Located next to the Willard InterContinental Hotel, Café du Parc embraces classic French Bistro cuisine with moderate pricing ranging from $8 to $35, serving breakfast, lunch, afternoon “petit plats” (small plates), dinner and casual takeaway items. With dishes such as Moules à la Marinière, and simple, sophisticated décor, Café du Parc is a celebration of classic bistro cuisine and casual fine dining. Café du Parc is overseen by one of Europe’s top Michelin-starred chefs, Antoine Westermann, who supervises the menu to ensure that his vision of French cuisine is appropriately transposed in an American setting. Café du Parc is led by Chef Antoine Westermann’s hand-picked brigade trained by the master in Paris.
"We were seated at a cozy table in the corner for some privacy. French onion soup and watermelon salad (special of the day) were great. Mussels entree was HUGE and salmon with potato puree were delicious. My husband and I finished dinner with the Creme Puffs and cappuccino. The Creme puffs are to die for. The cappuccino was eh (more of a latte). Dessert came with "Happy Birthday" written in chocolate on the plate and complimentary champagne for the celebration. Our server was friendly and attentive. We would definitely come back for a special occasion."
Dined on 5/11/2013
Special Features: special occasion
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"Cafe Du Parc offers reliably good dining. With a small but sufficient menu, the food and wine is of good quality, presented well and served in a generally professional manner."
Dined on 5/04/2013
Special Features: fit for foodies, great for outdoor dining, romantic, neighborhood gem, notable wine list, great for lunch, special occasion
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"There is outdoor dining and it is very convenient if you are going to theater. The food is excellent and the service is solid. They have a decent selection of wines. Note that the outdoor dining is right on Pennsylvania Ave. which isn't ideal with the tourist buses and such running by a lot, particularly in the high season. It is quite expensive - it is connected to the Willard Hotel, enough said. There are definitely better values out there, but the location near the theater is excellent. If you want a good, high-end meal and then a quick walk to either the Warner or National Theater, there aren't a lot of choices out there - this is one of them. You just have to pay for it."
Dined on 9/29/2012
Special Features: fit for foodies, romantic
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"For such a good meal, the service was poor. We brought some wine from home, and the waiter seemed lost how to handle it (though he did seem to now that there was a corkage fee). I had to ask for glasses to be brought out, and the waiter handled the wine service with extreme indifference (over pouring glasses, etc.)."
Dined on 04/27/2013
2001
Special Features: fit for foodies, great for outdoor dining, notable wine list
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"No doubt about it, everything was as expected. The food (trout and scallops)was outstanding, the service friendly and very professional. We will definitely be returning. The vanilla ice cream with a warm bitter chocolate sauce was to die for."
Dined on 04/25/2013
2012
Special Features: fit for foodies
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"Each time we go to Cafe Parc, the service has been extremely slow. The food is excellent, but we won't be returning because we have such poor service. We do not wish to have a 2 hour lunch in order to have a sandwich. We had to continually ask where our food was, had to ask for dessert menu, etc. Either the servers are overworked or your kitchen is too slow. If you correct your service we will return."
Dined on 04/12/2013
2004
Special Features: great for outdoor dining, great for lunch
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"The worst service ever! The hostess was terrible, the waiter was very rude and kept rolling his eyes at us. We had to wait for our food (with a 3 years old starving child) for more than an hour. When we dared ask if it would be much longer, the waiter told us that when we arrived "there were 14 table ahead of us and there were at least 4 more so we would have to wait for 15-20 more minutes". No apology, nothing...We had to ask for the check and leave as our daughter was starving and we were just too upset..."
Dined on 04/14/2013
2006
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"Booked a table here since we had theatre tickets at 8 PM down the block at the National Theatre. I mentioned this on the special requests portion of the reservation and to the maitre d' as he escorted us to our table at 6 PM. No problem, he responded. You have plenty of time. At 7:15, they finally served our main courses. At that point I told the waiter in 15 minutes to bring dessert, coffee and a check. Unfortunately, he brought those items in 5 minutes, so we could barely finish our food. The food was ok - that's all. If the chicken had been juicier, I might have been able to eat more of it in the allotted time. The bill was over $200 for 2. I will never eat here again."
Dined on 04/13/2013
2004
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"This was our second visit. Our first lunch at Cafe du Parc was great - mussels and fries, with great service. The second time, we had mussels and fries again, which were very good. However, the wait staff was disinterested at best, the kitchen was painfully slow, and we were crammed into a tiny table with no room for our lunch. An unpleasant surprise."
Dined on 04/10/2013
2009
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"Good bistro food, the tarte flambe always worthwhile. However, in comparison with the competition it is overpriced by about 40% (see Le Chat Noir, dinner for two about $50 less, better authentic French atmosphere). with Cafe du Parc, you are paying extra for the fact that it is a hotel restaurant, and for the location. It is a plus that they validate parking, without that it would exit from my list of the places we visit 2 - 3 times a year."
Dined on 04/06/2013
2010
Special Features: fit for foodies, scenic view, great for lunch
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"Great food and service in a wonderful location Only complaint is a woeful wine list. Quite surprised at the lack of French wines Overall excellent, we will be back!,"
Dined on 03/29/2013
2011
Special Features: fit for foodies, great for outdoor dining, neighborhood gem, romantic, special occasion
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"A lot of hype about the authentic French bistro thing and the 3 star chef consultant. That's all it is. Hype. Overpriced. A lot of other better restaurants to spend your time and money at."
