DCReview
photo credit: Nina Palazzolo
Pineapple & Pearls
Included In
What’s supposed to set Pineapple & Pearls apart from its sister restaurants like Rose’s Luxury and other fine dining restaurants in the city, is that it’s a party. This should be a dinner that calls for sparkles, fancy shoes, and a babysitter. Unfortunately, just like your ex who was so great until they weren’t, Pineapple & Pearls sets high expectations it doesn’t always meet.
Some nights, you get Times Square New Year’s Eve levels of excitement. The playlist is bumping everything from “This Is How We Do It” to “As.” The chefs are dancing and singing along as they tweeze tiny edible flowers onto pristine china. Your fellow diners are laughing under the glow of this month’s gradient balloons. Everything is bumping.
photo credit: Nina Palazzolo
photo credit: Nina Palazzolo
photo credit: Nina Palazzolo
But then there are the nights that feel more like that middle school birthday party only your best friend showed up to. The curator of the playlist skips the universal bangers and settles for their personal 2000s favorites. The wait staff looks as excited to be explaining the funky cheese course as you look when the mechanic explains all the work your car suddenly needs.
While your resilient inner child might’ve bounced back from such a bust of a party, your financially responsible (or hoping to be) adult self might be a little miffed to have dropped $500 per person on a dud.
Luckily, the food won’t disappoint, even if the party does. Marco’s gnocchi is a pillowy pasta in a rich butter sauce that might make you consider dropping five bills multiple times a month to taste it again and again. The menu rotates seasonally, but if this is on it, it’s the best thing you’ll eat all night.
But we know this restaurant group knows how to make good food, so that’s not enough to make Pineapple & Pearls a winner. To do that, they need Kid 'n Play levels of party success. And they don’t consistently deliver on that.
Food Rundown
photo credit: Scott Suchman
Beggar’s Purse
photo credit: Birch Thomas
Marco’s Gnocchi
photo credit: Birch Thomas
Even If You Don’t Like Lamb
photo credit: Birch Thomas
World Class Wagyu
photo credit: Scott Suchman