Some patience required. Went here on a Friday evening with my wife to give a place that seemed to have mixed reviews a try... we had the lacking experience. The good: Its in a great location and has a unique menu with some exciting and fun items to try. The dining room is nice if a little minimal but not too loud. My wifes Ube cocktail was also very good and very purple. The bad... - Service was a let down, please just write down the orders when people place them! We ordered drinks which came out promptly then ordered 2 appetizers and 2 mains. The appetizers came out promptly but both mains were incorrect when they arrived. The server came back out with menus to retake or orders and comp us a drink. When the mains did arrive my wifes arrived 10 minutes before mine. After finishing the mains we told the waiter that we were ready for the check, he came back 5 minutes later without the check and asked if we wanted dessert. It was a Friday night but the house was not packed and all these mixups seem avoidable with the use of a notepad. - The food, this might fall into mediocre for what it was if not for the price. The appetizers were good as was my wife's scallop & rice, my duck was overcooked and I am still chewing it now as I write this review the next morning. I don't like returning food especially if its not something I'm not culturally familiar with and by the time I got it my wife had nearly finished her main and we had been seated for a long time so I ate it but I was googling "is aged duck supposed to be more tough than red meat?" ... it is not. - The price, we were ~$215 for 2 appetizers, 2 mains, and 3 drinks. I understand this area of town is generally expensive but some of the missteps here are much more forgivable when the check for two is not over $200 with a comped drink. We had a $100 credit to use and I'm still not sure we got a good value. You just can have better food and a better experience for less all over the city. read more

The BEST. Not a traditional filipino restaurant. It was such an amazing meal. We did the Salo-salo which is a 3-course meal and every single dish served was a chef's kiss. read more

Kayu - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

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Had a table for two early on a Friday night. The ambiance was great, the dining area was clean and decorated to be simple yet warm and welcoming. We both did the salo-salo choose your own 3 course dinner to try some different things on the menu. Our server and the rest of the staff were very attentive and helpful which we appreciated. One thing I really liked was the pacing of the courses with new silverware and plates for each dish, we never had to wait long in between. Unfortunately, the quality of the food was disappointing and overshadowed all the bright spots. For mains we had the monster prawn and the rack of lamb as were recommended by the staff. The prawn dish was one (!) prawn which was fairly overcooked and some squash that was under. The lamb was 2 ribs (where's the rest of the rack?), both medium well to well done (no cook was specified). The dishes had alright flavors but with these cooking errors and at an à la carte price point of $50 and $56 respectively, I was really expecting more. The rest of the courses outside of the ube bao bun were pretty unremarkable. The overall check with 2 drinks + tip was $240, which I know is not abnormal given the area this restaurant is in but we left feeling slightly hungry and pretty confused about where that money went. I can't recommend read more

Amazing service, plentiful portions, wonderful flavors. Will definitely be back. The ube bao bun and ube coloda were my favorites. read more

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The food was great! The menu is a bit small and everything is very expensive. The ambiance is great as well. read more

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What an amazing experience tasting the essence of Filipino cuisine, but with modern sensibilities. Their 3 course option was perfect. I chose the shrimp crepe, cassava cake appetizer (sooooo tasty!), the sigsig sizzling tofu, and the malted chocolate with durian ice cream (how often does one see durian ice cream in any menu?) The hostess (Mm?) captured the true pride of Filipino hospitality, attentiveness, friendly and courteous throughout my time. I must return for the Chef's tasting menu. The menu has vegetarian (gf), meat and seafood options. Note: when my Uber drop me off here, I did an immediately see the restaurant. But it is connected to Hiraya Cafe, to the right, upstairs. read more

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Award winning chefs and it shows. All the dishes are absolutely brilliant and perfectly balanced while still staying true to that authentic Filipino flavors.. My wife and I love all the unique dishes. read more

Man if I could give this spot a 10 out of 5 I would! Tried Kayu at the old spot and at the new spot and it never disappoints! My favorite was the agnolotti in the curry emulsion. One of the best tasting dishes I've had in my life. Also loved the taho dessert... actually there is nothing that wasn't good haha Man my mouth is watering just thinking of the food! Chef Paolo is the man and I'll continue telling all my friends how great this spot is! read more

