Maxime Steak Frites & Bar

Sunday Brunch was awesome! Had the Salmon Omelette w/​fries! They were very accommodating and friendly! Would definitely recommend this place if you are looking for a new brunch spot!

Gorgeously, cute place! Very sweet service. Good champagne. Had the salmon omelette. A little too salty for me but overall excellent experience. Great place to meet with friends.

Brunch was delicious. The omelette came out thin like a crêpe but filled with cheese and herbs. Great stuff!

Great place for steak frites! The steak frites prix fixe comes with bread and house salad. The baguette was served warm and had a perfectly crisp crust and soft inside. The salad had a little too much dressing for my liking so I’ll probably ask for the dressing on the side next time. I can keep eating that delicious bread but had to restrain myself from asking for more so I can save room for the steak frites!
My boyfriend and I both ordered our steak medium and they came out cooked like it should except one piece in the center that was rarer than I prefer. You get a choice between 3 sauces and we tried 2, the peppercorn (mushroom based) and bearnaise. Both were pretty good but the peppercorn is the clear winner so I asked for extra sauce on side so I can dunk more of my crispy thin fries in it. They do charge an extra $ 2 for extra sauce. The steak, fries and sauce were all pretty good!
I honestly enjoyed the steak frites here better than the famous one in Paris. I’ll definitely be back again.
For drinks they offer a decent menu of beer, cocktails and wine. Ended up getting Moulin Rouge but it was just ok. It definitely sounded better than the description. Service was ok and it took a few minutes before we can flag down someone to get some extra sauce.

Strolled in here around 4pm for a late lunch/​early dinner and was seated at the bar. The Bartender was friendly and promptly poured me a water and gave me the menu.
I ordered a bloody mary to drink, which was prepared very nicely (although I usually like the addition of more garnishes than just a lime)
For food I ordered the appetizer portion of Moules Frites Marinieres. This was so simple and great — I really enjoyed the delicious broth. They provided me with bread on the side and I frequently dipped it into the broth. For a main dish I ordered the Croque Mademoisele, which was also fantastic. The fried egg on top was just slightly runny — perfect! The fries were perfectly crispy. I was also very impressed with the side salad. While it seemed to be nothing special, simply a mix of purple and green lettuce — it was dressed very nicely and paired well with the sandwich that is on the heavier side.
Overall, great meal and I will definitely be back. I am already craving the mussels!

I’ve been here twice now. I’ll break it down by food, drink, and service.
Food: 4 stars. My entire table ordered the steak and frites and I can definitely say we all enjoyed our meals. However the steaks were all over cooked based upon the order. No real consistency for the way they were ordered vs how they came out.
Drinks: 2 stars. «The Ultimate G+T» tastes pretty much just like tonic water, and a splash of gin. Coco Chanel sounds delicious, and it is, but it’s light on the liquor. When paying $ 10 for a cocktail you expect a little more.
Service: 1 star. Originally we had 3 waiters, and none of them seemed to know what was going on. There was clearly some confusion going on and no one successfully figured it out before we left for the night. Our final waitress was very nice and apologized for our «rough night», but it didn’t really make up for everything. The drinks took forever to come out. I am lactose intolerant, told the waitress when ordering, and when I was provided with the salad, I asked which dressing was used. I was told its «creamy» so I asked if it had dairy and It took them over 10 minutes to figure it out that creamy does not necessarily mean dairy and that I was safe to eat. We didn’t get bread until we asked for it (meanwhile the streak it intended to come with bread) and it never got better from there. Bread was provided in a bag as a loaf was not cut and we were not provided with a bread knife.
Overall I may give it another chance because the food is still good, but the service needs to pick it up.

It’s a solid 3.5 stars — the steak frites are exactly what I wanted — skinny seasoned fries and a perfectly cooked steak. The moules were salty and as an appetizer didn’t come with fries :(
Hubby interestingly picked the spaghetti bolognese which was actually great.
The service was suffering from an off-​hour shift change. Things weren’t organized and we waited for a while for water to come and had to ask for glasses to be refilled. Everyone was friendly — just not attentive enough for how empty the restaurant was in the early evening.
I’d be back for the steak frites. Yum.

One of the best steaks — so tender. The food was very authentic, Soupe a l’onione and escargot done very well.
The service was very attentive and friendly.

