La Bise — Restaurant in Washington

We came on 5/9/25 Fri celebrate my wife’s birthday. This is our honest comprehensive review of our own experience here. The restaurant was cozy. We were seated at 5:30 on a Saturday and it was quite empty at that time with only three other occupied tables. Our server, while very informative on the menu and our meals, wasn’t particularly warm nor was he rude or unkind. He was just an unexpressive, stoic man. We were uninspired. Let’s move on to the food.

We were brought a table of house bread and homemade butter. The butter was very tasty and was a very pleasant start to the meal. We even asked for another basket.

We proceed to order the octopus and tuna appetizer recommended to us. Let’s talk about the tuna first. Whenever a restaurant has tuna in its raw form, I always order. It is one of my favorite things to eat. There was nothing inherently wrong with this dish. It was a perfectly fine dish but nothing spectacular. This may have also been because we’ve experienced so many other amazing tuna dishes and crudo dishes from around here as well as other countries that this one just felt short to us. The presentation gave more than the taste. It felt like it needed more acid, more punch.

The octopus appetizer was tasty. The octopus was slightly coated and perhaps fried which we didn’t mind. We enjoyed the texture of the octopus but did not care for the thick cheese sauce that came with it. It was fine but did not add anything to the dish when eating so we chose to enjoy the texture of the octopus without the sauce.

We proceeded to order two entrees, the duck and the cod.

Let’s start with the cod. The cod was delicious and delicate. The layers and depth of the sauce were good. It is dish that I would order again.

The duck is where the issue lies. Upon searching for new fine dining restaurants to try, duck breast was what we really came to eat. We absolutely love a well cooked duck breast entree but not many places offer it and not many restaurants know how to cook it properly. We’ve only experienced two other restaurants with a duck breast worthy dish and this was not one of them unfortunately. Prior to coming we looked at reviews and photos of some perfectly medium, pink centered breasts and immediately booked a reservation with them. Unfortunately my duck was not like the ones in the photos. The one they served me was medium well to well which I knew before even cutting into it but I thought I’d give it a try. The texture was rubbery with a very meaty aftertaste. There was a center bite that had a sliver of pink and was juicy then the rest but 85% of it was over. We mentioned this to the server who said it is always cooked like this and I asked typically medium well? And he responded with no, medium. I told him there is no pink here, it’s dark and gray. This definitely was not medium but in any case, we ate the meal and it was fine. Not the duck we were hoping for but by no means was it terrible, it just did not meet our expectations nor did it look like the photos of juicy pink duck breast other diners in the past have received. Perhaps it was an off day for the chef or maybe this is not the same chef.

After this slight blunder of over cooked rubbery, meaty duck, we decided to skip out on dessert. Before getting our check, we were pleasantly surprised with two glasses of on the house champagne and a nice chocolate mousse cake for my wife’s birthday. This was a wonderful surprise that improved our mood.

All in all, the highlight of our meal here at la Bise was their house made butter and bread. The butter was by far the most memorable thing we had.

Being an hour commute from home in each direction, we have no plans to return to this restaurant. Our hunt for a perfectly medium/medium rare, piece of duck breast...

So many great things to say about La Bise. Through my short research I read that the chef is gunning for a Michelin star, and I think he has more than enough potential to get one. To start, we visited Gravitas (a well respected Michelin star restaurant) the day after eating at La Bise, and it is unprofessional to compare, but La Bise could stand toe to toe with them...... for the most part.

We ordered the Steak Tartare and Melon Salad as appetizers; both were exceptional, the Melon Salad might be a little too simple, but it was still very good.

For entrees, we ordered the Monk fish and Steak Au Poivre, the plating was, in my opinion, up to Michelin standards, much like the appetizers. Taste was also extraordinary.

The only part of my experience at La Bise that didn't satisfy was the dessert. The server suggested that we order the guava dessert, which I regret not doing. Instead, we ordered the Strawberries and Cream and the Opera Cake. I was really disappointed by both. The Strawberries and Cream tasted fine, but it lacked complexity. For the Opera Cake, it looked amazing, but the painted chocolate on the plate was too dry and so was the dessert. It was a truly sad way to end such an affordable, delicious, and warmhearted experience.

Also, the service was amazing, from the hostess at the front to the servers and bussers, it was a perfect mix of professionalism and friendliness. Everything was awe-inspiring. I would definitely prefer the appetizers and entrees at La Bise compared to Gravitas; if only the dessert was better. I hate to compare the two amazing restaurants, but La Bise has so...

Overall food was not bad. The French onion was excellent, the texture itself is more condensed that the other onion soup that we usually have but it was very nice. However, the chocolate soufflé was a huge disappointment, it is probably one of the worse soufflé I ever had, why the pastry chef decided to put dried fruit inside a soufflé is a mastery and for a chocolate soufflé to have NO chocolate taste at all is a disaster. The veal sweetbreads is actually surprisingly good, the sauce itself covered any gamey taste of the sweetbreads and it is quite tender and smooth. Also one addition note, the complimentary bread was served cold which is okay if it is summer time but when it winter where customers just came from a freezing weather, having cold bread might not give the guest a good impression at all. Service wise is a mix feeling, the waitress asked what we want to drink and she just walked away while we were placing the order……the same waitress however is very helpful when you ask for recommendations on the main course………atmosphere wise the place is kind of like a modern version of French bistro instead of the traditional ones, a little bit chic and less formal...