Sur La Place

We used to love this place. Good food nice wait staff cozy tables. Last few times orders were messed up food had to go back over salted.

My friends and I came cross this Resturant when we were exploring the area.
1– when we got there, we were created and seated nicely, but the waitress who came to take our order was totally unfriendly.
2– the soup and salad toke forever to arrive.
3– The veggi in the salad was not Frish at all, and I found hair in my plate.
4– I did not like my fish plate, it was ok but not worth the price.
5– I think this is one time visit and I will never come here again.

LOVE. My favorites are the delicious beef stew, pomme frites double-​fried in duck fat, Chimay ale, chocolate desserts, PLUS amazing service, jazz on 3^rd Thursdays, AND they offer 3-​course meals for $ 21 Sun-​Thurs. Highly recommend! See you there!

I visited Sur La Place a few weeks ago. They have gone through some changes but I was happily welcomed by the bartender, Tula, and also the owner. I brought an out of town friend here who said she really enjoyed the Snob (mussels in lobster bisque). I miss one of their dishes which is no longer on their regular menu (asparagus wrapped in Smoked salmon) but was happy to see some new items. I love this place and always receive great service. Another great experience as always!

After two visits we probably won’t be back. The fish dishes look like they might be good, but we’ve chosen mussels and other offerings, and it hasn’t been a great experience. Compared to the other good seafood and Belgian restaurants within a mile of here, Sur la Place just doesn’t keep up.
Let’s start with the mussels: the portions are huge (a half kilo is more than enough), and there are a large number of steaming sauces to choose from. Our waitress told us the most popular ones were the creamy sauces studded with dominant flavors like bacon and lobster. That makes sense, because the simpler ones we tried — a classic meunière or provencale, were sadly bland. The mollusk a themselves were dramatically overcooked and mushy. None of us finished ours.
The accompanying fries were even worse — the frozen bagged fast food variety. Lots of salt, zero substance. If you can’t make your pomes frites from actual potatoes, you can’t in good conscience charge $ 24 or whatever it was for moules frites.
Brussels sprouts with bacon were mushy, braised endive flavorless…

I’ve decided this place is now a sleeper. Yes, as other reviewers noted, the service can be slow, but it’s friendly, helpful, and the food gets to the table hot and in the right sequence (so many restaurants can’t master that). I’m guessing the problem with slow service is that the individuals have multiple responsibilities, so they aren’t just wait staff. The cocktails, the beer, the appetizers and entrees were excellent. We had wild mushroom ragout, frisee salad, carbonade flamande (Flemish stew), one of the sausages with red cabbage, and French fries. The place was relatively quiet — there were a few other occupied tables, and the seats at the bar were all taken with people having a good time. But blessedly, we found we could talk to each other in a normal tone of voice. And the décor is very appealing. We will return.

Sadly this neighborhood gem has dramatically declined. The lady who sat us knew nothing about the menu. The appetizer salad my wife ordered had been made with old onions and was horrible. We ordered our usual favorite here, the beef stew. After one bite, we found what they had given us was cold, flavorless and tough. Our polite inquiry was airily blown off by the waitress who passed us on to Tula who settled our bill — we only paid for our drinks. We will not be returning.

Another nice evening here. Mussels, salad, pommel frites, wine and… it was Wed. night so there was a live trio playing low key, tasteful versions of the Jobim songbook and other great selections.

One of my favorite places. Great Belgium beer on tap and outstanding mussels. Other dishes were wonderful also. Very nice rustic cozy décor.

Great neighborhood place!
After moving to the Palisades neighborhood a year ago, my wife and I have tried all the local restaurants multiple times. For consistency, variety, quality and price in a fun atmosphere any time of year, Sur La Place is the best of them by far (no knock on SLP’s higher end Belgian sibling Et Voila, but that’s a pricier outing).
Their signature items include mussels in a variety of broths and Belgian sausages with great sides like lentils or red cabbage. Not into that? Don’t worry, plenty of excellent entrees like succulent lamb chops or rich Atlantic salmon demonstrate their range and have always satisfied.
Good wine selection and of course a wide range of beers including the Belgian lambics makes Sur La Place our «go to» neighborhood place.

