Patty O’s Cafe — Restaurant in Washington

Longtime devotees of Chef Patrick O'Connell's magical "fantality," an early Sunday lunch was our first escape to the new Patty O's Café & Bakery, where the aura of Gallic Belle Époque convenes with a reimagination of a joie de vivre earlier America. It's a peaceful, bucolic drive to the foothills of the coddling Blue Ridge Mountains bordering the historic town of Washington, Virginia, fondly known as Little Washington. Patty O's is a magnificent transformation across Main Street at Krebser Square and complementary to its globally lauded related sanctuary, The Inn at Little Washington, engendering cherished memories of the palate for over forty years.

Cheering Krebser Square is a sidewalk patio filled with umbrellaed tables as alluring as the fresh mountain air. Beneath the trellis arch, as we entered the door, our gaze was drawn past the petite gorgeous, burled wood reception station to the vibrant, whimsical mural of a barn dance by William Woodward, which could also be an utmost engaging Instagram background. The intimate dining room is lush with serene colors, textural décor, and fine furnishings encompassing. Warmed by a cheerful crackling wood fire in a grand fieldstone fireplace, a spirited burble, and curated instrumental forward country music, every atmospheric detail seamlessly enjoins for an impressive, contented space. We perched on extraordinarily plush bar chairs at the full-service bar, the bustling heart, and a veritable social observatory as guest after guest arrived. Several guests proclaimed this was their third or fourth visit, and they relished the food and occasion.

Garrett, Tim, and Chris tendered professional, convivial service, shepherding our experience. There are opulent handcrafted cocktails, impressive wines by the glass or bottle, and beer in addition to premium spirits. We especially enjoyed the Barboursville Pinot Noir Sparkling Rosé, served at the right temperature, and the essence-infused iced tea.

The menu of comfort offers three à la carte courses of house-made regional delectableness, each dish punctuated with subtle, welcome surprises of savoriness that reveal as you enjoy them. Fire and Ice tuna is terrific and not to be missed. Sandwiches are paired with distinctive freshly baked artisan bread, cheeses and dressed to perfect them to preeminent gustatory delight. In Russian dressing, chilled Maine lobster and shrimp is a sublime classic; there is nothing "wishbone" about it, the best I have ever had. Appearing simple, each bite was intriguing and better than the last as we explored the details, mastery of cooking, layers of flavors, textures, temperatures, and aromas. Finally, robust hot coffee and the butter pecan ice cream, presented in a baroque chalice, is dense and gently softened to creaminess with the accompanying warm pour-over of sauce and a crispy tuile to complete our meal.

By the time we finished, feeling satiated, entertained, and blissful, the wait was an hour for lunch, and they had only been open a week. Nevertheless, Patrick and his impressive team wowed us again with a consistent stunning stage of delicious genuine hospitality where we were invited to play a role of our desiring. The overall experience, from anticipation to reflection, bestows the comprehensive niceties we esteem and hides the torture, so all that you do is enjoy. A second time "in a great while, a restaurant so good you worry," has come to Washington, as history repeats. The fabled Inn transports us to a life-changing elegant country house with scrumptious, three-starred Michelin Guide refined American cuisine, and the assessable, casual Patty O's comports delicious and refined rustic American fare that is...

My husband and I ventured to Patty O's with much anticipation for what was sure to be a delightful dining experience and birthday dinner. Unfortunately, it was anything but.

We arrive at about 7:15 p.m - two diners. We were sat immediately by a hostess who greeted with a simple hello and then remained silent as she sat us at our table and filled our water glasses. The atmosphere is lovely and the furnishings are beautifully done.

We sat at our table for nearly 20 minutes before anyone from the restaurant even acknowledged our existence. One of the waitstaff walked by our table a minimum of 8 times without offering any assistance. We saw him look at our empty water glasses as he walked past ignoring us repeatedly. Other diners began to notice that we had no service.

As we were waiting one waiter tended to his table and turned around contorting his face in a way to express his displeasure with whatever the diner requested. Similar to what a 5 year old might do when unhappy that their mother has asked them to pick up their toys.

