Mirabelle - Washington, DC

My aunt and I went at 5:30 on Saturday before seeing the Swan Lake ballet. We opted to share everything. First course was a green goddess salad, second truffle and parmesan pasta, main was the beef with cherries and for dessert we had the chocolate mousse. We also tried absinthe- the restaurant offers traditional absinthe service. The food was delicious. The complimentary amuse-bouche was lovely as well. Our food was plated separately free of charge. Our server was attentive and friendly. Altogether a great experience.

Food is good but quite pricey given the size of the plates. Some waiters were really pushy, almost clearing my dish while i was not even done.
Nice atmosphere.

Waited 30 min to get seated. Went from valentine special was “offered” to mandatory. Then mandatory to a la carte. Finally became a la carte but only from the special menu.. just sketchy and weird vibe. Maybe it was a wrong day but wouldn’t go again.

It took to long to seat down even with a reservation and the food took long time to come.
The steak was raw and the food too salty.
Too expensive for this service and food.

I want to preface this review by stating it was Valentine’s Day and the restaurant appeared to have over-extended themselves. But overall, a really disappointing experience. Took an hour and a half for a cocktail, which was ordered prior to food and served just before the third course. Soup delivered without spoons and espresso without sugar resulting in cold food/drinks. Food was delivered by wait staff announcing the dishes ordered due to not tracking order by seat. Wait staff responded like they couldn’t be bothered. Management did comp a bottle of wine when we expressed concern, which afterwards did not seem sufficient considering the problems-at-hand. Bathroom door was broken and challenging to open. This was not a fine dining experience.

Service is good and bad, depending on who you get. Bartenders pretty inattentive. Front desk staff seems somewhat inexperienced. Food is above average, on the salty and citrusy side.

We have to wait half an hour although we have a reservation. The food is salty and sour. We have to wait to be served for the next course.

First time diners on Friday night after word of mouth reviews and reading recommendations. There is no valet parking, however we found a spot on the street no problem. Made a reservation over a month ago for 8:00 p.m. and requested not to be seated in the center of the room if possible because of my hearing. We showed up at 7:45 p.m. and the hostess said that our table will be ready shortly and we could have a drink at the bar. It took over 15 minutes to get someone's attention for a pre~dinner drink. The staff was very busy! We were seated at 8:30 p.m. in the center of the room and the hostess dropped menus on the table and left before we could say anything. It was 30 minutes past our reservation time and we had an hour drive home so we just sat down. There were a lot of people and at times difficult to hear what my fiancee was saying from across the table. I honestly do not know who our waiter/waitress was, we had the most contact with the manager who delivered our food and made a wine recommendation. The menu offered multiple options per course and was a good value! I had the smoked carrot BBQ, the beef bourguidonne cannelloni, trio of lamb chops, and the turtle tartlet. All were very good, entrees were seasoned well, and dessert was presented nicely. He ordered the composed oyster flight, poached hen egg, mushroom risotto, and the chocolate mousse. The poached hen egg dish was his least favorite. The egg was perfect, however, the braised greens and lentils underneath had an imbalance of flavor and texture in his opinion. There was a long wait between courses and our dessert came out before our entree, which was corrected without any issue. Overall, it was a nice night out.

Amazing food and friendly service

I love Mirabelle but it was Valentines Day and the drop off in service, ambiance, and food was noticeable

Came for my reservation, was brought to a table with a missing chair, so I had to wait a little before being seated. When ordering, the waiter was poor. No recommendations made. We asked about one of the plates and asked for more detail as to what it was, and he just said they're carrots. The second dish was cold. I also asked the waiter if the dish I ordered was supposed to be cold, and he said "no, it should be hot." At this point I explained to him that it was cold and he said ok I will let them know. There was absolutely minimal effort and consideration from our waiter. Even our water did not come from him, it was being given to us from other workers.

Aside from the poor service, the food quality tasted like it was microwaved. I understand that it was a busy day, but for what I was paying, I would have expected prepared food, not heating food that was made earlier that morning, or worse.

Overall, I will never eat here again. Please either heighten your expectation from your workers, and increase the quality of the food. Or reconsider a menu that is more in line for what people are paying for.

