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Nicholas Stefanelli’s Puglian-inspired prix fixe menus served in an Italian country–chic setting.
Address and Contact Information
Address: 1340 4th St NE, Washington, DC 20002
Phone: (202) 608-1330
Website: http://www.masseria-dc.com/
Menu Photos
Order and Reservations
Reservations: exploretock.com
Photo Gallery
Related Web Results
Menu — Masseria by Nicholas Stefanelli | Washington DC
We invite you to savor the depth and breadth of our offerings, every bite highlights the best ingredients sourced from local farms and European markets.
Masseria by Nicholas Stefanelli | Washington DC
Masseria, by chef Nick Stefanelli is a celebration of big, harmonious flavors and the finest Italian cooking that shaped his palate as a child.
Masseria – Washington – a MICHELIN Guide Restaurant
With its seamless blend of indoor and outdoor spaces, this is a shining beacon amid high-rises, restaurants and stores. Donning that requisite brick walls …
Reviews
Camerons Culinarium
All around great experience. Went with the 8 course chefs menu and was pleasantly surprised. Only had a small part of one dish that was just a little too salty, which i mentioned to Chef, and he appreciated the feedback. They have multiple pairing options, as well. I had caviar added to my fish dish, and added 5 cheeses with my dessert. All were delicious. Highly recommend giving this spot a try.
… moreJustin Ober
Visited Masseria on January 19, 2022. This one-star Michelin restaurant offers a tasting menu built around regional Italian dishes. Courses included branzino with sunchoke, agnolotti del plin filled with lobster and finished with basil and breadcrumbs, and strascinati with guinea fowl ragù and Parmigiano. Antipasti featured gnocco fritto with mortadella and pistachio, burrata with Wellfleet oyster and Kristal caviar, and carne cruda of Roseda Farms striploin. Dessert was torta al cioccolato with mascarpone and Okinawan black sugar gelato, followed by a Sicilian blood orange and green tea course.
… moreTALIA FOSTER
This restaurant exceeded my expectations. To start, the service was amazing. Each staff member we encountered was incredibly kind and knowledgeable on the food and drinks that were being served. Our server, Mo, was also one of the better parts of the experience as he was both friendly and genuinely funny. The atmosphere was very pleasing and their playlist was top tier. As for our food, everything was cooked to perfection and the wine pairing complimented each dish nicely. I loved each with the execution of one course, the lamb lasagna (To note, I am personally not a huge fan of lamb). Something else to note, they also sell really nice candles which was a pleasant surprise.
… moreShreya Hariharan
Went for my birthday. Chefs counter experience.
Food was good, creative, certainly a visual treat, loved the desserts. The chefs really do put in a lot of attention to detail. We saw every dish that went out.
Service was a bit lacking, I guess they aren’t too worried about being warm since the 20% gratuity is already added in the bill.
The dishes were explained well, but apart from the lady who served us dessert, there wasn’t any fluidity to the explanations, it all felt like instructions.
The bathroom looked subpar for a Michelin rated restaurant. The music could have been more ambient.
The prices weren’t too bad. We don’t mind paying that much if the whole experience was worth that much. I have been to a few Michelin star restaurants, I didn’t feel it live up to the Michelin experience.
… moreFood was good, creative, certainly a visual treat, loved the desserts. The chefs really do put in a lot of attention to detail. We saw every dish that went out.
Service was a bit lacking, I guess they aren’t too worried about being warm since the 20% gratuity is already added in the bill.
The dishes were explained well, but apart from the lady who served us dessert, there wasn’t any fluidity to the explanations, it all felt like instructions.
The bathroom looked subpar for a Michelin rated restaurant. The music could have been more ambient.
The prices weren’t too bad. We don’t mind paying that much if the whole experience was worth that much. I have been to a few Michelin star restaurants, I didn’t feel it live up to the Michelin experience.
Scott Walter
Masseria markets itself as a Michelin-level dining experience, and some of the food does rise to that standard—but the service and pacing of our dinner fell astonishingly short. For the price point (our total was $788 for two), I expected a polished, well-orchestrated evening. Instead, the night was defined by long stretches of waiting, uneven execution, and a general sense of disorganization that you should never encounter in a true Michelin-caliber restaurant.
We arrived for our 8:30pm reservation, having already selected the 6-course tasting menu. All the staff needed from us was a drink order and any supplements. Yet:
• 15 minutes passed before we even met our server—and only after we flagged down a different staff member to ask who our server was.
• 40 minutes before cutlery arrived.
• 41 minutes until bread and butter.
• No amuse-bouche, which is standard at this level.
Our server’s brief initial greeting (“welcome or welcome back”) was followed by a 15-minute disappearance as he attended to other tables. It felt less like fine dining and more like being forgotten at a busy café.
To give credit where due, 5 of 8 courses tasted on par with a 1-star Michelin restaurant:
• Kampachi crudo (4.5/5) — Bright, balanced, genuinely excellent.
• Chestnut ravioli (4.5/5) — Deeply savory with a beautiful brown-butter sauce.
• Foie gras supplement (4/5) — Lovely flavor, though our server did not adequately explain the mechanics of supplements versus substitutions and had difficulty remembering when we wanted the dish served.
