Restaurant in Washington DC, United States
Michelin-starred Mid-Atlantic. Book weeks ahead.
The Dabney holds a 2024 Michelin star and an OAD Top 600 North America ranking, making it the strongest case for Mid-Atlantic cooking in Washington, D.C. Chef Jeremiah Langhorne's wood-fire-centred tasting menu in a Shaw alleyway farmhouse room is hard to book and worth the effort. At $$$$ it earns its price — book the tasting menu and plan three to four weeks ahead.
If you have already eaten at The Dabney once, the question on a second visit is not whether the kitchen is still good — the 2024 Michelin star and a Top 600 ranking on Opinionated About Dining confirm it has held its ground — but whether the tasting menu format is the right call this time around. The answer is yes, and more emphatically so than the first visit. The tasting menu is where the kitchen's commitment to Mid-Atlantic sourcing becomes a coherent argument rather than a series of pleasant plates.
The physical space at The Dabney does a lot of work before the food arrives. Exposed brick, light-washed walls, and dark wood give the dining room a contemporary farmhouse register that avoids the stiffness of most Michelin-starred rooms in the city. The open kitchen, centred on a wood-fired hearth, is the spatial focal point , you can watch the cooking from most seats, and the hearth's warmth (literal and atmospheric) defines the room's mood in a way that glass-and-steel D.C. dining rooms rarely achieve. If you are choosing between a counter seat and a table, the counter puts you close enough to the fire to understand why the kitchen is built around it.
The address , 122 Blagden Alley NW, a narrow lane off 9th Street in Shaw , is part of the experience in a practical sense. The alley setting keeps foot traffic low and gives the entrance a remove from the main street that reinforces the sense of arrival. This is not accidental; it is a spatial choice that rewards guests who find it and makes the room feel self-contained once you are inside.
Chef Jeremiah Langhorne has built the menu around farmers, fishermen, and producers from the Mid-Atlantic region, and the result is cooking with a Southern accent applied to genuinely local ingredients. The tasting menu is the clearest expression of this: bite-sized opening snacks (including a pie crust tart with pickled blueberries and cheese fondue, and Madeira compressed melon) establish a sweet-savoury tension that runs through the meal. Hearth-roasted vegetables over farro salad with whipped ricotta and herbs from the restaurant's rooftop garden follow, finished with basil sauce. American wagyu grilled over coals, accompanied by eggplant prepared three ways, anchors the main course section.
One independent reviewer has noted that the kitchen's use of added sugars , even from honey and natural syrups , occasionally tips the balance in dishes that would read more sharply without it. This is a minor calibration issue in an otherwise focused cooking style, but it is worth knowing if you are sensitive to sweet-forward flavour profiles.
The a la carte option exists for guests who want flexibility, but the tasting menu delivers a more committed version of what this kitchen does. For explorers who want to understand a culinary point of view rather than simply eat well, the tasting menu is the right choice. Comparable depth in D.C. comes from Jônt (Modern French, counter-only, higher price point) and minibar (molecular, significantly more theatrical). The Dabney sits between those two poles: more ingredient-driven than minibar, less austere than Jônt.
Reservations are hard to secure. The Dabney holds a Michelin star in a city where starred tables are few, and the dining room is not large. Plan on booking at least three to four weeks out for a standard evening slot; weekend tables (Friday and Saturday, open until 10 PM) go faster. The restaurant is closed Sunday and Monday, so the Tuesday-to-Thursday window is your leading bet for shorter lead times. Walk-ins are not a reliable strategy here.
The price range is $$$$, consistent with the peer set at this level in D.C. For context within the city, Oyster Oyster offers a strong vegetables-forward experience at $$$, which is the right trade-down if budget is the constraint. If you are spending at the $$$$ tier specifically to eat Mid-Atlantic cooking with Michelin-level execution, The Dabney is the clearest case for it in the city. Nationally, the comparison set for wood-fire-centred, regionally obsessive tasting menus includes Lazy Bear in San Francisco and Single Thread Farm in Healdsburg , both of which cost more and require more planning.
Hours run Tuesday through Saturday, 5:30 PM to 9:30 PM (10 PM on weekends). There is no lunch or brunch service listed in the current schedule, which makes The Dabney an exclusively dinner destination for now. Guests looking for weekend daytime options in D.C. should consult our full Washington, D.C. restaurants guide for alternatives. For broader D.C. planning, see also our guides to hotels, bars, wineries, and experiences in the city.
The Dabney is the strongest argument for Mid-Atlantic cooking as a serious culinary proposition in Washington, D.C. It holds a 2024 Michelin star, a Google rating of 4.6 across over 1,200 reviews, and an OAD Top 600 North America placement , a combination that reflects consistency rather than a single good year. Book the tasting menu, arrive early enough to settle into the room, and treat the wood-fired hearth as the lens through which the whole meal makes sense. If you cannot get a table within your travel window, Bresca offers a comparable $$$$ commitment in a Modern French register. But for regionally grounded cooking in a room that earns its atmosphere, The Dabney is the booking to make.
See the comparison section below for how The Dabney stacks up against its D.C. peers.
Bar seating at The Dabney is worth requesting if you can get it , the open kitchen and hearth are most visible from that vantage point, and it is often easier to secure than a full table. That said, availability is not guaranteed, and with a small dining room and hard-to-get reservations across the board, treat bar seats as a bonus rather than a reliable fallback. Contact the restaurant directly when booking to ask about counter or bar options.
