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Pearl Dive Oyster Palace is a premier seafood restaurant in Washington DC offering New Orleans-inspired cuisine and fresh seafood from the Mid-Atlantic region. Although oysters are the specialty, the menu includes a wide variety of dishes. The seafood is fresh and creatively prepared. The atmosphere is casual and the prices are reasonable.
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Pros
- Great food and interesting menu
- Cozy atmosphere
- Reasonable prices
Cons
- Does not take reservations
Description
- Address: 1612 14th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009
- Phone: (202) 986-8778
- Hours: Open for lunch Fri-Sat 12-4pm, Sun 11am-3pm and dinner Mon-Thurs 5-11pm, Fri-Saturday 4-12pm, Sun 5-11pm
- Pricing: Cold and Hot Plates: $7 to $15, Entrées: $11 to $26
Guide Review - Pearl Dive Oyster Palace - Restaurant Review
Pearl Dive Oyster Palace offers a variety of East and West Coast Oysters. Raw oysters are served with a variety of interesting sauces - Dive Juice, Mignonette, Yuzu-Mirin or Classic Cocktail. We ordered a dozen oysters and sampled 6 different varieties. Each were slightly different. We were surprise that we enjoyed the Virginia oysters the best.
We also ordered two oyster plates - Tchoupitoulas (Oyster Confit, Blue Crab, Tasso, Roasted Corn) and Wood Grilled East Coast Oysters (Garlic, Red Chile Butter, Gremolata). Both were excellent. Other items on the starter menu include cold plates including Vietnamese Pickled Shrimp and hot plates like Crawfish-Tasso Ravioli with roasted artichoke, toasted pistachio and Kentucky whiskey brown butter, along with Braised Pork Cheeks with Chipotle-ham hock broth and stone grits are also offered.
As a main course, I really enjoyed the Seafood Gumbo of oyster, shrimp and blue crab. It was very tasty and not too spicy. The serving size was generous and could easily be shared. Pearl Dive also serves Oyster & Duck Gumbo; Florida Royal Red Shrimp Gumbo; and Que Sueno de los Gatos, “What Cats Dream of” a unique seafood stew with shrimp, redfish, squid, mussels and saffron cream. The menu at Pearl Dive also includes specialties such as the Pennsylvania Amish Chicken Dinner and the C.E.B.L.T Po-Boy made with fried catfish, farm egg, Benton’s bacon, Bibb lettuce and tomato. All fried dinners are served with organic greens sprinkled with dirty rice, plus creamy slaw. Lighter options from the land and sea include Wood-grilled Gulf Coast Redfish with sage-native pecan butter and stone grits; Grilled Rockfish with Blue Shell mussels, Andouille sausage, tomato, veal jus as well as Duck Confit with roasted duck sausage, French lentils and Creole mustard duck fond.
The 78-seat restaurant includes a 14-seat bar and an oyster bar counter in the back of the restaurant which can seat four. Black Jack, the bar upstairs, includes a 16-seat lounge, 14-seat bar, booth seating for ten, and a private room complete with two regulation bocce ball courts with seating for 39 guests. The restaurant’s nautical theme is accented with small details throughout including an anchor chain light sculpture over the bar and mermaid figures that peer down from above the raw bar. Ship’s portholes also give diners a glimpse into the staircase leading to Black Jack.
As is common in the industry, the writer was provided with a complimentary meal for the purpose of the review. While it has not influenced this review, About.com believes in full disclosure of all potential conflicts of interest. For more information, see our ethics policy. All prices and offering mentioned herein are subject to change without notice.
Reviewed January 2012 - Prices are subject to change
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