M Cafe Bar

Ritz vibe on the cheap! For 20, my friend and I shared the miso salmon in a very delicious ginger sauce and a side of mac and cheese (divine). Honestly, who knew that mac ‘n cheese at a place like this (non Americana/​diner) could be so awesome.
The beer is also affordable – $ 5 a bottle in non HH land.
There is a nice outdoor patio and the location is killer.

Seems to have shut down! Was it the prices?

I went to this place to have coffee with a friend. I’d never been before, and was surprised at how extensive and pricey their menu is for what I thought was a small café. I planned to just have coffee, but when I started to look at the menu, I got hungry! I got the beet salad, which was good, but way overpriced ($ 13 I think?) for what it was (a few slices of beets with some walnuts and dried cranberries, a crostini, and some goat cheese). It was tasty, but don’t expect to feel full after eating it. On the plus side, they do have some outdoor seating, and parking is convenient. I would consider trying it again for dinner, but it’s too expensive for coffee and a snack.

Not too many GOOD ratings on Unilocal or Foursquare, but I tried my hand anyway.
Nowhere near a «Cheap Eat», but the CANNELLONI ALLA RICOTTA E SPINACI was tasty. For $ 13.95, it would’ve been nice to have a side salad included. Decent portion for lunch, as I wasn’t able to finish the whole thing. Will try the «Martina» pizze (pizza) next time.

Pleasantly surprised by how good this place was. Menu had many interesting dishes to offer. We had an appetizer of calamari & zucchini which was delicious with a nice spicy marinara sauce. Branzino special and lamb tagliatelle were both very good dishes. The fresh pasta was perfect and well seasoned. Menu also has pizza which I will try on my next visit. Desserts were also very good. Panetone bread pudding and panna cotta were delicious and perfectly executed.

The good: The food. Delicious, reasonably priced. (’nuff said)
The bad: The service
The Ugly: the management.
OK…we were told at the end of the meal that our very sweet, well-​intentioned server was new and that the mgr. had been receiving complaints about her all evening .
Evening started with our group of 4 ordering a bottle of white Zinfandel. Waitress brought and poured white Merlot, which we didn’t realize until we looked up from our menus and saw deep red, instead of pink, wine. We got the attention of the server who showed us the bottle and insisted that it was the right wine, since the vineyard was the same. We said no… she then huddled w/​bartender and the hostess, who politely came over and told us that they were out of the white zin we’d ordered, but white Merlot was the same wine, just different grapes. We couldn’t stop laughing hard enough to argue. We just asked her to bring another white zin. Miraculously, they found a bottle of what we’d originally ordered.
We ordered an appetizer to share, 2 ordered salads, and we all ordered entrees, 5 minutes later, the entrees were served. We inquired about the appetizer (mussels), but server said she thought it was to be served w/​the meal and it would be ready «soon.» They took away the entrees, brought the mussels, then a few minutes later, before we were finished, started to remove the plate with several uneated mussels. (Maybe they needed the heat lamp that our entrees were sitting under for another party?) Entrees were delivered… salads came a few minutes later. Who gets served a side house salad after the hot entrée?
We were very polite during the whold comedy of errors. Manager stopped over, unsolicited, towards the end of the meal to specifically ask about our service. That’s when she told us that the server was new and that she’d been receiving complaints all night. The mistake in the presentation of the food was because the server put the order in the computer wrong. We reiterated that the server seemed attentive enough and well-​intentioned, just perhaps needed more training. We shared our wine fiasco with her, and she shrugged her shoulders with an empathetic «I know, but what can I do about it?»
While we didn’t request that any adjustment be made to our bill, we were pretty surprised that she didn’t offer us at least a dessert on the house (we were still finishing our entrees, so it would have been appropriate timing)… or a gift certificate to return… something. After further reflection, I was really annoyed by the mgmt.‘s attitude towards this new employee. After they got one complaint about her, they should have coached and supported her, at least verifying how she entered her order in the computer. Mind you, the place was ¹⁄₃ empty on a Sat. night.
The food was delicious, but I don’t want to work so hard to ensure I get the right food served at the right time, by an indifferent management.

They’re quite proud of their new automated pizza oven — only two of them in the US — with a firing stone that raises, lowers and rotates.
The problem is that they use flour instead of cornmeal to dust the peel, so the crust invariably tastes like charred flour. We ordered three different pizzas at the same visit, and the burnt taste overwhelmed the flavor of the other ingredients, and filled our mouths with dry flour.
Pizza is hard to do spectacularly well, but it’s easy to get at least tasty results. It seems to me that they’re just trying too hard.
The other entrees were solid, but overpriced.

