THE POINT DC: MARYLAND CRAB CAKES ON DC’S SOUTHWEST WATERFRONT
The Cost -$68 per person
The Atmosphere – Located near Audi Field, Nationals Park and Navy Yard, The Point DC offers impressive waterfront views (for DC, at least), a cocktail list, and many seafood options. The restaurant has a modern design and its ample outdoor seating is perfect for good weather days. It’s a good venue for large gatherings and special occasions but it can get a bit loud inside.
Aside from Georgetown and Dupont Circle, Washington D.C.’s neighborhoods have gone through major transformations in the past decade. Some of the biggest changes have happened along the city’s SW waterfront where you’ll find The Point DC, a newly opened seafood restaurant located on Buzzard Point.
The Order – The Point Punch, Limoncello Mojito, Hushpuppies, Warm Crab Doughnuts, BBQ Shrimp and Maryland Crab Cakes.
The Great – The best item of the evening was the Maryland Crab Cakes. Unlike most crab cakes that are packed with breadcrumbs and other fillers, this dish offered two decent-sized cakes in which crab was the most prominent, and delicious, ingredient. The tartar sauce, asparagus and potato mix it came with were good but nothing special. The downside of this dish is the price; when the bill came I saw that Market Price was an astronomical $50 – not worth it.
The Good –The Limoncello Mojito was like a cross between a lemon drop and a mojito. It was nice that there wasn’t too much sugar added to the drink since limoncello was sweet enough. Hushpuppies are one of my favorite sides when I’m in the South and so I was surprised, and delighted, to see it here. The menu said that these hushpuppies had cheddar, scallions, honey butter, and nduja pork sausage inside, so it was easy to make it my number one priority when choosing what to order. Unfortunately, the dish just didn’t deliver. While the hushpuppies weren’t bad, I expected these flavorful ingredients to stand out more but I mostly tasted the fried cornmeal.
The Crab Doughnuts, warm doughnuts filled with crab dip, was another must-order menu item based on the description. While the idea made my mouth water, the execution left me wanting more. The “doughnut” was good but it was too hard and dense and it was all I tasted - there was definitely not enough crab flavor. Last in this category is the BBQ Shrimp. The dish consisted of about six nicely spiced large shell-on shrimp. The BBQ Shrimp would have been a winner but the spices were put on the outside of the shell and when the shrimp were peeled, most of the flavor was lost.
The Okay – The Point Punch is a strong cocktail made with rum, cognac, peach brandy, simple syrup, fresh lime juice, and cherry. There was too much cognac and brandy and the peach flavor was very artificial, making this a drink I would not order again.
The Bad – The restaurant charges a 3% fee to use a credit card in addition to the menu prices. This is an unnecessary and off-putting separated fee that leaves a bad taste in your mouth at the end of the meal.
The Verdict –The Point DC has a lot of potential. As a waterfront eatery in a nice space with an interesting menu on both the food and the drinks side, the restaurant just needs to improve on execution and quality to justify its prices. If it can do that, it can be a go-to spot for Washingtonians for years to come but as of now, there are better offerings in DC at that price point.