Le Diplomate

Reviews 5

AL

Alice Wang

Jaime un bon restaurant français. And Le Diplomate est bon comme du bon pain. I can hardly believe that this cute little French bistro has been opened since last year. Since then, it seems like everyone and their mother has eaten here, and that includes the VP, First Lady, and plenty of other politicians, lobbyists, and prominent Washingtonians. When you walk into the restaurant, its like being transported into a bistro in France. A bistro that mirrors the charming venues Parisians eat, drink, and dawdle in for hours and hours. From the tables, chairs, antiques, and even the floor tiles, everything screams Paris. The menu also exclaims of traditional bistro fare including steak frites, moules frites, boeuf bourguignon, steak au poivre, and more. And if youre in the mood for fruits de mer or cheeses, look no further. Le Diplomate offers both assorted oysters (among other seafood) and regional French cheeses. Usually, it takes a reservation to be seated at this popular venue on 14th Street and I would still recommend it, especially on busy weeknights or weekends. However, my boyfriend and I lucked out last night. We popped in around 9:30pm and found ourselves in luck of a small table for two inside. We shared an onion soup gratinée ($12.50), salade lyonnaise ($14.50), and boeuf bourguignon ($26). Due to a small mixup, our salad and boeuf bourguignon came first. The server had split both our salad and entree for us. The salade lyonnaise was a frisée salad that came with a poached egg. Very good and I love the soft crouton-like potatoes. The egg was flawlessly poached and added that certain je ne sais quoi to an overall good salad. The beef in the boeuf bourguignon was very tender and the red wine reduction overwhelmingly strong. Along with the crimini mushrooms, lardons, and potato puree, it was a good, albeit different, boeuf bourguignon than Ive had at other French restaurants. Our onion soup gratinée came after and while I enjoyed it, I think there was a little too much wine in the soup. Finally, I must say that the service was wonderful. Our server, whom I unfortunately forgot her name, was continuously helpful with answering questions we had and suggesting foods. She felt very sorry about the onion soup gratinée mixup, so she comped it. A very nice gesture even though we would have been happy to pay for it regardless of the situation. Adorable French bistro, complete with traditional French comfort food. Expect as a typical bistro for the noise level to be slightly louder than a quiet, intimate dining experience.

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R

R Sanford

I am writing this review to thank Le Diplomate for their amazing customer service! The restaurant really goes above and beyond to make sure customers are happy with their dining experience. We went to Le Diplomate with reservations for 6:15pm and requested a table outside upon arrival. At first, we were told that if we wanted to wait a few minutes, they would get us a table outdoors, but after about 20 minutes were told that only indoor tables were available. We were a little upset at first, but our wonderful waiter sincerely apologized for not being able to accommodate us, and proceeded to provide our table of 4 with free champagne and a mushroom tart. Soon after ordering, we discovered the reason the restaurant had not been able to accommodate us - the Vice President was also dining with them that night. Talk about an exciting dining experience! To top it off, the food was great, particularly the dessert. Together, our table ordered the profiteroles, the napoleon, and the lemon tart, and were very impressed with all of them. The other small problem of the evening came after I returned home, and realized that the "free" champagne and mushroom tart had been included on our check. I called the restaurant and spoke with a manager, who sincerely apologized for the mistake, corrected it, and sent me an email with the new receipt. Much to my surprise, the restaurant even took everyones dessert off the bill! Bottom line, Le Diplomate offers great food, and even better customer service. I will definitely be returning.

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CR

Craig B

My wife and I went here for dinner recently and thought it was good, but that it didnt quite live up to the hype as one of DCs top restaurants. We went around Christmas time for our anniversary, and the decor was some of the best weve seen at a restaurant around the holidays. We sat at a table for two, but it kind of felt like six because the tables were all too close to each other. We waited over 20 minutes for someone to stop by the table--unacceptable at a place like this--but the waiter was apologetic and did comp a Gougere appetizer. The highlights of our meal were the French Onion soup and the profiteroles. Excellent. The steak frites were done well, but nothing crazy good, and the veal entree was a little better. The apple tart was interesting and decent. I was a little disappointed that despite mentioning our anniversary as the reason for our visit, no wait staff mentioned it during our dinner. Maybe my expectations were a little unreasonable, but when weve mentioned special occasions when making reservations at other top DC restaurants, someone--hostess, waiter, or a cook via writing it on your dessert plate--has always made sure to mention it. Overall, the food was worthy of a 4-4.2 star, but our experience, which I would assume is not commonplace, and the crowded, noisy atmosphere would bring the rating down a notch. Good meal, but weve done better for special occasions.

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SC

Scotty ST

The restaurant was a perfect place to take one of my best friends out for her birthday. The decoration and atmosphere is part of the experience. I enjoyed the seating and the people watching here. The clientele of the restaurant is filled with food loving Washingtonians. We started out with the selection of regional cheeses. Our waiter recommended having a wide spread of cheeses, all were fantastic. The cheese plate we ordered came with three cheeses, apples, bread and jams. The wine selection was very nice as there were many different options for anyones taste. The main courses we ordered were the Moules Frites and the Sunday special, Chicken Marengo. Both dishes were fantastic! My mussels were served in a nice white wine sauce. I was expecting them to be served in a typical mussels pot but they were served in a normal bowel. The chicken marengo was very good chicken and the sauce it was served with was lovely. The waiter was very attentive and the rest of the staff was always filling our water glasses and making sure we had plenty of bread and food. The desert was my favorite, we had the dark chocolate napoleon. This was perfect to be shared among 2 people. I loved everything I had here, my wallet wasnt very happy at the end though. Great place to for any occasion.

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KA

Kayla Preston

Great attentive service. The seafood platter was absolutely delicious and seriously fresh! Marylanders truly know fresh seafood (unlike where I live in NYC) and that my be the most crisp seafood Ive ever had. The oysters, clams, mussels, lobster, scallop, crabmeat salad, king crab legs, and crawfish were all excellent and the fixings of clarified butter, horseradish, vinegar, cocktail sauce were perfect accompaniments. I had the spinach quiche, also the best Ive ever had in life. My mom got the split pea soup, with crab meat, also probably the best ever. We had a burger & fries, the fries were fantastic, the burger was medium & cooked to perfection. Also my sister had the mussels which she didnt like so much but I easily helped her finish because the light sauce was so tasty yet light. We ordered a lovely rose champagne for mothers day. I cant remember the name but it was so airy & refreshing. And the bread they served was also fresh and delicious. The room temp spreadable butter was so good that we had to ask for more. Definitely a great restaurant to treat yourself & indulge! The only con was that I asked them to charge my battery charger for my phone and when I got it back it was broken. Accidents do happen I guess

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