• Pre-dessert (4.5/5) and main dessert (4/5) — Refined, delicious.
But several dishes fell flat:
• John Dory (2.5/5) — Overcooked, oversalted, and texturally disappointing.
• Linguini with XO sauce (2/5) — More “Chinese fusion” than Italian, intensely salty, and lacked any actual seafood.
• Veal trio (3/5) — Loin was cooked medium-rare yet still inexplicably dry and chewy; sweetbread and sausage were flavorful but aggressively salted.
The flavors also began to repeat themselves—several courses shared the same celeriac/meat-jus profile, making the progression feel redundant.
Masseria features an open kitchen, which typically showcases the precision and choreography of a well-run Michelin team. Instead, we repeatedly saw half the chefs standing idle while dishes trickled out at a glacial pace.
After we politely voiced our concern about the slow start, the staff attempted to make amends by bringing complimentary wine pours and a mini-cocktail. A nice gesture in theory—but these drinks arrived after we had already ordered our own cocktails (three each). The result was borderline over-serving, leaving us consuming far more alcohol than we actually intended.
The bathroom was not well maintained, with fecal splatter visible on both the inner and outer sides of the toilet seat. This is unacceptable in any fine-dining environment.
While several dishes were genuinely excellent and showed clear culinary talent, the service, pacing, inconsistent execution, and poorly maintained facilities made the evening feel far below Michelin standards. The pricing aligns more closely with a 2- or 3-star restaurant, yet the experience was nowhere near that level.
I left feeling disappointed because Masseria could deliver an exceptional night—the ingredients and kitchen skill are there—but the operational flaws overshadowed what should have been a special meal.
… moreWe arrived for our 8:30pm reservation, having already selected the 6-course tasting menu. All the staff needed from us was a drink order and any supplements. Yet:
• 15 minutes passed before we even met our server—and only after we flagged down a different staff member to ask who our server was.
• 40 minutes before cutlery arrived.
• 41 minutes until bread and butter.
• No amuse-bouche, which is standard at this level.
Our server’s brief initial greeting (“welcome or welcome back”) was followed by a 15-minute disappearance as he attended to other tables. It felt less like fine dining and more like being forgotten at a busy café.
To give credit where due, 5 of 8 courses tasted on par with a 1-star Michelin restaurant:
• Kampachi crudo (4.5/5) — Bright, balanced, genuinely excellent.
• Chestnut ravioli (4.5/5) — Deeply savory with a beautiful brown-butter sauce.
• Foie gras supplement (4/5) — Lovely flavor, though our server did not adequately explain the mechanics of supplements versus substitutions and had difficulty remembering when we wanted the dish served.
• Pre-dessert (4.5/5) and main dessert (4/5) — Refined, delicious.
But several dishes fell flat:
• John Dory (2.5/5) — Overcooked, oversalted, and texturally disappointing.
• Linguini with XO sauce (2/5) — More “Chinese fusion” than Italian, intensely salty, and lacked any actual seafood.
• Veal trio (3/5) — Loin was cooked medium-rare yet still inexplicably dry and chewy; sweetbread and sausage were flavorful but aggressively salted.
The flavors also began to repeat themselves—several courses shared the same celeriac/meat-jus profile, making the progression feel redundant.
Masseria features an open kitchen, which typically showcases the precision and choreography of a well-run Michelin team. Instead, we repeatedly saw half the chefs standing idle while dishes trickled out at a glacial pace.
After we politely voiced our concern about the slow start, the staff attempted to make amends by bringing complimentary wine pours and a mini-cocktail. A nice gesture in theory—but these drinks arrived after we had already ordered our own cocktails (three each). The result was borderline over-serving, leaving us consuming far more alcohol than we actually intended.
The bathroom was not well maintained, with fecal splatter visible on both the inner and outer sides of the toilet seat. This is unacceptable in any fine-dining environment.
While several dishes were genuinely excellent and showed clear culinary talent, the service, pacing, inconsistent execution, and poorly maintained facilities made the evening feel far below Michelin standards. The pricing aligns more closely with a 2- or 3-star restaurant, yet the experience was nowhere near that level.
I left feeling disappointed because Masseria could deliver an exceptional night—the ingredients and kitchen skill are there—but the operational flaws overshadowed what should have been a special meal.
Allison Johnson
I really wanted to love this place. I’ve worked in fine dining. I’ve lived in Italy. I happily pay good money for chef’s tables at Michelin restaurants. I love the up close experience watching a talented chef and team work. But we didn’t feel the food and experience were worth the price.
The food was generally good. They do serve you a lot with the eight courses. Pasta and risotto dishes were excellent. A sweet burrata dish early on threw off my palate. (My husband, with his sweet tooth, enjoyed it—so it’s clearly subjective.) The poultry was tough in spots, and the fennel with the crab was hard to cut. The cocktails were excellent. The wine pairings were also great and worked well with the dishes, except I didn’t love the dessert pairing which was anise flavored. (Risky pick given how many people don’t love anise.) But the real disappointment was the service and ambiance.
