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Bebo Trattoria, Chef Claudio Sandri in Crystal City - Closed.


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I've dined at the bar twice since they opened. While I would not characterize the service as even good, it was about what I expected from a brand new restaurant, with a bunch of new employees, trying to deal with a crowd obviously larger than they anticipated or were prepared to deal with. For that reason I have refrained from commenting on it.

I would agree that you should expect some kinks when going to a new restaurant. If it'd only been a few kinks, I doubt anyone at the table would've given a second thought. And people shouldn't definitely keep in mind (which I don't doubt that people would) that what was stated above was from their third day of service. However, at the same time, the service was still of a lower quality than we expected, and thus we thought it appropriate for people to be aware. I really didn't feel all that comfortable bringing it up with the GM (their was another table already taking up his time around the time we left, sounded like they were having problems as well but I didn't hear any of the conversation but could only see the facial expressions and body language).

I do hope things pick up and the kinks get worked out. I'm not quite close enough to Crystal City to call it my "neighborhood", but it's only a couple minutes away and we end up in the area fairly often. Usually we end up at Legal's or Matsutake every now and then (since we've never been overwhelmed with the Jaleo in Crystal City), so really hope it turns into the stellar laid-back neighborhood place that it has the potential to be.

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I've dined at the bar twice since they opened. While I would not characterize the service as even good, it was about what I expected from a brand new restaurant, with a bunch of new employees, trying to deal with a crowd obviously larger than they anticipated or were prepared to deal with. For that reason I have refrained from commenting on it.

If most of the staff moved over from Galileo then service should be much better, as opposed to a brand new restaurant opening. Three hours for dinner in a trattoria? Come on JG.

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The GM aside it is really Roberto who should be made aware of this. And he has. He follows this board and, I am certain, has read all of the posts. From my perspective the service can be "fixed." The food really can't. I'm guilty, as others, of sincerely caring about this man and his "family" and badly want him and they to succeed in Crystal City. Much of the food, I think, is exemplery. The service has been lacking even on our visits. But all of this can be "fixed." It is a brand new restaurant with a number of new employees as well as ten and twenty plus year employees adopting to a new space. Many came with him because they are loyal and believe in him. Some of those who are new have very real enthusiasm and will learn as they are open. I know that lengthy, interminable waits are inexcusable-we've had our own as recently as Saturday. But they will get better. Much better. My feeling is that if the same posts are still here in 30, 45 days then everyone is justified in criticizing Bebo. But for the next few days, as they open and grow and adjust, this is a learning experience for them, too. I am asking that for the moment, for the next several weeks, the food is the most important. Once they have been open for a while if the service does not live up to the reality of the food then it is a real mark against them. But for now, with the food having so much potential and their only being open less than a week, I still hold onto the belief that we have something special "growing" in Crystal City.

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I'm guilty, as others, of sincerely caring about this man and his "family" and badly want him and they to succeed in Crystal City.
I don't know the chef but I also badly want him to succeed. I can walk to Bebo in less than ten minutes from my home and not only am I thrilled to have an establishment of such character and pedigree in my neighborhood, but I want it to stay more than just the year or so it will take to fix "that other place, whatsitcalled" downtown. I hope to be personally responsible for devouring the equivalent of an entire pig and perhaps several cases of wine over the coming year. Is that barstool sinking kinda funny? Yeah, my buttcheeks did that. :)
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If most of the staff moved over from Galileo then service should be much better, as opposed to a brand new restaurant opening. Three hours for dinner in a trattoria? Come on JG.

Although it wasn't as if the service at Galileo was ever a strong suit.

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I was there last night as well. It seemed like some of the staff seemed like they didn't know how to approach a place where the average food check is $20, retaining much of the formal aspect more associated with Galileo. They are definitely still working out the service kinks, and the computer system crashed for awhile, delaying checks.

As for food, the tripe is delightful, perfectly cooked. Order some spicy raab alongside it--the chili that runs off of the raab onto your tripe will correct the not-just-quite-right seasoning. Bucatini all'Amatriciana is classic, if perhaps slightly over-sauced. Lamb steak is garlicky, as Provencal as Piemontese, but a lusty (and inexpensive) choice. The grilled radicchio salad has great balance of grilled, bitter, and sweet flavors from onions.

