Image: Orange you glad?
Last Updated: May 2025
Overview:
Located across the alley from Maydan and another installment of charm and energy in Rose Previte’s small empire that started with Compass Rose, Medina is primarily a bar where the food is Middle Eastern and North African, the drinks are fun, and the setting is sexy. Sexy being a word we don’t use normally, but seem apropos.
Though we are site that normally focuses on food, at Medina the food is arguably the third most important thing, though it is quite good. The coolest thing about Medina is the setting. Undulating cloth hangs from the ceiling, candles dot the dim lighting, and people much cooler than us come and go from the bar, high top tables, and some lounge-type seating. There are no proper tables or banquettes here. The room tells you that it is a place for serious drinking that is sophisticated (not voluminous). Which brings us to the second important attribute, the beverage program. Centered around cocktails, including a table-side martini service for two, where the list of ingredients offered gives you a sense of the layered approach to the other cocktails: Moroccan Olive Oil Washed Chopin Vodka or Xoriguer Mahón Gin, Capitoline Dry Vermouth, Olive Brine, Castelvetrano Olives, Lemon Zest, Applewood Smoked Olives, & Sumac-Pickled Pearl Onions. Several sophisticated N/A are also available. Eater notes, “Previte and beverage director Drew Hairston have created a wide-ranging list of drinks that draw influences from Spain south to Morocco, west to Tunisia, and across ancient trade routes.”
And that brings us to the food. Like its sister restaurants it pulls from specific locales yet represents a mythical mélange of the Mediterranean world where lamb, chickpeas, eggplant, and dates are passed back and forth with each passage over the sea creating a new variations. Perhaps it is appropriate the name Medina is inspired by the one in Malta, smack dab in the middle of Mare Nostrum. The larger dishes are primarily the Tagine stews of north Africa (we got a sampler of all three). Smaller dishes draw from farther afield and are also built to be shared, like eggplant dip or hummus (with some amazing crudite for dipping as a substitute for bread), beets or a mezze board. The simple yet sublime orange slices with honey, cinnamon, and radish slices is a great, light way to end the meal.
Other Guidance: A few steps at the entrance. GF and vegetarians can do well. You don’t have to dress to impress, but there is a chance you may cross paths with someone you want to impress.
Summary:
Cuisine: Pan-Mediterranean
Neighborhood: U Street
Address: 1328 Florida Ave NW, Washington, DC 20009
Website: https://www.medinadc.com/
Reservations: Resy
Other Critics/Voices:
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