We went on a Thursday night, and the service was prompt, despite various groups in the restaurant. They specialize in steak and frites, and we both ordered the prix fixe. Steak was great quality and as expected. Great décor, really cool. I ordered the Bordellaise, which was delicious. The Bernaise was very herb-​y, we wouldve liked it a little less herb dominated. Wine was good. We ordered the Crème Caramel, which was fingerlicking good. Most convincing attribute: Not going broke over your longing for steak. You really get a good dinner for more than reasonable $$$.

I came to Maxime twice once for brunch and had dinner here last night it is an amazing place the athmosphere is nice the decore is beautiful and the French music makes it even nicer I had the filet au poivre it was delicious the peppercorn sauce tasted so nice and the handcut fries were nice but the most impressive dish I tried here was the Orange blossom yogurt, it was a really unique recepie very flavorful especially that I paired it with their classic croissant would definitely go back again and totally recommend trying it 5 stars excellent food and awesome service.

I went on a Thursday night and got great service both at the bar and when me and my friend were moved to a table. I definitely recommend ordering the mussels during happy hour specials, because they were delicious, but in my wouldn’t be worth the non-​happy hour price (of $ 18)! My friend and I both ordered the prix fixe steak dinner — she ordered rare, and I ordered medium rare. When they came to the table, my friend’s steak was more like medium rare, but mine was straight up well done. The staff was very accommodating and apologetic, preparing a new steak for me right away and even comping us on a free dessert! The steak itself was delicious and I definitely recommend the bearnaise sauce.
We got profiteroles to end our meal and they were delicious. The bar also made a killer Moscow Mule, but it was a pricey cocktail!!! Overall, a good experience.

Saving grace is the croissant. Brunch food overall was 3 stars. You know it’s bad when the people around you are waiting for the server at his station to ask for water, or to give their order. We had to ask for the check after 1.5 hours, and the second round of drinks took 25 minutes.
Don’t get the bottomless drink, you’ll only see your waiter twice.

We ate here on Saturday ¹⁰⁄₁₀. I’m not a big complainer, and usually give people the benefit of the doubt, especially on a busy weekend evening, but the service here was unacceptable.
The good: I called about 7pm to ask if we’d be able to walk in or if we should make a reservation. Alyssa, who answered the phone, was polite and friendly and quickly found a table for two at 8pm. When we arrived right at 8, our table was ready. I thought the ambiance was lovely, the noise level wasnt too bad, and everything smelled delicious.
The bad: We sat for about ten minutes until Yohan/​Johan, our server, came over. We ordered drinks from him. By 8:20, we still didn’t have water, so we flagged down another server to ask for water. At 8:30, we realized we still didn’t have cocktails and we hadn’t seen Johan in a while, so we hadn’t ordered.
The ugly: At 8:35, we flagged down another person, who turned out to be an owner/​manager. He apologized, took our orders (at this point we’d given up on the ideas of apps or desserts and just ordered the prix fixe for both of us) and we asked him to check on our drinks. We received bread right away, and soon after, our server came back to re-​take our drink orders– it appears he’d never put them in, in the first place. We received drinks and salad relatively quickly. We received our steak frites about 9:10, and they’d mixed up whose was whose. At 9:30, we’d finished eating and said no thank you to dessert, but at 9:40, we had to request a check (I’m confused as to why this had to be two separate conversations), and at 9:45, we quickly signed and paid. Our server came back to collect the check, noticeably before anyone cleared our plates.
While the food was passable, (I liked the bordelaise sauce, and wish the vinaigrette on my salad had been a little bit more mustardy), the simple fact is that a few miles away, we can get similar fare with impeccable service at Medium Rare, better ambiance and wine list at Ardeo Bardeo, or truly excellent food and service at Bistro Lepic, There was several big groups of high school or college students who seemed to be taking all of our servers time. I was stung, a little, when we received the full bill and the suggested 20% tip was circled in pen– we’d indicated to the team that we weren’t having a good experience, and still blatantly requested a generous tip. We spent most of our two hours at Maxime wondering where our water/​drinks/​bread/​salad/​dinner were, and regrettably very little time spent enjoying the food and each others company.

The combination of excitement and hunger when we dined here led us to over ordering. We had the Thailandaise mussels, frites, french onion soup, beef bourguignon, gnocci with mushroom sauce and veggies and the rosemary crème brulee. It was delicious! Great food, great ambience and an overall very enjoyable experience. I will be back!