The wine list is a bit hectic. Few of the producers are well known, even to this devoted follower of DC-area small importer Michael Downey Selections. The major danger of the "broad, regional-Italian-focus" wine list genre is avoiding the barrique bombs that pepper any large Italian list, and the descriptions employed on the Bebo list are no help there. That said, with the sommelier's help we drank a Barbera from Campania (!) that, while it had some wood, had wonderfully non-jammy, pure-ripe fruit and a classic, dusty texture. Forget the name, but it's the only Campanian barbera on the list. My other comment on the list is that I would like to see fewer 2003-vintage whites and more 2005-vintage whites, but that is the nature of the business some times :) .

All in all, this place is a ridiculously no-brainer "Si!". For now, just make sure you have plenty of time to enjoy it :) .

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After the service settles down, Bebo would be a good choice for a $20 Tuesday affair. It would be fairly easy to come in around $20 (before wine and tip) by ordering from the small plate menu as an appetizer, a bowl of the excellent pastas for around $10 and a dessert for $6 (wonderful desserts). Most of the red wines by the glass are $5-7. Dinner for 2 at the bar last night was $63 including wine and tax but before tip.

The spaghetti carbonara and the tube pasta with the pork rib ragu are both winners. The pastas were perfectly al dente. And the Caesar salad comes in an unusual presentation. The dressing is on the plate with the romaine leaves standing up held together at the bottom by a ring of toasted bread that serves as the crouton. The poached pear with red wine reduction is visually stunning. The creme broulee with strawberrries and ice cream is also an excellent choice. From a food standpoint, this place is an utter bargain.

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Our server at the bar last night was not only slammed with patrons, but also all of these other things that can make it difficult working on opening week for a new restaurant. You most definitely could tell she was frustrated with the situation. But for as much as she was busy and frustrated about things not working smoothly, she was calm, pleasant, respectful, and truly appreciative of our understanding that people are learning the ropes in a new place. She was most definitely grace under fire. And when she did need to let out steam and try to point out to other employees what some of the immediate problems and issues were, she took off to the side of the bar that has no customers, keeping everything as far away from guests as possible.
Not to beat this horse yet again...I was there on Friday too. My thought was that a bit of a team effort from the other bar staff might have made things go more smoothly for everyone. Given that we were told that tips are pooled, the fact that the other bartender wouldn't cross some imaginary line of demarcation between Ustreetguy and MoniqueDC was disappointing and quite annoying. Ignoring customers or dismissing a simple request for a menu or a piece of silverware is totally unacceptable, particularly if it's obvious that your colleague is in the weeds. I enjoyed the food and the lively atmosphere and will be looking forward to the next visit - definitely in Stephanie's section of the bar and not the other guy's (who shall remain nameless...).

The small bite of the "strawberry salad" (which JG describes above) was so good that I'm still remembering how yummy it was as I type this - creamy and crunchy and fruity. I was quite tempted to gobble the whole thing up without passing it along, as was also the case with the fried(?) bread and wonderful parsley-lemon dipping sauce. Lots of things to recommend this spot, hopefully the service will catch up with the rest of those things before too long.

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Bebo is a larger restaurant than Galileo with more seats. While the kitchen staff and a number of the dining room staff have come over from Galileo there are many in the dining room and bar who are new. This includes almost all of the runners. Most, if not all, of the kitchen staff are the same-but they are turning out more meals for two reasons. There are more seats in the dining room and bar area and, because of much lower pricing, they are simply serving an average of more dishes per person. And a lot of food at the bar while at Galileo it was something of a rarity for anyone to order.

The result is that in their first week of operation, having been full apparantly every night, they are going to be overrun. And they have. Perhaps badly. Most restaurants start off much slower or have a great deal more practice. Bebo has not had that opportunity.

We did not receive very fast service. In fact some of it was really slow. But having tasted at least a dozen or more dishes off of the menu now from two visits I am convinced that overall there are some VERY good dishes at Bebo. When I factor in the price, even the price for wine that Roberto is charging (anyone remember the wine pricing at Galileo?), Bebo may very well be the bargain of the year in the D. C. area. Remember, this place is priced like, say Carabba's or the Macaroni Grill. Not an exaggeration.

What if the service was exemplery and the food bad? Could that be fixed? Probably not. But service can be improved. Dramatically. (I would also suggest that the GM has a hand in this, too; after all it is his responsibility.) Friday night was the third night they were open. Saturday the fourth. There was only one real "practice night" which was Wednesday and all of the tables were staggered. I know on Saturday everybody hit Bebo seemingly at once. Apparently on Friday, too.

I really would have a bit of patience with the service. It must be better and they all know this.

I'm looking forward to their starting to serve pizza, by the way.

