Jula's on the Potomac — Restaurant in Alexandria

I reserved the wine room at Jula’s for a friend’s birthday celebration. While coordinating the reservation, email correspondence with Jula was pleasant and seamless. Since I had reserved a room and paid the deposit, I thought it would be no issue to add attendees to my reservation. It is worth it to note that this wine “room” was hardly a room as it was not closed off from the main dining room. It was a converted pantry with cabinetry and large mirror. Upon arrival, my party had an additional attendee, an 8 year old child. I politely asked for an additional seat for him. The server returned and offered a high chair. I explained that would not be sufficient as my young guest is clearly too big for a high chair. The server then returned with Jula. Jula asked for me by name and began to explain that the room could not accommodate an extra person because the servers would not have enough room to more around. I again explained that we were all there to celebrate my friend and would be more than happy to squeeze in and make space for a chair. Jula stated that she already had a party of 20 in the dining room and she was already stretching her staff thin by accepting my reservation. A reservation that was placed 3 weeks prior. She then offered to have one person in the party sit at the bar, completely away from the group. I again stated that we were there together and my friend Maria stated no one would be moving. Jula rebutted that service will be slow because she was expecting a party of 8 that was now 11. I simply responded that at this point we were all here (keeping in mind a deposit had been paid well in advance). A small chair was brought in from the patio and the meal went on without any issue. This should have been the end of it. After my friend left an honest review about the experience, Jula took it upon herself to respond. She made claims that I was “demanding” as if I was aggressive in my responses. She states she offered to move us to dining room when in fact she only offered to more one person to the bar. She states I should have respected a policy that was at no point communicated in advance. Jula could have expressed the space limitations when I increased the head count of the party. As an owner, Jula did not conduct a productive conversation. She did not even take the time to address me privately as the host of the event. So now a simple hiccup in seating arrangements, coupled with Jula’s responses in person and online has left a stain on what turned out to be a lovely brunch with chosen family. Jula should consider treating her patrons with respect, especially the ones who have paid her a deposit to dine in her establishment. I wonder if my party looked more like Jula, would we have been reasonably accommodated? I will not be finding out as Jula’s lack of awareness in person and online has lost her my patronage as well as anyone else who reads this review and understands the egregious nature of her actions. Shame on you for trying to paint your patrons as demanding as if you had not received payment. As if we were disrespectful in expecting seating and service for an event that was paid for in advance. If I had known this was how you conducted business, I would’ve spent my money elsewhere. PS: we tipped your server very well since we “inconvenienced” everyone so much. This is in addition to the ridiculously high service fee you charge...

Horrible first time experience!

I wanted to like this restaurant. The reason for dining at Jula's this first time was to consider it for an upcoming corporate event. I was looking for a venue in Northern Virginia with nice views and had been told that I should consider Jula's. On 08/20, I made a reservation for 08/25 for four and requested a standard size table (not a high top) on the terrace. Jula's allows for reservations to be made specifically for either terrace or main dining room dining. On 08/21, I changed the reservation to an inside table due to possible inclement weather, and received confirmation for a 7:15 p.m. 08/25 reservation change. When we arrived at the restaurant, I was told that the restaurant had sent a message earlier in the day (it was sent 5:30 p.m. for the 7:00 p.m. reservation) letting me know that my reservation could be cancelled due to inclement weather and because there weren't any inside tables available. I explained that I hadn't read that message, and also that that I had changed that reservation to inside dining and I had received a confirmation for that reservation change. Despite being able to show that I had a confirmed inside reservation for 7:15 p.m., the the hostess insisted that I did not have a confirmed reservation. Two of my party had already arrived and they had been seated outside. We joined them and minutes later Jula come over to the table with her reservation tablet in what I think was a bizarre effort to justify the restaurant seating us outside. Despite the fact that her own tablet reflected that I had a confirmed 7:15 p.m. reservation for inside, and I was able to show her the confirmation on my phone, she focused on the 7:00 p.m. reservation and the associated note. Clearly, the restaurant had erroneously focused on the 7:00 p.m. reservation which had been modified instead of the 7:15 p.m. confirmed reservation. Instead of acknowledging the mixup and apologizing for it, which would have been sufficient since mistakes do happen, there was an insistence that the 7:15 p.m. reservation did not exist. I was left feeling that the restaurant, in my case, was not interested in providing quality customer service. Since at that juncture continuing the discussion was futile, I let Jula know politely that there wasn't any need to continue the discussion.

We did stay for dinner, despite this experience and my desire to leave, because two in my party had just flown in from Europe and were too tired to venture out and find another suitable dining option on a Friday evening. We were pleasant with the waiter as he was with us, and we tipped him well despite the reservation issue, since he was obviously not a fault. This, also despite the fact that the before dinner drinks we had ordered did not get served until the meals were served. The entrees were served within two minutes of the appetizers being served, and the halibut that was featured that evening was overcooked. Towards the end of our meal, we were to told that we could move inside and we did move to a table in the main dining room. I guess this was the restaurant's to attempt to make amends, which at that juncture seemed a hollow gesture.

I don't recommend dining at Jula's, I won't dine at Jula's again, and it's obviously no longer a venue consideration for my...

My family has been going here (Cafe 44 version) several times a year, but this was our first time at the expanded version “Jula’s on the Potomac.” Despite the quality of Cafe 44, this “new version” is nothing (good) to write home about. Is it bad enough to generate a really lousy review??? No, but very disappointing in comparison. We arrived on a Thursday night in the fall…usually a fairly busy dining out night, and place was maybe 20% full (and did not pick up over the course of our dinner...red flag #1). The table we were seated at was somewhat odd for a party of 5…long and narrow: 3 people along the wall and one on either end. OK…design choice, but not conducive to conversation (red flag #2). First contact with our server was a bit slow and we all thought she was the assistant because she just came and offered water (and no personality or warmth!). Eventually we asked her if we could order drinks and that all went fine (very nice drink menu, by the way!). We ordered meals and a couple of us had questions and she really didn’t seem to know much about the menu (and again, no warmth…never the first smile). The drinks came and they were fine. Salads came up and this was our third red flag: small Caesar’s were just bagged salad with very commercial dressing and a few croutons. 0 for effort points. The food deliverer at least smiled and said something welcoming (but had no idea who was getting what!). And maybe it's just me, but food delivered wearing latex gloves is uncomforting (red flag 3) Dinner arrived and at least three of us were disappointed. Two pastas way overcooked and flavorless (Sausage Tortellini was very basic tortellini with a couple of medium sized sausage links thrown on top; Pappardelle with bacon was overcooked and bacon was almost non-existent). The other two people were guests and didn’t comment either way on their meals and I didn’t want to ask. We asked for pepper for the pasta and no offer to grind fresh pepper…just dropped off a (clogged) pepper shaker (had to pry the bottom off the shaker to get any pepper...actually a little gross when you think about it...what was clogging the pepper shaker??). After the main course, the server dropped off dessert menus (again, no banter or descriptions). We shared a bread pudding (excellent) and a key lime pie (I didn’t have any any of that, but was only half eaten, so no comment either way). Then we waited and waited for check (it’s OK not to rush the check, but server didn’t even stop by to see how we were doing). A couple of us wanted after dinner drinks but gave up). Then the bill comes with automatic 20% gratuity. I usually do tip 20% for reasonable service, but would have downgraded a little if I had a choice. Bottom line...I was going to give them one more chance (based on our previous good experiences)…but after reading other reviews, I doubt we'll be back and definitely won’t try again for a somewhat special dinner...