Et Voila

Fantastic little Belgian restaurant. It’s hard for me to branch out and try different things on the menu because I love the Flemish beef stew so much I’m tempted to get it every time. The French fries it comes with are perfection. I have also had the duck leg confit and it did not disappoint!
Brunch is also good, but dinner here is the real standout.
Great beer and wine selection. Service is always very friendly, knowledgable, and efficient.
Be prepared to get close to your neighboring diners and hear their conversations — the space is tiny and tables are VERY close together. If you’re lucky, you can nab the one outside table and enjoy great service from the bartender.

We go to et voila once a month. The food is great. This is one of the best Belgian restaurants in the city.

We love Et Voila and come about once a month. Had reservations for 4 Sat night and arrived early and checked in. Unfortunately, not only was it packed but we felt ignored as our reserved time came and went. We ordered drinks as we stood and finally, 25 minutes late, we were seated. The good news? They apologized and reduced our bill at the end. The best customer service: put your money where your mouth is! And the food was delicious as always.

Excellent mussels and fries! It gets very crowded and we were lucky to sit at the bar. Their space is very narrow so don’t go here if you have claustrophobic tendencies.

Just love this restaurant. It’s one of my favorites. I have been there for brunch and dinner many times over the past couple of years. The food is delicious and the staff is friendly and efficient. The French Onion soup is the best in the area, by far. I have also had the steak, scallops, rabbit, lamb, and several brunch items. All wonderful! If you have not been to Et Voila, you need to go!

You can’t go wrong with this classic French Belgian bistro. Known for their mussels but I’ve never had a bad meal. Dined there last night and had the cavatelli with lamb and eggplant, as well as the foie gras terrine. Always delicious. Reservations a must or arrive before 6:30 as a walk in. Small restaurant and tiny bar. I have only visited for dinner but will try brunch/​lunch another time.

I come here about once a month for lunch… I am just a huge fan of the french onion soup and the croque madam. The soup is rich and cheesy with beefy onion flavor… just sublime.
The croque madam was simply delicious with the oozy bechamel in between layers of ham and cheese with a runny egg. Simply put the best guilty lunch you can have. I have not dined here for dinner but I can only imagine that the food in the evening is equally as good. I will definitely have to get there to indulge on the chicon as well. The burgers are really well made i mean it is cooked to perfection. I ordered a rare et voila burger and it was perfect.
One last thing the meringue in vanilla custard cream is delicious. Definitely do not miss out on this.
Cheers and happy eating!

I have to give this place 5 stars! You know if it good when you ask for something they had on the prior visit and you nearly weep when it has been rotated off the menu! And I mean that in a positive sense, because the dish they recommend in its place is just as good. Wonderful mussels and great, innovative twists on traditional dishes. Yes it is small –and can be a bit noisy and for sure you should take the time to make a reservation.

Good food — so nothing to say here about the consistent quality of Belgian cuisine or the waiters.
However, a rather unpleasant etiquette of the host. Had reservations on Friday evening and came on time, got seated. I ordered tea as I was waiting for my companion, then I was told by the host that if the second party will not be here in 8 minutes, I will be asked to get up and free the table for another party. I mentioned that I have ordered a drink and will be happy to order, however he was very firm about asking to free the table. Fortunately, my companion came in 4 minutes. Felt terribly uncomfortable with such rude behavior. What about a single party– do they not serve a party of one?
Also, when it got full — it was extremely loud and difficult to hold a conversation. Bad acoustics, however due to the lack of decent restaurants in the area, there is no incentive to improve…

Not the way to welcome patrons
The food would have been wonderful (it typically is) had we been given the chance to enjoy it. We made a last-​minute reservation at Et Voilà through OpenTable for 9:15pm and drove four miles across town to find that the place was closing down. There were only a few clients left finishing their meals and the manager apologized by saying that they had had a slow night and decided to close early. He made no effort to honor the reservation (we are new to OpenTable and don’t yet fully understand how it works was his lame excuse). We would have refused to stay in a place where we felt unwelcome but he did not even try and never owned to the mistake. Did he offer us to dine quickly at the bar? Get food to take away? Invite us to come back the following day? Offer us a drink while we made plans to go somewhere else? Nothing at all! The upside is that we found Bistroquet next door, a new French bistro with delicious food and a warm welcome.

French/​Belgian restaurant that seems to target older crowd. This place is relatively small but is always crowded. We made reservations on a Tuesday night and it was packed. I enjoyed eating their mussels (lobster bisque) and fries and my friend had grilled salmon which was also delicious! We both got this Belgian beer that the waiter recommended. They have interesting list of beer that you normally can’t find so it would be nice to try it.
I really did enjoy the food and the drinks but this place was a bit expensive in my opinion. Food was good but with 2 bottles of beer, the bill came out to be close to $ 90 for two people (we did share a plate of salad also but still.).
I would recommend this place for a special occasion or if you want a small French restaurant thats a bit more casual.