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Do you think Bebo can or will be kid friendly - And I do not mean prime time on Saturday night. I am thinking 5ish on a Saturday night. Probably better after they get the pizza going.
I think so, and I don't know why not. I saw some youngsters in there last night (although somewhat older than yours are). I saw a glass of milk go by as well, suggesting kid friendliness. And I seem to recall that the lunch menu has a kids' section on it.
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The result is that in their first week of operation, having been full apparantly every night, they are going to be overrun. And they have. Perhaps badly. Most restaurants start off much slower or have a great deal more practice. Bebo has not had that opportunity.
And if the hits on my blog are any indication, it's going to stay busy. Nearly 1/3 of the 120+ hits today were people googling Bebo. In fact, we're planning to go back againg tomorrow night.
I'm looking forward to their starting to serve pizza, by the way.
Ditto!
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CrescentFresh, I have a feeling I saw you at Bebo on Friday night. Those of you sitting around the corner of the bar seemed like DR people (from the friendliness that you guys had for each other and the passing of the plates) and my boy and I were the people that took the extra chairs you guys had taken up after the people sitting at the corner left. We sat down, ordered our wine, and got up to wait closer to the hostess station (so that people could eat at the seemingly very crowded bar).

E and I got to Bebo about 7:45-8pm on Friday. The hostess told us it would be about a 30 minute wait for a table for two. We headed over to the bar to pick up two glasses of wine, and had a little trouble attracting attention (probably because of the DR people having way too much fun in front of us!) until we snagged two empty seats. We decided, since we didn't know how good the staff would be at recognizing those of us who had put our names down, to wait over by the hostess station. We waited for close to an hour, and when we considered going and getting more wine, we decided to check again if our table was ready. Two people had just left the big communal table since they thought it was too cold, and the hostess told us that if we wanted those seats, they were ours.

We looked over the menu (there were stacks of menu copies, so I had already looked it over once) and we decided to go with "plain" water, Il Formaggio Morbido Coperto da una polentina con Fetta di Pancetta ai Ferry as a starter. E ordered a salad as well, and we both ordered more wine (E the red that was described as "spicy" and myself the something/chardonnay mixture. His was better).

After about ten minutes, our water glasses were filled. After another ten minutes, our waiter (who was great) came over to tell us that there had been a delay, but our polenta would be right out. At that point, the woman (who we took to be right below the GM, since she was walking around looking like she was supervising things) came out with our polenta and apologized for the delay. The polenta was good, but the Pancetta was better. The salad was a salad.

Our entrees came out not too long after our plates had been cleared. E ordered the Lasagnette con Ragu di Carne e Bescamella and I had the Risotto of the day, which was the Saffron with shrimp. Our waiter came over to offer us parmesean cheese, and was a little surprised when we said that we were not looking for him for that, but instead for our wine, which had yet to arrive. He took our orders again, said he would put them back in the computer and get them right out to us. We got them when we were each about half finished with our entrees. The Risotto was good, but not transcendant. The bits with peppercorns in them were better than those without, and the Lasagnette was very good, or at least we liked it. Our waiter had gone out of his way to make sure we weren't expecting lasagna, so that was not a surprise to us. We ordered an additional order to go to bring home to our roommate, and our waiter pointed that item out as possibly the best item to travel with, since it wouldn't get (i guess) more mixed up in the to-go container.

We finished our wine as we waited for dessert, the Tiramisu. We were not offered coffee, but we may have given ourselves away as not high rollers when we ordered plain water and didn't complain about the service foul-ups. The tiramisu was worth the wait (by now, it was 10:45). We practically licked the martini glass it was provided in.

When our waiter came by with the check, the woman again came over to ask us how our experience was. We complimented the tiramisu and told her that we had a lovely time. Our waiter and she both apologized againfor the service mixups and we laughed it off, pointing out that this was only the second day that they were open. They thanked us for being understanding and made an offhand comment that other people were not as understanding about the service. And I am not saying that other people do not have a right to complain, but I am certainly willing to forgive a few hiccups on the second night a restaurant is open! E said that perhaps people did not realize the restaurant had just opened. I gave him a withering look and reminded him how crowded the place was when we got there. All of those people knew exactly who was running the place and when it opened. But seriously? The restaurant just opened! Of course there will be service problems!

In all, we're sad to be moving on Saturday away from Bebo. We may go back, even just for dessert.

One other fine-to-casual dining quirk: One of the departing diners picked up a printed off menu and asked the hostess if they would be taking phone-in orders. The hostess misunderstood, and said "Yes, of course we will take reservations." They do look like take-out menus :) .

