Here's a look at the best new Washington restaurants, corporate event venues, hotels, conference centers, and private and party rooms to open for events this winter. These new and renovated Washington venues can accommodate groups large or small for private and corporate events, conferences, meetings, weddings, business dinners, teambuilding activities, cocktail parties, and more.
PassionFish Bethesda, a seafood restaurant, opened this fall with private dining options. The 36-seat Chesapeake Room includes an entire wall of windows facing the street; another wall features a huge custom tile mural of a deep-ocean scene. The room comes with a flat-screen TV with audiovisual capabilities, a small bar, and sliding doors to partition the room from the rest of the restaurant. The eatery seats 150 total guests in the dining room including the Chesapeake Room, with 42 bar seats and 30 patio seats. Full buyouts are available.
The Source by Wolfgang Puck unveiled a renovated lounge and dining room in September. New elements including a custom designed hot-pot table for four and a chef’s tasting menu counter for two. A private dining room seats 45 guests. Meanwhile, there are 130 seats total in the dining room, 70 seats in the bar and lounge, and 22 seats on the patio in temperate weather.
The newly revamped Art Deco hotel the Carlyle–Dupont Circle offers more than 2,500 square feet of flexible meeting and event space. The Kimpton property’s 400-square-foot executive boardroom, known as the Horn room after jazz singer and Washington native Shirley Horn, includes a board table that seats 12 and two large projection screens. The 630-square-foot Ellington room, named for jazz icon Duke Ellington, features plenty of natural light and seats 50 guests banquet-style. In addition, 5 percent of all proceeds from room rental of Ellington will be donated to the city's Duke Ellington School for the Arts. For larger events, the 1,473-square-foot Taylor room holds as many as 70 guests. The room, named after famous local jazz pianist and composer Billy Taylor, includes three large drop-down projection screens and an exposed brick wall. All catering is provided by the hotel’s restaurant, the Riggsby by chef Michael Schlow. The property’s redesign was done by Michele Oka Doner.
The Riggsby is acclaimed chef Michael Schlow’s second restaurant in Washington. The 75-seat eatery opened in July in the new Carlyle Hotel in Dupont Circle, serving classic American fare with a supper-club-inspired vibe. The old-school-style decor, designed by Brian Miller of Edit Lab at Streetsense, is evident immediately from the keyhole door flanked with black and white tiles at the entrance. Inside, the dining room includes brass light fixtures, chevron walnut floors, and an emerald green and plum color scheme. The lounge area seats 40.
Chef Nicholas Stefanelli opened Masseria in August, offering a glamorous take on coastal Italian cuisine. Located near Union Market, the restaurant features a courtyard lounge with seating for 30 on modern gray sectional sofas. The courtyard can be reserved in full, half, or quarter for events. The alfresco Pergola space seats 30 guests at rugged wood tabletops and refined benches and includes exclusive use of the outdoor bar. Masseria also offers a chef’s table for as many as six guests, located inches from the open kitchen. The entire restaurant is available for full buyouts for receptions of as many as 100 guests or seated occasions of 70.
In Georgetown, Artist’s Proof is available for private events. The stunning art gallery, which features floor-to-ceiling windows, can comfortably hold as many as 250 guests for receptions. The first floor holds 100 guests. It opened in 2014.
In July, landmark Penn Quarter restaurant Rasika underwent a total renovation. Harry Gregory of Ara Design reimagined the 140-seat restaurant with a silk effect wall covering in the main dining room and new chair upholsteries in olive green and brown. The private dining room, which accommodates 16 guests, incorporates a custom wall covering from Europe’s Timorous Beasties. There’s also a new feature wall housing antique pots and vases from India collected by owner Ashok Bajaj.
Another Ashok Bajaj restaurant, 701 Restaurant, also underwent a renovation this summer. The New American eatery reopened in September after a makeover from Martin Vahtra of Projects Design Associates of New York. The renovation's focal point is a new private dining room that seats 40 guests or holds 65 for receptions. The new private room, called the State Room, includes etched glass panels, floor-to-ceiling drapery, a modern audiovisual system, and its own bar—a glass box which is lit from within for a sculptural effect. The former semiprivate Corner View space, now named the Archives Room, has been made private with the installation of a glass door and seats 22 guests or holds 35 for receptions. The existing 12-seat private dining room, now called the Admiral Room, features new paint, wall coverings, and artwork. The entire restaurant now boasts new furniture, new carpeting, and dramatic lighting.
The Garrison opened in July at Barracks Row in Capitol Hill. The restaurant specializes in seasonally driven menus, with 69 seats in the dining room, 12 at the bar, and 20 on the patio. Erin Mara of Mara Home collaborated with chef and owner Rob Weland on Garrison’s design, emphasizing subway tile, Edison lightbulbs, and wood accents.
Inferno Pizzeria opened in October and will be the only pizzeria in Maryland to hold the designation of Vera Pizza Napoletana, or VPN, by the international association that upholds its strict Old World traditions. The pizzeria is owned by chef Tony Conte, whose fine-dining background includes the Oval Room and Jean Georges in New York. The restaurant’s decor includes a custom-tiled wood-burning oven, handcrafted pottery dishware, and reclaimed oak and walnut. Inferno seats 40 and is available for full buyouts.
