The Early Word on The Red Hen in Bloomingdale

The Red Hen opened its doors in Bloomingdale about two weeks ago. Residents of the neighborhood were excited about a new restaurant with a pedigree, and the restaurant drew early praise for its thoughtful, detailed design. But how's the food? Here's what Yelpers, bloggers and other early visitors had to say about the Italian-influenced restaurant.

The Facebook Fan News: On Facebook, user Laura just loves the Red Hen. "Great food. Great ambiance. Great friends. Thank you guys!" [Facebook]

The Great Addition to the Neighborhood News: Also on Facebook, user Nick reports "Great first time eats and drinks at the bar at The Red Hen DCtonight! Very glad to have it in what's is increasingly hard to keep as the best secret neighborhood in DC!" [Facebook]

The ANC Endorsement: On Twitter, user
@TimClarkANC5E03 says "#ward5 won when @RedHenDC opened its doors." [Twitter]

The Killer Gnocchi News: Thrillist highlights one of The Red Hen's pasta dishes. "Despite being topped with pesto itself, this delicious gnocchi alla Romana makes all other gnocchi green with envy." [Thrillist]

The Small Portions News: The Red Hen is drawing 3.5 stars on Yelp right now with 16 reviews in. One is from J.O. who said "The portions were definitely on the smaller side, but given the quality of the ingredients the prices didn't seem altogether unreasonable.  We had the greens with smoked olives salad, which was really simple and tasty...The salt cod appetizer was a little disappointing." [Yelp]

The Rigatoni Rave: Yelp user Eric J. "went for opening night and were extremely impressed.  Food, drink, service and ambiance were all excellent. My partner got the scallop/squid dish. It had a delicious, smoky aioli. I had the homemade rigatoni with fennel sausage (all their pastas are homemade). Also excellent. Our only disappointment was the portion sizes which are quite small." [Yelp]

The Actually Portions Aren't That Small News: Blogger Eat More Drink More enjoyed her first experience. "Some highlights were the smoked ricotta crostini with truffle honey, and I really enjoyed the rigatoni with fennel sausage ragu. The pasta is made in-house and the portion sizes were nice (not oversized), making it easy to share other bites for the table with others." [EMDM]

The Fair Prices News: Here's a report from user dpop on Don Rockwell. "It was wonderful. Great interior design, diverse menu, and by my count only one dish over $20 (a very welcome sight these days). Congrats to Sebastian et al, a great staff and space that should do very well in an area starving for something just like what Red Hen offers. Oh, get the Wood grilled Hen and/or any of the pastas. Very well prepared." [DR]

The Solid Beverages News: UrbanDaddy singles out the drink options at Red Hen. "order a beverage. It's hard to go wrong, what with the Italian craft beers, wine-based cocktails and a 100-strong, mostly-old-world wine list (the owner used to oversee the vino at Proof)." [UD]

The Leave The Kids At Home News: Yelp user N.S. was not thrilled with the options for children. "They didn't have anything for the kids to drink from except heavy glasses. I'll premise the next bit by noting that my son eats real food rather than childrens' meals when we eat out (no chicken fingers, mac and cheese, etc.). He's a great eater, though he is a vegetarian which usually limits our options. I had a difficult time finding something healthy for him to eat, and ended up ordering pasta with butter and cheese.  I tried to order a side veggie (carrots? broccoli?) but only spinach or broccoli raab were available. My son and his friend both complained that the pasta was too rich." [Yelp]

The Red Hen Has Great Hen News: From Sarah F. "The woodgrilled hen is so moist and falls of the bone. a great namesake." [Yelp]
· All Previous Coverage of The Red Hen [-EDC-]