Flavorture — Restaurant in Washington

Its so crazy to see all the reviews mention "the owner was rude" because in fact he is just that.

Let me start by saying we went in with great intentions to eat at this establishment. We were excited to support our fellow BSU alumni as well as a small black owned business. We booked our reservation not even 2 hours before our reserved time because we were initially going to walk-in in which i wish we would have but we still made the reservation and paid 400 up front

So we were about 20 minutes late to our reservation. We called and the girl who answered the phone told us it was ok she would switch our reservation 15 minutes out so we wouldn't be considered late. The establishment was not packed at all which is why we were able to make a reservation at the last minute (it makes sense) We got there......they walked all eight of us all way through the establishment to the back just to tell is the table wasn't ready so we had to turn around and walk back out. We then waited outside about 30 minutes for them to get a table ready. The manager (tall black dark skin male) kept coming out to apologize and said in his exact words "let me try to rush these people out"

Finally we are seated. Now at this establishment when you make a reservation they want you to meet 900 minimum on food and drinks. Truthfully the birthday girl told the manager that we had just came from brunch not too long ago and we had a good time ( brunch was at focus which turns into a day party) and didnt know if we was going to make the minimum of 900. The manager said let me see what i can do we said ok. We had already said if not it was ok we would make it it was 8 of us and we would just have to do it. The manager comes back and says "we just need yall to get as close as possible" we said ok perfect but what exactly does that mean (there was no elaboration). We then all ordered food and four of us ordered drinks.

The manager came back to us and said yall at now at 678 and we need yall to get a little closer he offered us a bottle we said no snd he walked away (we did not ask him anything else) FYI he skated around us all night and we did not figure it out until later as to why.

There was no more communication after this NONE AT ALL. We ordered our food around 9:06.......after the last communication from the manager we waited waited waited it was 10:31 finally someone in the group asked about our food. THE MANAGER TOLD US they haven't pushed our food through yet because we have to pay first.....WHATTTTTTTTT?

This is where the issue occurred. Why didn't the manager ever say a word? Yes it was in the email and we missed it but why wouldn't the manager say a word instead of prancing around us like we were little kids......so now we have a bigger issue cause we still at this point haven't ate but they gave us our drinks and CORNBREAD

At this point is when we asked to speak to the owner . He came out arrogant and cocky NASTIEST attitude ever from jump we never stood a chance with him in-fact he told us to have a nice day and to let the manager deal it. He treated us like we were kids we were a group of woman all over the age of 36 with careers ( business owners- fbi agents- healthcare workers etc) and at that point its about 1130. We decided we were leaving we didn't even want him cooking our food. We end up at STK with a great vibe pretty establishment and still spent 680 and left the waiter a 145 tip. Money was never a issue. I say this to say this.............the establishment cares nothing about you where you come from to visit etc. the group was from NY with only 2 of us being from the DMV but 3 BSU alumni. The reason they make people pay first is because in case you don't like their food it will be NO REFUND. Look at all the other reviews (google and tiktok) majority are saying the same thing the owner is rude as hell and no refunds.

The saddest part about this is if you walk in you don't have the make up the 900 minimum food and drink balance. Why not just treat us like a walk?

What a disgrace.

Don't waste your...

I was very excited to actually visit Flavorture as they have catered my golf group's tournament committee dinner for the past 2 years. One of my A1s also had this on her list of restaurants, so we went here for dinner to kick off her forty-fine birthday weekend celebration. We had reservations for 9:30 for a party of 6, but ended up only being 5 as 1 had an emergency. So let's start off there's a $20 pp reservation deposit. I know many restaurants were doing that during COVID, but I thought that had ceased. Wasn't a big deal, but something that should be noted. Though I gave it 4 stars, it is hands down the best black owned restaurant I have visited in the DMV in a VERY long time. Customer service can make or break a restaurant and the customer service was impeccable on every level possible.

Our server, Christine was very pleasant and answered all of our questions. We started with drinks (3 lemon drops w/Tito's, (they were out of lychee for the lychee martini) hot tea and blackberry mint mojito mocktail. We also ordered house bread and mussels for apps. At this point, everyone is pleased.

