Môtier french pastry & cuisine — Restaurant in Clifton

Not sure what happened? Decided on a Sunday to check out this restaurant because if it’s 4.9 rating and we were craving French bakery goods. The restaurant is clean, the staff is lovely… But the food was absolutely terrible. I’m someone that eats pretty much everything/anything. I ordered a croissant chicken sandwich. When it was served to me, the middle was ice cold almost frozen, and the smell of the spinach /arugula was half rotting because they had been perhaps not dried off well when put in the sandwich and was maybe old? (I couldn’t even tell what it was…spinach ? Arugula? It was badly wilted and going bad) The chicken itself was chewy and ice cold, and for the first time in my life I couldn’t actually swallow the food and had to put it in a napkin.I could not eat it. I have never done that before…… I’m also not sure why the croissant was SO wet in the middle. I know sometimes that can happen when you put tomatoes in a sandwich, but my guess is they did not dry off the produce before slicing it and putting it in the croissant. I returned it and asked for a basic croissant to eat with some jam and butter. That was very good. I liked the jam too. My guest ordered a savory spinach and feta pie. She was also Given the item Luke warm with the middle completely ice cold. We asked them to heat it, they brought it back and it was exactly the same. Barely warm and ice cold in the middle. We explained to them that we wanted it hot all the way through and that it should be golden on the outside and maybe make a little sizzling sound when they take it out of the oven. Anyway at that point we were really hungry and needed to go as we were late for our appointment, so we just asked them to blast it in the oven as much as they can before bringing it back. We really wanted to love this place cause it’s so nearby… And we are actually really easy to please, and have eaten at a lot of different French bakeries, and remain open minded and flexible. But this was just absolutely terrible. We’re not going back. The staff was VERY nice, so...

This is a charming little bakery and cafe with a small indoor dining area and a few outdoor tables. The atmosphere is all about cozy country French style. So pretty! Note: Indoor tables are reserved for guests who are dining (as opposed to just having coffee and pastries). There is a full daily lunch menu and dinner on Thursdays and they also offer pastries and coffee to go (or to eat outside). Sadly, the card reader was down and they were only accepting cash on the day we went, so we were only able to sample a selection of pastries. The staff were extremely apologetic and very friendly. In spite of the snafu they were handling orders quickly, keeping patrons informed and answering questions. The pastries - sadly the pastries were just not what they should have been. We tried the chocolate almond croissant - which was spread to the point it was almost flat and was chewy/gummy rather than crisp and flaky. For comparison we also tried a standard pain au chocolat, which was better but still not as light and flaky as it should be. The trio of mini caneles were a little doughy and very chewy (verging on gummy bear level chewiness). Overall, although we really wanted to love it given how hard the staff were working and how pretty the place is - if you’re looking for great French pastries this...

I really really really wanted to like this place, but $15 for French Onion Soup sets my expectations high, like this soup SHOULD be delicious, otherwise I'm gonna feel really bad for spending $15 on a bowl of soup.

$15 is a higher price than many french restaurants in DC, and the soup I had here at Motier was nowhere near adequate for that price tag.

The onions were not caramelized enough, leading the soup to be pretty pale in color and lacking the robust depth in flavor you come to expect when eating french onion soup. It may sound really harsh for me to say this, but legitimately I think Panera's french onion soup tastes better than what Motier offered me yesterday, even if I ignore the cost of both.

There's something seriously wrong if I can go to le diplomate in D.C., pay less money for a french onion soup, and have 10x the amount of flavor and satisfaction.

Moving on to the other things I tried.. Pastries: tasty, but again a little pricey. Ham sandwich: Was literally ham, a slice of cheese, and a pickle. Simple, but at least better than the soup.

The staff was super nice, and the vibes were really cool, so I'm sorry for being so harsh.. but if I had to rate this place just based off the soup then I'm never...