The food at M Café Bar is too pricey, but I really like the ambiance and the interior of the café. My pasta entrée was pretty average, but I was enjoying the décor of the restaurant too much to care. This is a great place to hold a quiet celebration dinner with a group of friends, but I would not visit habitually. The food isn’t worth its price tag, and it’s true– the servers are obnoxious. Still, three stars for the nice interior! Because it is that good.

I was offended.
Their service is obnoxious and fake. They try to be like a nice French restaurant, but it just comes off as snotty and not real or sincere. I really disliked their attitude when they charge $ 2 per piece for shrimp and the way they asked how many do you want, made it sound like it might have a good presentation, maybe with the head and artistically shown, but it was just ordinary shelled shrimp. Who would think $ 2 is a price for one piece of shrimp,
anyways?
On top of that, they lost my credit card. They returned the bill without my credit card. They apologized and the manager gave me his card, but didn’t offer ANYTHING. At least, they could say a tip is not deserved, since I have NEVER heard of restaurants NOT returning a credit card. Instead, he offered nothing.
I am not returning.

Yet another victim of the Friendship-​Heights –has-​crappy-​restaurants syndrome.
It looks fantastic, it has a great location, the service is great, but the food is a very disappointing. I had a risotto which tasted like it came out of a bag. It’s not a cheap sot either — some of the lunch entrees run to $ 25 a pop — for that kind of money they should really work on getting it right.
This place is, as an old friend of mine used to say, all mouth and no trousers.
The best thing about this place used to be that they had a painting of a silhouetted Citroen DS suspended in air at the bottom of the stairs, a couple of years ago, but it looks like they have sold it now.

Huge disappointment. Went for Sunday brunch, my favorite meal ever and was left wishing I was… well. anywhere else.
First of all, the person I was brunching with swears that last time he was here (awhile ago, I guess) the brunch menu was at least three times the size. The options were few and far between. As a vegetarian, my choices were very limited. I ended up getting the brunch tart, which was philo filled with sautéed spinach, feta cheese, portobello
mushroom and poached eggs. It was supposed to come with bacon on top but I opted out of that. The tart was a good size but slightly too lemony on the avocado.
Things that made me mad: snappy server, asked for skim milk three times before i got it (including them bringing whole milk once and insisting it was skim), no direct answers to questions.
me: «what comes in the omelette?»
him: «well what would you like in the omelette?»
me: «well what normally comes in it?»
him: «well what would you normally like in it?»
It was entertaining watching the constant parade of Tiffany bags go by though…

I actually live really close to M Café. When I want a place with good food and a cool modern environment, I go there. The ideal time to go there is when there is a nice weather outside. Usually you can find a lot of people eating and having drinks there. I have been there multiple times and I have always found good service. You can often see the manager trying to make everyone feel welcomed.
About two years ago I went to have brunch there. However, I remember finding their brunch dishes too small. I ended up hungry afterwards! However, it was delicious. I know they changed their menu, but haven’t tried the new things yet. I guess I need to go soon and find out :) I am excited to see by the other reviews that it might be worth giving the Brunch a second chance.

My boyfriend suggested checking out the M Café since we were going to do some shopping at some nearby stores. However, when I first read reviews on Unilocal about this café, I was very hesitant since it seemed like several people had bad experiences there. In spite of that, we gave it a shot since we were in the neighborhood.
From seeing the restaurant from the outside, it looked modern and «cool» — and upon going inside, it also looked modern and cool. I found the service to be impeccable. We arrived on a Saturday afternoon and we were promptly seated by the hostess. And the waiter was very attentive and never kept us unnecessarily waiting. And for those who complained about the staff not speaking English very well, I guess I dealt with a different staff since everyone I encountered spoke fine English.
I ordered french toast with assorted berries (it was very good) and a glass of skim milk. The atmosphere was very comfortable and I was able to talk to my boyfriend without it being too noisy or difficult to hear him.
The service and food were excellent — so after I left the M Café, i was left scratching my head wondering how on earth so many people gave this place a bad review. Maybe any «bad» staff had been purged since then. I would definitely eat there again and plan to do so next time I’m shopping around that area.