Dined on 03/08/2013
2010
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"Pricey. Cafe quality ambiance. Probably about thirty percent over the margin for a similar experience in a more ambiant restaurant not a cafe. Have had very good lunches here but there is a lot to choose from in the area for dinner."
Dined on 03/01/2013
2011
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"I came to Cafe Du Parc for lunch with a friend and because we were on a strict timeline ordered everything right away including appetizers, lunch and drinks. Our appetizers came out quickly and were both delicious (French-Onion Soup and salad). After finishing those dishes we waited over 30 minutes for our mains. This was frustrating and we had to speak to the waiter several times to get the status. They were apologetic but overly understanding. Eventually our food arrived and was again very tasty. Therefore, while overall the food was great and I would be careful when recommending this restaurant to anyone who is under time restraints, which might be quite a few people downtown!"
Dined on 02/07/2013
2013
Special Features: romantic, special occasion
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"The service was very nice and freindly as to be expected from a place like this. BUT both the menu and food were boring and not in my opinion worth any where near the $75 per person price as a professional chef my self I should know. I have eatin and served many special menus and this is deffinatly at the bottom of the list. Why would you serve peanut butter flavored dishes as both an amuse and a dessert. There regular menu looked much better than the mandatory valintines day one. Overall the food tasted good but, creativity is what you are paying for. Anyone can use a little salt and pepper. In response to the would you recomend this restaurant ? I would but go for the regular menu only its not worth the inflated price for a special day"
Dined on 02/14/2013
2011
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"The food was wonderful and the service was great. My wife and I had an after Valentin's Day meal here. Because of the cost this is a special occasion place, but we've greatly enjoyed both of our special evenings at the Cafe Du Parc."
Dined on 02/15/2013
2005
Special Features: fit for foodies, special occasion
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"A spot that has some of the better food I have had in DC -- nicely prepared and excellent quality. I was there as a single and staff paid excellent attention to my neeeds."
Dined on 02/16/2013
2005
Special Features: fit for foodies, neighborhood gem
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"Expectation of a 4-star restarant was hirer than service or product delivered. They had an acceptable wine and dinner pairing for Valentine's Day; however it was not "special" or 4-star rating. Food was good, but not spectacular."
Dined on 02/14/2013
2011
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"While the food was wonderful and the server delightful as well as attentive, I was deeply disappointed in my dining experience at Cafe du Parc yesterday. The heat did not appear to be on in the upstairs dining room. Several patrons, including myself, were forced to keep on their overcoats and scarfs. It was not only chilly but unpleasant. We were told by the server that it had been like that for several weeks and he has fielded many complaints. We finished our meal before dessert and coffee because it was too much for my older dining companion to handle any longer."
Dined on 02/18/2013
2009
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"I have gone to this restaurant many times over the years but not in the last several months. Thus I was stunned by the mediocre quality of the food (for the prices) on my last occasion. I had the crab cakes which were rather dry. The tartar sauce was required for this dish in order to provide some flavor interest and moisture. If I happen to be here again, I would stick with the mussels, which should be easier to prepare."
Dined on 02/12/2013
2007
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"I didn't find anything remarkable or special about Cafe Du Parc during my restaurant week visit. I ordered the pate and pork rillettes for the first course. Blah! I ordered the Paiche and polenta for the second course. It was super bland, like eating card board. Totally unremarkable. Lastly, I ordered the Gâteau au Chocolat for the third course. It was ok. I appreciated having a chocolate cake option. Many fancy restaurants over think themselves and leave out obvious classics such as chocolate cake. I wish they would have served a cake variant with more of an icing flavor. It tasted like traditional chocolate cake without any icing.
The service was ok. The ambiance was more befitting a well done two star restaurant."
Dined on 02/09/2013
2002
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"The food was great and the service too. Our server was nice and made sure we always had water and what we needed during our dinner. I love the lamb and the beignets. I would love to go back."
Dined on 02/08/2013
2012
Special Features: late-night find, neighborhood gem, special occasion, great for lunch
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"Lousy food! Restaurant week menu was awful. The lamb dish was prepared using sous vide for 42 hours, rendering the meat unpalatable and nearly tasteless. It was akin to a bad pot roast. The appetizer dish was also unimpressive, just a few fried oysters put on top of some bean soup. The dessert, a chocolate cake, was so dry it tasted effectively stale."
Dined on 02/05/2013
2009
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"I was in the middle of writing a review and the limited space did not allow me to finish it. Please advise another way to send it to Open Table. Thank you."
Dined on 01/31/2013
2007
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"As with my previous visit, I enjoyed Cafe du Parc very much. It was a Friday night and the dining room was only about half full. I hope that's not a bad sign of declining patronage. The menu offer an excellent variety of French cuisine. Our group had two steaks and two orders of scallops. The steaks were expertly prepared and the scallops were outstanding. A highlight of the evening was the very cordial and personal service we received. It was over and above what you would normally expect even for a fine dining restaurant like Cafe du Parc. Magnifique!"
Dined on 01/18/2013
2005
Special Features: romantic, special occasion
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