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CrescentFresh, I have a feeling I saw you at Bebo on Friday night. Those of you sitting around the corner of the bar seemed like DR people (from the friendliness that you guys had for each other and the passing of the plates) and my boy and I were the people that took the extra chairs you guys had taken up after the people sitting at the corner left.

Kate, perhaps you chose to remain anonymous, which is cool, but sorry we missed having a chance to meet. If you're unsure if the boisterous, plate-passing hooligans are DR folks, here's the key -- Order your wine and when it's delivered, turn to your partner and toast loudly "To Rocks!" Trust me. It works. :)

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After dinner last night, my wife and I came to the conclusion that service was slow. However, It seems like they have to learn how to operate a casual dinning restaurant. Our waiter actually took the time to show someone to the restroom, that's properly not needed in a place with $10 entrees. I also thought the two managers who were just standing around in their suites could have been more involved in helping out the floor staff....clearing plates or something. What's up with that?

The food however still shines. The pasta with pork rib ragu was excellent

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Had a late lunch there yesterday. Surprisingly the place was rather quiet.

I would definitely recommend the Pasta e Fagioli soup and the Fettucine alle Bolognese. Both were outstanding and quite a lot to eat for lunch. I just wanted a nap afterwards. Not sure the dinner prices, but were $5 and $10 respectively for lunch. Had a glass of way too fruity 2003 Barbera d'Asti.

I agree about the service. They need to tone it down a bit. Its a trattoria not Galileo. Service was very prompt, since there was no one else in the joint, but way too formal. Also, the food took a long time to come out, not sure what was up with that.

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We just got back from Bebo's and found the crowds to be at a much more normal size. We sat at the bar and enjoyed several little dishes and a couple of entrees. Service is still a little slow (yet courteous and friendly) and a far cry better than it was on Friday night. The food was wonderful. I posted pictures of our meal on my blog if anyone is interested in looking at them.

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Quattro fromagio risotto! I hope Roberto has this tomorrow night when my wife and I, Jacques and possibly several others invade the bar. The crudo was outstanding on our first visit last week-I think one of his best dishes.

Yes, quattro fromagio and it was so good. The Crudo is also wonderful.

We just found out my dad is flying up for a visit this weekend and we have to take him there just for the crudo.

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Several of us met there tonight and did our best to finish eating our way through his menu. The risotto of the night was gorgonzola dolce risotto which was awesome. Also, his lamb steak with gremolata may be his second best dish. In truth there are almost a dozen or more dishes at Bebo which are genuinely delicious. The restaurant was also full (@8:30) when we left with 25 or more waiting and 30 or so in his private dining room. Bebo has been discovered!

We all agreed that we will meet back at the bar at Bebo on Halloween Eve-next Tuesday-starting at 6:00PM and do our best to work our way through both his menu and his wine list.

If anyone would care to join us....

Joe

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Joe's right, the place has been discovered. While the place was pretty much at capacity tonight, it did not seem as hectic, I think it is settliing in. The risotto with gorgonzola (made specially for us by Chef Donna) was awesome, so rich that I brought a bunch home. And I agree with the sentiments expressed above that I hope the place stays even after Galileo reopens.

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Here's another special little tidbit you may want to look to at Bebo. While there are quite a few wines available by the glass, most in the 5-7 dollar range, I wasn't thrilled by the ones I sampled. But don't feel you need to stick with those choices, particularly if you're having a glass with someone else, or planning to have more than one. I'm not exactly sure what those folks in MD are up to and clearly those controlling fascists who run the government in DC are by no means enlightened, but us proud sons and daughters of the South have been free to order a bottle of wine, drink a glass, cork it, put it under our arm and take the rest home. With Bebo being on the "right" side of the Potomac, it's a great chance for you to freely sample a wine list that seems to want to challenge Ray's The Steaks as one for the people.

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Here's another special little tidbit you may want to look to at Bebo. While there are quite a few wines available by the glass, most in the 5-7 dollar range, I wasn't thrilled by the ones I sampled. But don't feel you need to stick with those choices, particularly if you're having a glass with someone else, or planning to have more than one. I'm not exactly sure what those folks in MD are up to and clearly those controlling fascists who run the government in DC are by no means enlightened, but us proud sons and daughters of the South have been free to order a bottle of wine, drink a glass, cork it, put it under our arm and take the rest home. With Bebo being on the "right" side of the Potomac, it's a great chance for you to freely sample a wine list that seems to want to challenge Ray's The Steaks as one for the people.

