Scion

Thanks to livingsocial.com, I was emailed a sweet deal to Scion Restaurant in Dupont Circle. Always looking for a new cool restaurant to venture to, I decided to take a gander at the menu before making the purchase of a 20$ for 40$ worth of food coupon to Scion. As I began to perouse through the Asian-American fusion menu, I found myself getting increasingly hungry and wanting to leave my desk right then and there and head out for a power lunch at Scion. However, I managed to hold it together but as I continued to check out the menu, I came upon a Gluten-Free dinner menu. Say What? That's right a full Gluten-Free dinner menu. I would have usually overlooked this detail and just thought that it was "pretty cool", but with one of my best friends having a gluten-allergy, I always have my eyes peeled for delicious Gluten-free eats in the city. I immediately emailed her this deal, she purchased it and put it aside for the perfect evening dinner adventure.

That day eventually came. We headed to Scion on a Friday evening and called ahead a couple hours in advance to get a table. They fit us in easily. Scion is located on the same block as other great Dupont eateries such as Pizzeria Paradiso, Le Pain Quotidien, and Tangy Sweet just to name a few.

The decor and ambiance is great. It has a very intimate feel which can sometimes lead to awkward ease dropping on your neighbors conversations. They have a covered patio on the street but we opted to eat "indoors" as it was a little chilly that evening. The color palette is a burnt orange which gives the whole restaurant a very warm feeling to it.

To start off, we ordered the Crab-Spinach-Artichoke Dip with the Brown Rice crackers from the Gluten-Free menu. It was delicious. No one flavor was too overpowering and the dip just melted perfectly in your mouth. For our main entrees, I chose the Pumpkin Goat Cheese Ravioli, which is usually an appetizer but they make it in the entree form. Moraya ordered the Citrus Shrimp and Scallops with Flat Rice Noodles. I also ordered a side of Mac & Cheese.

The main drawback of the night is that it took forever for us to receive our meals. Unfortunately, I am not exaggerating. As attentive and apologetic as the waitstaff was, it was still a shame that it took so long for us to receive our food. We were understanding that they had a large party in the back, nevertheless, they should have been better prepared. The manager did come out and offer us another round of drinks or free dessert on the house, so they did get bonus points for that.

Back to the meal. My pumpkin goat cheese ravioli was a little to much goat cheese and not enough pumpkin. Do not get me wrong, I love goat cheese just as much as the next person but I really did not taste much of the pumpkin flavor coming through which is unfortunate because the ravioli was very fresh and cooked well. The plating also left little to be desired. Mo enjoyed her meal but also had some drawbacks. It was very tasty but she mentioned that she probably could make a similar stirfry meal at home. There was nothing too special about the dish that would entice her to come back. My mac and cheese had more flavor than my ravioli but as a mac & cheese specialist, it was nothing spectacular.

Grade: C+/B-.

Their menu is exhaustive and with some of the flavors that we tasted, I am sure that some of their other menu items are better than the ones we had. Moreover, there are few restaurants in DC with a full Gluten-Free Menu, so that on its own is definitely a reason to check it out. Despite our food taking forever to come out, the entire restaurant staff was very apologetic, pleasant and accommodating. I hear that they are very good for large parties, so you might consider checking it out with a larger group of friends. I would not recommend it for a date because of lack of privacy.