Santé — Restaurant in Arlington

This is a review of Santé in the Ritz Carlton Pentagon City. I attended a holiday high tea held by Jill's House, a charity serving families and their children with disabilities. A fellow special needs "warrior mom" friend of mine was asked to speak about her family's experience with Jill's House, and I was delighted to attend.

They offered free valet parking, which was incredibly helpful during the busy holiday rush. The high tea was held in the private room at the back of the restaurant. There was another event going on in the main dining area which could be a bit loud at times where it was difficult to hear the guest speakers, but on any other ordinary day it would be a lovely room/venue for special events like a baby or bridal shower.

The spread of savory canapés and finger sandwiches, as well as sweet desserts, was beautiful. They were served on three-tiered platters (some tall, some wide) and all looked almost so beautiful to eat! I'm glad we decided to dig in, though, because they were delectable! Clear standouts on the savory side were the egg salad triangles and the cutest, tiniest chicken salad sliders. On the sweet side: the thin apple streusel bars, the cream puffs, and the chocolate tarts with edible chocolate snowmen picks on top! Even the macarons were light and airy, very well done!

We were served champagne and/or mimosas plus a choice of tea varieties. I ordered the chai, but I must've received the candy cane, so I asked for a replacement. The second pot I was served definitely tasted like a chai, so I'm sure there was just a simple mixup in the kitchen the first time.

The serving staff were very polite and attentive. They quietly slipped in/out during guest speakers, and everything was orchestrated very smoothly.

It was a lovely afternoon of tea and delicious delectables with some amazing women and a fantastic charitable organization that does incredible work for so many deserving folks. Would recommend Santé for...

My bf took me and my parents here for dinner, and we loved it! (Food review at the bottom of this post)

Food was all really good and all four of us are picky eaters. We ordered 5 sharable dishes and one main and we liked all of them! You can tell they all have differentiated flavor.

The ambience is amazing too, it's sitting right in the nice Ritz Carlton so even at the entrance it feels nice. Inside was really nice too, upscale and modern. Staffs are super nice and our server seemed genuinely proud of their dish!

Pricing was amazing as well. I know it is about 1.5 yrs old so maybe (sadly) they might jack up the price once they get more popular, but it felt reasonable considering the quality/amount of food served.

Overall I really enjoyed the place. Hopefully they stay as they are :')

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From left to right in the picture:

Shrimp something : shrimp really good and flavorful.4 pieces + piece of bread, with tomatoes base sauce

Charcuterie board: some toasts, mini pickles, roasted nuts, fig jam?, Honeycomb and two diff kinds of cheese and salami. I think it would be much better if we had wine but tonight was a no drink dinner

Pumpkin soup - really creamy and homey. Also good amount!

Octopus legs - they are THICK and chewy and soft!

Mushroom Risotto balls: my table likes this one a bit less, felt a bit bland/dry. But it might be because other dishes were really good!

Now the middle.. ROASTED WHOLE BRANZINO: it was AMAZING! Not cheap ($46) but was great. Very soft and juicy, and is very easy to serve(they are deboned). We ate the entire fish and the veggie stuffing/sauce. Highly recommend this if you like fish!(no, it was NOT fishy at all. Could tell it's a good...

After our second meal at Sante' during a 4-night stay at the Ritz-Carlton, we decided the hotel would get no more chances. We ordered a waffle and a "Farmer's Frittata". We were the first customers for breakfast on this Saturday morning. When we ordered, I specifically stated that I would prefer some sort of hot sauce with my eggs. I was told they had nothing of the sort, but they had a mediterranean sauce (that we actually had with our dinner at the same restaurant the night before) that they would bring with the meal. 1/2 hour later, our waitress shows up with our plates, serves them, and leaves. No hot sauce. My companion tried to spread cold butter on her waffle, but waffle was stone cold, cardboard-like, and dry. Syrup was, likewise, cold. So she's staring at this mess wondering how it is better than a thawing Eggo frozen waffle after a hurricane. I dig into the fritatta to discover the second worst thing you could bite into, a big ol' chunk of under-cooked potato. The eggs were overcooked, but surprisingly cold. And dry, as well. I, too, was starting to get that morning meal after a hurricane feeling. I have to guess our plates waited 10 minutes before being picked up at the pass through, while the other ZERO customers were being served. If I were Gordon Ramsey, I would have been throwing the term "donkey" around quite a bit regarding this shamefully bad meal. We stopped sampling the Ritz-Carlton's kitchen...