Who the hell can't finish a single, little bottle of wine? I've never kept a cork in my life.

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Hi everyone,

Longtime lurker (though not in a sinister way), but I felt I finally had something to add to this board, so decided to post. :lol:

My +1 and I went to Bebo last night - we got out of work on the early side, and figured we could beat any major crowds. Excitement! Anticipation! Ummm, not quite, since we arrived at 6:30 and the place was already booked with reservations. Thankfully, the old enormous table from Oyamel is being used as a communal table and there was plenty of space to sit. (They seem to definitely try not to crowd people in.) This table gave us a chance to check out our neighbors' food, too - the meatballs smelled AMAZING, the steak was not so visually appealing, though the woman who ordered it seemed to like it very much (who's gonna get steak when there's carbonara! Bucatini! Risotto!).

We started out with the lardo/sausage/tartare plate that others have posted about, so not much new to add to that. We really enjoyed the whole thing, including the lardo, despite my general aversion to eating pure fat. Second app was the polenta with cheese and pancetta. I loved the polenta, which was perfect, though I was slightly disappointed with the pancetta - I was expecting maybe something slightly thicker, stronger flavor, I don't know, but it came out as a piece of, well, bacon. Good bacon, of course, but... ::shrug::

Mains - mmmm. +1 got the quatro fromaggio risotto, and at her first bite, her eyes got wide-eyed and faraway. Waving my hand in front of her face did no good. I stuck my fork in her bowl, and...whoa. Creamy, multiple cheese flavors all coming out at different times, slightly tangy...damn. And a huge bowl of it. (Risotto fritters for lunch today, yay!) This is possibly a dish I would ask for my last supper. My main, which was also tasty, was the braised pork ribs with cannellini. Thick, rich tomato sauce, very tender pork, 5 ribs' worth. When it comes out on the plate, it doesn't look like much food, but it was very filling. Not so filling that we couldn't order:

Dessert! Panna cotta with berry sauce, split between the 2 of us. Great mouth feel, subtle vanilla, pretty berry sauce.

They seem to have a lot of the service kinks worked out. We got out in roughly 2 hours, which included some time at the end drinking coffee, and the only real slip was that we had to remind our server that we had ordered more glasses of wine. Though I have to say, our (young) server was extremely enamored of my +1; I don't think he said more than three words to me! I know many would be offended or annoyed, but we actually both laughed about it most of the night, because he has no shot with her. :) Plus, he was very cute, friendly, and attentive in between his mad dashes around the large space ("Sorry, I got a little busy" in a heavy Italian accent. Priceless!). At the end, he gave her an air kiss and said, "Good night, signora bella."

All in all, it seems like they've done a good job of transporting the Osteria from downtown to a much larger space, with food upgrades and a larger menu. We've already chosen what we're going to order next time. :)

Now, on to finding an avatar...

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Stopped by for dinner last night (first visit) and were lucky enough to find a deuce open with no wait around 7p. They still are having service issues, but nothing that cannot be fixed. Overall I was not that impressed with the dishes that we ordered, but hopefully that is because the kitchen is still getting settled in.

We started with the Lardo App, which was easily the best dish of the night. The veal sausage, while tasty, could have had the meat ground a little better as there were some large and hard pieces of fat. We also shared the polenta with Firefly cheese and grilled pancetta that was a good starter.

After this I had to order a bowl of the Pasta e Fagioli. Wow, was I suprised to find a one dimensional and boring dish. I found it odd that there were 5 whole cloves of garlic in my bowl. Not sure how many they put in the entire batch, but that was the dominating flavor. I think I only ate about half the bowl and this was nothing like what I grew up eating.

For my entree I had the Trippa alla Romana, which was just OK after I added some black pepper to the dish. Too bad there was no mint like the traditional preparation. The couple of bites that I had of the Bolognese was good and I could see ordering that on another visit.

The meal ended nicelyk with Poached pear and cannolis. Both were very good.

They also need to learn how to make coffee, way too many grounds in the press and I love it strong.

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I stopped in for a solo lunch on Friday.

The food is amazing--I had the wedding soup and the fettucine bolognanase. Simply perfect and the leftovers made a great breakfast while watching the Cardinals highlights this morning.

The service was interesting--I had an overly tactical and friendly waiter. It was also a little slow, apparently there were some issues with the credit card machines.

