the tulip bistro and bar

loved thisrestaurantvery romantic and quiet. had my birthday here in november. had blue crap dip and she crab soup. i love anything crab except crab cakes. beautifully done and obsessed with the crab stuff now. steak was on point cooked very well. beautiful presentation. i even got a free chocolate mousse for my birthday present with a candle in it to blow out as a surprise it was very sweet of them! everything was good ! yum highly recommend ! dinner for two was 80.00 also had wine ... not a $$$$ price point should be $$$

not worth the $$$. my wife and i went for dinner the other night. for the price, one would expect great service and excellent food but we found both to be lacking. therestaurantwas not very busy, but we still waited for about ten minutes just to get waters and a drink order. then we waited another ten minutes for our drinks. when they arrived, my beer had a huge head on it; apparently there was a problem with the cask. was told it was on the house because of the wait, but we were eventually charged for it anyway. we ordered and by the time our food arrived we realized we had been sitting there for over an hour. not so good for an average/slow night. my tacos were reasonably good, but my wife's fish and chips were pretty sub-standard. i've had better from fish and chips shacks on the coast. and, to top it off, she had an upset stomach the rest of the night. typical lexington eatery, i think: all flash and a great menu, but lousy execution.

second visit. place was packed on friday nopvember2. had to wait about 20 minutes for a table. sat in a small area that was crowded with people waiting for tables too. manager came by and got us drinks and said he would do his best to get everyone seated before long. seemed sincere about everything but the couple next to us where annoyed by it which i don't understand!! make reservations when going out to dinner on a friday at a popular busyrestaurantpeople! food was great, had the short ribs and redfish special. if i could afford it i would eat there everyday.

cheers.


-----26 jul, 2012-----

great place. i have coming to the tulip for over a year now and it is one of the better places for a great dinner. everyone is always nice and friendly. the best seafood in town and always something for everyone. i am a picky eater and they always get me what i want. newton is my favorite server but kate waited on us last time and did a great job. you have to go if you haven't been there before.

cheers!

manager needs to be fired. this used to be my absolute favoriterestaurantin lexington until about a month ago. i had 7 friends in town from dc, la and charleston. i was so excited to take them here to celebrate one of my friends recent marriage. the evening started off wonderful, champagne, patio seating, great ambience. after our food came out 2 of my friends noticed that their steaks were not medium rare, how they had ordered. we all looked at them and agreed they should send them back. about 10 minutes later that manager came out, we thought to apologize, but instead to argue with my friends about their steaks. he said he'd give them new ones but "for the sake of the chef" he wanted us to know that the steaks were properly cooked. we were all absolutely astounded. what manager, especially in a fine dining restaurant, argues with the customer, especially when they're gonna give them new steaks anyway? what was the point? about 45 minutes later they finally got their steaks but at that point we were all pretty pissed off and annoyed. he continued to tell us that the lights on the outside patio needed to be fixed so we could have seem that the steaks were properly cooked. absolutely ridiculous. i was highly embarassed and profusely apologized on behalf of this idiot manager. he needs to go back to applebees or dennys or wherever he came from...i think even there they know not to argue with the customer!

ok, but really slow. we met shawn who brought us a nice bottle of wine, the bread and salads came out fairly quickly, and then everything stopped. i don't know whether the kitchen was having trouble, or the server, but our main entrees didn't appear for almost an hour (and two of us did not get salads or eat the bread.) shawn finally told us right before our food was brought to the table that our order was up next. the steak entree was good, as were the mussels. the chicken on the grilled chicken sandwich was tough, and the fried oysters were ok. no dessert, it was late.