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I was torn between 3 or 4 stars for Kayu. My husband and I went tonight and did the chefs counter and I don't think I'd recommend it for the price. It was a little strange how you can't see any cooking from the chefs counter due to the way the counter is split. The service was great; the hostess was also our waitress and she was very sweet. The only thing that was a little strange was I had to ask for a plate and silverware. Maybe they expected you to not need that for the first courses, but I think they should provide that regardless. The food was a mixed experience. The first course was a broth (delicous) and then grilled chicken hearts. I was not a fan of the chicken hearts. The next course was a raw tuna with coconut vinaigrette. Good, but the vinaigrette was so sour it took over every flavor. A little less acid and it would be perfect. I loved the next two courses of the cauliflower pasta and then the dirty rice with scallop and octopus. The final savory course of duck was very good as well. The first dessert, mango granita, was fine. Didn't love the goat cheese with it. The silken tofu dessert was amazing. I am dying to know how they made it. Overall it was a good meal, but it ended up being $500 (automatic 22% service charge too) which I think is too much for the experience. I wouldn't go back, but if you want to try Kayu maybe do the regular table experience. read more

The staff were attentive, warm and welcoming -- something hard to come by nowadays ! DC unfortunately does have a restaurant crisis. Way beyond expensive, especially for what you get. A simple margarita is $16. I can literally go buy a bottle for that price! I know it's not abnormal but why are we letting this slide? Also why am I being given a paper menu if I'm paying $80+ for my meal alone? I'm not that hard to please I promise but the nerve of these places to take all your money and give you cheap cheap menus -- be serious! Food was way too salty and flavor certainly wasn't the main star here. The ambience was great, restaurant clean, and overall vibes great. They don't rush you wish I appreciate! I would maybe give it another shot if someone else was paying for my meal. By myself I would not return;( read more

We really enjoyed our evening here. For the Salo Salo menu it was $65 a person which was a nice deal for 4 courses. As someone who has tried a lot of Michelin star restaurants, I thought the flavors and technique here were wonderful. Things that are prone to being lackluster were well-executed, for example the scallop was perfectly cooked with an even sear. All the sauces complimented the dishes well without overdoing it. Our favorite items were the MD crab crepe, the scallop dish, and the pimento cheese / bread starter. The non-alcoholic beverages were delicious, we tried all three options, and highly recommend any of them. Our server, JL, made the experience outstanding. We felt very welcome here and the ambiance was cozy and inviting. He talked us through his recommendations, checked on us often, and brought us a beautiful latte he made himself to try even though the cafe downstairs was closed. He is so kind and appreciate his devotion to making our night special. Our main feedback is that the sizing of dishes could be improved. Between different options for the same course, the size variation is large. I loved my first course of cassava topped with roe but the portion was TINY compared to the bread and pimento cheese. The chicken and trout were both delicious flavor-wise but the chicken was at least 2x bigger. Luckily, the plates are shareable so we both left full, but this is just a detail that could be improved so everyone gets the same value for the price. I would definitely come back here and highly recommend checking this spot out! read more

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The atmosphere relative to the pricing of the food seemed really off. (The atmosphere I was expecting to drop $20-30 per person, not close to $100 per person). All of the entrees and appetizers were extremely salty. One of the dishes was straight up inedible, so we had it sent back due to there being way too much salt in the dish. The only dishes that were okay were the dessert. Lastly, the dishes came out extremely late; I'm not sure why the entrees came out 25-30 minutes after the appetizers. The photos that I saw of the place are extremely deceiving to what I saw in person. So, both myself and my gf were honestly just waiting to leave at that point. I personally tried to keep an open mind when eating at KAYU, but I don't really have anything positive to say. The only thing that's preventing me to give it a 1 star is that the dessert was decent, and the service was "okay" despite the wait time. I can't blame the waiter for the food for coming late if it took 25-30 minutes to cook. read more