I don’t get all the negative reviews. Maybe something has changed there very recently, or maybe I am just not as hard to please.
Service was not bad, it was attentive, quick, and actually good!
The food was good, at least the bread, Cesar salad, and cappuccino I had. My boyfriend seemed to enjoy his french toast as well.
What is this myth that no one there speaks English? I don’t get that either. Everyone seemed to, out waiter had a slight accent… but he was not hard to understand.
The prices were not super cheap, but this isn’t Panera. For the classy atmosphere, expensive neighborhood, and high quality food, I actually thought it was relatively cheap! (2 of us got meals at ‘brunch time’ for $ 32).
Don’t let all these terrible reviews scare you away. If you are in the area, or are looking for a place with a Beverly Hills vibe, this is the place to be. I look forward to returning when it is a little warmer to sit outside and try their Pizza!

I just ate hear approximately 3 hours ago. Walked through my door, vomited, and now I’m Unilocaling about it.
The décor is like a trendy cafeteria with silverware, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it probably helps explains the staff mentality. The place was virtually empty when my guest and I walked in, probably one or two other tables occupied. Perhaps there was a shift change in progress, but I“m not sure how to excuse the 4 or 5 suspected employees gathered openly on the floor, standing around and talking. I suspect they were employees because they never sat down and hung out by the most visible server station during our entire dining experience.
We shared the calamari which was very delicious and standard — no surprises here. However, they could have been a bit more genorous with the marinara sauce – huge bowl of calamari, teeny cup of sauce. Had to ask for extras. It was cold outside so I asked for the fettucini alfredo and my guest got the arugula salad.
I, personally, LOVE garlic… so my alfredo was pretty tasty, but I could see the garlic (visibly chopped pieces throughout) overwhelming others who aren’t as fanatical. However, as for the sauce and fettucini, itself, it seemed a bit juvenile…like something you’d serve to a child. The alfredo was thick, like when you get it from a jar at the grocery store (not saying they did, just using a comparison). The fettucini was also thick, like double thickness of regular fettucini. It was all very, My First Fettucini feeling. Still, for the price of 12 bucks, I can’t complain too much.
As my friend and I waited for the metro, we both noted how we felt heavy – now remember, we shared the calamari and she got a salad. At first I attributed it to the heaviness of the fettucini alfredo, but since my friend got a salad, we felt it had to be the calamari. There wasn’t a nauseous feeling, but we both had to walk slowly and beg the other not to make jokes because our laughter would be followed with hurling.
I guess the one positive is that my friend really enjoyed her salad… it came with shaved parmesan, and some other crap like corn, scallions, and tomotoes. Soooo… go there for the salads?

whoa. This was one of the most disappointing meals we’ve had in a lonnnng time. My mother in law tried to warn us that it was not good, but I sort of ignored her because she’s a major food snob, but really, mama was right. We went here with some friends who were attracted by the flashy atmosphere. It is truly a case of all style, no substance (and personally, I don’t even think it’s that style-​y — just minimalist).
Things started out sketchy when we ordered wine. Hubby asked the waiter about a bottle, and he said, «oh, yeah, that’s good.» When the wine was poured, hubby’s face contorted in pain. It was not good. It was paint thinner.
We ordered a pizza as an appetizer, and of course, the wrong one was delivered to our table. It was obvious that it was the wrong one, because it had a fried egg on it. Odd. A few minutes later, the right pizza was delivered, and it was fine, but nothing to write home about and definitely not worth $ 14 bucks.
Our entrees came out and there was something odd about each one. I had ordered the beef salad, which I had envisioned as sliced beef on top of a salad, like you’d get at pretty much any restaurant. Instead, there was a green salad with a heap of saucy beef and mushrooms, almost like stroganoff, on the side. I had asked the waiter to make sure the beef was medium rare, and this beef was tough as shoe leather (way overcooked).
My friend ordered a sandwich with burrata cheese — it was served on some very strange flatbread that really pretty much overwhelmed and ruined the sandwich. My other friend’s pasta was gummy and flavorless. But hubby’s entrée was most screwed up of all. He had ordered a veal cheek — and *asked the server about it* — the server said it was good. Hubby was delivered a plate of deep fried veal parm. He tried to eat it, but was grossed out by all the grease and told the waiter that it wasn’t what he had ordered. The waiter looked sheepish and said, «I thought you said, veal with cheese.» Veal with cheese?!? Really? Who orders the veal with cheese?!?
Overall, the meal was awkward, non-​tasty, too expensive, and just plain sad. We kept saying that at least the company was good. I admit we’re spoiled, coming from the SF Bay area — this place wouldn’t last six months there. I don’t know if Chevy Chase is so chain saturated that this place can fake it and people just don’t see that the emperor has no clothes, or what.

