Reservation made for 7:30, made the day prior. The restaurant called three hours ahead of the reservation to say that the bar would be closing at 7:45, and asked if we would want to move to an earlier slot. Due to schedules, we were only able to arrive 15 minutes early (although the restaurant changed our reservation to 7:15 without our knowledge). Upon arrival, we were told that the bar actually closed at 7:30 and that the kitchen closed at 8:00. The manager and hostess did not appear concerned about their failure to accurately communicate their constraints in the earlier phone call, noting that "corporate overlords" do not let them set the times of their OpenTable reservations. We opted to dine elsewhere, and regret that our plans to celebrate a special occasion at a favorite restaurant failed so spectacularly.
KarrenA
i had the seasonal bowl which was creative and mostly delicious. I was not crazy about the kale falafel which was over salted and over spiced which was in this dish. Surprisingly there were three falafels in each order with the option to order more. My dining partner and I loved the ambiance. Service was reasonable. We would certainly go back. We loved that they emphasize seasonal ingredients.
dls47
Soup took forever to arrive and wasn't very warm. Had to remind waiter to bring it before our mains. Menu is very limited. Feels like everything is made elsewhere and heated up there. My wife's campanelle: pasta was very overcooked (no shape, flabby), veggies in it were undercooked; and overall no taste. My burger was not bad, but overcooked as against my instructions (rare; served medium-well). The water (city water) had a lot of chemical treatment in it. This isn't the restaurant's fault, but they should offer non-sparking bottled water instead of only Pellegrino. Not a bad meal, but a number of better restaurants in the neighborhood for the same money.
PAJE
We had a supplemental waiter who was super sweet and brought us a free special drink for our 4 year old. Our regular waiter though never came back to check on us even for drinks one time in over 2 hours and I needed to get up to find him to get the check and he was casually telling stories to his coworkers which I even waited through. Had it not been for the supplemental server I would have given 1 star for service. Food and ambiance was beautiful though
Carolyn Frank
My friend and I enjoyed brunch at this very attractive cafe. My elderflower-flavored lemonade tasted more of lemon and sugar, but although sweeter than I would have wished, was eminently drinkable. We liked the pot of fresh-baked bread with its accompanying herb butter. We each had the wild mushroom frittata, a 6-inch diameter individual pie served on a lovely wooden cutting board, with some hash browns and a small salad drowning in dressing. I would have liked more mushrooms and more savory spices, but the frittata was the perfect size for a meal. For dessert we split the humongous cinnamon bun, which was as sticky and sweet as could be. My friend found her Bee Sting Latte to be overly spiced and large, but happily managed to finish it off.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
DCduo
Enjoyable experience. Food was very good and portion sizes were plentiful. Unique and comfortable atmosphere. Would return, for a special occasion. But clean the back exit doors by the bathrooms that some diners have to look at. Very unsightly and unappetizing to the eyes and one's perception of overall attention to cleanliness.
kmart102
This is such a charming restaurant, with excellent food and great service! We love the seasonal decor and magical lights hanging above the tables. The restaurant has such a nice vibe and we had a very attentive waiter (sorry we don't remember his name). We will definitely be back again soon!
FoodieMama
I so want to love Terrain. It's adorable and convenient. But the service is so so so slow. And the food has gotten worse. The only delicious thing was the mushroom soup. Please make it better— there is so much potential!
TMoore621
The decor and menu for this restaurant is inviting. It has a warm & beautiful ambiance. We selected the restaurant because of the variety for both carnivores and vegetarians. All of our food selections were nicely plated but bland. I ordered the crispy chicken dish. It turned out that they were out of some of the ingredients, so instead of letting me know that beforehand, they sent the chicken out with a glob of soft cheese which the waiter told me was a runny egg. None of the veggies were included. I'm 7 months pregnant so I could not eat soft cheese or a runny egg. I sent it back for a burger which was serviceable but overcooked and I wasn't even offered the optional sides....just given half a plate of mixed greens. The vegetarians in our group ordered the pasta and farrow bowl. Both lacked any real flavor. There are too many good options in Bethesda to return to this restaurant.
peanut
We've been to 2 other Terrain Cafes before and enjoyed the food, atmosphere and service very much, so assumed all would be the same in DC—not true. While the service was okay, and the atmosphere was nice (despite the very loud kitchen—maybe they were doing work in there with lots of banging and things dropping) but the food was exceptionally disappointing. I got the Harvest Bowl. It tasted like it was made a week ago and refrigerated. The falafel tasted bad and later, I believe it is what upset my stomach. Had eaten only half and took the rest home but ended up throwing it out. Very disappointed.
