Sonya Hu
Google
Cute, cozy spot for French food located on 14th Street and just a few blocks away from Logan Circle! I've been dying to try Amelie ever since I saw their orange wine flight in NYC, so I was super excited when they finally opened their doors in DC. However, when I finally did make my way over to Amelie (somehow over a year after they opened...who knows what happened there), it didn't quite live up to the hype.
I visited Amelie with a couple of friends for dinner, and we had a great time. The ambiance was really nice, with great energy and almost a buzz in the air, but it also felt cozy and quiet enough to have a relatively intimate meal. We were seated in the center of the restaurant, so we were in the perfect spot to soak in all the great vibes. The server was friendly, but they tried to upcharge us on every single item we ordered; they kept trying to convince us to get add-ons, and they also charged us for our extra baskets of bread (although, to be totally fair, we did have a few baskets and it *was* really good bread).
One of my friends ordered the classic burger and the other got the mussels, and I ordered the raviole. We all enjoyed our dishes, but all felt that they were pretty basic; they were tasty, but standard and didn't leave us craving more. The raviole was a fun vegetarian pasta dish, with mini ravioli cooked in a creamy green sauce and topped with small pieces of squash and pine nuts. It was tasty, and I loved the earthiness from the sauce and extra texture from the nuts, but it generally felt like a pretty one-note dish. I found myself feeling a bit bored of the pasta within the first quarter of the meal, but it did get better as I started breaking up bites of pasta with nibbles of bread (which, again, was fantastic).
The staff also tried to rush our meal a bit, checking in every 5-10 minutes and heavily signaling that it was time for us to exit, despite our total meal only taking just about an hour. It was a fun place, but Amelie probably won't be at the top of my want-to-try-again list for a bit; however, I do still want to get that orange wine flight, so maybe I'll find myself back here for a happy hour.