L'Avant-Garde — Restaurant in Washington

Some restaurants are worth the price, this sadly was not one of them. Gorgeous modern decor and subdued ambience could not offset the well intentioned but inconsistent menu and service.

We had the following items:

Artichokes Montesquieu (seared foie gras, summer truffle) - excellent start to the meal, presented as a salad, with each unique ingredient complementing one another well.

Maryland Crab Tartare (creamy fresh avocado with fresh basil, chives, and cucumber gazpacho) - another strong starter dish, extremely well fresh with generous slices of fresh avocado beautifully presented against a bed of delicate crab tartar. Solid flavor.

La Soupe à l’Onion - this is where it started to go downhill a bit. The bourbon added to enhance this dish did not have the desired effect. We found the soup to be overly sweet, lacking the savory punch that marks a great French onion soup. Disappointment for sure, would not recommend this item.

Le Foie Gras (cooked in terrine with cognac, griottines cherries, toasted brioche) - this was also underwhelming. These different ingredients did not come together well at all, and the terine itself fell a bit flat in terms of flavor.

Duck Breast (seared magret, red cabbage, duck demi-glace with cloves, caramelized gala apples) - I enjoyed the duck breast itself a bit more than my friend, they were very tender rare cuts, but agreed it could have a bit more flavor. The side items were unremarkable.

Le Filet Mignon Rossini (beef fillet center cut, foie gras and summer truffle, herbs smashed potatoes) - excellent cut of filet mignon, seared to near perfection. The accompanying sauce enhanced the flavor quite well. Again, the side items were unremarkable.

Authentic Crème Brûlée - we shared this for dessert, and as far as creme brulee's go, it was solid but not particularly memorable. The custard could have been both richer and sweeter.

Their custom cocktail menu has some creative items. The one is sampled was the Ask the Colonel (Rye, Calvados, green Chartreuse, lime oil, bay leaf, mint, foam, Angostura bitters) and it was a refreshing, if slightly sweet summer cocktail.

Our server was very good overall, friendly, knowledgeable and fairly attentive. There were just some lapses with providing items like shared plates and a simple condiment that disrupted the pacing of the meal, even though we had telegraphed ahead that we planned to share the items.

Ultimately, I would not recommend L'Avant-Garde from a price to value perspective, though it was hardly a negative experience, solidly positive but just not...

My wife and I have been to L'Avant-Garde twice in the past and had excellent experiences. We enjoyed the food, service and atmosphere.

Last night, we participated in a tasting event hosted by Tasting Collective which was a disappointment and may even affect whether we ever go back as the experience was so poorly executed.

The menu was not innovative at all. This would have been OK if they delivered on food quality, presentation and service but the staff were so focused on getting the plates delivered at the same time that it lost all civility.

A good example of this was the Tuna Tartare. The waiter hurriedly showed us a sample plate which was presented properly and then told us that they would be mixing it and presenting it. The wait staff then huddled around a large mixing bowl loudly clacking as they mixed. What was returned was not only unappetizing in taste; it had no refinement in presentation. Our table of 5 left most of it on our plates.

The rest of the menu was unimaginative. An example is the proscuitto and truffle cheese course. I'm not sure what they were trying to achieve but I could have done this at home with better ingredients and my greens would have been edible which theirs was not.

So, when a party of 5 starts spiraling downward, we start critiquing everything like the fruit flies that kept buzzing our table. Tasting Collective boasted an intimate session with the chef. The chef had all the personality of wet dishrag. This is OK with me as his talents may be in cooking not public speaking but his short, curt, banal attempts to respond to the Tasting Collective host made things even worse. I got the impression, the chef was not happy with the event either.

To cap everything off, since we were in a crtical mood; we noticed that on our beverage bill, we were charged for "Ice Spheres" used in our Boulevardiers. We were upcharged for Martini service. Really? We're adults. If you want to charge $30 for a drink, go ahead but $3 upcharge for Ice Spheres?

Unfortunately, this experience may have crossed L'Avant Garde off our list. It may also have trashed our $99 per person annual memberhsip fee in Tasting Collective. ...

We had the lobster prix fixe menu and wow, it was mostly inedible. The stew was overloaded with saffron unnecessarily and it was all we could taste. The lobster in the salad seemed undercooked and made us nauseous. The lobster thermidor looked like a mess you’d find in a toddler’s pants and tasted like chicken salad. It was the furthest thing from a clean dish (as they presented when advertising it) and the green stuff that came with the turmeric turned potatoes was inedible.

The dessert was the only good thing, but honestly, how ridiculous would it be for a restaurant like this to mess up a simple crème brûlée that can be prepared ahead of time.

A server that was not waiting on us came by to ask us how the food was, and I told him honestly that it wasn’t good and I asked him if he had tried the dishes before, out of genuine curiosity. He immediately got a supervisor of sorts, and I said no, I’m simply asking you but I don’t want any action (I was not trying to deal with the hassle of getting stuff off the bill or getting something different). The supervisor-looking joker said “did he ask you how the food was?” And I said yes, and he looked at the server as if he was saying “well that’s why you don’t ask the customer if they are enjoying the food” - it was so bizarre. Then, he asked me what was wrong with the food, and I said, it’s not good but I’m giving feedback and don’t want action. And before I could even say anything else, he abruptly cut me off and said ok and rushed the server to the side and scolded him for like ten minutes, it seemed.

It was all bizarre and completely unprofessional. I have been here twice now and I will not be coming here again. It is wild that an establishment with this kind of reputation thinks it can treat customers this way and serve trash food....