The management sucks ventworm nuts though. I was overcharged for the fettucine and didn't confirm it until I was leaving and double-checked the menu. I very nicely brought it to a gentleman who looked very manager-like. After explaining it twice, he wandered off and sent a woman to talk to me. Her exact words? "I can't believe you're making such a big deal out of this."

No, I was nicely bringing an issue to your attention so you can fix it. Perhaps I was mistaken that the customers are a primary concern at most dining establishments.

Bye-bye Ms. Nice-Bookluvingbabe.

Due to the problems with the credit card machines, she couldn't put the overage back on my card and brought me cash from the register.

Without correcting for the tax.

Which I pointed out not quite as nicely but not with hostility. I believe I said "I'm sorry but that doesn't include the sales-tax I paid on the incorrect amount."

You would have thought I had asked for the meal to be comped and for Roberto to come out front and do a strip-tease to make up for my inconvience.

I did eventually get the right amount of money back but I left with such a bad taste in my mouth that I'm not sure when or if I'll be going back.

This isn't just first week growing pains. This is something more systemic and unbecoming to the talents of Roberto Donna.

Sigh...

Jennifer

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Hi Everyone,

First, I want to apologize for the delay in getting the menus up on DR.com and on our own site which is currently under construction. As many of you know, we hit the ground running and haven't stopped to catch our breath yet.

I also wanted to respond to the concerns over service issues and particularly the incident Jennifer experienced last week. The computer system we're using is not the same as what we had downtown, and has proven itself to be quite problematic and excessively frustrating. It’s really slowed things down, you’ve probably seen the tech support team on the floor with our staff, we’re really trying to get things fixed.

Jennifer, the dish you ordered is $10 on the lunch menu, but for some reason it came up as $11 in our computer system on Friday. The manager who helped you was overwhelmed with stress from all of the computer glitches last week, and in her haste to resolve the problem with the machine, she neglected to consider the additional nine cents in tax by mistake. Her focus was on helping you get reimbursed and then getting the price corrected in the system. She’s a very kind person, but I think you caught her at a moment of meltdown level stress and I know she is sorry about it. All of us at Bebo hope you will not let this one person’s stress and $1.09 mistake keep you from giving us another try.

Moving forward, Roberto is still adding new things from design changes to menu additions at Bebo so there is a lot to look forward to; the pizza oven will be installed in the next few weeks, the Panini sandwiches from downtown are going to be available Monday-Friday starting soon, cooking classes should be back up and running before the end of November, and Roberto is planning to do a family style Sunday Brunch, some wine dinners and more!

I’ll be posting details about all of this on our site and sending emails soon, and will try to keep up on this board as well.

Thanks again for your support and feedback. Roberto is paying attention and really values your opinions and feedback.

Sincerely,

Alysa from Chef Donna’s office

P.S. It was a pleasure to meet those of you who stopped in last Wednesday evening.

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Stopped in over the weekend on Friday night with the wife. Wait for a table was 35 minutes or so, so we decided to eat at the bar.

Ordered the eggplant appetizer and the calamari. Eggplant appetizer was very good - nice sweet caramelized onions and eggplant - very nice. The calamari was superb. A touch salty, but very crisp and perfectly cooked. Both were a steal at under $5 each at the bar.

For mains I had the meatballs and garlic bread, my wife had the Bucatini with tomatoes, onions and proscuitto. The meatballs were very good - not the best i've ever had (that goes to 2 Amys) but good. My wife’s pasta was superb. I ended up finishing her plate (she doesn't eat much).

For dessert, we had the strawberry salad (essentially creme brulee topped with strawberries and vanilla ice cream) and the cannolis. The strawberry salad was awesome. Easily the best dessert i've had in a while. Almost overkill with the ice cream on top. As for the cannolis, I didn't like the cannolis much but the wife enjoyed them. There was some spice in them - maybe cardamom - that was too strong.

We also had several glasses of wine. The list is very nice by the glass and prices are cheap.

Overall, I was very impressed. Service was fine, food came out quick. The check was a little messed up - some things came up a buck more on the bill, others a buck less- overall a wash. $62 + tip for dinner - cheap cheap.

I'll definitely be back several more times. The quality of the food and prices are outstanding.

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For dessert, we had the strawberry salad (essentially creme brulee topped with strawberries and vanilla ice cream) and the cannolis. The strawberry salad was awesome. Easily the best dessert i've had in a while. Almost overkill with the ice cream on top.

Jacques turned me on to the strawberry dessert. I believe it is Roberto's best dessert with the pears second.