It's vegetarian and dry January for me, so I ordered the vegan egg rolls and kale Caesar salad as my entree. The rest of the ladies ordered the stuffed chicken breast, lamb chops, lobster & crab scampi, and branzino with sides of mac & cheese and broccolini. There was an order placed for the mashed potatoes, however, it wasn't enough for a full order as the sides should serve 2-3. I believe the birthday girl asked if they could be served anyway. Entrees began to come @ 10:40, kitchen closes at 11. The presentation of all the dishes is beautiful and camera ready, which is great as we eat with our eyes first. Looks can be deceiving. The egg rolls were over salted to the point they were inedible. The stuffed chicken was cold and the lambchops were overcooked. The branzino and scampi were both hot and as delicious as they looked. The food didn't come all at once. The egg rolls, branzino, lambchops, broccolini and 1 order of mac & cheese came first. Then the chicken, mashed potatoes and kale salad. Next the scampi and then 5-7 minutes later the last mac & cheese. As runners were bringing the food, we needed to wait for Christine. While waiting for the scampi, we told Christine about the cold chicken, overcooked lambchops and salty egg rolls. The chicken was the first thing to come back. It was the same piece of chicken reheated and topped with more cheese. All of my servsafe training kicked in. We waited a few minutes and then I got up and asked to speak to a manager. This is where great customer service comes in. Milton had just sat down to eat, but very graciously got up to speak with me. We thought it was microved due to how quickly it came back, but he assured me they didn't have microwaves and it had been placed in the oven, but would have a new one made for us. He immediately sent Christine to get the plate. She assumed it was fresh and not reheated. She returned with the scampi, then the medium well lambchops, then the fresh chicken and finally the other order of mac & cheese. By the time all the food came, it was well past 11 and the kitchen was closed. 15-20 minutes later she was able to find a dessert for the birthday girl. As we were packing up the leftovers, a gentleman came out from the kitchen to greet us. He never told us who he was but did hint to being an owner or part owner. He asked about our experience and what could be improved. He chatted with us for at least 10 minutes and bought shots for the birthday girl tables (there was another table celebrating as well). Though they were trying to close, they didn't rush us out, even allowed the birthday girl to have a mini photo shoot in the bar area.

I will definitely come back and recommend they teach others about what good customer service in the hospitality...

My first experience at this establishment was not as pleasant as I anticipated. We decided to visit after a recommendation for a good place to dine to celebrate two of my Sisters birthdays. However, by the end of our dining experience, I felt we owed the ladies an apology and another night out to makeup for the epic failures we experienced.

Glows: Music was nice and most of the restaurant staff had a great attitude. The menu is very diverse with something for everyone (vegans, pescatarians, and picky eaters). We were offered and provided free croissants and one appetizer of our choosing to compensate for some of the issues we encountered when we arrived (table was unavailable). The croissants were delicious and the rum punch mug was excellent. My Sister's crab cake benny entree was delicious and to her liking.

Lows: There is no foyer area for parties waiting for their tables. We waited for 49mins to be seated (even with a confirmed reservation). Our server seemed overwhelmed with two large tables (our party of 6 and an adjacent party of about 10/12).

We ordered drinks and our comp appetizer at approximately 4:02 PM. The croissants arrived at 4:37. The lobster mac & cheese arrived at 4:47 PM. This was an 1 hour and 47 mins after our reservation. So, as anyone can imagine, we were extremely hungry awaiting our food.

Unfortunately we were unable to really enjoy it fully as the lobster tail was not detached from the shell before it was deep fried. So, essentially we had to deconstruct the lobster tail on another plate, remove shell fragments from the meat and mix it with the mac n cheese to consume it.

Mac n cheese was heavily salted and tasted off. We could not place the taste and it was unpleasant. I was unable to taste the collard greens because the kitchen ran out.

Four of us ordered the Steak & Eggs and all of our steaks were incorrectly prepared. The kitchen mixed up the 2 mediums, medium rare, well done steaks which caused us to plate swap at the table multiple times to get the temperatures close to what we selected. We also did this with the eggs. But unfortunately one of the ladies did not receive her over medium eggs because they were mostly over well.

My steak was definitely not a ribeye as advertised. Although it was extremely thin and overcooked, it was seasoned well. The potatoes were overcooked, mushy, and the red peppers gave them a tart flavor that did not complement them well. They were intended to be more like home fries, but this did not happen as it was intended.

Most of the entrees arrived at 5:01 PM, my other sister did not receive her fish n grits entree until about 5:24 PM while others were almost finished eating. Her fish was not good. They added shrimp to compensate for the delay. The shrimp was delicious. But the grits and sauce were not good (the grits were too saucy).

I also ordered a side of Brussel Sprouts that I had to inquire about twice before it arrived at 5:34 PM. I immediately asked for a box to store them to take home as I was ready to depart from the establishment at this time.

We asked two servers for a manager numerous times. The manager never came to our table. It was upsetting and frustrating all the failures we experienced. Especially since the bill was almost $500 for 6 people. We expected more.

I hope this review inspires some reflection and improvements are made to ensure that no one experiences service...