Finally, our server came to our table and thanked us for our patience. He took our drink and starter orders and demanded our entree orders as well all in one swoop explaining the chef would time out the meals appropriately. We ordered a glass of the blanc de blanc, sparkling water, French onion soup, escargot, burger, and champignon bourguignon.

We received our drinks with a bread basket that included a baguette and cinnamon raisin bread. The blanc de blanc was phenomenal. The bread basket was ordinary but good. The butter was easily spreadable and unsalted.

We received our starters, pretty quickly. My husband enjoyed his escargot and the French onion soup should not be missed, it was perfect.

Before we could even finish our starters, our entrees were delivered. So we had our starters and our entrees, and a table that had not been bussed by any waitstaff. My husband's burger was good. I know, because I was forced to eat some of it because my meal, the champignon bourguignon, was so god-awful.

A champignon bourguignon is like a beef bourguignon but with mushrooms, essentially. It was served in a shallow soup bowl, and looked like dried up chipped beef and cat food mixed together. There was no bourguignon to it. It was so salty, it was inedible.

The burger - it was fine, but extremely under cooked. My husband and I both like very rare beef, so we ate maybe 3/4 of the burger. The burger was so undercooked that the totally rare burger meat was falling apart from the remaining patty. It was essentially a burger tartare.

At this point, the lead server finally acknowledged the bad service and offered desserts on the house. We accepted. The desserts were fine - ice cream and key lime pie. We then got our check, with a 20% gratuity added in and the waitstaff reminded us that we got our $12 key lime pie and butter pecan ice cream comped.

My husband asked why the waitstaff ignored us for so long, we got an apology and an explanation that the other serves like to just let the server know that customers are waiting instead of helping customers. After this exchange, the lead server then came over and apologized for the entire evening, explaining that our arrival was unexpected and comped our entire meal. Our arrival was unexpected because this restaurant does not take reservations. We were on the waitlist, which is the only way to provide advanced notice of your arrival. While I appreciate the comped meal, I wanted to have a nice dinner out and expected to pay for it.

We will not be visiting Patty O’s again and now have no interest in visiting its sister restaurant and establishment, the Inn at...

Want to give it 3. 5 stars.

Came here twice. Early evening on a Friday, and brunch on Sunday.

Biggest issue is that something is just off with the service, which was very surprising. Both visits it took forever for someone to come to the table and take a drink order. Got to be painfully long.

The place is beautiful, even more so compared to anywhere in the area. Inside and outside are lovely. No notes.

Cocktails were great - overall the best part besides from the design.

Dinner menu was solid, nothing we had was particularly special, but solid.

Brunch was odd. First, same bad service - took at least 10 minutes to be able to order a drink The live bluegrass is great, maybe sometimes a bit too loud, but loved it overall. The food wasn't great though. They should make clear their French Toast is not standard - I'm assuming it was a brioche, but it came off as bread pudding in terms of texture - but most importantly, just not very good. Literally one vegetarian savory option (avocado bread) and it was very disappointing. Honestly just a vegetarian quiche would have made a huge difference. I'm not even a vegetarian, and normally don't even care, but the genuinely just felt imbalance. Shrimp and grits was perfectly fine. Bacon was the star, in my opinion (but they could drain off some grease from the dish). Was difficult to order a second drink as well, had to flag someone down, then follow up maybe 7 minutes later (it was a mimosa), and as soon as I did the drink was clearly already prepared and just sitting there.

I love the Inn, one of my favorite places in the world. I've stayed there many times and will again, I think the main restaurant is world class, I am biased in their favor. I get it is going for a different vibe and the food is always objective, but nobody can have the service I had and think it is up to a reasonable standard given it is connected to the Inn (it was poor by any standard).

I took some friends here for brunch thinking it would be quite impressive, but overall it was a disappointing for the entire group. Hopefully it's just growing pains and the next time I go it will have improved. Still find it hard to believe, so I'll give it th4 benefit of the doubt based on my love...