A message from the PR Representative Brady:
This month Jerina had chosen Planter's House in Lafayette Square District for our October GDC. I have to admit the menu is less than impressive with a very small sampling of options. I was quite afraid that I would not find a selection to my liking because of the lack of choices. The menu offered a beef, fish, chicken, and vegetarian dish, but only one selection of each. I selected the peppercorn encrusted steak, which was very flavorful, but almost too flavorful with the amount of peppercorns that were presented on the dish. If the dish had a little less spice it would have been abosultely delightful.
Parking was difficult, since Mississippi Avenue is very busy with residential and business parking. The atmosphere had a warm inviting feel, but the noise level was a little too much for a dinner conversation. The seating is very cramped and a little too crowded for my taste.
The service was good and the staff was attentive, but for the amount of patrons it could have been better. Our waitress always had a smile on her face, and was willing to explain any dish that we had questions about. The seafood dish that one of our guests ordered was not prepared in a traditional manner and seemed to be missing the accompaning pasta side. But overall the food was good, I just don't think I would personally visit more than once for dining. This venue seems better fitted for cocktails and socialization.
Overall the food was good. Diners would give the Planter's House 2.75 out of 5 spoons for a unique meal and experience!
10/30/14
September Good Dinner: Elaia
From the President:
I was not very excited when Sheena chose Elaia. I had heard that it was overrated and was not really looking forward to dinner. In my opinion, it turned out to be an excellent choice and I tried to get everyone I knew to go back with me as soon as possible before they changed their menu.
Elaia and its sister restaurant are connected by a passway. Elaia is actually located in an old house and Olio is what I remember to be some sort of automotive service business. There is very little parking on their lot so your choices are to either park on the street or to allow their valet to park your vehicle. It is very unclear where guests are supposed to enter the restaurant. Luckily, when I arrived the hostess was right there at the entrance to let me know where to go. Others were not so lucky. Olio serves as the bar for Elaia and it is wonderful. The staff there was pleasant and I thoroughly enjoyed my drinks before dinner. In fact, after dinner I wanted to stay because they were playing Michael Jackson and that is always a charmer for me. The restaurant itself was nicely decorated. We did not love the art but the piece by our table was definitely a conversation piece. The furniture was nice and I loved that they offered the small stools for the ladies' purses. The stools for the purses did become a bit of an issue, however, more on that later. Diners gave Elaia 4 spoons for a good atmosphere.
I thought the service was pretty good but there were some difinite issues along the way. It is clear that Elaia intends for your dinner to be an experience. We were told at the outset to relax because we had the table all night. I enjoyed a lot about our service. At each course, a description of each item was presented to the table. I thought that was a really nice touch. However, generally, diners were displeased with how long the dinner took. Holding to the course presentation really caused the dinner to drag. Ther also seemed to be a general sentiment that the waittress assigned to our table was a bit condescending and at at times expressed outright displeasure with some of the concerns of our diners. The first complaint I heard was that hostess who led us to our table was upset that one of the diners went up the stairs before the hostess did. When one diner questioned his wine, the waittress stuck her nose into his glass to give it a good sniff. While I understand that this is part of evaluating the wine, it is a bit inappropriate to then return the glass to the guest. The waittress then spoke to the sommelier and they agreed to give the displeased diner something different. That, however did not quite make up for the fact that most of the table felt she should have taken the glass with her and offered a different choice right away. It was like an investigation into his claim which I do not expect at a fine dining restaurant. There was confusion as to the 1/2 glass - full glass pricing on the menu. The confusion could have been solved with a simple lable at the top of the wine list identifying what the price represented. The waittress was very clearly argumentative and annoyed at this point (characteristics that I do not expect to see from employees at this type of a restaurant). The last issue was with the purses. As I mentioned above, the staff was nice enough to offer us these lovely cork stands so that no one's purse had to be on the floor. I thought that was a really great touch. However, at one point, one of our diners was engaged in a conversation and instead of interrupting the conversation to invite the woman to place her purse on the stand, the gentleman simply picked up her purse and placed it on the stand. Other diners were shocked and appalled that anyone would touch a woman's purse without permission. I personally had no issue with his action but it was a problem for about 1/2 of the diners at our table. Diners gave Elaia almost 2 1/2 spoons for somewhat disappointing service.
The food, however, was ABSOLUTELY excellent! I had the whitefish croquettes with black garlic puree. They were so delicious that I ordered another dish of croquettes. My duck felt a little plain without any sauce but when I sent it off at the end of our meal, a friend tried to stop me so that he could eat the remainder because he enjoyed it so much. I think I would have enjoyed it if I had just thought to ask for some lemons to add some additional flavor. Some more of that black garlic puree would have made me very happy but I did not think of it. I ended up taking the olive oil cake home the next day and it was simply wonderful - moist and full of flavor without being too sweet. Every element of each of our courses was obviously carefully prepared and I cannot say enough about the quality of the food at this restaurant. The only complaint I heard from any of the diners was about the small portion sizes. I have to say that I am shocked that diners gave Elaia only 4 spoons for good food.
