Minetta Tavern DC — Restaurant in Washington

My friend and I arrived within 10 minutes of our reservation; she was there almost exactly at 6:30 and was told we couldn’t be seated until both of us were there. No biggie — I was around the corner! But when we walked in together, the host staff didn’t welcome us (or her) back, they appeared to be scrambling for a place to put us for a minute or so. Fine, we were taken to the back room area at a regular table (not in one of the booths). The first thing I noticed is it is overwhelmingly loud! To the point that our server was yelling and we were crouching towards him to speak.

Service overall was pretty nice. Some people mentioned they felt rushed but that was not our experience at all. However, at one point during the meal, someone who I believe was a maitre d, came to ask us how things were and then asked if I was finished with my drink when it was very clearly halfway full. It was sort of awkward and he was going to take my drink, did not offer me another one while doing so and I had to wave his hand off from moving towards my glass. He probably didn’t hear me say, no I’m still working on it, because… you guessed it… it was so loud. Second oddity in table service, someone came to change the table paper between the main meal and dessert service. But this individual came to the table by himself, and with very little room to move in the cramped dining room, he was blocking a main path in the room and we resorted to trying to help him by holding our phones, drinks and plates up while he was inefficiently swapping the paper. I get the idea but it didn’t elevate our experience — it detracts from it. Our server was awesome and the wait times for food were totally reasonable.

Lastly, the food! It was incredibly average. Someone else mentioned that the NY strip was not worth it — highly agree. The steak menu is a la carte and I got the salad (also average). The steak came with nothing.. no sauce, no salt, nothing. A culinary choice I suppose, but when I asked if they had any available sauces, they said no. My friend pointed out later that she got the filet with a pepper sauce which they could have easily offered me but did not. I even asked for plain horseradish and the waiter returned to state they did not have any (despite having it listed as an ingredient in other menu items). About halfway through my steak they brought me béarnaise sauce, which was appreciated but at that point I was pretty much done. Maybe it was our fault for only ordering steaks on the menu at a French restaurant? Maybe I was more caught of guard at the scramble for steak accoutrements than anything else?

All in all, the vibe is cozy and nice but my experience would make me not recommend it as there are many better alternatives in DC for food with...

Great food you can't truly enjoy due to a loud environment and poor service. A group of us tried this spot for a Tuesday dinner since we are "French Foodies." At first, it seemed the dining room would be consistent with other similar restaurants. But we quickly learned the acoustics made the volume in the room to continuously grow until many of the tables were nearly yelling at each other to be heard. Every dish we received was incredible... the cheese plate with some of the best focaccia ever. The courses were served perfectly and delicious... when they arrived. We waited nearly 45 minutes for the cheese plate to arrive. The server apologized and offered additional focaccia, which we were grateful for. The main courses arrived shortly after and the server kindly asked if she begin them while we were still working on the first course, which was appreciated. Due to the length of time, I had nearly finished my glass of wine after a cocktail and asked for a refill with my main course. When she added some red wine to what was left in my glass, I noticed it wasn't even a full pour. But I soon noticed I was shorted about a half pour so she could give another member of our table a full pour and not need to open a new bottle. I was charged for a full pour unfortunately. At the end of second course, a member of our party ordered the soufflé, I ordered dessert wine and another member of the party ordered another drink. After waiting another 40 minutes, we were curious why the dessert still had not arrived. We also noticed the tables around us were a bit unsatisfied with the pace of the courses and our conversation was abruptly stopped when the server next to us yelled at the patrons sitting next to us (yelling partially due to the volume in the room) that this is "fine dining" and he "refuses to serve the next course until all the dishes were cleared." The level of disrespect and tone caused our entire table to quickly become frustrated for the patrons next to us. The manager did tell us the soufflé batch unfortunately did not rise and covered the cost of that and another dessert she brought gratis... which was appreciated, although I was completely done my dessert wine before anything arrived. In summary, we anticipated spending a couple of hours for this experience but unfortunately spent 3 hours and caused us to cancel the remainder of our evening plans. I still think there is potential, but there needs to be a big improvement to service for...

I was excited to try the new Minetta Tavern, but the experience left much to be desired. Our reservation was at 6:30 PM, but we weren’t approached to be seated until 6:50. At that point, the staff offered us a cramped table in the crowded bar area. When we politely declined, the maître d’ came over and made a clumsy attempt to charm us, calling my friend and me “beautiful” and “stunning” in an obvious attempt to butter us up. She insisted we trust her judgment because she was “from New York and also French” and continued to pressure us to sit at the banquette in the bar, even after we explained that it felt too crowded.

We reluctantly agreed, feeling backed into a corner, but it was clear they had overbooked the dining room and were trying to fix the situation at our expense. The whole interaction felt dismissive, as though we were easy targets (young millennial women who wouldn’t make a scene).

Once seated, we were stunned by how uncomfortable and unnecessary the interaction had been. We called over the floor manager, John, to share how the maître d’s remarks and behavior made us feel. While John apologized and promised to ensure we’d have a comfortable experience, the atmosphere remained rushed and chaotic.

The restaurant was packed, and although the servers and bussers were doing their best, they were clearly overwhelmed. Plates were cleared almost immediately between courses, making it hard to enjoy the meal. As for the food—it was good, but nothing exceptional. It doesn’t stand out when compared to its neighbor Pastis, which offers a much smoother overall experience with food of similar quality.

Minetta Tavern is new, so I hope they take feedback like this seriously. Overbooking the dining room and then resorting to pushy, uncomfortable tactics to fix the problem is unacceptable. I would have preferred to wait a few weeks for a proper reservation than to have this experience. Unfortunately, I don’t plan to return, but I hope they learn...