Bastille Brasserie & Bar — Restaurant in Alexandria

Like a night in Paris...including the rude host. Bastille has the look, sound and ambience of a true Parisian bistro. I know this because we spent 25 minutes waiting for our "reserved" table watching the busy staff deliver delicious looking plates to the lively diners, who were all clearly enjoying their meals. Good things: our server was a delightful French woman who made excellent wine and food recommendations. She was attentive without being annoying, and our courses were promptly delivered except for dessert which seemed to take longer. The food was very good, though the risotto was barely room temperature, and the frites had clearly spent some time sitting under the heat lamp and were therefore just warm and slightly limp. The crème brûlée and profiteroles were a delicious and surprisingly light dessert, though coffee was not offered for some reason. The night, which was to celebrate a friend's birthday, would have been much better had it not started with the rushed and rude host. We checked in promptly at 7:30 in time for our reservation and were told our table would be ready in just a minute. Eleven minutes later another party of 3 came in and told the host they were 20 minutes early for their 8pm reservation. Just a few minutes later I watched in disbelief as the host told them their table was ready. Several other groups were seated while we waited, some that appeared to be walk-ins. We ended up waiting 25 minutes for our table. When I asked the host why they were seated ahead of us they told us they assign a table to reservations and our "assigned" table wasn't ready. The manager eventually brought us a complimentary glass of champagne but by that time there was little that could have overcome my disappointment and confusion as to why it took so long for us to be seated, and further why the host was treating us with such disdain. Never once did they offer an apology of explanation. I felt like we were putting them out by being there. We joked that perhaps it was part of the "experience" of being in a French bistro. Sadly we were all excited about our first dinner here, especially to support a local restaurants during restaurant week. I wish I could say the quality of the food overcame the unpleasant start to the evening but unfortunately it just wasn't worth the aggravation. There are better options in Del Ray...

An honest.effort to make great food is always evident by the life that is breathed into it by it's creator. During restaurant week my other and I visited during peak hours on a Saturday evening. The restaurant was full. We had reservations and were seated promptly then immediately greeted by our waiter. Drinks were ordered, specials explained to us and we browsed through the menu. Being restaurant week I was surprised at the number of dishes on the menu. Each course had at least five offerings and the entrees numbered eight or so. Plenty to choose from. When the waiter returned we were amused when he could not understand us when we read menu items with French pronunciation. We chose the arugula-beet salad with goat cheese and rock shrimp beignets. The salad was good, but what can you say? There is rarely a menu without one. This was more flavorful than most, but could have been a little more acidic. The beignets we're interesting. The three little balls were soft and dense. Not fluffy at all. Texture was more like that of a croquette. The shrimp in each one was flavorful, but there needed to be more. A better appetizer would have been a crispy croquette with more shrimp. The main courses were good, well cooked and appealing. Bouilliabaise had fish shrimp, scallops and clams. Scallops were exceptional, the shrimp were proficiently cooked, but monkfish was over cooked. Broth was tasty, but could have been fishier - in a good way! My wife thought it was too tomatoey, but that is always her complaint. The pork tenderloin was expertly cooked, veggies we're firm, yet cooked still cooked. Dessert was ho hum. I saw three and they were all made from the same mould. Too sweet and one was overladen with white chocolate. To wrap it all up; the restaurant was noisy and not romantic, service was very good, food was well prepated but a bit plain. I would say that it should have been called a bistro and I would have ordered steak et frites or moules et frites. They...

I absolutely love Bastille and hadn't visited since before COVID. My fiancé and I celebrated my birthday with brunch, my first time having Bastille's brunch. We did the tasting menu and the food did not disappoint! We weren't wanting to imbibe and were pleasantly surprised by the tea selection. I had the soup du jour, which was Jerusalem artichoke, and it was the best I've had (and an unexpected nice surprise). Fiancé had the onion soup that never disappoints. We loved their take on eggs Benedict with the delicious, flaky croissant. While he stuck with the crème brûlée, my profiteroles were outstanding. I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy the brunch as much as my dinner favorites (escargot and cassoulet!), but I honestly did. The only downside was the atmosphere. I generally find it pretentious to have to dress up just to drop $100+ on a meal, but I found it obnoxious when two ladies came in their gym leggings and were seated next to us, one with a red, sweaty face as if she'd literally just finished a run! We certainly weren't dressed to the nines but most everyone was in jeans, and not the usual smart casual you'd expect. Maybe that will be a plus for some who want to go on a whim or want to do jeans and a tee, but it was shocking from what I remembered the post-COVID dinner crowd wearing, and this is coming from a millennial. Also, there is about 2 feet of space between tables, which I knew from previous meals, but considering we had a group of two on each side of us, it was obnoxious to hear loud talkers overpower our own conversation (although at least one group wasn't sweating). We will be back regardless, because I can't blame the restaurant for these things, but sadly this is definitely off my list for a...