Wildwood Kitchen by Robert Wiedmaier

First time here. Absolutely amazing! Worth the 40 minute drive from Springfield. Can’t wait to come back.

Love love love it! Wonderful as always! Attentive staff and wonderful GM.
We arrived at 7:15 for a 7:30 reservations and they had no problem seating us!
The bread is addicting
You can’t go wrong with the lamb meatballs
I had the Duck Breast which was so fabulous and my husband had the chicken and that was wonderful. It was so moist and far from dry.
Stick around for dessert the cream brûlée is the way to go!

We arrived later in the dinner rush around 9, 930 (we were surprised at the restaurants hours a full 12hrs 11 – 11) and was seated moderately quickly as there was only one staff member at hand. The restaurant is pricey for what you get, entrees typically average well above 20 $ for a portion. My girlfriend got the seafood risotto and I got the roast duck breast (something that has now flopped). The risotto was average, very basic recipe and the arborio rice was a bit undercooked. The duck breast meat was moist and tender but the skin was flabby. Should have been executed properly with a nice sear to have a nice texture difference. Ideally, a nice crispy outer skin, the thin layer of fat behind, and the moist meat is what I expected from something 25 $. However, the star, or should I say, villian of the show were the figs. It is completely unappetizing and unappealing to find a moving fig wasp larva wiggling around on my dish. I understand the anatomy and nature of the fig plant, but at least have the quality control to pick out the insect. The manager explained this is normal, but then returned with another dish (which I told them to hold the figs), and eventually did comp the dish.
Unforunately, the lackluster and small food items, mediocre wine list, and the expense of the dishes will not be enticing me to return. There’s a lot to be had from what you spend here elsewhere. Look around.

Although I have enjoyed this restaurant in the past, the combination of lukewarm soup and a lukewarm quiche leave me wondering whether anyone’s paying attention.

Noisy, Noisy !! And for what we experienced never ever again, do yourself a favor and try any new restaurant. Not at all worth the hype service was terrible… You want to charge these prices than teach your staff how to serve. Tiny portions of average quality, this guy is supposed to be a great chef, he better watch out for his name because all his Bethesda restaurants are turning out to be a bust! The roof was terrible and he’ll re-​brand it for a third time, villan and saints is a joke, and Wildwood kitchen is simply over priced hype. Bethesda is a small town and people are catching on that Chef Wiedmaier should stick to what he knows. I really cant believe I made a reservation for what I would consider a walk in restaurant at best.

Food was good but far too expensive, however, I do very much appreciate them participating in MoCo Restaurant Week. The appetizers of braised lamb meatball and bakes feta cheese were delicious but it went down hill from there. While the beef short rib was excellent, the bistro steak arrived cold, and was either bland or too salty depending on the bite taken. The glass my cab sauv was served in had a strange crusty stain on it from something spilling or hard water (I’ll give the benefit of the doubt and say it was just a nasty hard water stain, though having worked in a restaurant, these need to be polished off prior to reentering service) The pumpkin sticky cake seemed out of season and had the consistency of a cupcake. It felt like we were being rushed in order to accomodate the rest of the dinner rush.

yes!
wonderful environment.
great food.
not sure what the neighborhood has to offer as i went there on business but this is a place i would go back to again in a second.

Everything was great, food and service. Loved the beet salad. Great selection of wine as well!

Food was mediocre, service was good, no reason why the prices are so high for such terrible food!

Worst experience I have had dining out in the states in years
We were not greeted by a waitstaff person, our waitress had too many tables but the service was terrible, I was there with a friend and both of our orders were not prepared he specific way we ordered them
This is supposed to be a good restaurant. I have been there for dinner maybe @ 6 – 8 months ago
It has deteriorated.
The manager came over be comped our coffee she should have comped the entire meal
I am not Returning
It was $ 40. For brunch without any alcohol

The entrees and appetizer were fantastic. The prices were a little high; however, it’s hard to out a price on great food and service. The staff and service was on point and they were very attentive.

It was not all I thought it would be. My family went soon after it opened up and we have not gone back since. The place was crammed, but the décor is nice. The food was not as tasty as we hoped. Noone loved their plate, but they were good. The average food with high prices put this on my no go list.

This is a very cozy little restaurant in the Wildwood shopping center in Bethesda. If you didn’t already know about it, you might not notice it. But it would be a shame to miss it! I went for dinner with a friend and we nabbed two seats at the bar. You can order everything at the bar that you’d order at a table. We started with the baked feta, which was really tasty. My only criticism is that I wish it came with thicker, crispier crostini. For my entrée, I got the short ribs and my friend got the scallops. Both of us thoroughly enjoyed our meals. The service was very friendly, and I really appreciated the bartender’s honesty about what dishes she liked best! She steered us in the right direction, and I’ll be back!

Great food. I have no idea what the reviewers below were referring to. Great service, nice wines. Everything was spot on.

LOVE it here. Such gracious hospitality and delicious food!
It’s hard not to fill up on the fluffy, yet crunchy bread. But, save room for dessert because the vanilla ice cream is the smoothest & creamiest ever.
Never a bad bite.

