The Crossing — Restaurant in Clayton

My girlfriend and I had a fantastic experience at The Crossing last weekend. Our server, Gus, was fantastic every step of the way. Going into the dinner, we had reviewed the menu and decided on the tasting menu (which allows you to select among various options for four different courses). It looked fantastic, and we planned on wine pairings!

However, Gus discussed the Chef's Tasting Menu with us and described exactly what it entails. My girlfriend has a gluten intolerance, and he stated that the chefs would work within any existing allergies. This made the decision much simpler, as usually she has to double check every menu option and ensure it does not have gluten. Avoiding that makes for a much more relaxing dinner!

The Chef's menu is like wonderful "food roulette". We told Gus about my girlfriend's intolerance, and he took care of everything from that point forward. There are eight courses, and they're preceded by the MOST WONDERFUL BREAD I have ever had at a restaurant (it tasted like the homemade bread my grandma makes!). They even brought out a loaf of gluten-free bread for my girlfriend (which she said was great).

Our eight courses started off with lighter dishes and built into a wonderful crescendo of foie gras, beef tenderloin, and sea bass. Long story short, every course was fantastic. The stand out performers were the sea scallop as well as the desserts, which were a creme brulee and a flourless chocolate torte (flourless, so my girlfriend could eat it!).

Overall, this was a fantastic meal made better by the warm, welcoming attitude of every staff member. Waters were constantly refilled, the table was properly maintained, and every dish was explained in a level of detail that wasn't condescending but was very informative.

I would certainly recommend this restaurant to anyone looking for a great meal. It's a bit on the pricier side, but it's well worth it. This was certainly one of, if not THE, best meal...

Consider they present themselves as upscale and their prices are comparable to 801 chophouse and capital grille (both just a couple blocks away) Starting with visual ambience. The place is a small old building so they go for a classic, I would say German style but for an upscale restaurant they are delivering old and classic in the wrong direction. The ugly gray carpet looks 100 years old. Low popcorn ceilings above some of the tables that don’t add to the visual ambience (they’re supposed to absorb sound but in this case they don’t really help). Contemporary, bright pieces of art that have nothing to do with all other elements and do not create a good contrast, they just looks out of place hanging here and there with no clear focal points. We ordered the tasting menu which is a four course menu. $60 or more per person if you order certain items. Beat salad was excellent, tuna tartare very good, foie gras ($9 extra) and crab cake were good but nothing special. Entree. I order their grilled Texas quail and unfortunately it was so salty that can’t really tell if it would be good normally. Portions are small to very small so even with four courses you may not get full specially if there was something you didn’t like. Desserts are very good but again, nothing special. Service good but very very slow. We spent a little over two hours there not because we were taking our time or hanging out after eating but because each course was taking an unjustifiable amount of time to come out. Reason why I didn’t sent back my salty quail. In my opinion neither experience, ambience, service or food justify their prices and...

What a fantastic experience! This has been the best culinary/dining experience we’ve had in quite some time (the last one being a 3-star Michelin outside D.C.). After living in Europe for a decade (Italy and Belgium), it’s hard to find food or restaurants in the U.S. that are comparable in taste, presentation, quality, etc. We’ve been to The Hill multiple times, just to be disappointed by the highly-rated “average” food. I digress; just wanted to provide context on how sophisticated our palate is and how good this place really is.

From the moment we walked into the restaurant, until departing some 3 hours later (the amount of time time dinners should take), service was great…from the host stand, to the coat check, to the servers, etc. The ambiance was inviting and each member of the staff was polite and professional. It was my wife’s birthday, and she was greeted with a card at the table.

We ordered the Chef’s Grand Tasting menu, BTW. I highly recommend it. We had two in our party who chose the a la carte and they were very satisfied as well. Joseph was very knowledgeable of each dish that came out, suggestions, specials and all the menu items. The owner made rounds throughout the night and made the time to stop by for a chat, which was genuine and welcoming.

What a great night. It’s too bad we’re leaving the area. Otherwise, this would have become our go-to spot for...