled A5 wagyu with chilli miso, mayo yuzu kosho and chives;
Kureson to kyyuri no salad – watercress salad with wasabi cucumber dressing and avocado;
Yakitori-negima yaki – chicken with scallion and Yakatori glaze;
Hotate no ume shiso yaki – grilled scallops with shiso and plum butter;
Gin-dara no saikyo miso yaki – black cod marinated in saikyo miso wrapped in hoba leaf with wasabi sauce;
Ebi no tempura – rock shrimp tempura with lime salt and chilli;
Lobster no tempura – lobster 1.5 lb with yuzu mayo and ponzu;
Suzuki no miso yaki – grilled Chilean seabass with spicy jalapeno and cress;
Yaki toumoro koshi – sweetcorn with shiso butter and shichimi pepper;
Shitake to wafu bata – shiitake mushroom with wafu butter;
Hamachi – yellowtail;
Negi toro maki – fatty tuna roll and finely diced scallions.
When the sushi and sashimi were served, I was brought a cooked option.
A dessert was delivered for the table – a large bowl full of various fruits, several sorbets, ice creams and SHOTO Chocolate in a package.
The restaurant seats up to 150 people at a time. There are often 2 seatings a night and as many as 3 seatings on weekends.
If you take anything home with you, included in your packaging is a card that says the following
To avoid food poisoning, please:
- Ensure that this food is refrigerated within a maximum of 2 hours
- Consume raw food within 2 hours;
- Reheat the food to piping hot before consuming;
- Food should be consumed within 24 hours;
- Discard food after 48 hours.
SHOTO Washington DC is not responsible for any food consumed off premises.
SHOTO
1100 15th St. NW
Midtown Center
Washington DC 20005
202-796-0011