Former chef for Oprah Winfrey brings an upscale touch of southern hospitality and regional flavors to Capitol Hill.
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I was concerned about eating here after reading the other reviews. Not sure what the problem was then, but we had a great experience. We had the salmon hoecake and the crab bisque. Both were excellent. While my date ordered the stip loin with our bluecheese butter, it arrived with the cheese, but the staff was so apologetic and prompt with the correct order we couldn't ask for better service. I had the pecan crusted chicken with apple and sausage stuffing. Moist chicken, delicous stuffing and a nice plate of fall veggies. The killer was the chocolate pecan pie with vanilla ice cream. Perfect pecan pie! The decor is funky, but you can hear your dining partners when they speak. The scene was diverse. We will return!
Restaurant week is a time to attract new customers, but I left feeling underwhelmed and disappointed. I ordered lunch off the prix fixe restaurant week menu. The grilled shrimp were flavorful, if a bit dry. The fried chicken was nothing special at all. I was extremely disappointed. It was dry, flavorless, and the breading was burned from what looked like dirty cooking oil. The gravy was lumpy and flavorless, and the mashed potatoes were bland and looked like the kind you get out of a frozen bag . I had the lemon pudding pie for dessert, which was light and fluffy but nothing really spectacular. I work on the Hill and was hoping that Art and Soul would be a new find and a regular lunch/dinner spot, but I don't think it will be.
I disagree with many of the previous posters. Had a great experience. Check out my full post at http://whatmickyeats.blogspot.com/
We also had the Chesapeake bake and it was mush of well seasoned soggy fried oysters, claim and calamari! The strawberry shortcake was a tiny triangle of a day old stale bread sprinkled with sugar surrouned by delicious strawberries and baby scoop of vanilla ice cream in between.
I ordered fried oysters and the mac n' cheese caserole. Whatever is used in the frying batter is delicious, I'll give them that. However the mac n' cheese tasted like the industrial mac n' cheese served in public school cafeterias! It was white and soupy and bland...it would make perfect hospital food! My dad also had the oyster po'boy served on a hoecake. Disgusting! It was mayonaise on a pseudo version of a hoe cake and shreeded iceberg lettuce. It was like their elegant version of a Subway sandwich. We had to remind the waiter of our drink orders not once, but twice! And our waiter sucked at answering any questions about menu selections or describing how desserts were served...nor did he return to the table to check on us!
I had to come home and write about the terrible food and poor customer service! Bread rolls were brought to the table that were cold and HARD as a rock! I even banged the roll on the table to prove my point to the waiter, and it made the silverware and plates at the table jump! So I too was curious about the fried chicken I saw chef Art Smith battering up on Top Chef, but then I'm told "we're out of white meat" at a restaurant were the chef's staple is his fried chicken. And its just my thing I prefer white meat when it comes to poultry. My mom orders the reuben sandwich with alleged "homemade" potato chips. The potato chips felt as if they were fresh out of the fridge and so cold and gummy we couldn't event chew them!
I visited my cousins in December and we decided to have a night on the town and eat at Art and Soul. Everything was so good we stuffed ourselves to the gills. One of my cousins eats just fish and veggies (no other meats) and trust me he was not disappointed. Firsts, hoecakes and desserts...we had the Chesapeake Bay Fry...country Cesar salad...a surf and turf hoecake (I don't see any more)...and baby cupcakes for dessert. I really enjoyed the meal and the wait staff. When I am back in town - I plan on dinning there again - I told everyone I saw at the airport this is the place to go for food.
My husband and I stayed at the Liaison hotel so we had dinner and breakfast at Art & Soul. The service was above our expectations. My husband was in heaven w/ his steel cut oats and grits. We also enjoyed our spicy fried seafood appetizer. We look forward to coming back next time we're in the area!
My daughter and I went there for lunch, and we agree that this was the worst restaurant experience we have ever had. The wait to give our orders was interminable, not to mention the length of time it took to get our entrees. We received our appetizers at different times, and I was almost finished with my entree (fried oysters on a wet bed of lettuce-- ugg!)before the waitress remembered my daughter's order. To make up for time (I guess), they hurried my daughter's entree and presented her with a veggie ravioli dish that was bone cold inside the pasta. The one redeeming experience there was that they removed my daughter's entree from the tab. Oh! They also gave us some little nasty, hard cupcakes to go! We plan to never go there again.
I had very high hopes in eating here. I figured if the chef is good enough for Oprah, it must be a taste of the good life. If that is the good life, leave me out of it. The bar areas shares part of the hotel lobby and has a nice look about it, that that is where the good stuff ends. While the waitress was very pleasant, the food left much to be desired. The Brunswick stew was overly salty. We waited 30 mins after our apps before our next course came and they served dessert before dinner. By the time we got our Entrees, they tasted like they had been sitting under a heat lamp for a long time. They they brought dessert but by this time, I had enough and was ready for my check. Also, big pet peeve, water glass not being filled timely.
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