Bistro Provence — Restaurant in Bethesda

I want to start by saying I mean to write this review as a constructive criticism for the restaurant to improve. I thought the food was great and therefore this restaurant has a lot of potential, but that they are being held back due to a little disorganization. First of all, online it mentions a tasting menu and then lists options for three course meals in a private room. If fails to specify that this three course meal is separate from the tasting menu and requires a certain group size. This was the initial confusion my husband and I dealt with when we arrived for our reservations. Secondly, I ordered a Chardonnay, but my husband had a hard time picking a bourbon because the waiter said it was an old menu that didn't include everything they have. He walked my husband to the bar to point out what he wanted. When my husband asked the price of the pour he said, "uhhh, I don't know I will go check." He said it cost $15.50. We know our bourbon and this is definitely not worth $15.50 (that is just about half the price of the bottle). We thought maybe the prices are very inflated because you are paying for the atmosphere in the restaurant. Third, we didn't see many options on the menu in the restaurant that were listed on the menu online. This created confusion as we inquired the availability of entrees. We asked if the lamb dish was available and the waiter confirmed it was. It is listed online for $68 and for comparison their ribeye for one person is the most expensive item on their menu listed online for $88. Their bread was also very stale. During conversation on the way home we realized that he had paid $85 for the lamb. If the lamb is that price, what is the actual price of the ribeye? Or are they about the same? If they are, then my husband would have gotten the ribeye. I called for clarification and was told sorry for the confusion our menus are not updated. We were celebrating our anniversary and honestly there was nothing that could have ruined our night. We still enjoyed ourselves. My suggestion is that you update all pricing to match current prices and make sure that your online menu matches the one in the restaurant. When someone chooses your restaurant to celebrate a special occasion they want to focus on each other, not have to go into all this confusion over the menu and pricing. I looked through reviews and it unfortunately sounds like others have mentioned a similar experience. There is a lot of...

First time, going to this restaurant and I was highly disappointed for lack of professionalism and the food. First , I did not feel the French atmosphere at all, more like a Mexican restaurant. I didn’t like the food, this is not a French cuisine and overpriced for what you are getting. I made a reservation through the manager on the phone for a private room table for 2 , once we got there I was told by the staff, after staff spoke with the manager to confirm my reservation , that there is no table for 2 people in the private rooms section. The manager did not even come down to tell us, she had to tell the staff over the phone while we were waiting downstairs. Meanwhile , she was upstairs in the private rooms section . We decided to stay downstairs and cope with the noise. About 45 mins , the manager came downstairs and being hypocritical , she told us how sorry she was, keep apologizing and asked us if we wanted to move now, we told her No because we were not willing to move after we were already sitting , started drinking and ordered our food which by the way was tasteless when we got it. I’m sure she gave our table to some other guests or she didn’t have a table at all but still accepted my reservation, ridiculous. Staff are not friendly, all seem scared, cold and confused . This is Not a French restaurant , I have been to couple of them and I can tell the difference specially the Food, again it is more like a Mexican cuisine with a French name attached to it and overpriced . If you want a good French restaurant go to - le vieux Logis restaurant in Bethesda , you will have the best French cuisine , staff over there are very professional , very welcoming and again you will have a great, Real french food. I should have gone there again but I thought I should try this restaurant for the first time and I was highly...

Went to dinner to celebrate a milestone birthday 12/24 with about 6 other friends we were a big party. The restaurant ambience was nice. However, the lady manager was very unpleasant not only did she not welcome us, I hate to throw the race card however, by the end of our s was obvious we had been minimized based on color of our skin. The sommelier was the worst the last straw for me he was incapable of asking the group what kind of wine we felt like having, didn’t even have the customer service to come explain the bottle of wine we had chosen. Worst sommelier I have ever met !! Incapable of hiding his unconcious biases. Our waiter Riley made up for the bad customer service of the manager and incompetent sommelier 10/10 service by Riley. To top everything the manager accused us of not paying when clearly she had not done her math correctly and ended up charging an extra exorbitant amount of money to one payment more than even the entire bill. Not once did the manger take time to apologize for the poor service of the sommelier despite our complaints. Food was okay honestly. That is a matter of taste as some in my party loved their meals. I think because my meal was served 10 minutes after everyone I feel like it was a rush job as the kitchen was closing and it was not well prepared and lacked seasoning. Overall, the restaurant gets 2/5 for me. No return for me ! It is good to treat all customers equally irrespective of color don’t judge the book...