Le Refuge — Restaurant in Alexandria

Many years since I last dined at Le Refuge and I was delighted finding the same masterful quality of classic French country fare dropping in for lunch yesterday. I did not really drop in, I called first. Many other things have changed in over 3 decades of visiting LR but not the food nor the visual ambience.

When I first dined at LR in the 1980’s you could barely see from the front door to the back of the dining room through the haze of cigarette smoke and it is a short distance. The restaurant seats 42 people at full capacity having a handful of 4 top tables and the rest are tables for 2. All tables have 2 table clothes, red wine color cloth with a white one angled on top of it. The interior air cleared with the smoking ban in restaurants in 2009 and now customers are required to wear a mask to come through the front door.

There was only 1 couple dining enjoying lunch when I was seated at 1:00 PM. They finished and left by the time my entree arrived and there were 3 people who came in picking up take out orders during my visit so it is not reasonable to comment on service being the only diner having the exclusive attention of the server.

I started out having a Kir Royal, moving to a glass of White Bordeaux with my entree and Remy accompanying a shot of espresso with dessert. My food order sequence was baked onion soup with Swiss cheese followed by trout with mushrooms and almonds in lemon butter sauce entree and puff pastry with vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce and freshly made whipped cream for dessert. All dishes were made with fresh quality ingredients masterfully prepared. Onion soup and trout hit my table top piping hot which is a distinction of fine dining restaurants. Artfully plated elevated flavors are...

This restaurant has a lovely atmosphere. The people working here are lovely and attentive. Unfortunately, the the appetizer and main course were horrible. After I was seated, I asked if they had Merlot. The waiter said yes, and she turned and walked away, bringing me a “glass of Merlot.” I should have asked if they had a variety of wines by the glass, but I was never given the option.

I ordered an appetizer - asparagus with some sort of cream sauce dressing. The asparagus arrived. They were barely surviving. I could see only the tips because the rest were in a pool of cream sauce. The plate had cubed tomatoes on the side, with cubed bread, and a few assorted lettuce leaves for color? I took a few bites, but could not finish the offering.

For the main course I chose one of the daily specials. Sliced duck with a raspberry sauce. The sauce was wonderful, the duck was not. The duck was under cooked and very gristly. Served with the duck was a dollop of delicious scalloped potatoes, and puréed carrots (I think they were carrots), and sautéed onions.

There are several reasons I gave this restaurant three stars. The first reason is that I took a chance and ordered dessert. OMG! Strawberries, homemade (at least it tasted homemade) vanilla ice cream, covered in rich sauce, finished with heavy whipped cream on top - unbelievably delicious. I wish I had ordered three desserts instead of dinner. The second reason for the three star rating is because the owners of this restaurant are very attentive, and it is probably my fault for not telling them how disappointing the meal was. The last reason for the three star rating is because this restaurant has a...

Pretty disappointing overall; especially considering what we heard about this place. To start it off, the ambiance is cute, cozy, European feel, but is pretty small and squeezed in. The bathrooms are horrendous and one of the bathroom doors would not even lock: it's a disgrace an establishment of this supposed reputation allows restrooms like this.

The service was subpar and it seemed that they were short staffed. The food: Escargot was very tasty but little in quantity (like 6 snails). Duck Mousse also tasty but needed something more to go along with it: average bread and a salad with not enough dressing won't do. Now to the main course which was the biggest let down. We specifically came here because we heard the Beef Wellington was great. To our shock, it was below average. The carrot purree was the best thing about the dish. The steak was insipid and our steaks first came super, super rare (we ordered medium rare). They took it back it comes back to us Medium well... Everything is dry and insipid now with the dough shrouded all over even outside the steak. Potatoes were dull and salty. Cabbage had a good charr taste to it. Zucchini was irrelevant,

Dessert was pleasant-we ordered the profiterole, and the wine was good too. (They gave us one free glass to make up for raw bloody steaks which I guess was a good gesture).

Overall, was not worth the price at all, and I don't think we will be coming back here any time soon - certainly not for the...