One of the restaurants in DC that my wife Jun and I have regularly been to since our move from NYC is Reveler’s Hour in Adam’s Morgan. It is one of those restaurants where we always had very solid meals from starters to pastas to desserts. The menu at Reveler’s Hour is probably not that different from what you typically see in an upscale bistro restaurant with Italian-accented menus, but it’s the execution that really elevates the dining experience here. My last review of the restaurant was in 2022, so I figured a re-review is in order from our recent visit earlier this month. While the pasta dishes at Reveler’s are still outstanding, there are other dishes (especially one main dish that seems to have become a staple at the restaurant) that will bring you plenty of joy.

One thing that I noticed on our recent visit is that the restaurant now has a three-course dinner format in addition to a la carte options, at $62 per person. Factoring in the prices of the individual dishes, the three-course option definitely looks like a bargain. We started the dinner with endives salad and grilled octopus. I was quite fond of the endives salad with ricotta salata and garlic chips that was fresh and delightfully crunchy, while the grilled ocotpus with smoked paprika aioli and celery salad was also a standout dish that Jun enjoyed very much. In our previous visits, we would order two pastas for main courses; over time, however, we switched to one pasta dish and one other main dish that quickly became one of our favorite dishes in DC, period. The latter, pork Milanese, is not a dish to skip if it’s on the menu. “How hard would it be to pull off fried pork?” You would think, until you take a bite out of the wonderful version from Reveler’s Hour and quickly realize you haven’t had a proper one until now. The sides for the pork Milanese seem to slightly change over time, and on our visit, the addition of roast garlic aioli and olive salad was spot-on. For the pasta at Reveler’s Hour, getting one with meat-based sauce is always a safe bet, like we did with bucatini with miso roasted pork and Aleppo pepper; the seasoning was slightly aggressive, but it was otherwise a delicious dish. For desserts, we shared olive oil cake with red wine figs that was not overly sweet to our liking, and Jun enthusiastically savored pistachio gelato as well.

Reveler’s Hour used to be packed from the opening, but on our recent visit at least the early hours seem to have quieted down (although the restaurant quickly became almost full toward the end of our dinner). The wine list at the restaurant is still pretty strong, with interesting themes changing by the seasons and sourcing a wide variety of wines from all over the world. A combination of pastas, pork Milanese and wines is a winning combination at Reveler’s Hour and I’m glad the restaurant is still maintaining its consistency in excellence of execution throughout all the years we have been visiting.

KenScale: 8.5/10 (Jun’s Score: 8.25/10)

Address: 1775 Columbia Rd NW, Washington, DC 20009

Website: https://www.revelershour.com/

Reservation via Resy