Smart casual is the right read for a $$$$ Michelin-starred room. The exposed brick and farmhouse aesthetic keep the space from feeling formal, but showing up in trainers and a hoodie will feel out of register. Think polished casual: a clean blazer or a considered outfit works well. You will not need a tie, but the room and the price point reward some effort.
Yes, with caveats. The combination of a Michelin star, a focused tasting menu, and a room with genuine atmosphere makes it a credible special occasion choice. The wood-fired hearth and alley location give the evening a sense of occasion that a standard D.C. dining room does not. However, if the occasion calls for a private dining room or a very large group, The Dabney is not the right format , this is a restaurant for parties of two to four who want an immersive meal rather than a event-style celebration. For the latter, look elsewhere in the D.C. dining guide.
The kitchen's emphasis on vegetables, rooftop herbs, and regional produce means it is more accommodating of plant-forward or pescatarian needs than a typical meat-centric tasting menu room. That said, specific dietary restrictions , allergies, intolerances, or vegan requirements , should be flagged at the time of booking, not on the night. No phone number is listed in the current record; use the reservation platform or website contact to communicate restrictions in advance. Do not assume the kitchen can pivot mid-service on a tasting menu format.
At $$$$ in Washington D.C., yes , if the tasting menu is your format. The 2024 Michelin star, OAD Top 600 placement, and 4.6 Google rating across more than 1,200 reviews indicate the kitchen is delivering at the level the price implies. The regional sourcing ethos and wood-fire technique give the menu a specificity that generic fine dining at this price tier does not. If you want comparable spend with a different culinary lens, Causa offers $$$$ Peruvian cooking and Albi delivers $$$$ Middle Eastern. But for Mid-Atlantic cooking executed at Michelin level, The Dabney is the clearest value case in the city.
| Venue | Awards | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Dabney | The Dabney is a restaurant with a nice vibe. Presented with the right drinks, a fantastic range of dishes with lots of fruit and vegetables and especially very tasteful due to the lot of spices and fresh herbs used. With ingredients from farmers, fishermen and suppliers who supply the best of the Mid-Atlantic region. Chef Jeremiah Langhorne should only pay attention to the added sugar in the dishes, even if they come from honey or natural syrups.; The Dabney exudes charming, contemporary farmhouse vibes with its exposed brick, light walls, and dark wood, and the look is completed by a slickly arranged open kitchen complete with a wood-fired hearth. Chef/owner Jeremiah Langhorne serves up the flavors of the Mid-Atlantic with a hint of a Southern accent and the tasting menu is a deeper, more committed expression of the team's talents. Begin with bite-sized snacks including their pie crust tart with pickled blueberries, granola crumble, and cheese fondue or their Madeira compressed melon. Then, hearth-roasted vegetables are served over a bed of farro salad with whipped ricotta, herbs from their rooftop garden, and finished with a pour of a basil sauce. American wagyu cap grilled over coals is accompanied by eggplant prepared three ways for a perfectly satisfying main dish.; Opinionated About Dining Top Restaurants in North America Ranked #598 (2024); Michelin 1 Star (2024); Opinionated About Dining Gourmet Casual Dining in North America Ranked #199 (2023) | $$$$ | — |
| Albi | Michelin 1 Star | $$$$ | — |
| Causa | Michelin 1 Star | $$$$ | — |
| Oyster Oyster | Michelin 1 Star | $$$ | — |
| Bresca | Michelin 1 Star | $$$$ | — |
| Gravitas | Michelin 1 Star | $$$$ | — |
Comparing your options in Washington, D.C. for this tier.
Bar seating at The Dabney is limited and fills quickly given the small dining room and Michelin-starred demand. If bar seats are available, they offer the same kitchen's output — a solid option if you cannot secure a table reservation. That said, plan your visit around a proper table booking if a tasting menu is your goal; walk-in bar availability is not guaranteed.
The room runs contemporary farmhouse — exposed brick, dark wood, an open kitchen with a wood-fired hearth — which sets a relaxed but considered tone. Neat, put-together clothing fits naturally; there is no indication of a formal dress code, but arriving in gym wear at a $$$$, Michelin-starred table would feel out of place. Think polished casual rather than black tie.
Yes, particularly if the occasion calls for a focused, ingredient-driven meal rather than a high-production showpiece. The tasting menu format, 2024 Michelin star, and the wood-hearth kitchen give the evening clear structure and occasion weight. For a celebration that demands a louder, more theatrical room, Bresca skews more dramatic in presentation — but for a dinner where the food does the talking, The Dabney is the stronger call in D.C.
The menu is built around seasonal Mid-Atlantic produce, vegetables, and farmers' ingredients, which gives the kitchen natural flexibility for plant-forward adjustments. However, specific dietary accommodation policies are not documented in available venue data, so check the venue's official channels before booking — especially for a tasting menu format where substitutions require advance notice.
At $$$$ with a 2024 Michelin star and an Opinionated About Dining ranking of #598 in North America, The Dabney sits in a tier where the price is justified if tasting-menu dining is your format and Mid-Atlantic sourcing matters to you. If you want à la carte flexibility at a lower spend, it is not the right fit. For Washington D.C. specifically, it remains one of the few starred tables in the city, which makes the value case clearer than in a market with more competition at this price point.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