WHERE is the love for fancy Asian food out here?! Well, at done it here. Kayu is doing something few restaurants can - bring a lesser-eaten Asian food to a top tier dining experience without compromising the flavors that we grew up with. We went with the tasting menu and drink pairing. Had awesome service from each of the staff members. Each course came promptly and the presentation was on point. Turns out the chef grew up in LA and liked the same Filipino restaurants we liked so we knew he cared about the flavors as much as we and our mothers would. We also had reservations for 2 but showed up with 3 and they accommodated in spite if a busy Saturday evening service. read more

Not traditional Filipino food but that in no way should deter you from going. Thought the food was amazing and really enjoyed my service - favorite thing I got was the Crab Pancit read more

We did the chef's tasting menu and had a wonderful time. If you come on a Wednesday when it is relatively quiet, you might get a chance to talk to Chef Paolo, who is a super nice guy. We'll be rooting for him as this year's contender for DC in the James Beard best emerging chef contest. read more

Kayu - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

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The food was too salty and not much of other flavors. Mistakes in orders. It was super disappointing for the price. The portion is also little for the price. 3 meal course is 65, and I left the place not eating most of the dishes. read more

Excellent cuisine and very tasty. Cocktails can be very skimpy on the liquor. You are better off just drinking water.

We tried the chef tasting menu for $110. I want to give them the benefit of doubt because it was Boxing Day and they were perhaps short-staffed. There were only three people working on the floor, and really one that's trained. Service was quite slow and not very attentive. We went at 5:45 before the crowd showed up. Food was alright. There was a rib eye dish and two of the three came out quite overcooked. Pasta dish and scallop risotto were fine. The crab spring roll and beef tartare and the silky tofu dessert were quite good. Overall it was just a poor experience. The service wasn't attentive even at 6pm before the crowd showed up (it did get progressively worse). We were at the chef table but the chefs made 0 attempt to interact with us or ask us if the food was ok. At one point our service was so slow one of the chefs came out of the kitchen to bring us our food, probably because he saw that I was annoyed. So for them to automatically charge us a 22% service fee was honestly outrageous. We paid $175 pp for a mediocre experience. And honestly had they just given us a heads up that they were short-staffed when they seat us I would have felt much better and be more patient. I genuinely hope that this was just an off day and that others have a more pleasant experience here. They seem to have raving reviews. I suppose it can happen to any establishment. read more

After waiting for their dining room to open, I set an alarm to reserve a table for the weekend of Thanksgiving. I've heard a lot of positive reviews that I just had to check it out. Also, we visited PogiBoy (an old venture of the chef's) and left thinking that the food was amazing. So here we are. My husband and I ordered from the salo salo menu. While we waited, we started off with a cocktail. I had the Dirty Dancing, my husband the Tame the Tikbalang. I can't speak for the Tikbalang, but the Dirty Dancing was good. The taste was so different with the atsara brine in lieu of the olive juice. For dinner, we started with Cassava Cake and Pimiento Cheese. The roe on the cassava cake added a good burst of salty fishiness without being too overpowering. The pimiento cheese brought back childhood memories in the Philippines when my grandfather would make me a sandwich with cheez whiz. Then we had the Crispy Adobong Pusit and MD Crab Crepe. The pusit was prepared as a calamari with the squid ink on the side as a dip. The squid ink dip was a good play on the traditional adobong pusit. The crab crepe was recommended to be eaten as a lettuce wrap. So we cut up a bit of crab stuffed crepe on a lettuce leaf with atsara and pickled onion, and drizzled with what tasted like a fish sauce vinaigrette. Great flavors all together. We then had the Grilled Prawn and Tinapa. The tinapa was a smoked trout with greens on top and an aioli on the side. Not super fishy which I liked. The prawn was the size of my forearm. It had mussels and clams on top, and served on top of a curry with chili oil. I wasn't quite sure how to tackle the head but a little bit of wiggling with the knife and I was able to pull the meat off the shell like a lobster tail. The curry with chili oil was really tasty. And as if we hadn't eaten enough, we ended our meal with the Calamansi Pie and Crepe Brûlée. The brûlée was interesting. It's not terrible but I don't know if I'd order that again as my dessert. Maybe it was the pandan crème, or the peach. Perhaps I was hoping to connect it to turon, which is one of my favorite Filipino desserts. I can't quite place it. The calamansi pie on the other hand was a refreshing version of a key lime pie. This had a nice smooth texture, and it wasn't too lime-y if that makes sense. I ordered the UBBBB cocktail to make up for the crepe dessert. It was pretty much a boozy ube milkshake and it was wonderful. The staff were so nice. We had a brother-sister duo who were helping us with our meals. They were so friendly and so patient with us, especially taking a few mins to help my husband pronounce some of the menu items. The restaurant was cozy, just a couple of tables. The chef's counter looked enticing and I'd like to try that next time. Just a warning tho, I don't believe they're wheelchair accessible. I couldn't tell if there was an elevator that you could take from the street level. The downstairs cafe, Hiraya, looks like it has an amazing brunch menu and I'm absolutely going back to check that out. Overall a great experience and we look forward to returning. Maraming salamat to the chef and team. read more

