I had a good laugh about this place with Phyllis N. Richman before she retired as the Post's food critic. Its reputation at that time with us was as the one worst French restaurant in the DC area, with food that was pathetically prepared and service that was to say the least, unserviceable. It did have a quaint setting, but also tables too near the swinging kitchen doors that should have been service area locations. Perhaps in the interim (at least five years and maybe even ten) the management has changed and brought the place up to standard. Maybe it's time to make some inquiries as to whether to try it again.

Since I have working in that Falls Church-Fairfax area about three days each month for the last nearly 20 years, I do have a lot of restaurant experience there. Two of the fine Chinese barbeque houses in that immediate area that have escaped notice in this thread are Mark's Duck House in the Williston Center and just down the street is Miu Kee, in an anonymous (to me) new strip on the NW corner of Arlington Blvd and Annadale Road (where one can also find the latest incarnation of the frozen dessert stand which was formerly freestanding at that corner).

Also missing from the thread are a couple of casual places that I think deserve mentioning. These are RT's on Mount Vernon Avenue in Alexandria which serves upscale New Orleans style food with an excellent wine list and Artie's near the Fairfax Circle, which serves real American bar food much better than the national chains which specialize in the same stuff.

Since I've spent hundreds of nights in that area on expense accounts, I can go on and on, but enough is enough. Just seeing the title of this thread made me think that I should join in for a bit in order to help set the poster straight on the matter.