Amélie DC Bistro & Wine Bar — Restaurant in Washington

Giving this two stars because the food was ultimately pretty good, but our experience wasn’t. The TLDR: our waiter (who we’re pretty sure is a manager) disregarded a friend of mine who has a fairly common food allergy and exposed them to allergens even though we explicitly told him about their restrictions.

I was part of a mid sized group (8 people) celebrating a friend’s birthday at 8 PM on a Thursday. Not necessarily peak dinner time or a particularly busy day of the week, but the restaurant was fairly busy when we arrived (no complaints about that, glad they’re doing well Post-COVID). We go out for dinner as a group often and are generally pretty patient with wait staff, as many of us have worked in the service industry and understand they have a lot of things they have to juggle. However, one issue we aren’t lax about is food allergies.

Several of my friends have fairly common food restrictions/allergies that are pretty easy to accommodate (we’re talking nuts/seeds), and we alerted our waiter to these at the top of the meal. We’re pretty sure our waiter was a manager based on the fact that he was dressed differently from all of the other wait staff (who were lovely) and significantly more frazzled. He briskly told us that the restaurant was very busy, and that the chef might not be able to accommodate our requests. Now, it’s not like my friend was asking him to completely change a dish where the allergen was the main ingredient (because she would obviously never order a dish like that to begin with), this was more of a “it says this dish is topped with pine nuts, could you just leave them off?”. It’s not rocket science.

Anyway, to our waiters credit, he did write this down on his pad (I actually don’t mind when wait staff write down orders, particularly in situations like this). However, when my friend’s meal arrived, there were pine nuts on it. This obviously frustrated my friend, and she asked if it could be remade. Compared to other members of our group, this friends allergies are quite serious and could easily land them in the hospital. The waiter seemed irritated and tried to convince my friend to order a different dish, but ultimately took it back to the kitchen and got it remade. The kitchen was very close to our table and had a large open window, so we could see the interaction between our waiter and the chef. They argued a for bit and then stared at us looking pissed off, it was very hard to ignore. But it wasn’t like we hadn’t been communicating with them from the start, so any frustration was their own doing. There were also nuts on a shared charcuterie board we got (again, after we had explicitly told them no nuts), but my friend just didn’t eat anything off of it.

I understand that restaurants get nervous when people mentioned they have allergies, because it could lead to them having liability, but we’ve been to much smaller and more casual restaurants that have been able to easily accommodate my friend in the past. It was wild that a restaurant that bills itself as higher end couldn’t. It’s not like French food is particularly heavy with nuts and seeds either.

The rest of the wait staff were awesome though, and the drinks were pretty good. For the price point, I’d honestly just go to Medium...

Cute, cozy spot for French food located on 14th Street and just a few blocks away from Logan Circle! I've been dying to try Amelie ever since I saw their orange wine flight in NYC, so I was super excited when they finally opened their doors in DC. However, when I finally did make my way over to Amelie (somehow over a year after they opened...who knows what happened there), it didn't quite live up to the hype.

I visited Amelie with a couple of friends for dinner, and we had a great time. The ambiance was really nice, with great energy and almost a buzz in the air, but it also felt cozy and quiet enough to have a relatively intimate meal. We were seated in the center of the restaurant, so we were in the perfect spot to soak in all the great vibes. The server was friendly, but they tried to upcharge us on every single item we ordered; they kept trying to convince us to get add-ons, and they also charged us for our extra baskets of bread (although, to be totally fair, we did have a few baskets and it was really good bread).

One of my friends ordered the classic burger and the other got the mussels, and I ordered the raviole. We all enjoyed our dishes, but all felt that they were pretty basic; they were tasty, but standard and didn't leave us craving more. The raviole was a fun vegetarian pasta dish, with mini ravioli cooked in a creamy green sauce and topped with small pieces of squash and pine nuts. It was tasty, and I loved the earthiness from the sauce and extra texture from the nuts, but it generally felt like a pretty one-note dish. I found myself feeling a bit bored of the pasta within the first quarter of the meal, but it did get better as I started breaking up bites of pasta with nibbles of bread (which, again, was fantastic).

The staff also tried to rush our meal a bit, checking in every 5-10 minutes and heavily signaling that it was time for us to exit, despite our total meal only taking just about an hour. It was a fun place, but Amelie probably won't be at the top of my want-to-try-again list for a bit; however, I do still want to get that orange wine flight, so maybe I'll find myself back here for...

What are you waiting for? Go catch this place before it gets too busy!

Hands down a great experience! The team and the ambiance are superior…the wine selection is just right and the menu is not overwhelming.

The burger seems to be a hit and I must say that it is one of the better burgers I have had in town! Medium rare is key! The burger and the bun just melt in your mouth! The fries were incredibly crispy and my Negroni was perfect!

Since writing this review, I have probably gone back at least once a week! The crew just makes this place so special! The management of this place is present! They are out and about and ready to engage with the guests! From Olivier and Eric, the part owners and managers, Anthony, the French chef and Part owner, to Sami, the ultimate owner (when he is in town), all are out welcoming people and roaming around making sure everything is to their perfection! I honestly have not experienced such active ownership.

The crew is so friendly! Make it a point to chat with the team. Every single one is happy and excited to be there!

THAT is an experience in and of itself and a testament to a great leadership!

Suffice it to say that this place makes me feel at home! I have been going there non stop with friends, family, dates, business, and visitors. It’s perfect for all occasions!

Brunch is served! Now they are open for brunch…great menu! The home made plain and chocolate croissants are so crisp and fresh!

Amelie team: well done and thank you for bringing a superior and affordable culinary experience to our city! Keep up the good work, you have raised the bar in the city by elevating an experience without elevating the...