-----19 jun, 2010-----

tasty addition to chevy chase. thisrestaurantopened at the end of april, 2010, and is in the old ap roots location on romany road. spencer van den dool, chef at the black tulip in midway, which closed last year, is now the chef at the tulip bistro and bar. the building has not changed much on the outside or inside. we were a party of 6, and we all had different entrees. the most innovative dish was the caesar salad. it was whole romaine lettuce leaves with cherry tomatoes and chopped egg inside, then rolled lengthwise and "wrapped" with three red onion slices. two rolled anchovies were on the side, as was a parmesan cheese 'crisp', with crusty croutons on the top! tomato bisque was the soup du jour and was very rich and yummy. the she crab soup was also enjoyed. red snapper came with mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus. the potatoes were broiled to give them a brownish, crunchy crust and were delicious. i had the fish and chips - light breading on the plump fish, and nicely fried potatoes!
check this place out and support your locally-owned businesses!
read the following review from our local paper:
http://www.bizlex.com/articles-c-2010-04-27-92342.113117_the_restaurateur_tulip_grows_from_roots_on_romany.html

our experience was nearly perfect. we went on a saturday night. i ordered the baked fruit bri and crab soup and the shrimp linguini. all were amazing but the soup was perfect. i dont drink and te waiter got the bartender to mix me some juices for free. it was a nice extra touch. go here if you have some money, because tulip is just as good as any otherrestaurantin lex.

pretty good, but not special.. we had reservations, but the booth we were seated at was in the bar, and it was very noisy. honestly, as small as therestaurantis and as centrally located as it as the bar is, i'm not sure if it would have been any quiter anywhere else.

aside from the noise level, the atmosphere was fine but nothing special.

likewise, the food was good, but by no means great and nothing special. prices we a little less than a lot of other fine dining restaurants, but based on my one experience with tulip, i'd rather pay a little more at azur or jonathan's and get a lot better food than frequent tulip.

service was little lacking, but it was absolutely not our waitresses fault who seemed to be responsible for too many tables.

i started to leave her a slightly reduced tip figuring that not only was the service a little less than expected, but that if she got a good tip at every table she was covering she'd make a pretty big haul, but then i realized anyone who was as busy as she was who still managed to give adequate service deserved to take home a huge haul. a big kudo for her!

overall, certainly not bad, but it absolutely did not knock my socks off. worth a try, but don't expect to be wowed.

but there was a good crowd there and one couple without reservations left when they found out they have to wait at least 45 minutes to get a table so obviously a lot of people disgree with me.

very good seafood and good seleciton too. the seafood is delicious and fresh. thisrestauranthas several standard fare menu items with their own distinct flavors. i enjoyed their take on the caesar salad, it was unique, and i'd eat it again, but i still love me some j morse's caesar! everything that my family had was well cooked with great service as well. not much else to say, not outstanding but very good. somehow it's off the beaten path, but it shouldn't be. literally never even heard of it until i went to dinner with my family. they also had a large size bar area with tv's, which didn't take away from the classy atmosphere at all. if i were a bit older, i'd be hanging around that bar just because of the on-tap beer selection, well that and to flirt...
i'd definitely eat there again, less cost than jonathan's, j morse and lucie's and in the middle on quality.

decent food, great service. we made reservations for 8 people, which had to be approved my the manager first. we thought this was strange, but after seeing therestaurantwe understand that it is not big enough to hold multiple large parties in one evening. i very much appreciated the fact that they did not crowd us in where there was no room and then offer bad service because they had too many large parties that evening. so many other places do this and i applaud thisrestaurantfor making sure they could handle our larger party first.

for food, we had potato croquettes as an appetizer and they were very tasty. a couple of people had the she crab soup and said it was delicious. the warm goat cheese salad was very tasty too. for dinner, i had the fish and chips, which was ok but not the best i've had. four people had pork chops and they were very uneven across the table from cooked very well to very overcooked (read charred) and dry. we also seemed to get our entrees one at a time with about 5-10 minutes between entree. however, the manager did come out and apologize for the delay without anyone from the table complaining about it or asking to see the manager first. i was impressed that she recognized the issue and handled it without someone having to point that out first. we sampled the bailey's milk shake and it was quite yummy. the soup, salad, appetizers and dessert were the highlights.

all-in-all, the food was decent and i will go back and try it again. you have to expect a few bumps along the way with a newrestaurantand i think they are working out the kinks and will get those issues resolved soon.