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I am really upset with myself, I was in the process of writing a very lengthly review of our experience at Bebo tonight (probably not fast reply the best place to do it) somehow it all disappeared and I am too tired to start over again. Let me say however, we had the most pleasant experience at Bebo. Chef Donna came out as we were arriving, said hi and talked to us about the restaurant, showed us where he will have the cooking classes, the new oven (not hooked up yet) and was his usual enthusiastic charming self, (you can't help but love him!) We sat at the bar, where Luis and Erica took care of us, both very friendly, customer oriented staff. The small plates and entrees we had were wonderful, wines reasonably priced, our bill without tip (along with 3 glasses of wine and 2 beers) including tax was only $65. Once word gets around, this place is going to take off, enjoy it now while you can walk in without a reservation. As a side we asked Roberto about Claudio Sandri, (sous chef whose tasting menu we enjoyed on Valentine's Day while Roberto was off to Torino) and he has left to start his own restaurant (I neglected to ask where, but hope he has stayed around the DC area (does anyone have any information?)).

Oh, Risotto of the Day was Gorgonzola with Pistachio and I could kick myself for not having the "strawberry salad" after hearing people rave about it at the bar and in this forum, but I was just too damn full for dessert!!

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Hi Everyone,

First, I want to apologize for the delay in getting the menus up on DR.com and on our own site which is currently under construction. As many of you know, we hit the ground running and haven't stopped to catch our breath yet.

I also wanted to respond to the concerns over service issues and particularly the incident Jennifer experienced last week. The computer system we're using is not the same as what we had downtown, and has proven itself to be quite problematic and excessively frustrating. It’s really slowed things down, you’ve probably seen the tech support team on the floor with our staff, we’re really trying to get things fixed.

Jennifer, the dish you ordered is $10 on the lunch menu, but for some reason it came up as $11 in our computer system on Friday. The manager who helped you was overwhelmed with stress from all of the computer glitches last week, and in her haste to resolve the problem with the machine, she neglected to consider the additional nine cents in tax by mistake. Her focus was on helping you get reimbursed and then getting the price corrected in the system. She’s a very kind person, but I think you caught her at a moment of meltdown level stress and I know she is sorry about it. All of us at Bebo hope you will not let this one person’s stress and $1.09 mistake keep you from giving us another try.

Moving forward, Roberto is still adding new things from design changes to menu additions at Bebo so there is a lot to look forward to; the pizza oven will be installed in the next few weeks, the Panini sandwiches from downtown are going to be available Monday-Friday starting soon, cooking classes should be back up and running before the end of November, and Roberto is planning to do a family style Sunday Brunch, some wine dinners and more!

I’ll be posting details about all of this on our site and sending emails soon, and will try to keep up on this board as well.

Thanks again for your support and feedback. Roberto is paying attention and really values your opinions and feedback.

Sincerely,

Alysa from Chef Donna’s office

P.S. It was a pleasure to meet those of you who stopped in last Wednesday evening.

In your post you neglect to mention what I think was the most serious issue in BLB's post. The manager stated "I can't believe you're making such a big deal out of this." Stress or not, this is TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE AND INEXCUSABLE. If I spoke to any of my clients like that you could be rest assured that there would be no excuses made and I would be lucky to see my office the next day. Granted our industries are on the opposite end of the spectrum from each other, but the common denominator is customer service. This clearly was not exhibited by your employee and it has made me not want to try Bebo anytime soon.

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Risotto of the Day was Gorgonzola with Pistachio and I could kick myself for not having the "strawberry salad" after hearing people rave about it at the bar and in this forum, but I was just too damn full for dessert!!
Nine of us anchored the far end of the bar tonight "on a whim." We really do need to wear our beanies so ctay122 and others can identify and join us. Fortunately crazeegirl ("forget dessert, I'd like more pasta!") found her way thanks to correctly identifying Jacques' Glen plaid suit.

Favorite starter: Chef Donna sent out a polenta and mushroom dish that everybody enjoyed. Favorite entree: that risotto. I refer to it as the "JoeH Special." Best moment: watching Al Dente's risotto sharing method. :) New favorite dessert: the special - baked apple with vanilla ice cream, hazelnut crumbs (and chunks) and warm caramel. I hope it makes it into the permanent rotation. Just make room for it.

Best reason to return: Pizzas when the oven is up and running in a few weeks.

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I went with my husband Monday night, and I have a similar reaction as others - food good, service needs work.

