Soleil@K (downtown)

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 - 2:17pm.

It's just as the name of the restaurant says... Soleil at K Street and 6th and is located on the first floor of the Marriott hotel. Parking is pretty hard to find around downtown, so I reccomend using the valet parking. You get 3 hour free parking at the valet if you are just dining at the restaurant (just remember to have your waiter validate your ticket). The restaurant isn't too hard to spot because it is on the left hand side when you first walk through the marriott.

It's always nice to get bread with your meal because it gives you something to chew on while you wait for your food to be cooked. The baguette came in a spiffy Soleil@k bag and to my surprise we didn't get butter. We actually got hummus instead! Definitely a nice change from the normal bread and butter. The hummus was a little on the gritty side (I personally like my hummus smoother), but Vida said that the grittiness made it taste real and not fake like most other hummus. It was toppped off with a little sprinkle of cayenne and a drizzle of olive oil. All restaurants should now give hummus instead of butter!

For our appetizer we decided on sharing the "Spicy Lobster Quesadilla($15)". It wasn't even that spicy and kind of bland. There were a couple of pieces of loster in it, but the slice I got barely had any in it. I enjoyed eating the guacamole more than the quesadilla itself. The sides really did save this dish and without this would have been very bland. I didn't think this item was worth it for the price and it wasn't that great.

I just know that someone is going to yell at me one day for always ordering seafood dishes. I got the "Seared Rare Tuna($24)" and I just couldn't pass on this one. The Tuna is plated on top of a celery root puree(I thought it was mashed potatoes at first), shitake mushrooms, fresh peas, and a chive vinaigrette. While I was cutting into the fish, I thought that the fish was a bit tough; however I suddenly realized I had been cutting against the grain, when I should have been cutting along the grain. Once I started cutting along the grain, the fish was just melting in my mouth. To get the best taste from this dish, the tuna really has to be eaten with a little bit of everything on the plate. The shitake mushrooms blended really well with the tuna and the fresh peas helped give the dish that crunch. They must have used a fine quality olive oil because I could really taste the fruitiness of the olives. Overall this dish was superb and I found myself scraping the dish for the last bit of celery root puree and olive oil because it was just that good.

Once our meal ended, our waiter brought us a big cone of cotton candy. This was a first for me to actually get a cone of cotton candy at the end of the meal. We ended up taking this with us to the sky bar on top of the Marriott, where we had our after dinner drinks. This restaurant is pricey, but then again what restaurant isn't in downtown. You're most likely paying for the ambiance. I'd come back again, but it would most likely be for a special occasion.