D’Acqua "Dives" Into Penn Quarter (801 Penn Ave)

Good news.

BTW — I noticed that the space at 623 H street had some contruction starting. I believe that’s the space where the “german italian” restaurant will open.

This sounds great!! I can’t wait.

Oh great, now Nino Scalia and I will have a new club now that AV will be gone soon.

I went to a “Dry run” on monday at D’acqua and it was fantastic, the most amazing “real” itallian food in dc…. while the table was constantly full and i ate more than my share i didnt have the weighted down feel, that i usually expirence w/ ittalian food. the fried calamari and porchini and seafood ravioli are great! D’acqua will open on thursday 12/20.

went during restaurant week. The worst DC dining experience I’ve had in a while. Here is a review my dining companions and I posted elsewhere:

Taking the old place of the scandalized Signatures, D’Acqua creates its own scandal (without the help of Jack Abramoff) by serving up stunning incompetency in service and food quality. When one member of our party requested a dish without sauce because of his dietary restrictions, the waiter refused and instead tried to “upsell” a more expensive item. And while the bread was delicious, it was all one member of our dining party had to eat during the first course; she waited for 20 minutes for the dish to arrive after reminding the waiter of her missing salad. Many dishes were served cold when the should have been hot. There were other complaints throughout the meal, such as the lack of olive oil at the table, the meager portions, and the inattentive and sweaty waiter, but the worst insult came when the bill arrived and the 10 oz. bottles of coke cost us $4.00 a piece. We will not be returning and wanted to help you avoid the same error in restaurant selection. After our negative dining experience, our party had to wonder whether the management of D’Acqua expects to survive in the hyper-competitive restaurant environment of downtown DC. If not, perhaps they might be better equipped to prepare food for their predecessor, Jack Abramoff, at his new residence.

Edited by admin. Please read the comment policy.

In response to the comments from Jordan. Anyone who can be that negative about a restaurant during restaurant week does not have a clue about food. That restaurant has only been open for two weeks and all I have heard are great things. Of course there are things that need work but overall i was very pleased.

My husband and I thought that the service and food at D’Acqua was excellent! The reduction sauce served with the shrimp tempura (by the way, the biggest shrimp I’ve ever eaten) was to die for and the presentation of the lump crab meat appetizer was simply beautiful. I love Italian food, but I love seafood even more so I must say that the vast selection of pastas, Italian sausages, clams, scallops, fish and lobster, was heaven to me. After the appetizers I ordered the lobster, and my husband ordered scialatielli with sausage, pesto, basil and cheese. We ended up splitting both dishes and topping off our meal with the profiteroles and the best gelati/sorbetti that I’ve ever tasted. You could actually taste the hazelnut, raspberry and vanilla bean with every bite. I thought the ambiance was great and the service was perfect. Our waiter was attentive but not over-bearing. The couple sitting next to us ordered the red snapper, baked and salt-crusted, and ranted and raved about how delicious it was. We will most definitely be coming back again, next time to try that red snapper!