I had polenta and a basalmic pork chop with herbs. The polenta was soo good, it made me weep little tears of polenta joy. The pork's flavor was great, the basalmic glaze was tart and savory. However, the cut of pork was dry and a little tough - not sure if the toughness was from overcooking, but the vinegar overcame the quality of the meat. I also had a celery-broth based soup with sausage and egg, which I really enjoyed - very savory. The egg added a great and unusual texture.

The husband had spaghetti carbonara - the pasta was a lovely, nicely textured, and the bacon was of best quality. He started with the showy cesar salad. It's an amazing display of romain leaves stood on their ends and wrapped in a dried bread crouton. It's quite a site, but a little hard to eat (wasn't sure if this was a knife and fork, or if we were supposed to pick up the lettuce leaves, old school style).

Chocolate pudding and hazelnut cake for dessert, which was a mixed bag. I though the pudding had too much rum, but I also don't exactly like that kind of thing. The hazelnut cake should be listed as a cookie. The best part was the divine carmel sauce and the amazing hazelnut ice cream, which may be some of the best ice cream I've ever had.

Now, the service was a little off. I had a young, very macho waiter who was a little on the snooty side, and not terribly service oriented. He came by to check if we liked our food, but he also didn't seem to care much about our selections. We were clearly undecided, but he didn't make any suggestions, instead, saying 'everything is good.' He also tried to take the wine list away before I decided what I would like, also making no suggestions while I was clearly hesitating. Other restaurants have been very good about anticipating this need, which is really great for a wine novice like me.

Finally, the waiter did something that really put me off - he insisted on giving the check to my husband, even after I had pulled the credit card out of my wallet and put it in the bill. I appreciate tradition, but, please put the check in the middle. Last I checked, giving the check to the man went out with menus with no prices on them.

I'm going to make a return visit, and hope that these issues smooth out - it has only been a few weeks since open.

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Nine of us anchored the far end of the bar tonight "on a whim." We really do need to wear our beanies so ctay122 and others can identify and join us. Fortunately crazeegirl ("forget dessert, I'd like more pasta!") found her way thanks to correctly identifying Jacques' Glen plaid suit.

Favorite starter: Chef Donna sent out a polenta and mushroom dish that everybody enjoyed. Favorite entree: that risotto. I refer to it as the "JoeH Special." Best moment: watching Al Dente's risotto sharing method. :) New favorite dessert: the special - baked apple with vanilla ice cream, hazelnut crumbs (and chunks) and warm caramel. I hope it makes it into the permanent rotation. Just make room for it.

Best reason to return: Pizzas when the oven is up and running in a few weeks.

My best moment was watching the guy across the bar get served an 8 oz. pour of Laphroaig in his snifter. :) He did not seem to mind.

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The hazelnut cake should be listed as a cookie. The best part was the divine carmel sauce and the amazing hazelnut ice cream, which may be some of the best ice cream I've ever had.

The hazelnut dessert confused me when I got it. The "cake" is a crumbly, crunchy, freeform hazelnut cookie. I was wondering if they ran out of cake and substituted a cookie. I asked the waiter about it, he confirmed the cake is more of a biscuit. Not what I was expecting, but it was a good cookie, and the ice cream and caramel sauce were really good.

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Nine of us anchored the far end of the bar tonight "on a whim." We really do need to wear our beanies so ctay122 and others can identify and join us. Fortunately crazeegirl ("forget dessert, I'd like more pasta!") found her way thanks to correctly identifying Jacques' Glen plaid suit.

Favorite starter: Chef Donna sent out a polenta and mushroom dish that everybody enjoyed. Favorite entree: that risotto. I refer to it as the "JoeH Special." Best moment: watching Al Dente's risotto sharing method. :) New favorite dessert: the special - baked apple with vanilla ice cream, hazelnut crumbs (and chunks) and warm caramel. I hope it makes it into the permanent rotation. Just make room for it.

Best reason to return: Pizzas when the oven is up and running in a few weeks.

Son of a gun....I kept looking over there and I thought Jacques looked familar but I just couldn't figure it out. I did notice y'all were sharing plates and was wondering what the occasion was. Now I feel a bit worse for not realizing, I sure would have liked a bite of that risotto and the ribs I noticed you all enjoying. Were they good????

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Son of a gun....I kept looking over there and I thought Jacques looked familar but I just couldn't figure it out. I did notice y'all were sharing plates and was wondering what the occasion was. Now I feel a bit worse for not realizing, I sure would have liked a bite of that risotto and the ribs I noticed you all enjoying. Were they good????
The special risotto was wonderful. I only had a small, girly bite, of the rib but what I had was very good. You should have said something.
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