Really cute brunch spot! The bread and butter was very good, great cocktails, and friendly staff! Highly recommend!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Flower Bread Pot with Seasonal Butter
Amanda
A very cute cafe and the staff are lovely. The quinoa fritters were delicious and the cocktails even more so. I would recommend the pomegranate mule and fig leaf daiquiri. They lose a star for the whole wheat campanelle though.. it was overly sweet pasta? Really strange. Best way to describe it is maraschino cherries.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Quinoa Fritters
safi khan
All the staff was very polite though the did bring the wrong food to our table. the restaurant was clean with modern adornments. The terracotta baked bread is very good and clearly the speciality. I would avoid the deep fried avocado. it's a fairly center of the pack brunch place, aside from the potted bread.
Parking: parking available around the area but nothing directly attached to the place.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Smoked Salmon Toast, Flower Bread Pot with Seasonal Butter
Lola Ajayi (Lola)
I gave the food a 3, service a 5, and atmosphere a 5, hence my 4 star rating.We sat outdoors and loved the atmosphere (minus the bees). Our waiters were kind and patient and provided us with good service. We got mocktails to drink. The blackberry bramble and watermelon mint refresher were delicious (I highly recommend them).We also got a charcuterie board and I wasn’t familiar with most of the cheese options. I’ve had better charcuterie boards but isn’t want bad. The honey that came with it was so good as well (I know that is such a random thought). My friend got a Caesar salad and she said it might have been one of the best Caesar’s she’s had. I didn’t try it and I’m not a Caesar salad fan, so I cannot vouch for it but I trust her taste. I got the grilled cheese. I know it may seem odd I ordered grilled cheese at a restaurant but I just wanted something light but not a sandwich. I wish the bread was crispier and butter up. The cheese were okay. Overall, I was kind of disappointed with the grilled cheese because they’re super easy to make.In general, I wasn’t wowed by the food but it’s a cute place for lunch or brunch.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
Hapa135
A nice place for a bite while shopping. The ambience has a warm, earthy vibe. Service was good. The food was not bad and not amazing, just ok, not something I'd go out of my way to try again given other options in the area.
Reservation made for 7:30, made the day prior. The restaurant called three hours ahead of the reservation to say that the bar would be closing at 7:45, and asked if we would want to move to an earlier slot. Due to schedules, we were only able to arrive 15 minutes early (although the restaurant changed our reservation to 7:15 without our knowledge). Upon arrival, we were told that the bar actually closed at 7:30 and that the kitchen closed at 8:00. The manager and hostess did not appear concerned about their failure to accurately communicate their constraints in the earlier phone call, noting that "corporate overlords" do not let them set the times of their OpenTable reservations. We opted to dine elsewhere, and regret that our plans to celebrate a special occasion at a favorite restaurant failed so spectacularly.
i had the seasonal bowl which was creative and mostly delicious. I was not crazy about the kale falafel which was over salted and over spiced which was in this dish. Surprisingly there were three falafels in each order with the option to order more. My dining partner and I loved the ambiance. Service was reasonable. We would certainly go back. We loved that they emphasize seasonal ingredients.
Soup took forever to arrive and wasn't very warm. Had to remind waiter to bring it before our mains. Menu is very limited. Feels like everything is made elsewhere and heated up there. My wife's campanelle: pasta was very overcooked (no shape, flabby), veggies in it were undercooked; and overall no taste. My burger was not bad, but overcooked as against my instructions (rare; served medium-well). The water (city water) had a lot of chemical treatment in it. This isn't the restaurant's fault, but they should offer non-sparking bottled water instead of only Pellegrino. Not a bad meal, but a number of better restaurants in the neighborhood for the same money.
