Best Contemporary Mexican Restaurants in Kensington

Lovely place, great service, yummy food. A little confusion about sorbet/gelato flavors on offer, but otherwise, super

Always festive and yummy. Warm and friendly staff.

First, and most importantly, the food was wonderful. Just about every one of the eight dishes was well-conceived, beautifully constructed, and often presented with some dramatic surprise. I enjoy watching our dishes being plated before our eyes, and am always impressed by the extreme attention to detail that goes into that effort at this level. Service was everything to be expected in a Michelin-star restaurant. The interactions with Chef Carlos were an important part of the evening, with information about the inspirations for some of the dishes letting us appreciate the art more fully, and the descriptions with the wine service were very good. dLeña is highly recommended by all four of us. Really, the only significant negative about the whole experience was the ambient noise level. The restaurant is very noisy, and for me it was loud enough to distract from all the other wonderful things going on. If not for the noise, I'm sure all the rating factors would have been full fives.

This is our favorite restaurant , simply because the lamb chops are always incredibly delicious. A simple, well prepared meal. What's nice about it is it has never varied; over the last 5 or so years the marinated lamb chops have always been incredibly tasty. We go to a lot of restaurants in the DMV and with a few exceptions we've had good to superb, and few horrendous experiences. The most amazing so far has been Minibar; the horrendous I will not mention...! I rank Malinche high not because it is a Michelin star place but rather it has NEVER failed us. A Simple neighborhood restaurant with really good, and always good, food, and with great service. A couple of times we have called ahead to have the lamb chops ready, and everything is set up for us on our arrival. The food is called "Mexican" on some sites but it is really focused on Mexican/Spanish tapas. Truthfully there are a few other restaurants that are like this - and fancier and with more choices, but we always come back, in between going to some of the gems in the DMV. Because, unlike some of those "gems" which can disappoint, this place so far never has. La Malinche is an interesting, somewhat controversial name. Comes from the name of Cortes' translator, a remarkable woman who accomplished a lot. in very very tough circumstances.

Really impressed with this spot. The guac and chips were next-level—super fresh with just the right kick. Service was on point, and the whole place had a fun, lively energy without being too loud. Great place for dinner!