My boyfriend took me for Valentines Day. Due to traffic we were late for our reservation, I contacted the restaurant and they told me to still come- this made my night. Upon our arrival the head hostess apologized and said she could not sit us but we were welcome to sit at the bar high top. As we were escorted to the bar we walked passed 10 empty tables. My disappointment and frown quickly came back. Service at the bar was a 30 minute wait just for drinks. Before we received our first course Opentable notified me that reservations were available at the restaurant so of course I quickly booked and notified one of the friendlier hostess. She was as excited as I was and sent the head hostess over to seat us. She was not excited and ushered my boyfriend and I again passed numerous empty tables to a Awkward table directly in front of the rear exit door. I was humiliated by this As I was reminded of the past putting people of color by the kitchen. We had hoped the food would make the night better but the waiter brought us someone else’s entrees and the horrible treatment just murdered the vibe. Please note that I politely expressed our disappointment to the head hostess so she moved us again to a table upfront. This restaurant was recommended but one of my close friends who is a food blogger but the events of the evening will not allow me to recommend to anyone nor do so ever plan to return.

It was a perfect Valentines dinner. They offer a range of excellent food in very elegant atmosphere for a good price.

Went there for Valentines Day dinner. Received a nice table by the window. Special menu was $75/person pre fixe. Drinks were expensive but good. Total bill was $240. Food was good to excellent. Drinks were great. Restaurant is pretty and not too loud. So why three stars? There were two issues, both involving service, and, quite frankly, shouldn’t have happened. First, we ordered cocktails and then were pushed into ordering our meal. The first course came before the drinks. No cocktail sipping to relax. Bad form. Second, the bill was presented with the dessert. Thanks for coming, get out. Very bad form. What was most weird was the restaurant was not full, there was no one waiting, and there were open tables for two. Sad part is the four courses didn’t feel rushed and we had a lovely time except for the cocktail rush and the get out delivery of the bill. Too bad....we would have considered a return visit.

My spouse and I went here for a valentine day dinner celebration. We were quickly greeted and placed in a desk to be serviced. The server (Mike) was very polite and attentive to our demands. On the contrary, the food was pretty good, but nothing out of the extraordinary. The environment of the restaurant is very ambient, and the atmosphere was comfortable for dining. Overall, I’ll say this restaurant a positive dining experience, but not superb because of the food course selections.

Maribelle was an extremely satisfying place to celebrate our wedding anniversary and Valentine’s Day. Our food server was excellent in every aspect. The three course meal was cooked quite nicely and in just the right proportions such that we did not feel stuffed, and the Maribelle Old Fashion is just superb. We definitely plan to return on another special day.

Beautiful decor, excellent service. Very accommodating every way. Delicious house made ice cream.

Very nice restaurant. Really nice selection of entrees. The cheese selection is outstanding.

Excellent food and service. Highly recommended.

Mirabelle has been open for several years now but under Executive Chef Keith Bombaugh this restaurant has truly started to shine. The menu is inventive and delicious, the ambiance is great for a date night, service prompt and attentive. This is one of the best restaurants in the city.

If there’s anything I would like to see improved, it’s the bar. The drinks are good and consistent but I’m not “wowed”.

Our waiter was fantastic. The ambience quiet and classy. The Bouillabaisse was wonderful and recommended by our waiter. I love how they didn’t rush you like so many restaurants do these days. We were there for my birthday, great choice. I highly recommend it and looking forward to going back.

We had a wonderful meal and service. The birthday boy was happy and impressed w the quality of the food. What else could I ask for? I unfortunately was sick and could not fully appreciate the meal and wine but the servers recommendation to start w the bouillabaisse was spot on. Added bonus: the presentation was spectacular.

The service and the ambience was outstanding. Although they were not participating in restaurant week for lunch, I found items on the menu that were affordable. You can never go wrong eating at Mirabelle's

Excellent service in a quiet and relaxing environment. Good wine list.

Food was satisfactory but not a wow, and for the price these days in dc folks would probably expect more. Service was fine but not impressive. About 10-15 min after we arrived a couple left before ordering and the maitre d asked why and they said no one had come to take their order (I was sitting there with a glass of bubbly having sit down after them and acquired a drink before them), it was their anniversary, and they had a babysitter. So, service may vary?