My fiancé and I had a groupon to Sur La Place that was expiring in a week, so in sort of an impromptu date night we headed over to this Belgian Bistro. The block it is on is very cute and has a few other restaurants and shops (including another Belgian Bistro), and it is a very nice and quiet part of DC.
We were greeted and quickly sat, which was nice. It took a little while for the server to get us water, which was a tad surprising considering there were only two other group of diners at the restaurant. For an appetizer I ordered the lobster bisque and my fiancé ordered the escargot. He definitely made the wiser choice! The escargot are COVERED in a delicious layer of cheese, and frankly, were the best I’d EVER had! So warm and cheesy with other spices, they were fantastic!!! My bisque was OK. There were a good amount of lobster chunks in it, which were delicious, but the soup itself was watery and rather flavorless, not creamy at all. Oh and their bread was very good, warm and soft, very tasty!
For our entrees he ordered the Mussels Bruxelles and I had the Steak Frites. Both were very good! The steak is a generous portion (and the Bechamel they serve with it, delicious) and the fries were amazing! Thinly cut and perfectly fried, yum. I think the next time I’d like to try one of the sausages, which sounded very good as well. The reason I’m giving Sur La Place 3 stars and not 4 is because of the lacking service. We had to ask for water refills 3 or 4 times and the restaurant was basically empty… but I guess it was 9:30 pm so the waiters were probably read to go home. Overall a nice evening at a cute little restaurant.

I’ve been to Sur La Place numerous times, the dishes I’ve had here have all been fantastic. A typical visit always begins with the Escargots en Croq which have been amazing and you’ll be scraping crispy cheese off of the cast iron (f.y.i. the snails are not served in the shell). The first time I went to Sur La Place, I did not order mussels. I only begun my affair the second visit. Their mussels are served in generous portions with many different cooking styles available. I’m a fan of;
–Poulette (Celery, Onions, Herbs, and White wine and Cream)
–Bruxelles (Celery, Onion, Herbs, Bacon, Garlic, Leeks, Goat Cheese & Beer)
–Wild Mushroom (Celery, Onion, Herbs, Wild Mushrooms, Garlic, Beef Stock, Brandy)
–Snob (Celery, Onions, Herbs, Lobster Bisque, Garlic, Brandy)
And I haven’t had the chance to try others since I’m so in love with the aforementioned styles, but I’m sure they’re great as well. Pomme Frites are a nice addition but the mussel portions are so large I typically end up not being able to eat many of them. If you still have room I highly recommend the Pot Au Chocolate for dessert.
Other high points are their extensive selection of Belgian beers, the grilled rack of lamb, and the striped bass. Honestly though, I come for the mussels.
The only thing I can really say docked the star rating is the slow service, if you can come at a time when the restaurant isn’t crowded though, you’ll be alright.

The food was not bad but not great; the beef in the beef stew was a quite chewy, as if overcooked or just a cheaper cut – which is surprising for a dish that costs $ 22. (The sauce was tasty, though.) The brussels sprouts in bacon were not cooked quite enough; properly done, they should be crispy and have a little brown on them. The bass served over creamed potatoes was nothing special but still satisfying. The frites were good – very crispy, and they stayed crispy. (They looked exactly like newly fried McDonald’s fries.) However, they could’ve used some salt or seasoning, and there was no salt (or pepper) at the table.
The service was friendly but a bit confused. It was never clear who our waiter was, so we had to just flag down whoever was nearby. The hostess at first tried to seat us (a couple) near a crowd of people with kids, but we asked to sit instead at any of the multiple empty tables in a quieter area, and to her credit, she did not object. (But why try to seat everyone in a cluster anyway, when the rest of the place is empty? I hate when restaurants do this – putting the waiter’s convenience ahead of the customer’s comfort.) Overall, it was a pleasant experience.
Parking is easy on the nearby neighborhood streets. Shockingly, it’s easier to park in NW DC than in much of Arlington these days.

We had a great dinner here. Waiting staffs were friendly and courteous, dishes were also good. Very cozy atmosphere and big selections of beer and mussel pots. If you’re looking for a good food with less crowded cozy place, you’ve got to try this place!

Really 2.5 stars.
I have to sheepishly admit that I enjoy exploring the Palisades neighborhood in DC. The denizens of this most exclusive of ZIP codes in NW DC not so much represent the top 1% of American wealth and power, but more like the top .5% of the wealthiest. Who are the people in the neighborhood? Well, if former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan calls the Palisades home, that’s all you need to know.
This is why I’m a bit surprised that a place like Sur La Place isn’t more highly rated. I would’ve thought that in an affluent area like the Palisades, the clientele would demand FIVE star service. However, I am disappointed to say as other reviewers have noted, the service here is what detracts from the otherwise solid Belgian cuisine prepared by the kitchen.
But I’m not going to lie — the food is good. In fact, I’d say on the few occasions I’ve eaten here, I’ve found the varieties of mussels to be prepared well and most importantly the mollusks not chewy and the broth extremely savory.
Also recommend the potato leek soup as it is creamy without being heavy with nice bits of bacon contributing saltiness and flavor.
And for $ 24, the Steak Frites at Sur La Pace is one of the better steaks to be found in DC. A thick cut of sirloin is nicely prepared and finished with grill marks in a brown sauce reduction and served with twice fried (albeit previously frozen) fries/​pomme frites and a small spring mix salad. The sirloin has a good char and is properly salted, which is important since too many steak houses in DC tend to over salt their cuts of beef. The accompanying Bearnaise Sauce I found to be overly sour, indicating that too much vinegar was used. But still a very very good cut of meat and treated with respect.
But the service… the service is abysmal. For some reason, the owners insist on only staffing ONE primary server, and then having one food runner/​bus boy/​bartender taking care of a rather large dining room. I’ve had this experience on a few occasions. I’m sure the server gets lots of exercise sprinting from table to table, and I’m sure his tips are good at the end of the evening, but water glasses and bread baskets did not get refilled for long periods of time, and there were times when both the food runner and the server were stressed dealing with multiple tables.
So the long and short is, go for the food but don’t be surprised by the very sub par service.

