Emily S.
Yelp
5 star food and cocktails, 1 star service, so I split the difference. Additionally, the ambiance was nice, but pricing (as reflected in some of the 1-star reviews on here) was manipulative, i.e. the same cocktails listed in different places on the menu at wildly different prices. This was almost enough to take it down to 1 to 2 stars, except that the food was so so, so so, so so so good.
Rocky start when we came in. We had made a reservation but arrived to a nearly empty restaurant except for one large seated group with children. There were only two people working in the front of house, a bartender and a hostess who was also acting as server. The bartender never acknowledged or interacted with us, and our hostess/server was incredibly nonchalant. The floor was oddly slippery, to a point where I felt like I had to walk carefully, and I said the floor was slippery out of surprise and she just kind of shrugged aobut it?
This is the part that had me almost leave before we even ordered. We sat down and opened our menus and on one side was the brunch menu - which was a lot shorter than I thought it was going to be from what I had seen online - and on the other side was an extensive cocktail and wine menu, bursting with French-style cocktails. The cocktail menu was exciting to me. But then I noticed that a handful of cocktails were included at the bottom of the brunch menu as well. These were identical to some of the cocktails on the cocktail menu, but were all priced $2-$3 higher.
I pointed this out to the server in confusion and her response was that they wanted brunch to be appealing and special so they made the prices lower. What? So then I pointed out that, no, actually, the brunch cocktails were priced *higher*. The $13 Aperol spritz on the cocktail menu, for instance, was $16 on the brunch menu. My friend's espresso cocktail was $14 on the cocktai menu and $17 on the brunch menu. Same drink. The server seemed completely oblivious to all this and so promised to charge us the lower prices.
I mean. Do they think we're stupid?
Then the cocktails actually arrived and suddenly we were happy we stayed. Best Aperol spritz I've ever had. Such a simple cocktail, you might think, can it really vary that much? Yes, it can. My friend kvelled about her espresso drink, as well. And they were beautifully presented.
Then the food came. My friend got a simple and reasonably priced French scrambled egg plate that she was happy with but it's hard to marvel at it. I, however, got the bucatini carbonara sans bacon (pescetarian) and it may be the best pasta I've ever had. It wanted its bacon back, but even without the meat, this was really, really good.
Unfortunately, while our server came to check on us once right after our food came out, she never returned. We watched the restaurant steadily fill up with other patrons, but nobody came to assist her, so she was literally handling the entire restaurant except for the bar. But, honestly, that wasn't the problem. The problem was that she was aloof and had no hustle. She walked by us several times without seeming to notice that our cocktail glasses had run empty. We might have each ordered another...20 minutes ago. It took a long time for her to clear our plates and bring us our bill, as well.
When we did finally get the bill, we'd been charged the higher prices. So we had to flag her down and ask her to fix it. She did exactly as we wanted and lowered the prices, but her whole attitude about it was so...vacant. She wasn't rude or disagreeable or anything. More like an expressionless robot, or like she was focused on something else. It's really unfortunate because if the service matched the food this place would be unstoppable, and I suspect that service is the reason this place wasn't packed. A lot of other customers who seemed to be in the know came and sat at the bar and I think that was the right idea.
To that end, it is worth noting that, despite how good the food is, the bar itself is the star of the show. It's a bar with good food, not a restaurant with a good bar. The extensiveness of the cocktail menu, the fact that the cocktails were the Frenchest thing about the menu, and the execution of the cocktails make this a destination for drinks, and an alternative to the speakeasy-style bars that dominate the higher end of DC's cocktail scene (not that I don't love them).
My recommendation to future clientele is to forego the restaurant experience and just come for cocktails, though do order a dish or two there at the bar if you get hungry. My recommendation to the chef, assuming the chef is the owner/in charge, is to find better management for the front of the house.