Selecting The Inn at Little Washington as one of the top ten restaurants in the world, The International Herald Tribune hailed Patrick O’Connell as “a rare chef with a sense of near perfect taste, like a musician with perfect pitch”. Reviewers call it the Promised Land, and its patrons are known as “pilgrims”.

The Inn’s dining room is pure fantasy – a wondrous cocoon of luxury. Rose–colored, silk lampshades float above each table creating a private romantic world below. Patrick’s creations arrive at one of the 30 intimate tables as if served by invisible hands, course after course more dazzling than the last. From the award winning 14,000 bottle wine cellar, which includes the finest offerings from Bordeaux, Burgundy, California and Virginia, the Sommelier plays matchmaker between you, your dinner and the wine.

Craig Claiborne of The New York Times called it “the most magnificent inn I’ve ever seen, in this country or Europe, where I had the most fantastic meal of my life”. Patrick’s approach to cooking, while paying homage to the lawmakers of Classical French Cuisine, reflects a belief in “the cuisine of today”, healthy, eclectic, imaginative, unrestricted by ethnic boundaries and always growing. The restaurant has been continually rated number one in all categories of Zagat’s Washington DC restaurant survey for the past 14 years. The popular reader’s survey raves that it is: “the gastronomic equivalent of sex”, “heaven comes in second place and it’s not really close” and calls The Inn at Little Washington “arguably the best dining in the country”. Please visit our awards section if you would like to read more about our recognitions.

The Inn’s new kitchen, often referred to as “the most beautiful kitchen in the world” was added in 1998. Inspired by the dairy room at Windsor Castle, the kitchen features an enormous Vulcan range. Built to order in France, it is topped with a copper and brass hood that looks like King Arthur’s tent. Two kitchen tables — we call them the inner sanctum — allow guests to watch the action ringside.