Polite Society
Polite Society Takeaway. The burrata and the potatoes were phenomenal, but the steak sauce was a waste. It's a fancy date night spot near Lafayette Park, lots of exposed brick and books inside.
My bistro steak was cooked perfectly, but they put some kind of sauce on it that I didn't realize. It's a slow dinner too, so plan on two hours.
7.9 / 10. A very solid score, like a 3.9 on Yelp. Worth going to once, but I wouldn't choose to go back on my own.
Good for what it was, no complaints.
Experience at Polite Society
I went to Polite Society last night with some friends. It's near Lafayette Park, about 15, 20 minutes from my house. I'd heard really good things about it as a fancy kind of date night place, and that's exactly what it is.
It was four of us, and I was paying for my friends. So I gave the maître d' a credit card beforehand as a way of not letting my friends even attempt to split the bill.
The bar is right there when you walk in, and there's a maître d'. Ours sat us right away, and the service was great.
We were there from 6:45 to 8:45. There were definitely times when you could tell they were not in a rush to bring you food. So I wouldn't come here expecting to go in and out in an hour, because it's gonna be a longer type of dinner.
The receipt came to $208.49 for the four of us, and $20.99 of that was tax. All in, it was about $250 with tip, so $125 a couple or about $60 a person. That's fine for a date night kind of vibe.
I wouldn't go across town for it. But if someone invited me back for a birthday party or a date night, sure, I'd go.
Food at Polite Society
We had exceptional food, so I'll walk through it in the order it came out.
We started off with the special for the day, burrata with pesto on top of their toasted sourdough ($16). The pesto was phenomenal and the burrata was nice and fresh. I really like burrata and I really like pesto, and those were excellent together, so that was probably my favorite dish, actually.
After that I got the French onion soup for $12. I've wanted French onion soup for a long time, and I knew it was good here. And it was good, but it wasn't mind-blowing, only good, it was what it was.
It was actually a little bit cooler than I expected. Usually when I get French onion soup it's very, very hot, but this one came out so I could eat it right away. Not lukewarm, but definitely not hot, and it still tasted great.
I had a bite of the Caesar salad and a bite of the St. Louis salad, both $14. Both of those were great. We got the gorgonzola on the side of the St. Louis salad because I just don't like mold in my cheese.
For my main, I got the $38 bistro steak instead of the pork osso buco because I'm not a huge pork guy. I'd rather pay more to have a nice steak. And the steak itself was fine, it was cooked perfectly.
But they put some kind of sauce on it that I didn't realize, probably a peppercorn, kind of earthy-flavored sauce. I always forget that these places put sauce on steak, and in my head you should never put sauce on a steak because the steak should speak for itself. So that kind of ruined the steak for me, and honestly it would have been better without the sauce.
The side of potatoes was phenomenal. I think they call it potatoes pavé or something, but it was like potatoes au gratin, layers of thinly sliced potato with cheese and butter. That and the burrata were my two favorites.
My dish also came with asparagus, which was fine. It's asparagus, but it was good. I tasted the broccolini ($15) too, and it was nice and crispy.
My buddy got the fried octopus for $20. I didn't taste that, it's not my jam. The one other dish on the table was the lamb meatballs for $18.
We each got one drink. The table had a Gerard Bertrand Sparkling Rose and a Phojito at $14 each, plus a Lagunitas IPA for $6. And a non-alcoholic Best Day Kolsch for $6.50.
All in all, the rest of what I tasted was good. If you're a no-sauce steak guy like me, ask before you order the bistro steak.
Polite Society Atmosphere
It's a lot of exposed brick inside, and there's a bookshelf. I feel like you're more in an old house than a restaurant, kind of like a fancy manor.
It's broken up into three or four different rooms, again with exposed brick and books.
It was a grown-up adult date night type feel. There was actually a mom and her son, let's say a 13-year-old, having a date night at the table next to us, which was kind of funny. But that's very much the vibe.
Parking At Polite Society
Parking was fine. Polite Society is at 1923 Park Ave in Lafayette Square, and we parked about three blocks away thinking it might be crowded. It wasn't, and we probably could have parked on the street closer, so no problem there.
Polite Society Receipt
