"Ryan Ratino's two-star, 16-seat counter on 14th Street runs a $375 luxury tasting — book it to impress a client."
About Jônt
Sixteen seats, one counter, fifteen courses, $375. Ryan Ratino opened Jônt above his bistro Bresca on 14th Street in 2020 and had two Michelin stars within a few years. Dinner starts with foie-gras jelly doughnuts and rye tartlets piled with kaluga caviar, then moves through the rarest produce he can fly in. Ratino took the Michelin Young Chef Award for Washington in 2023 and now holds five stars across his group.
This is the most luxurious tasting menu in the city, and it knows it. Compare it against the field in our Washington DC dining guide.
The Kitchen
Ratino builds Jônt around luxury ingredients flown in at their peak: kaluga caviar, A5 wagyu, foie gras, ishidai, Hokkaido uni, Miyazaki mango. The fifteen-course menu opens with the two dishes regulars come back for, foie-gras-laced jelly doughnuts and rye tartlets heaped with kaluga caviar. From there it might run ishidai, a prized Japanese fish, bathed in a buttermilk sauce and topped with more caviar; a tart of wagyu tartare; uni crowned with bluefin; Koshiibuki rice with Dungeness crab.
The cooking leans Japanese in its restraint and French in its technique. The tasting is $375 before tax and service, with a beverage pairing on top, served at a 16-seat counter where the cooks plate in front of you. Jônt holds two Michelin stars in the 2025 guide, and Ratino, who also runs Bresca downstairs and Ômo in Orlando, was named Michelin's Washington Young Chef in 2023. The room sits at 1904 14th Street NW, on the second floor above Bresca.
The Room
Jônt is a 16-seat counter on the second floor above Bresca, dim and intimate, the cooks working an arm's length away. The pace is theatrical and forward-facing, and watching the plating is part of the point. Sound stays low; the room is small enough that it rarely roars. Lighting is dark and moody, seats are stools at a polished counter, and dress is smart, no jacket required. Two seatings run nightly, and the kitchen keeps the timing tight across roughly three hours.
Best for Impressing Clients
Book Jônt to impress a client for three reasons: the ingredient list, from kaluga caviar to A5 wagyu and ishidai, reads like a flex before the first plate lands; the counter puts the cooking on display so there is always something to talk about; and two Michelin stars give the booking its own credibility. The $375 menu signals you spared nothing. Picture the caviar tartlet arriving as you make your case, the chef plating a foot away, the client quietly recalculating.
Not for
Skip Jônt for a relaxed dinner or real conversation — it is a forward-facing 16-seat counter running a $375, fifteen-course performance across three hours.
Frequently Asked
Is Jônt worth it?
Yes, if luxury ingredients and a front-row seat are the point. Ryan Ratino's two-Michelin-star counter builds a $375, fifteen-course menu around kaluga caviar, A5 wagyu and ishidai, pl