Did the tasting menu and enjoyed the variety of dishes offered. I liked the sashimi and pasta most. Wasn't a big fan of Durian dessert but it was beautifully played. read more

Omg! What an absolutely unreal night at Kayu. We love hiraya, so had to try KAYU- the chefs counter was one of the best culinary experiences of my DC/NY/Paris food journey. Fresh, new, bright, warm flavors- each course topped the prior. Can't recommend enough- service, ambience and music kick it up further in my book. Will be back read more

Fantastic food and fantastic service. Jm our server was great and the beef ribs are maybe the best beef i have ever tasted.

I'm so happy that we decided to drop by Kayu while we were in D.C. While all the tables were reserved, we found a spot at the bar. The staff is wonderful, checking in on you just enough. The drinks are absolutely fantastic - especially the non-alcoholic options, like the salabat and iced tea. What I really liked about the food is that it's not the usual menu that you'll find at a Filipino restaurant. The menu is original, using the flavors and influences of the Philippines. Everything was so thoughtfully prepared -- from the starter to dessert. Flavors were incredible. Textures were amazing. And, of course, the atmosphere is great! If you're thinking of making a reservation, don't wait. Just do it! read more

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Everything at Kayu was exceptional- from the service, to the flavor, and the presentation. We had the four course tasting menu for an incredibly reasonable price. This is hands down the only place in the DMV to get this type of Filipino dining experience! Highlights; The UBBB cocktail is dangerously delicious. The sauces in some of the dishes will have you wanting to drink them like soup and the quality of the meat and seafood is excellent. I loved my jumbo prawn dish the most! Lastly, Bless, the GM, is an angel. I love you, Bless! read more

Kayu - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

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Stopped by last night after seeing Hiraya on H St for awhile. Excellent food, we did the a la cart menu but I want to come back for either version of the tasting menu. Not packed but pleasantly busy, never felt rushed but food came out quickly and we got out pretty soon after finishing. They seem to still be ironing out a few kinks - wine list was partially sold out, including some by the glass bottles, but we ended up with a great bottle of pet nat so I'm not complaining. read more

We did the 4-course Salo Salo menu and loved it. Great food. Great service. Great cocktails. Very cute ambiance. Will return soon to try the 8-course Chef's Tasting menu. read more

Memorable evening with incredible food, service and atmosphere. Chef Paolo Dungca and staff delivered great course after great course with each bite being my favorite. read more

an astonishing meal! you must get the tasting menu. Every course is more delightful that the last. Beautiful space, exquisite food, thoughtful staff. Do yourself a favor and book a table before the rest of DC finds this place. read more

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Excellent customer service, great ambiance and the food is absolutely delicious! Every dish we tried was bursting with flavor and cooked to perfection. This restaurant is highly recommend. We loved it and we are going back again. read more