bourbon steak

move along.... we ate at bourbon steak last night, and were mildly disappointed. first of all, if you are not familiar with the area, you should know that this is the hotelrestaurantlocated at the four seasons in georgetown. basically, it is a very nice hotel restaurant, nothing more. the decor was up-scale, but the noise level was loud. we had a very early reservation (5:30), so the dining room was mostly empty for the first hour, and it was still very loud. it was nearly impossible to hold a conversation above the din. in addition to the voices carrying throughout the dining room, the bar played rock and roll music that pervaded the restaurant.

the service was friendly and excellent. but for an extremely expensive dinner, we expected a better meal. i ordered the ahi-tuna tartar appetizer which was nice, fresh fish diced and mixed table-side with a variety of herbs and spices...the end result was bland tasting. my husband ordered the spring black garlic soup with shrimp. the soup was tasty, presented asian-style with a very large tempura shrimp on a skewer. is it really traditional for tempura shrimp to be battered with the shell on? the chef seemed to think so when we asked. it was so bothersom to eat that my husband didn't bother. we both ordered the dry-aged steak; he ordered the ribeye and i ordered the ny strip. the steaks were purely ordinary. they were not tough, but not fork-tender either. we also found them to be bland. for steaks approaching $50 apiece, we would have expected them to be full of flavor and very tender. the wine was very good (a malbec, i don't remember the name), we had a la carte sides of a baked potato, creamed spinach (yum!), and macaroni and cheese (my personal favorite, not your grandmother's mac-n-cheese); the rhubarb cobbler was also quite good if you like rhubarb (i do). but for a meal that came out to over $300, we expected everything to be very above-par. it wasn't.

to top off the disappointment, the waiter offered to box our leftovers, because neither of us could finish the generous portions. but one of the 1/2 steaks didn't make it from the kitchen into our carry-out bag. dangit.

i celebrated my friend's birthday at the bourbonrestaurantwhile visiting d.c. the service was wonderful! our waiter made us feel very comfortable. we had lots of complimentary starters while we waited for our order. the food was delicious. my filet mignon was very tender and done exactly as i ordered. as it was birthday, therestaurantbrought a complimentary dessert, which was heavenly! the ambiance was lovely and the noise level was low so conversation was possible! all in all a very nice evening!

great restaurant!!! i actually went two days in a row while in washington dc.

the first day i went was during the evening and the sun was still up. there was a decent crowd. i tried the lobster pot pie which was amazing. the server came and prepared the pot pie in front of us which amazed me even more. the service was excellent and off i went.

i went back the day after and went a little later in the night with therestaurantbeing completely packed. even with the heavy crowd, our server managed to provide excellent service with bringing all dishes out in a timely manner and giving great suggestions for drinks.

bourbon steak is now open in the los angeles area so i'm i don't have to travel far for it.

visit dates 6/1/2013 and 6/2/2013

michael mina’s steakhouse at the four seasons in georgetown was the onerestaurantwe have long wanted to check off our bucket list.

a michael minarestaurantin the four seasons hotel in georgetown. my gf i and i decided to split michaels signature dish which is the lobster pot pie. priced at $68 i was hoping for the dish of my life. what i got wasnt the dish of my life, but was a great meal. i give the dish a 7.5 out of 10 which wouldnt exactly scream the most expensive dish in the restaurant. a cool part about the dish was that it came out in the pot and one of the servers prepared the dish to serve next to the table. that the side dishes we ordered were the gnocchi made with beats and the mac and gorgonzola. both i'd give a 9 out of 10. the servers were friendly but the clientele (moreso at the bar area) was your typical dc bigger than life, middle age, power suit yuppie who would sit at the bar ordering his martini and talking loud for attention. so if you don't mind the typical annoying rich dc type then i'd suggest checking out thisrestaurantif you want a nice romantic upscale dinner.

after three failed attempts to get a reservation duringrestaurantweek, we finally broke down and decided to go to bourbon steak full price. because of the world bank conference, the hotel was busy and lively and of course therestaurantwas packed with

could have been better for the price. we decided to check out bourbon steak forrestaurantweek. i made my reservation before i ever saw the menu, but was disappointed when i realized i was going to be spending 20 dollars on a hamburger. i put that disappointment aside and decided it was going to be an awesome experience anyways.

as far as decor, environment, etc it was top notch. the staff was extremely friendly- despite the fact that my partner and i are two twenty-somethings dressed for causal friday, we were made to feel very welcome.

the truffle butter rolls were positively yummy- so that was a great start. my partner ordered the steak burger and duck fat fries and i decided on the salmon burger with the onion rings.

the break down-
the salmon burger was... good. the other ingredients on the bun were a little strange... but maybe that's just fancyrestaurantstuff that i'm not used to. i ended up tossing aside the seemingly cheap bun to enjoy the salmon on its own. the onion rings were to die for! the pickle ketchup, not so much. it tasted a lot like someone poured pickle juice in bottled ketchup.

to the steak burger- absolutely delicious! the cabot cheese was perfect with the flavor of the beef. again though, the bun only took away from the overall flavor. i was jealous of her choice, but i got a few bites, so i was satisfied.

the duck fat fries-- while tasty, obviously, i'm a little surprised that bourbon steak took such a shortcut with them. they were very obviously frozen fries. with all of the good fries in this city, how can they get away with that? i was also a little disappointed with the dipping sauces. i have already discussed the pickle ketchup, but we also had the michael whatever bbq sauce- which tasted suspiciously like the v-8 juice i had for breakfast and nothing like bbq sauce. my favorite was the french onion dipping sauce, but i'm pretty sure i could easily replicate it in my own kitchen with a packet of the powdered french onion soup mix and mayo.

the brownies with the ice cream at the end were absolutely delightful. a perfect finisher.

so, while i wasn't blown away with the food, it wasn't bad. then came the check. now i'm not a cheap person- but i'm 2 years out of college in an entry level position. i'm at arestaurantforrestaurantweek, thinking i'm getting deal. for two burgers, dessert, and 2 non alcoholic drinks, tip, and tax- $65 bucks.

i know the food didn't cost that much, and i can do just as well, if not better, in my own kitchen. you're definitely paying for the name here- and if you're any sort of capable in the kitchen, you can do better. if you want burgers, save your cash and head to five guys, good stuff, or rays hell burger. there are definitely better picks forrestaurantweek.