Came to Et Voila for lunch per friend’s recommendation. Quaint, little place. It seemed busy and noisy, which didn’t bother us because we didn’t have people sitting right next to us. Tables are placed very closely in a row so I could imagine it may get uncomfortable if you have a party sitting next to you.
Food was good, but the portions are tiny. Good beer selection. The server was cordial though he made a mistake while processing the credit card charge. I called the restaurant next day and they apologized and wanted to make up for it. It was not necessary. Most likely we’ll be going back.

I really liked this place. I came here for mussels with a friend and then brought my whole familiy back for mussels because they were so tasty! I am not an expert on mussel sauces, but I am a snob about fresh shell fish, and these were good. I will be honest, I got some glances when I showed up with two two year olds, but the waiters were quite friendly with them, and my son ate his whole bowl of mussels.
The crowd is a bit older and the restaurant was quieter, so it might not be great for kids who can’t sit still. However, it was perfect for relaxed conversation.

I had a solid experience at Et Voila recently. It’s located in the classy Palisades neighborhood. I’d been to France and Belgium several years ago and was looking forward to some good French and Belgian cuisine.
We visited as a party of 5 and had reservations. We did have to wait about 10 minutes for the table to open up, but it wasn’t a bad wait. Service throughout our meal was efficient and attentive, so the wait wasn’t a bad thing and I understood, since seating was limited in this cute little bistro.
This place is a bit crammed (and was surprisingly very bustling on a Tuesday evening at 8pm) and seating for a party of 5 can be pretty tight. Some of our party sat elbow-​to-​elbow.
The food was good! Generous portions and good dish choices.
I ordered:
-«Salad d’Endives Belge» — this was a Belgian endive salad, which came with: endives, pecans, sliced gala apples, and blue and Chimay cheese. I liked the creativity of this dish and those pecans and that cheese paired very well together, but I wasn’t a big fan of the endives (it tasted too bitter at times).
-«Casseroles de moule, pommes frites» — this was the mussel pot dish and it came with a heaping generous portion! So many mussels — the mussel pot really seemed endless, but we all somehow managed to finish it all. You have the choice of sauce and garnish for the mussels and I went with the Moules Marinieres (which came with a white garlic sauce). I wasn’t a huge fan of the sauce (it was a bit plain), but I know my dining companions went with other sauces and truly enjoyed theirs. Next time I visit, I think I’ll order the Moules Diable (with lobster bisque and tomatoes) instead. I’m pretty sure that sauce would be amazing. The mussels came with crispy fries (and I loved those!)
-«Profiteroles, Glacé vanilla, sauce Chocolat» — the Profiteroles came with vanilla ice cream and a chocolate sauce drizzled on top. I don’t like chocolate, so I appreciated that they didn’t put chocolate on mine. I enjoyed the vanilla ice cream and profiteroles, though. I was so full from the mussels that I could hardly finish my dessert.
We also ordered a bottle of wine to share (a Pinot Blanc, I believe) and it paired well with the seafood dishes we ordered.
Parking is a bit tight — I anticipated that there would be little to no parking in the area and decided to get a ride to the restaurant instead (cabbing there is really your only other viable easy option, especially since the Palisades neighborhood is so far from any metro station and buses would take quite a while).
Overall, solid dinner spot! Good food and good company — I had an excellent time. I would certainly visit again for more of those delicious mussels.

First of all, this restaurant has a European charm inside. That was my first impression when I stepped into this narrow and long dining room on a recent Thursday night with my friend. And even the diners looked nice and classier.
The lighting seemed brighter than most other restaurants at dinner time and I thought that was good for old folks who cannot read menus in the dimmed light and/​or fellow Unilocalers who want to take good photos of food. :)
We were seated at a small table by the wall right under a huge spoon. We had a reservation and it was a good thing because the place was packed on this Friday Eve.
Our very tall male server was very nice and knowledgeable, and constantly paying attention to our table, which impressed me.
We ordered and enjoyed the following:
Belgian Endive Salad
Bass Tartar
Escargots
Steamed Mussels with Lobster Bisque
Vanilla Ice cream with chocolate, whipped cream and almond slices
I liked everything, but especially the bass, escargots and the mussels.
For a group of around 8 — 10, there is a nice high table + chairs in the back, closest to the kitchen and right by the wine cellar wall. It looked very nice.
This is a more intimate and relaxing Belgian French restaurant.
I will definitely come back here to try more other dishes.

