Westend Bistro

Great food, excellent service, the fish burger made with red snapper was Amazing...brown butter cake with berries and pistacio ice cream was heavenly

I was in D.C. for the weekend and was excited to try Ripert's new restaurant. I was so thoroughly disappointed. To start, the bread was not good and the butter tasted like margarine. That should have been the clue to leave then and there. Unfortunately, we stayed and my friend and I both ordered the shrimp with quinoa - it was so salty I couldn't eat it. When we told the waiter, he asked if we wanted a different appetizer. We said no - but they brought us a 'new' shrimp appetizer anyway, saying they 'fixed' the salt situation - not at all. It was maybe 10% less salty. The entrees weren't much better - my friend had the halibut, which was fine, but bland. I ordered the steak - medium. It came well done - and the shallot sauce had no flavor. The ratatouille tasted like it came from a can. No one came back to check on us. When they finally cleared our plates - I told them it was not cooked the way I asked (I maybe had 2 bites). Granted, they took the steak off the bill but it did nothing to make up for the bad food. We headed elsewhere in search of dessert. It's really disappointing when you're expecting a good meal and end up with the most mediocre food ever. How could Ripert let this happen? I love Le Bernardin and he has such a good reputation. Clearly quality control has gone out the window in his small restaurant empire.