awesome mussels with an outstanding selection of Belgian beer!
The service though can be slow.

Stopped in for a couple of beers at the bar on a weeknight, so my experience wasn’t really the full treatment. Place was pretty empty but service still seemed a little slow since no one employee seemed to be permanently assigned to the bar. Selection of Belgian beers is quite good and the frites were decent. Not a bad little spot to stop into if you happen to be in the Palisades.

Service sucks and Mussels are average. I’ve had better at belga café and brasserie beck. Service is mediocre and they’re confused. I ordered the three course meal and my bf got the 1 kilos of mussel and they brought out ½ kilos for the both of us and counted my dessert as an extra item rather than part of the 3 course meal.
The service is not great and I had to talk to three different servers about how unacceptable it was to say my livingsocial deal can’t work. 3 course meal isn’t a promotion nor a special. And I told them upfront I was using a livingsocial deal. The experience has been horrible and nobody wants to take responsibility for the customer. Just because ur the busboy or the waiter doesn’t mean you don’t deliver good customer service.

Palisades’ «other» Belgian restaurant, Sur La Place replaced the rather undistinguished Buon Appetito. It certainly has the look and feel of a European bistro: long and dark, with exposed brick walls, hardwood floors, a pressed tin ceiling, and an eight-​seat bar upfront. Et Voila’s definitely has more sophisticated cooking, but it doesn’t have draft beer. Sur La Place, on the other hand, has four Belgians on tap (served in the proper glassware of course): Stella, Chimay Blanche, Delirium Tremens, and Straffe Hendrick Quadrupel (the last two are a steal during happy hour at only $ 5 and $ 6 respectively). There are an additional 30 Belgian bottles including Barnum Triple and Breugel Amber.
They really like their leeks here. Despite no mention of it on the menu, the hearty Escargots en Croq (baked in wheat beer, with lemon, garlic, butter, and Parmesan cheese) came with a fair amount of leeks. This salty dish makes for a good happy hour appetizer at only $ 7. For a main, I choose the monkfish and sea scallops on Belgian endive with lentils and leek stoemp. Although it was tasty, at $ 24,I felt it was a bit overpriced for what was essentially a brochette on a rosemary stalk.
Other things of note: there’s a flat screen above the bar; apparently they did a brisk business during the U.S.A.-Belgium World Cup Match.
Personally, with their reasonably priced drafts (and lacking much competition in this part of town), you could do a lot worse than stopping in for happy hour, although with the those beers clocking in at between 8 and 11% ABV, you might wanna consider taking the bus.

Sur La Place has its pros and cons, as any restaurant does. In some cases, the pros outweigh the cons, and in other cases vice versa. In this case, the pros and cons break even. The décor is very nice. The lighting is dim and there are heavy red curtains hanging in the windows and doorways, making for a cozy feel. We were seated right away, as we were one of only two parties dining tonight. A waitress came by soon after we were seated to offer us drinks, and then came back to take our order, but we didn’t see her again until she brought the check after the meal. Another waiter/​busser brought our dinners and cleared our plates. We waited about 40 minutes for our food to come out. They had warned us that one of the dishes would take longer than the other, but when we asked how long, she said 15 minutes. Um, 40 is a lot longer than 15, folks. Anyway, when the food finally came, it was very good. We had the roast hen and the carbonnade flamande (beef stew). Both were well-​cooked, but I wished the stew had come with mashed potatoes instead of frites. The hen was nicely presented — more-​so than the stew, which was just a pile of stew meat in the bowl. Their specialty definitely seems to be mussels, as half the menu is a list of styles of mussels you can get.
To sum things up: the food was good, but overpriced, and the service wasn’t great.