We had a supplemental waiter who was super sweet and brought us a free special drink for our 4 year old. Our regular waiter though never came back to check on us even for drinks one time in over 2 hours and I needed to get up to find him to get the check and he was casually telling stories to his coworkers which I even waited through. Had it not been for the supplemental server I would have given 1 star for service. Food and ambiance was beautiful though
My friend and I enjoyed brunch at this very attractive cafe. My elderflower-flavored lemonade tasted more of lemon and sugar, but although sweeter than I would have wished, was eminently drinkable. We liked the pot of fresh-baked bread with its accompanying herb butter. We each had the wild mushroom frittata, a 6-inch diameter individual pie served on a lovely wooden cutting board, with some hash browns and a small salad drowning in dressing. I would have liked more mushrooms and more savory spices, but the frittata was the perfect size for a meal. For dessert we split the humongous cinnamon bun, which was as sticky and sweet as could be. My friend found her Bee Sting Latte to be overly spiced and large, but happily managed to finish it off.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Enjoyable experience. Food was very good and portion sizes were plentiful. Unique and comfortable atmosphere. Would return, for a special occasion. But clean the back exit doors by the bathrooms that some diners have to look at. Very unsightly and unappetizing to the eyes and one's perception of overall attention to cleanliness.
This is such a charming restaurant, with excellent food and great service! We love the seasonal decor and magical lights hanging above the tables. The restaurant has such a nice vibe and we had a very attentive waiter (sorry we don't remember his name). We will definitely be back again soon!
I so want to love Terrain. It's adorable and convenient. But the service is so so so slow. And the food has gotten worse. The only delicious thing was the mushroom soup. Please make it better— there is so much potential!
The decor and menu for this restaurant is inviting. It has a warm & beautiful ambiance. We selected the restaurant because of the variety for both carnivores and vegetarians. All of our food selections were nicely plated but bland. I ordered the crispy chicken dish. It turned out that they were out of some of the ingredients, so instead of letting me know that beforehand, they sent the chicken out with a glob of soft cheese which the waiter told me was a runny egg. None of the veggies were included. I'm 7 months pregnant so I could not eat soft cheese or a runny egg. I sent it back for a burger which was serviceable but overcooked and I wasn't even offered the optional sides....just given half a plate of mixed greens. The vegetarians in our group ordered the pasta and farrow bowl. Both lacked any real flavor. There are too many good options in Bethesda to return to this restaurant.
We've been to 2 other Terrain Cafes before and enjoyed the food, atmosphere and service very much, so assumed all would be the same in DC—not true. While the service was okay, and the atmosphere was nice (despite the very loud kitchen—maybe they were doing work in there with lots of banging and things dropping) but the food was exceptionally disappointing. I got the Harvest Bowl. It tasted like it was made a week ago and refrigerated. The falafel tasted bad and later, I believe it is what upset my stomach. Had eaten only half and took the rest home but ended up throwing it out. Very disappointed.
Restaurantji Recommends
Really cute brunch spot! The bread and butter was very good, great cocktails, and friendly staff! Highly recommend!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Flower Bread Pot with Seasonal Butter
A very cute cafe and the staff are lovely. The quinoa fritters were delicious and the cocktails even more so. I would recommend the pomegranate mule and fig leaf daiquiri. They lose a star for the whole wheat campanelle though.. it was overly sweet pasta? Really strange. Best way to describe it is maraschino cherries.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Quinoa Fritters
All the staff was very polite though the did bring the wrong food to our table. the restaurant was clean with modern adornments. The terracotta baked bread is very good and clearly the speciality. I would avoid the deep fried avocado. it's a fairly center of the pack brunch place, aside from the potted bread.
Parking: parking available around the area but nothing directly attached to the place.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Smoked Salmon Toast, Flower Bread Pot with Seasonal Butter
I gave the food a 3, service a 5, and atmosphere a 5, hence my 4 star rating.We sat outdoors and loved the atmosphere (minus the bees). Our waiters were kind and patient and provided us with good service. We got mocktails to drink. The blackberry bramble and watermelon mint refresher were delicious (I highly recommend them).We also got a charcuterie board and I wasn’t familiar with most of the cheese options. I’ve had better charcuterie boards but isn’t want bad. The honey that came with it was so good as well (I know that is such a random thought). My friend got a Caesar salad and she said it might have been one of the best Caesar’s she’s had. I didn’t try it and I’m not a Caesar salad fan, so I cannot vouch for it but I trust her taste. I got the grilled cheese. I know it may seem odd I ordered grilled cheese at a restaurant but I just wanted something light but not a sandwich. I wish the bread was crispier and butter up. The cheese were okay. Overall, I was kind of disappointed with the grilled cheese because they’re super easy to make.In general, I wasn’t wowed by the food but it’s a cute place for lunch or brunch.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 5
A nice place for a bite while shopping. The ambience has a warm, earthy vibe. Service was good. The food was not bad and not amazing, just ok, not something I'd go out of my way to try again given other options in the area.
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