Lia’s in Friendship Heights

I’ve been to Lia’s (A Chef Geoff restaurant) a bunch of times now, both because of its close proximity to my boyfriends house and because of their great Happy Hour specials. For the most part, I find the food at Lia’s to be over priced and mediocre. The entrees range from $15 to $30 and although the portions are substantial the quality of the food isn’t particularly amazing. But anything off the Happy Hour menu is fairly priced, especially the beer and burgers.

The decor at Lia’s reminds me of Macaroni Grill.  The restaurant has low lighting and a cozy feel in the bar area and a very nice and cavernous feeling dining room that is almost always empty.

The staff is polite and friendly. The waiters aren’t snobby and they make you feel at home. The bartenders are also very nice, and once you go in there a few times they seem to recognize you and remember what you like to order.

The food at Lia’s is only okay (mediocre). To me there is nothing incredible or creative showcased there and if you are ordering off the normal menu it can be very overpriced. According to my boyfriend, the burgers are good and if you make it for Happy Hour (or all day on Mondays and Wednesdays) they’re only $6 for a burger and choice of side. He favors the gorgonzola burger served with shoe string french fries. The burger itself is small and the toppings and french fries are generously piled high. Other sides such as the salad (soaked in dressing) and steamed spinach (over salted) were unmemorable…as far as good qualities go.

They did some things well. I loved the fattoush salad which is like a Greek Salad but had a more lemony dressing; It was fresh, light and very filling. I really enjoyed the small plates of appetizer salads that we ordered as appetizers. We ordered the House Jardiniere, eggplant caponata and the garbanzo and tomato salad. I found that everything but the garbanzo and tomato salad (which had way too much oil in it for my taste) was very good. Oh, and fair warning – they may seem small but these plates are extremely filling, which I learned the hard way. 🙂 The complimentary foccacio bread that is served is delicious and very reminiscent of Macaroni Grill. The chicken sandwich is very good but a bit too heavy on the mayonnaise for my liking; it is served on huge slabs of foccacio bread with several large pieces of chicken inside, so it isn’t for nibblers!  Grab that sandwich with both hands and dig in!

No outing to Lia’s is complete without sampling the gigantic glasses of beer that Chef Geoff restaurants are famous for offering. Half a glass of one of those is enough to get me tipsy and partially full. So bottom line for Lia’s – Come for the Happy Hour specials and beer. Skip the ridiculously priced entrees and go to Macaroni Grill for your Italian fix.

-JNF (Jacqueline, a Guest Writer)

My first visit to Cafe Atlantico was particularly exciting.  I had been dying to try the place forever and had a very cute first date to look forward to.  Now we all know that first dates are not exactly the time to be adventurous with food, since messy foods are out of the question.  As a female especially you want to seem somewhat delicate and dainty on a first date. Therefore, anything messy was off the menu and because I keep kosher almost everything else was off limits as well.

I walked into Cafe Atlantico after reading numerous reviews about the place on Yelp and was expecting something rather fancy; instead I walked into a place whose decor screamed cheap Tapas bar. I wasn’t greeted by the hostess when I walked in since she seemed fairly busy talking to the waitress next to her.  I plunked myself down at the bar to wait for my date.

The bar staff was very attentive and friendly.  They brought me complimentary warm chips and salsa…neither of which I ate too much of for fear of staining my outfit or ruining my makeup, but the gesture was very appreciated.  Finally, my date arrived, and we were ready to order drinks.  After reading reviews on Yelp, I ordered the “Majic Mojito,” a twist on the normal version of mojito; this one had cotton candy in it instead of normal sugar. The whole drink caused quite a stir at the bar with most of the patrons turning around to watch the huge chunk of cotton candy “magically” dissolve in my martini glass.  The resulting mixture was delicious.  Light on the mint, and a bit heavy on the sugar, but very refreshing and at under $12 a very good deal.  Plus if you happen to be at the bar by yourself I would park myself next to a cute guy/girl and use it as an excellent conversation starter.  We left the bar after a 25 minute wait… which considering our reservation was at 7 was really unnecessary, and then proceeded to trudge our way upstairs.

The upstairs of Cafe Atlantico was much better and nicer looking then the downstairs.  The waiters upstairs were amazing; they were efficient to the point of practically being scary.  One woman came over and refolded my date’s napkin when he left to use the bathroom.  It was kind of strange and methodological in my opinion but funny in hindsight.

We ordered guacamole to start with.  The guacamole was pretty expensive at $13 and completely tasteless.  My biggest complaint was the lack of any form of acidic agent (lemon, lime etc) which could have highlighted the rich flavors of the avocados.

The tuna ceviche appetizer was bland and once again lacked a bold acidic taste that is usually customary when eating ceviche.  It was served under a halved avocado with a toasted rice coating. All in all, it was completely flavorless and the toasted rice flakey coating tasted strange when combined with the delicate flavor of the fish and fatty richness of the avocado.

Next I ordered the salmon which was well cooked and very fresh. I had two complaints – the tomato seed jelee that was served as a garnish (maybe it is because I hate tomato seeds) and the strange bubbly coating on my fish that I had to get my waiter to come and explain to me (turns out it was a harmless coating of lemon). I just felt both were unnecessary, I am capable of using normal lemon to flavor my fish and thought the coating looked a little too much like saliva to fully enjoy eating it. The salmon was accompanied by an olive salad that was passably good and a strange little grey/green pod that tasted of olives as well.  My date ordered the portabella mushrooms which looked good but I didn’t get to try it since I was on “first date behavior” meaning not jumping over the table to demand a taste of everything.

Dessert was much better than the actual meal itself.  We ordered the chocolate cake that came with banana topping and “Venezuelan” flan.  I happen to be Latin and had never seen or heard of a Venzuelan flan but whatever it was it was extremely good.

So the lesson to be learned about Cafe Atlantico? Try the drinks and dessert, but skip the food if you can.  In my opinion it was over priced and I’ve had better Latin style food in the cafeterias in Miami.

-JNF