The Inspiration of Agraria

Agraria (3000 K Street NW, Washington DC 20007 on the Georgetown waterfront) is the inspiration for this blog but not because of its fantastic food. I visited Agraria during restaurant week and I was thoroughly underwhelmed. Granted, $30 is a good deal for a three-course dinner, but as I'm not exactly rollng in dough, I wanted good food and service for my money. Other preemptive responses to people who think that I'm too harsh . . . yes, it was restaurant week and you never get the best of the best during restaurant week. Maybe you can't get the most expensive thing on the menu, but the food should still be decent. Restaurant week can't be an invitation to pay $30 for a subpar dinner. At any rate, I was so unimpressed by my dining experience that I decided to start this blog to warn others off of food that is simply not worth the money. Thus the inspiration of Agraria. The food wasn't actually that bad. However, things got off on the wrong foot. Despite having a reservation, we had to wait awhile for a table. I'm patient and a former waitress, so I don't usually get annoyed at substandard service. I ordered the charcuterie plate as my appetizer. Unfortunately, I can't tell you the exact meats I was eating because it wasn't on the menu, and a bartender who knew nothing about the food waited on us. The presentation was lacking to say the least. The meat was pressed onto a plate. It didn't come with bread or any exciting accents. It was honestly like eating a plate of lunchmeat. My husband ordered the chicken soup. Good, but nothing to write home about. My friend ordered a spinach salad, which was okay, but again, nothing exciting. Luckily, the main course redeemed things a bit. I ordered fried chicken, which came with mashed potatoes and a vegetable that I can't remember because it was so long ago. It was excellent. My friend ordered the steak, which was cooked to order with a great flavor. I really wanted to take my leftover chicken home, but unfortunately, it was thrown away in the kitchen. I got an extra dessert to take home, which was a nice gesture, but based on how dessert was, I would have rather taken the chicken home. I ordered chocolate cake for dessert and the others ordered the pumpkin cheesecake. The pumpkin cheesecake was good, but not better than other renditions that I've had. The chocolate cake had fantastic frosting. It was deliciously fudgy. Too bad the cake was dry. We also ordered coffee, which ended up being pretty decent. There were good points to the meal, but I don't think that I would go back again.