New Heights

Verdict: New Heights Is Worth Booking; Just Don't Judge It by the Room

Getting a table at New Heights is not a battle. Booking difficulty sits at moderate, which means you can usually secure a reservation without planning weeks in advance; a rarity for a restaurant of this quality in Washington, D.C. That accessibility is part of what makes it worth your time. The harder question is whether the experience justifies your evening. It does, with caveats.

New Heights is a Woodley Park veteran that has found a second wind under new ownership. James and Heidi Larounis run the front of house with General Manager and Wine Director Domenick Carnicelli, while Chef Michael Wright handles the kitchen. The room, coffee-colored carpet, a restrained color palette, a quietly composed crowd, will not generate social media content. Walk in expecting a scene and you will be disappointed. Walk in expecting confident, well-executed food in a room where you can actually hear your dining companion, New Heights will over-deliver.

Two-course dinner pricing sits at the $$ tier ($40–$65 per person, excluding beverages and tip), which makes it one of the more accessible $$$ restaurants in the city when you factor in what the kitchen actually produces. The wine list, with 350 selections and an inventory of 1,770 bottles, leans into California and France. Corkage is $50 if you bring your own. For a special-occasion dinner where the wine spend matters, this list gives you room to move without forcing a $100+ bottle.

The Food: Range Without Drift

The menu covers American and Mediterranean ground, the kitchen manages breadth without losing coherence. Broccolini with black garlic Caesar dressing, crispy fried oysters with pickled cauliflower, tempura beach mushrooms with a Moroccan spice blend read like a menu that could easily fragment into trend-chasing. Instead, each dish holds its own logic. The vegetable and starter courses are substantive enough that grazing through them constitutes a full meal, a useful note for guests who prefer lighter dining or want to share broadly.

Mains like rack of lamb with salsa verde and halibut with coconut broth occupy familiar territory, executed with the kind of direct confidence that comes from a kitchen that knows what it is. The pistachio ricotta cake closes the meal well. Nothing here is trying to reinvent a category, it is trying to feed you well, it succeeds.

For Washington, D.C. restaurants in this price range, that score puts New Heights above most of its neighbourhood peers and in the same tier as restaurants charging considerably more.

Private Dining and Groups at New Heights

New Heights is better suited to intimate group dining than to large event bookings. The quiet room and moderate noise level make it one of the more practical options in D.C. for a business dinner or a celebration where conversation matters. Parties considering a private or semi-private experience should contact the restaurant directly, as specific private dining configurations are not publicly listed. Phone details are not currently available, so reaching out via email or reservation platform is the practical route.

For comparison: if you are looking at D.C. restaurants where the private dining infrastructure is more formalized, dedicated private rooms, AV equipment, event staffing, venues like Blue Duck Tavern or 1789 have more developed event programs. New Heights is the stronger pick if the priority is food quality and a calm room rather than event logistics.

For groups of 2–4 celebrating a birthday, anniversary, or business milestone, New Heights delivers a price-to-quality ratio that is hard to find in this part of the city. The wine list depth and the menu's range give a table of four enough to work with without the experience feeling constrained. For groups of 6 or more, confirm capacity and configuration before booking.

How It Compares

New Heights sits in an interesting position relative to D.C.'s broader American dining set. Compared to Ris and Opal, it is operating at a similar price point with a kitchen that is arguably cooking with more current technique. Against 1789, New Heights feels more relaxed in both room and menu, 1789 carries more formality and a stronger private dining infrastructure, but New Heights wins on approachability and food dynamism. If you want a room with more tradition and event capacity, 1789 is the call. If you want the better meal in a quieter setting without the ceremony, New Heights is the pick.

For a broader sense of what Washington, D.C. dining offers at this level and above, see our full Washington, D.C. restaurants guide. If you are planning around a hotel stay, our D.C. hotels guide covers the city's leading accommodation options by neighbourhood. And if your evening calls for a drink before or after dinner, our D.C. bars guide covers the options.

Know Before You Go

Pearl Picks: More American Dining Worth Considering

• Hilda and Jesse, American, San Francisco
• Selby's, American, Atherton
• Smyth, Chicago
• Le Bernardin, New York City
• The French Laundry, Napa
• Single Thread Farm, Healdsburg
• Lazy Bear, San Francisco
• Emeril's, New Orleans
• Washington, D.C. experiences guide
• Washington, D.C. wineries guide