A lunch meeting was supposed to happen at Clyde’s, but the employer (and the one who’s paying) decided to try out M café, which is right next door. We walked inside to be seated and waited for quite awhile for someone to pay attention to us. We decided to sit outside b/​c it was such a nice day. The décor was nice, a little to pretentious for my tastes. But if you’re into the Euro scene, then you’ll love it!
The service overall was pretty spotty, and while it is pretty common when you’re sitting outside to have a little less service than inside, this was verging on bad… However the food was quite good. I really enjoyed the combination of flavors in my maxmara tartlett, the asparagus was a perfect side for the sunny side up egg covering a tomato and mozzarella filled tart. The portion was pretty small for the price, but I think you’re paying for ambiance… I’d prefer less ambiance and more sustenance! :)

Mmm, Mmm to M Café Bar! I think I drooled all over the dessert display case. Luckily, no one saw me do it!
Earlier this week I met up with a lovely fellow Unilocaler for a quick afternoon bite.
The décor: Bright, sleek and modern.
The food: My caprese salad, although small for $ 7.95 was very fresh. The mozzarella was moist and flavorful.
The desserts: Bonus! The manager came around and gave us a free small (by small I mean quarter-​sized) lemon tart. It was deliciously refreshing. We were both interested in ordering a dessert to go. I would have gotten their trio of mini crème brulees (coffee, coconut and ginger) if it had not been for the fact that they are served in little ceramic bowls. Instead we each ordered a mini éclair to-​go.
My chocolate crème-​filled one ($ 1.50), while only two-​bites big satisfied my chocolate craving (for at least two hours!).
Parking is easy, except it is not free with validation as their website states. It is $ 1 for the first hour with validation. Well worth it.
Oh, you better believe I plan to be back to sample those mini crème brulees. I have the whole summer free to indulge in my weakness for chocolate treats!

3 and ½ stars. Pretty posh-​posh feeling place but it’s not that pricy. Gnocchi in gorgonzola cream sauce with salmon was good. You can also get good drinks there. First floor seems to be more casual than upstairs that seems to be more lounge-​atmosphere maybe because it’s part of Famoso (upscale italian restaurant/​lounge).
Since it’s italian theme-​food restaurant, M-​café does pretty good job on espresso drinks too.
Oh. try their desserts. Not VERY delicate or divine but pretty good for price:).
Overall, I would recommend to go there to get a cup of espresso drink and small dessert with your gfs (or even by yourself) after doing posh-​window shopping (or real shopping) in that neighborhood at bloomingdales or maybe Tiffany and Co? :)

I feel as if someone bribed the Washingtonian writers so that they would include M Café among its «Cheap Eats» recommendations. When the waiter brought the bill for our Sunday brunch, it was as if he was robbing us at gunpoint. I admit that the Washingtonian disclaims its «Cheap Eats» as a meal for two under $ 55, including tax and tip. I quote, «At some places, that might mean two starters, two main courses, and two desserts. But at others, three-​course meals will be too expensive.» But at $ 50 for an appetizer, two entrees, and a glass of mimosa, its no wonder I feel swindled. Bullocks. When it comes to «Cheap Eats,» I firmly adhere to the «bang for your buck» principal, which usually means a complete meal for two for less than $ 20, including tax and tip. For $ 50 to be considered a cheap meal, I’d expect nothing less than fillets of kobe beef with blue lobsters. Do the writers honestly think that we’re made of money? (Alright, they do.)
It should have been apparent that any place located in the same vicinity as Jimmy Choo, Louis Vuitton, and Gucci couldn’t possibly be «cheap.» One one hand, there’s no argument that M Café is a swanky place for people with disposable income to waste. Emily S.‘s description about M Café’s atmosphere is right on the money. But on the other hand, the café faces away from Wisconsin Avenue so you’ll do more parking-​lot watching then people watching. The food itself was alright but the price tag left a bitter after taste. The MaxMara Tartlet (Swiss chard, Parmigiano, Eggs, and Sauté Mushroom) was fluffy yet firm. The Eggs Benedict were adequate but better prepared at Chef Geoff’s. The Zucchini Omelet was a great combination of flavors. I suppose my opinion would have differed if not for the clever ruse that lured me to Café M in the first place. Perhaps the most appealing aspect of was the glass case beside the bar that was filled with cakes, pastries, and other desserts. The portions and the prices are just right for a mid-​afternoon break from being a shopping valet. The Sicilian Canoli for $ 1.50 is easier on your pocket books when compared to a $ 1050 pair of Manolo Blahnik.
3 Stars — I’d recommend Café M for what it ought to be — a swanky place for coffee and dessert in Friendship Heights — and nothing more. (Granted, it helps when nothing else in the area is remotely close to a café.)