We did the chef’s tasting at the kitchen counter and paid over $1K for two people. Unlike other Michelin chef’s tables I’ve experienced, the chef never acknowledged us, and only one member of the kitchen team briefly interacted. I wasn’t expecting extensive interaction since it was a Saturday and they could have been busier than usual, but the experience felt cold and impersonal. I don’t think a chef should offer a chef’s table if they don’t plan to interact with guests.
… moreThe food was generally good. They do serve you a lot with the eight courses. Pasta and risotto dishes were excellent. A sweet burrata dish early on threw off my palate. (My husband, with his sweet tooth, enjoyed it—so it’s clearly subjective.) The poultry was tough in spots, and the fennel with the crab was hard to cut. The cocktails were excellent. The wine pairings were also great and worked well with the dishes, except I didn’t love the dessert pairing which was anise flavored. (Risky pick given how many people don’t love anise.) But the real disappointment was the service and ambiance.
We did the chef’s tasting at the kitchen counter and paid over $1K for two people. Unlike other Michelin chef’s tables I’ve experienced, the chef never acknowledged us, and only one member of the kitchen team briefly interacted. I wasn’t expecting extensive interaction since it was a Saturday and they could have been busier than usual, but the experience felt cold and impersonal. I don’t think a chef should offer a chef’s table if they don’t plan to interact with guests.
Porus Marshall
Overall I had a good experience. The food was very good. 4.5 stars. However compared to other Michelin star restaurants I have visited it would not be in my top 3. Menu was prix fixe. 5 appetizers were all very good. The scallop dish was very good. The lamb was excellent. The basil sorbet was excellent. The mousse cake was very good too. I was not a very big fan of the Gnocchi which I found a bit too salty and cheesy. By the time I was done eating I was very full.
Service was very good. They were very attentive to food allergies and ensured substitute dishes were provided.
The atmosphere was nice. We sat inside but the outside seating area looked great.
… moreService was very good. They were very attentive to food allergies and ensured substitute dishes were provided.
The atmosphere was nice. We sat inside but the outside seating area looked great.
Moises Gil
I have to start this story first by saying I am a very picky eater. I only went here for my wife who loves food. We went to celebrate our first year of marriage. This was our first experience at a Michelin star restaurant and I would say we were very nervous and not sure what to expect. My wife was more nervous/excited where I was more nervous/anxious. I was thinking this would be an uppity snobbish place where they act nice but really are looking down on you. From the moment we walked in I continued to be blown away. I can say now I was completely wrong on my initial judgement. First the staff here is Amazing!!!!!! Daneera (our waitress) was so patient and nice with my wife and I. I was blown away that they had discussed us before serving us and planned our experience. I thought that only was true on TV “The Bear” reference lol. I really appreciate genuine people and not only was Daneera enough of a reason to make our night, but all the staff were exceptional. Now I thought that was the extent of it, however I know none of you know me, but if you can think of the picky person in your life I am telling that is me. Going to this restaurant has really made me rethink if I ever really experience foods. I ate things I have never and would not have ever eaten. I am not saying exotic foods, which they have, I am talking about normal ingredients that were elevated. I could tell that choosing and preparing the food was done with a lot of thought and intention. Now I am telling you the food is amazing here. The dessert was so amazing not only in taste but in texture. I really took a moment to think about how much time it must of taken the chef to come up with this amazing lemon ice cream with a light cream with a fruit base. You would think wow that has to be it nopee. I had a non alcoholic pairing with our courses and I was just wanting some ginger ale. I have to say on top of being blown away by the food, staff, location, and chefs, the Bartender paired the drinks perfectly. I never knew how aromas could elevate a drink and how the right drink can compliment food so perfectly. I can go on and on and on about this place and I guess I have. I hope this shows you how amazing this place was and how amazing this place is. If you want to treat yourself and have an amazing time please give this place a try. This really has made me realize why quality is so important.
… moreDon Marlais
Great service. Okay food. But, seriously, partridge at the primarily entree?!
So, so, so overpriced.
How do you have a $700 dinner for two (with no wine) and still leave hungry?
Sure, we had a couple drinks each, but come on. This place is at the armpit of Union Market. No view. Okay decor.
Nice curated playlist, but too loud. Never need to go back.
… moreSo, so, so overpriced.
How do you have a $700 dinner for two (with no wine) and still leave hungry?
Sure, we had a couple drinks each, but come on. This place is at the armpit of Union Market. No view. Okay decor.
Nice curated playlist, but too loud. Never need to go back.
Felipe Nogueira (PePeTD)
Fantastic Chef’s counter experience! Seeing all the chefs preparing the food added a whole new level to the whole experience.
Service was impeccable, food was phenomenal, and the whole vibe at the chief’s counter was perfect.
My favorite dishes for this October menu
– A5 Wagyu enhancement.
– The gnocchi.
– The Burrata.
Everything else was delicious, but those stole the show for me!
… moreService was impeccable, food was phenomenal, and the whole vibe at the chief’s counter was perfect.
My favorite dishes for this October menu
– A5 Wagyu enhancement.
– The gnocchi.
– The Burrata.
Everything else was delicious, but those stole the show for me!