A&J serve this. They call it thousand layer pancake.

Georgetown is not exactly convenient to get to.

I've pretty much never had a negative experience with solo dining, but usually I end up sitting at the bar or going on a week night when business is slower.

Yeah Assaggi is awful.

Passage to India and Jaleo are the only two destination restaurants in Bethesda. Food Wine & Co can be good. Shangri-la is decent Nepalese/Northern Indian cuisine. Grapeseed can have a good tasting menu sometimes. Redwood usually has good pasta. There's a food truck by the Women's Co-operative called One3Five that makes good sandwiches and soups.

You can get crab cakes at Newton's Table but they're out of season right now and super expensive.

A little bit south of Bethesda is the new Range in Chevy Chase which is getting a lot of good reviews. Further north into Rockville you get some decent ethnic eats. Pizza CS for Neapolitan, Spice Xing for Indian, Sichuan Jin River for Chinese.

I like Temari in that they give you huge slabs of fish for sashimi, and the selection is decent. But the times I've tried it the texture made me think it was refrozen.

So I would love to experience meals at Minibar, Rogue 24, Suna, Komi, etc but my friends are not exactly keen on spending $150+ on a meal so I'm the only one interested. Is it unusual to make reservations for one at these places?

bd's in Bethesda has closed.

I live near Mosaic and I enjoy my meals there as well. The waffles, as you've mentioned, are amazing and I try to order some every time I visit. I've also had their pork medallions which were outstanding: crispy and juicy. I think they do tend to overcook their vegetables though.

My only problem has been the abysmally slow service, although I think it's gotten better lately.

As others have mentioned, the main reason to come here is after a late show at the 9:30 Club or Black Cat. You should be drunk enough that you can barely walk straight. It's at moments like these that a chili half smoke tastes divine, and the reason why Ben's is still populated by locals.

I would not come here without getting drunk first.

I enjoyed my haemul bibimbap. Mine had a lot of...oil, but it was very tasty. A bit too much squid, maybe. They do a respectable bulgogi, although it's kind of hard to fuck that up as long as I get plenty of lettuce and ssamjang on the side.

Anyway Moa is my favorite Korean restaurant in Rockville. It's better than Arirang, Lighthouse, or Jon Won. It doesn't really compare to anything in Annandale or even Ellicott City but it's good enough to sate my hunger for Korean comfort food without me having to drive 40 miles.

They actually serve what I think is the best jajangmyeon in the area (way better than Jon Won). It's not on the menu so you'll have to ask for it.

The broth is definitely delicately flavored, and the noodles are thin. However for someone used to bold flavors from the ramen at Toki/Ren's, it left me a little disappointed.

Sushi Taro offers ramen once a month which they announce on their Facebook/Twitter. I've eaten it during lunch. I know that doesn't exactly help you but FYI.

I've also eaten at Ren's at noon and it's definitely one of the best ramen spots in the DC area.

Coincidentally this is the reason I frequently visit Balducci's in North Bethesda. They have a decent beer/wine selection and everything else is about as good as the old Whole Foods in Rockville.

Fresh Market is basically just an upscale Giant. The produce is generally better quality and I can buy stuff a la carte. I hate buying a huge package of mushrooms for example because I only end up using half of it. At Fresh Market I can just buy 4 or 5 mushrooms. Same with their meats (who the hell needs 6 sausages!?)

Whole Foods is better but the new location has awful parking.

That's a shame the tonkotsu wasn't very good. My impression is tonkotsu ramen isn't really something you can just toss onto the menu: you really have to work hard at improving your recipe for years and years. The good tonkotsu places I know are pretty much dedicated to its craft.

Anyway my Sakuramen experience has been mixed. If you go next time I would suggest the Spicy Miso. I asked for it as hot as they could make it and it was so spicy that I couldn't even finish it, so I definitely want to try a scaled down version. The noodle quality was good at least.

As far as ramen goes I've been to Toki, Ren's, Temari, Satsuma, and Sushi Taro. IMO the only two worth visiting are Toki and Ren's. I've heard of Tanpopo but my friend didn't like their ramen and I don't really want to trek from Rockville to Annandale for potentially mediocre ramen.