I convinced man friend that we are in a culinary rut. After which, he proceeded to mock me mercilessly for days about the phrase “culinary rut”. I picked the restaurant Table to get us out of the rut as I have heard great things.
Saturday came around and I was able to lure him from the apartment. We wandered around Dupont, Logan Circle and U street with stops at Batch 13, Cork Market and Standard. Standard had the donut machine working and I am a little obsessed with their donuts. Batch 13 had a FEW tasting. I was surprised at how much I liked the barrel aged gin. Cork Market had a wine tasting with the winemaker providing an explanation of his wine.
We eventually made our way over to the restaurant. It’s an amazing space with minimalist design. We were somewhat greeted by the hostess who was very unsure about what to do with us as we were early. They eventually seated us and that’s where things went downhill.
No one came over to offer menus, water or anything for quite some time. We were finally presented with menus and water and told they had been re-writing the menus as they are hand written.
Eventually, someone who I thought was our server came over. He asked what we wanted to drink. When I stated I would like a first course, he replied, “What else do you want?”. I was kind of taken aback that he decided that we should just order then.
I ordered the Burgundy snails as my first course. It was good, but not amazing. The server never checked in to make sure the dish was enjoyable or to provide more water.
We waited quite a bit of time for my first course and for our main dishes.
I ordered the veal sweetbreads.
My man friend ordered the chicken.
The dishes again were good, but not amazing. We were disappointed at that price point and the hype this restaurant had received. However, the service is what really soured our experience.
At one point as we sat with empty water glasses and our empty plates in front of us, one of the hostesses walks over and pours more wine for the couple next to us. She chats them up and then walked away. There was a young man walking around collecting unused small plates for the first course and I asked him to FINALLY take our empty plates.
The server came over to offer us menus and have us order dessert, but we promptly asked for the bill.
We walked back to Church Key after the meal where I ordered their amazing ricotta fritters. My dining companion ordered tater tots (he was still hungry) and the banana pudding. I also had some really tasty beers. One of my favorite servers was working and I briefly caught up with him.
I really, really wanted to enjoy Table. I am hoping they work on a few factors, especially their staff.