For a celebratory occasion, or just because, Mirabelle was excellent. The service was attentive but not annoying and the food was excellent.

We were fully satisfied with the menu, the service, and the ambience. The variety of choices and the obvious sophistication of the preparation and quality was greatly appreciated. The staff was particularly attentive.

New Years Eve excellent ambiance and evening!

Our latest visit to Mirabelle was just as good as the previous ones. The setting is one of the best in town for a romantic meal, the service is thoroughly professional, and both the food and drinks are superb. How this restaurant does not have a Michelin star, while critics' favorites like Komi and Inn at Little Washington do, is beyond me.

Love it .... great food . Would recommend this to everyone.

Food it’s very good and service amazing good place to go

We went to Mirabelle for Christmas Eve for a nice romantic evening and loved the location right down by the White House! It was not busy when we first got there. Our waiter was very nice though he never said his name which was unusual. Once we asked it during the evening, he seemed to be friendlier. We ordered glasses of Pinot Gris to go with our first course of oysters and was brought a Gewurztraminer in error. We were told to enjoy it free of charge (seriously???) and that they would bring out the correct one. A sweet wine does NOT go with what we ordered and my husband never drank his. Well the Pinot Gris never arrived after asking several times only to finally be told while eating our second course, that they were out of it. My husband also ordered a Cab Franc to go with his duck and was told that was out as well. Presentation was beautiful but size was extremely small! The foie gras was the size of a mushroom and that was it for our second course! The evening ending with ordering coffee to go with the very disappointing crepe suzette that was bitter due to the alcohol they poured on top of a fried crepe! The coffee was served luke warm and with no cream. We asked several times and after my second cup of black coffee, the cream arrived. The timing was just completely off with the staff which made it a disappointing evening. Our waiter was very nice but they really didn't seem to have enough staff on hand. My husband has no desire to go back but I would be willing to give it another try as long as it wasn't a holiday and we weren't in a rush! All in all, we would have done much better to have gone some place else.

We sat for 55 minutes and then the server came to get our drinks order. Very poor service. The pre-fix dinner had 4 courses and we had to wait 45 minutes between each course. The server never checked if needed any other drinks. Will not recommend it.

Christmas Eve fixed price menu -- as others reviewed, should have been a no-brainer from a Michelin-starred place. From hostess and wait staff to bussing and meal, the entire evening was a downward decline of tomfoolery: Endless waiting (3 hours total). uncleared plates, 45 mins between courses, no drink/water refills, no bread, no customer engagement/updates. Understaffed, unprepared or unconcerned?...whatever the case, Mirabelle was a letdown from previous experiences here.

Christmas Eve fixed menu, 4 course. Seemed as if they did not have the staff to support the number of tables seated. Waited around 20 minutes between courses. 2 1/2 hours for a 4 course meal.
Food was great and service friendly and professional, just seemed understaffed.
Pre-fixed menu was $85 per person. I had the orange duck breast as the main course and it was about the size of a chicken nugget.

“Miserabelle” - was seated, waited twenty minutes to order drinks. Drinks came back wrong. Continued waiting for 45 minutes and didn’t even get our order taken or the corrected drinks. Just over disappointing for a Christmas Eve special. As a prior server. Pre-fixe is easy. Take the order give it to the kitchen they handle the rest. Server couldn’t have been less aware of what everyone in the restaurant was doing. Do not recommend.

The meal was good but nothing particularly noteworthy, particularly given prices. Service was attentive—very quiet setting.

One of the best DC restaurants. The food dishes are imaginative, well prepared and beautifully presented. The lamb belly starter was unusual and delicious. The venison dish was superb. A full selection of French and other country's wines. the service always has been most professional the times we have dined there.

Second time dining with the new management and this really is one of the best dining experiences in dc... great wine, excellent service, creative delicious food, and they make a point to actually accommodate my friends food restrictions without compromising the food quality and beauty.

Lovely atmosphere, excellent food, and the three-course option is attractively priced.