The review by Sonj H got it right!
Very good food. Small portions. Noisy. Poor, lackadaisical service. Mediocre wines. High prices.
At $ 70 a person (no desert) one can do a lot better.

I am torn. The food was very, very good.
It was close to excellent if small in proportion, and, the dessert leaving us nonplussed as it was flavorless.
But the service was not good. as in, even a little bit. No one was rude, but the server was like a tuned-​out high-​schooler. If you are going to give your food thought, give your staffing thought as well. Hire well, PAY WELL.
We enjoyed breakfast, the potato latkes were extremely undercooked. lox nice, peach pancakes divine. We really want to love this place and be regulars, but there is something frustrating in the service /​cost disconnect. Made a big difference.

I recently visited Wildwood kitchen with the hope of finding a good restaurant in an area of Bethesda that really needs one. To my dismay, the service was quite poor. Our order was mixed up with someone else’s and we had to wait for over 45 minutes fro braised beef?
Secondly, and most important I was charged for a refill of a diet coke. My diet coke cost me $ 6.00. The dishes were OK but not great. Perhaps the chef needs to spend sometime in this restaurant to see if deserves more stars. For now, I will give it 2.

A brief update on one specific dish:
Heirloom tomato salad. Sometimes you order this salad in the dead of winter, hoping the chef found those special, actually ripe red globes that make you remember summer breezes. Rarely win that bet, but if you did, it would taste like these. Five kinds of tomatoes, thick, pungent balsamic vinegar dabs, basil swipes across the plate, with impossibly thin wisps of crispy baguette. But the best part was the mozzarella, so fresh the center was spreadable creamy. If you think mozzarella is just white Styrofoam, you’ll think again after this. Perhaps the best fresh mozzarella I can remember. An app to dream of next January.
Oh, and the house-​made tonics were excellent combinations of ingredients that sound weird but add both refreshing hints of sweetness (without sweetners) and bold flavors that power through any residual oils or grease in your mouth. Wouldn’t expect less from a place with creative alcoholic beverages and these deliver.

Never in my life have I been told «I know you have reservations, but I’m just not sure if we are going to be able to seat you tonight. Would you mind eating here at the bar or coming another night?»
Yes, I would mind eating at the bar or coming another night. That’s why I made reservations!
Seriously, This whole experience left me livid. We got there and were shuffled around a small waiting area while the people that came in after us were seated. Then we were told eat at the bar or leave in no uncertain words. Any person in their right mind would have left then and there, which is what we should have done…
The scene goes as follows: «Okay, Brian will be your waiter. He’ll be with you shortly.» 5 minutes later. «Okay, Brian’s a little busy so he asked me to get your started.» Order. Drinks come, food comes, dessert comes. No Brian. Is he real? Was he ill? Oh well, the server we ended up with was decent.
The food on the other hand… what was good was in *tiny portions*. My husband had to eat again later just to get his calories for the day. The octopus and the flat iron tasted like they had been previously chewed, spat out, and arranged in a haphazard manner on a plate. Disgusting, but given the demographic of the diners I’m guessing that maybe they like it. I think we were at least 30 years younger than the next youngest patron. Perhaps why we were encouraged to leave? This is the second time we’ve been burned by age in the North Bethesda area. Do people under the age of 45 scare restaurant staff? Is there a preconceived notion that we can’t afford to eat there? Whatever it is, it’s annoying, rude, discriminatory and it’s getting old. No pun intended.

I’ve always been a fan of all of Robert Wiedmaier’s restaurants. However, I liked Mussel Bar and Brasserie Beck better. I’ve been here at least 3 times this year — April, May, and June. The restaurant has a modern look to it. Although parking may be limited at times, it’s a great place for a date or business luncheon. At Wildwood Kitchen, you can’t really be disappointed about the taste or quality of the dishes. However, for the portion size, the price is a bit high.
Some of my favorite dishes (in no particular order):
1. Classic Caesar Salad with Anchovies — small salad, fresh ingredients, and delicious tasting
2. Pan Seared Salmon — served with red quinoa, roast shiitake, granny smith apple, and coriander vinaigrette — crispy salmon skin, cooked to medium well
3. Roasted Amish Chicken — served with braised red cabbage, plumped raisins, potato purée — tender meat, cooked to perfection
4. Grilled Octopus — garnished with black mushroom purée, salsa verde, garlic chips, parmesan — tender tentacles, spicy
5. Pumpkin Soup — made with mascarpone cheese, onion Marmalade, and basil Oil — creamy, sweet, delicious
6. Beet Salad — served with honey greek yogurt, oranges, spiced walnuts, micro greens — colorful, sweet, delicious as well
7. Arborio Risotto — served with saffron, clams, octopus, shrimp, scallop, salmon — risotto was perfect, fresh seafood
8. Roasted Dorade
9. Lamb Meatballs — potato purée, harissa, shaved Parmesan, sauteed Spinach, crispy Onion — great flavor