Torn between three and four stars. I mean, yes, yay! I am a fan! But there’s just something about the whole experience that wasn’t like, totally awesome. Let’s see where I am after writing this review.
We ended up here for brunch on Saturday because we were in the area and my mom and uncle wanted to eat there. (He’d eaten there once before, years ago, and apparently had a great time.) They arrived first and by the time we got to the table (one outside table, which was nice on a beautiful day), my uncle had ordered Bloody Mary’s for the beau and me (YUM!). Their brunch menu was a nice variety of regular brunch things (eggs Benedict) and French/​Belgian choices (croque monsier, crepes). Our waiter mentioned a lobster burger, which is immediately what mom and I wanted.
He gave us a few minutes to think and by the time he came back to take our orders they were out of the lobster burger. I was heartbroken and chose the cheeseburger in a moment of panic. Mom had the mussels burger, which I was highly skeptical of, but apparently it was delicious. My cheeseburger was REALLY good. It was served with a light, punchy green salad and frites, both of which were quite tasty. My uncle also enjoyed his brunch crêpe and salad.
The only mis-​step was in ordering the Bloody Lobster, which was advertised as a Bloody Mary but with lobster bisque instead of tomato juice. It was… it was just not good. It tasted like seawater, with a faint hint of lobster at the very end and almost no Bloody Mary-​ness. But for $ 9 (and after everyone at our table had tasted it) I drank the rest.
We finished with dessert, a meringue floating in vanilla custard. It was delicious.
Soooo, yeah. Four stars, solidly. This is not some hip brunch spot. This is a fairly expensive place you should take your significant other’s parents when they are in town. It’s a bit expensive, but it’s also in the middle of nowhere, so I imagine they have to be.

Maybe 2 stars but the food and service here was really below par. I’ve traveled in Belgium and just go back from the Netherlands and this place would never hold up there.
Over-​hyped and overpriced.
Sloppy service — had to ask repeatedly for bread and condiments but really quick to get you out (OK — it Saturday night but it’s not a comfortable environment to meet friends).
The croquettes were tasteless, the mussels small and puny. If you want mussels out, you want a plumper and more succulent mollusk than you can buy at Harris Teeter,. There are a number of places where you can do them but Et Vila is not one of them. The fries were average — a pale imitation of Belgian fries — not bad but you can do as well in 100 restaurants in N. VA.
This trip just impressed upon me that the Wash. Post desperately needs a new restaurant critic.

We went to Et Voila! last night for my dad and stepmom’s birthday celebrations, and all four of us LOVED it!
We shared the warm goat cheese salad and the baked mussels as appetizers, and both were fantastic! For our entrees, my bf had the mussels of the year, which were plentiful and delicious, my dad had the duck confit and my stepmom and I each got the pan seared scallops, which were amaaaaaziiing!!!
For dessert we shared the Ile Flottante, a French classic, and wow, the sauce (crème anglaise) was simply superb. I want it now again! We also shared a tart and ice cream dessert that everyone said was very good, but I didn’t try it.
Overall, the evening was great, the restaurant is small but so lovely and the service was attentive. Looking forward to going back and trying more of their menu!

What a charming unsuspecting little restaurant in the Palisades! Authentic Belgian food and servers. Everything we sampled was delicious and the food arrived to the table hot and prompt. I need to save room for dessert one of these days because everything I’ve seen at nearby tables looks amazing.
The restaurant is very busy and loud. I know that can make or break a lot of dining experiences so keep that in mind. I liked all of the hustle and bustle — it made for great people watching.

Solid. I’d certainly go back.
Seated us when we arrived, a couple minutes early for our Saturday night 8pm reservation. Off to a good start.
The waitress wasn’t the most engaging, but it was a busy Saturday night. It’s a small restaurant and they get it packed, so being a little entertaining might be appreciated.
The bread on the table was good, nothing special.
The first course, I got the baked ham (with endive, gruyère, and béchamel) was almost fondue. Get this. Share it, because your belly won’t appreciate the extra roll. Good. and you will ask for more bread!
Our entrees came out just a few minutes into tucking into our appetizers. We sent them back. Communication error. Come’on, that’s pretty basic. We weren’t eating slowly at all. I didn’t get the impression they were rushing us, just poor communication.
The scallops were awesome. The accompanying sauces & mouse were good. That said, the portion size was small in comparison to others.
The Duck entrée was great. Very flavorful, although perhaps a touch dry. Same same for the Beef Stew. The fries were solid, but nothing to write home about.
A good meal.