Lia's — Restaurant in Village of Friendship Heights

I regretfully chose Lia's to take my visiting niece for lunch during the recent restaurant week. I have a gluten sensitivity but saw that the burrata was listed gluten-free so I asked the waiter about the flat bread. He informed me that a hamburger bun would be substituted. Odd but I said "okay, that's fine but can I have it grilled or toasted?" He said it could only be microwaved. My guest tried asking why a separate pan couldn't be used but I was worried about the time so I just let it go but the bread was really not good at all.

The waiter was a complete clown - he "danced" between tables. Then we had a problem with the check - I received the bill from a nearby table (along with their bank card) and I was already very late to get back to work. I had informed the waiter that I was on my lunch hour and we still ended up being at the restaurant for 75 minutes and it was not even busy. I took my dessert with me because there was not enough time to eat it there. When I got to work, I realized it was completely sunken in the middle with the whipped cream melted. My niece said it must have been microwaved. I could have prepared much better food myself at home.

NOTE: This happened in January and I initially did not want to leave a bad review so I contacted the restaurant directly but was quite disappointed with the response. The manager simply replied that they will do better and she hopes I'll visit again. I don't expect to be comped for every complaint I make and sometimes I even keep quiet because I don't want to appear as if I'm just trying to get a freebie. But this incident and the way it was handled makes me feel cheated. She did say that I could visit their website to sign up for...

Our first time going there. My wife and I took my mom there for her birthday. They called the morning of our reservation to confirm we were arriving and the man asked if there was a special occasion. I thought thebquestion strange because i wrote it in when i made the reservation. I guess Open Table does not pass along that info. I was glad to confirm it. I said yes, it's my mom's birthday. I figured they asked because they'd do something special for her. When we arrived we were were seated quickly as the place was empty except us and one other table. We got water and then did not see anyone for 15 minutes, maybe longer. I had to stand up and flag someone down to take our drink order. Apparently no one was assigned to our table so everyone just kept walking by us. They found someone and we got our drink order in and some appetizers. The dinner was good and the service was better after the shaky start. My rating of 3 stars is for overall value including my first impression. At $110 per person I do not want run-of-the-mill. I do not need to be wowed, but I would expect to be impressed by the food and service because there are so many other choices these days to spend our (very) hard earned money. Would I come back? I'm sure I will, but Lia's would not be my first choice and it does not conjure a favorable memory compared to other places. And sadly no, they did nothing special for my mom for her birthday, not a special dessert or a little note or even a mention from the server. So why even ask on the phone then? Positive notes: Clean bathrooms. Yes they validate parking tickets for the garage next door. The ambiance and decor was great and upscale. My mom liked the Chardonnay. The calamari amd...

Friday night dinner with relatives who chose this place based on location, variety of food and outdoor patio.

I called the day before to give my credit card number so they could put the tab on me and although they had to call again the day of the dinner, it all worked out.

Arrived and went to the downstairs parking lot. We parked by the ‘retail elevator’ that oddly brought us up by pot belly and across the street from the restaurant?!?!….

We started dinner pretty early while the patio wasn’t that full but I guess the weather’s been bad here so by 7pm, the patio was packed. Since we’re from Florida, we thought it was freezing (in the 70s) but everyone else was loving the ‘heat’….

Service with drinks was prompt. We ordered several different appetizers (calamari, brussel sprouts, rice balls, meatballs) and they were all delicious- especially the brussel sprouts. I cannot believe I just wrote that. I wish we would’ve known that the meatballs had some spice to them since the kids all found out the hard way…

Main courses took a little while which was ok with relatives and company. It allowed us to catch up but the kids were restless by the time the main course came. My burger was decent, the kids seemed to like their pastas and pizza and the other dishes were reportedly not bad.

Dessert was a mixture of ice creams and cookie and some ball-type thingies. Everyone enjoyed and they were nice enough to bring out a candle for our main birthday although there were a few others amongst the kids…. Oddly enough the desserts came out with no spoons that I had to go get but that was the only detraction from an otherwise good...