I really want to give this restaurant 5 spoons but I cannot ignore the service issues. This was the best food I have had in a long time. The chef and I seem to have a real agreement in the importance of the level of acidity in the food. I cannot wait to return for another delicious meal. Overall diners gave Elaia 3 spoons as a fair restaurant.
I was not very excited when Sheena chose Elaia. I had heard that it was overrated and was not really looking forward to dinner. In my opinion, it turned out to be an excellent choice and I tried to get everyone I knew to go back with me as soon as possible before they changed their menu.
Elaia and its sister restaurant are connected by a passway. Elaia is actually located in an old house and Olio is what I remember to be some sort of automotive service business. There is very little parking on their lot so your choices are to either park on the street or to allow their valet to park your vehicle. It is very unclear where guests are supposed to enter the restaurant. Luckily, when I arrived the hostess was right there at the entrance to let me know where to go. Others were not so lucky. Olio serves as the bar for Elaia and it is wonderful. The staff there was pleasant and I thoroughly enjoyed my drinks before dinner. In fact, after dinner I wanted to stay because they were playing Michael Jackson and that is always a charmer for me. The restaurant itself was nicely decorated. We did not love the art but the piece by our table was definitely a conversation piece. The furniture was nice and I loved that they offered the small stools for the ladies' purses. The stools for the purses did become a bit of an issue, however, more on that later. Diners gave Elaia 4 spoons for a good atmosphere.
I thought the service was pretty good but there were some difinite issues along the way. It is clear that Elaia intends for your dinner to be an experience. We were told at the outset to relax because we had the table all night. I enjoyed a lot about our service. At each course, a description of each item was presented to the table. I thought that was a really nice touch. However, generally, diners were displeased with how long the dinner took. Holding to the course presentation really caused the dinner to drag. Ther also seemed to be a general sentiment that the waittress assigned to our table was a bit condescending and at at times expressed outright displeasure with some of the concerns of our diners. The first complaint I heard was that hostess who led us to our table was upset that one of the diners went up the stairs before the hostess did. When one diner questioned his wine, the waittress stuck her nose into his glass to give it a good sniff. While I understand that this is part of evaluating the wine, it is a bit inappropriate to then return the glass to the guest. The waittress then spoke to the sommelier and they agreed to give the displeased diner something different. That, however did not quite make up for the fact that most of the table felt she should have taken the glass with her and offered a different choice right away. It was like an investigation into his claim which I do not expect at a fine dining restaurant. There was confusion as to the 1/2 glass - full glass pricing on the menu. The confusion could have been solved with a simple lable at the top of the wine list identifying what the price represented. The waittress was very clearly argumentative and annoyed at this point (characteristics that I do not expect to see from employees at this type of a restaurant). The last issue was with the purses. As I mentioned above, the staff was nice enough to offer us these lovely cork stands so that no one's purse had to be on the floor. I thought that was a really great touch. However, at one point, one of our diners was engaged in a conversation and instead of interrupting the conversation to invite the woman to place her purse on the stand, the gentleman simply picked up her purse and placed it on the stand. Other diners were shocked and appalled that anyone would touch a woman's purse without permission. I personally had no issue with his action but it was a problem for about 1/2 of the diners at our table. Diners gave Elaia almost 2 1/2 spoons for somewhat disappointing service.
The food, however, was ABSOLUTELY excellent! I had the whitefish croquettes with black garlic puree. They were so delicious that I ordered another dish of croquettes. My duck felt a little plain without any sauce but when I sent it off at the end of our meal, a friend tried to stop me so that he could eat the remainder because he enjoyed it so much. I think I would have enjoyed it if I had just thought to ask for some lemons to add some additional flavor. Some more of that black garlic puree would have made me very happy but I did not think of it. I ended up taking the olive oil cake home the next day and it was simply wonderful - moist and full of flavor without being too sweet. Every element of each of our courses was obviously carefully prepared and I cannot say enough about the quality of the food at this restaurant. The only complaint I heard from any of the diners was about the small portion sizes. I have to say that I am shocked that diners gave Elaia only 4 spoons for good food.
I really want to give this restaurant 5 spoons but I cannot ignore the service issues. This was the best food I have had in a long time. The chef and I seem to have a real agreement in the importance of the level of acidity in the food. I cannot wait to return for another delicious meal. Overall diners gave Elaia 3 spoons as a fair restaurant.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)