Lauriol Plaza (Dupont)

Lauriol Plaza
1835 18th st., NW

(1-5 Eggs)

General: (2.5)

The brunch offerings at Lauriol Plaza is average. The manner it adapts Mexican cuisine to a brunch context makes for an excessively heavy and slightly bland meal. One of the people in our party (still recovering from a too-fun Saturday night) barely touched his meal, finding it unappetizing. Lauriol’s expedient service and selection of seating areas partially made up for its deficiencies in food quality. Dishes ranged from $7 to $27. You might find it a desirable place for brunch if you have a large party, don’t wait too long for descent seats, and see food as a secondary concern.

Ambiance: (4)

Lauriol plaza has enormous dining room. It is spacious, with two floors, all white walls and table cloths, and huge windows two stories in height making for a well light inside. You also get the choice of outside seating next to the sidewalk or in their third story terrace. Its huge amount of space warrants you’ll get a descent table. You’ll also most likely sit somewhere with room to stretch your legs, something you don’t find in DC that often

Coffee: (.5)

Coffee was of very poor quality a brewed very very watery. The hint of flavor you got from their watery coffee, on top of everything, was stale.

Service: (3.5)

Lauriol Plaza’s service was effective. We were sat as soon as we arrived and things was brought to the table promptly. They had a well orchestrated staff. Busboys and servers
checked on the table frequently. The only drawbacks were the impersonal sense you got from the service (between all of the busboys, food-runners, and servers we only saw our server twice). It felt like you were just another number. The server also had a difficult time describing the food and was not able to make any useful recommendations. Finally, they brought the food very quickly, not enough time to talk. This kind of speed in getting
food out is nice when you have large parties.

Food: (1.5)

Like mentioned above the food was heavy and slightly bland. Making up for flavor by adding salt, cheese, and sour cream makes for a bad post-meal gastronomical experience. Don’t plan on being active after having most of the things in the menu, which included a pretty large array of food I by the way. The restaurant did not seem to place too much importance in ingredient quality from the fruits, to vegetables, to the meats. One thing we did enjoy was a ceviche mixto for appetizer, and even though it was pleasant, the ingredient quality limited potential.

La Fourchette (Adams Morgan)

La Fourchette
2429 18th St. NW
(1-5 Eggs)

General: (3)

La Fourchette is located right in the heart of the Adams Morgan 18^th street strip. Their brunch and desert selection was fairly large and food was overall good but the poor service of the restaurant severely impacted our brunching experience. The restaurants best attribute is its location. It might make a good place to eat some desert in an afternoon.

Ambiance: (3)

The restaurant offered outside and inside seating. This would be a great place for people watching if you are able to get a table outside because of its great location. There are always plenty of things going on in the restaurant’s immediate surroundings and always people on the move. The interior setting was fairly average for a French restaurant. The dinning room’s exposed red brick wall and murals make for a relaxed atmosphere. This relaxed atmosphere was countered with a fairly small and slightly cramped dinning room.

Coffee: (1)

The coffee we were served for brunch was inconsistent in quality. The round of coffee we were served was comparable to the kind of coffee you get at gas stations or fast-food restaurants. It was very lightly brewed and lacked both body and flavor. Later on in meal they served coffee which was more densely brewed and had hints of caramel in its flavor, but still seemed of low quality. In addition, coffee refills were hard to come by and we had to mostly ask for them.

Service: (1)

The service we received was of the lowest quality. The entire restaurant’s organization seemed inefficient and this took a toll on our meal. Upon first arriving there was a crowd around the door yet no one had spoken to anyone. There was no hostess to seat the people. When we stopped a waiter to ask if we needed to sign up he said to just grab a seat in inside because everyone was waiting for tables outside. We followed his advise and were led to a table, but when we were about to sit down an irate customer approached us and explained they had been waiting for a long time for a table. We gave them the table and went right along to another table that was open to have the exact same thing happen. The third time was a charm. Once we were sat everything took a long and arrived at inappropriate times. Silverware arriving after the food, water arriving with the food (which took a long time to come out), and food orders coming out a different times. Although a large part of the problem was due to the server’s own ineptness, the service staff seemed over-worked and bus boys not well trained and disorganized. The pinnacle of the bad service occurred when our server refilled a half-full cup of tea with coffee and did not notice. It took us a good ten minutes to get someone’s attention to get another cup of tea.

Food: (4)

La Fourchette’s food was its main strength. It offered a good variety of poached egg dishes, crepes, omelets, along with the other usual brunch foods. Everyone was content with their food, once it arrived, and it was overall of good quality. They seemed fairly selective about their ingredients since tomatoes were ripe and sweet and meats delightful. Their array of deserts also deserves mention, but although tasty did not really leave any strong impressions with anyone in our party.

Cashion’s Eat Place (Adams Morgan)

Cashion’s Eat Place
1819 Columbia Road N.W.
(1-5 Eggs)

General: (4.5)

Living in the neighborhood I’d always walked by Cashion’s Eat Place and never stopped to eat there. This restaurant has definitely won my patronage. From its ingredients to its service to its value this restaurant provides an excellent weekend brunch experience. Brunch entrees ranged between $10 and $15 and were all well worth the money. If you’re looking for a good brunch in DC you’ll be very likely to find it here.

Ambiance: (4)

The restaurant setting was pleasant. It has outdoor and indoor seating. The weather was optimal for outside seating when we went, which meant a long wait if one wanted to sit outside. They gave us an estimate of over an hour to get a table outside while there was not wait to sit inside, so we sat inside. I found the differential in waiting time very peculiar. The décor was French and very classic. Walls were decorated with antique pictures that attributed to the classic feel. The bright whites of the table cloths were accentuated by the light coming from the sky light on the ceiling which made the feel of the restaurant very fresh and lively. The restaurant gave off a very “gourmet feel” with its decorations, but was not overdone and contrived. The dining room was a bit small and cramped, but that did not cause any significant discomfort or compromise the mood.

Coffee: (3.5)

Cashion’s coffee was generally of good quality. It was not over roasted, they used flavorful beans, and brewed it well. Although it was good coffee my personal preference in coffee is for something a little bolder in taste. The servers were very attentive with regards to coffee refills; no one in the table ever got to the bottom of their cup (very nice). I did not get the chance to ask whether to coffee was ground at the restaurant or not, but would not be surprised if it was.

Service: (5)

Our server was attentive to our particular preferences, friendly, and very knowledgeable about the food they served and the establishment’s history. As I mentioned earlier, coffee refills were frequent. The descriptions and recommendations on the food from the server very were effective, demonstrating competent service-staff training perhaps. The food came out in impeccable timing, long enough to have conversation, but prompt enough to avoid any complaints.

Food: (4.5)

The food at Cashion’s was overall excellent, particularly for the price. Although the number of items in the brunch menu was not large, the dishes they offered were varied enough to satisfy most preferences. It’s the kind of place that does a small number of dishes but does them all well. The menu varies slightly from week to week although the main staples are unlikely to be absent. Cashion’s French cuisine definitely left a good impression with me, particularly because of the ingredients they used. They ground the bison and beef for their burgers the same morning, offered the choice of chicken or duck eggs, had very high quality sausage, and fresh squeezed their orange juice among many other things. Their French toast was a delight with very complex flavors and served with caramelized apples. Their eggs were cooked perfectly on all different styles the table ordered, including poached. Their desserts were also full of rich flavors to present the palette with something more than the simple flavors of sugar and cinnamon powder. Servings were moderately sized and the restaurant’s cooks elaborated the food’s flavors just sufficiently to avoid overwhelming. A great brunching experience.