The food at this place is absolutely delicious. They have changed the menu and hired a new chef The décor is beautiful. Maxime will make me want to visit Georgetown more often. My friends and I ordered multiple entrées and appetizers to share. Everything was phenomenal, I really enjoyed the french onion soup and gnocchi. Lauren was an awesome server. I have returned to have a drink at the bar also. The ultimate gin and tonic and manhattans are mixed well.
Can’t wait to go back in November for the Beaujolais.

Fine food, but waiter was way overbooked. Didn’t see her after we ordered until she gave us the check!
Also, peppercorn sauce is very peppery!

Taking all things into consideration — I couldn’t decide between a 4 or 5 star rating. I’m going to give it 4.5 and round up to 5.
Let me start out by saying that this used to be Rialto, the Italian tapa restaurant that had a huge Unilocal elite party back in October. This is owned by the same owners and hosts the same staff that worked at Rialto. They decided to redesign their concept hence closing Rialto and opening up Maxime. The changes are the décor, menu, and concept of what they’re going for — French/​Belgian fusion with heavier emphasis on French.
I completely stumbled upon this place by accident. I hadn’t read about it on Unilocal,and I hadn’t planned on dining here. My plan was to run in and use the bathroom, and run out. I was driving über after I had gotten off my day job, and I needed to us the lou. I happened to be in Georgetown around 7:30pm, and found a parking space that was right outside of their establishment. It didn’t dawn on me that this used to be Rialto until I went inside.
The first thing I noticed when I walked in is that this place is very hip. Full of well dressed 20s/​30s/​40s somethings with the one exception with the guy in the flannel shirt and backwards hat. He wasn’t that hip looking. Luckily, I was dressed appropriately… you know, because I am such the fashionista. *que sarcasm*
Another thing to be noticed is this is a complete date place. Aside from me and another older gentleman down the bar who was also dining solo — there were nothing but couples here. I did see the occasional girl’s night out in here, but otherwise totally date place worthy.
They have completely redone the entire interior. They still have some of the original components of Rialto such as the huge wood burning oven and the glass see through encasing of where they display pastries and desserts opposite side of the long bar. The interior is cozy and intimate with mood lighting.
I sat at the bar where I had Hasna (Hannah to those who can’t pronounce her name properly) as my bartender. She also happens to be one of the managers who gave me a little split about the new place and their transition. I also had the pleasure to speak to the general manager who was going around asking the patrons on how their dining experience was going. He is also quite pleasant to encounter.
They don’t offer a huge menu selection which I actually like. What they do offer is a variety of different ways of having an appetizer or entrée size of mussels or a prix fixe menu of steak and frites with upgrades available. For example if you do not want to have ribeye, you can upgrade it to a NY steak or filet mignon for a small upcharge on top of the $ 20 you would pay for the 3 course meal they offer.
The 3 course meal:
Course 1 — bread and butter
Course 2 — salad
Course 3 — ribeye steak and frites
I did not get that. I opted to have 2 of their appetizers. One of the appetizers I got was the Roqueford mussels and Quiche Lorraine.
The Roqueford mussels is roqueford blue cheese, leeks, chives in a cream sauce with a side of bread for dipping. This is a large portion even though it was appetizer size. *Side note — during happy hour, you get the entrée portion for the appetizer price.*
Quiche Lorraine is made of ham, leeks, onions, variety of cheeses, and a flaky crust.
Out of the two I think I preferred the quiche. I love mussels, and these were exceptionally good, but since I had pretty much covered the quiche before getting to the mussels; I don’ think I got the chance to appreciate the mussels the way I should have. Regardless, I did eat what I could and enjoyed what I had. I felt both were very tasty and enjoyable. The mussels had a great balance in the flavors they blended together in the broth.
For my one drink, I had a sweeter version of an Old Fashioned. Hasna tweaked it a bit, and it was very tasty. They do offer a few signature cocktails, but I opted for something different.
Speaking of Hasna, her service was right on point. I enjoyed it, and she was very attentive to her patrons. Being that I was there alone; I did a lot of people watching. Everyone seemed generally happy with her. She didn’t miss a beat.
My next visit, I will have to try the steak and frites. You can’t really ever go wrong with steak and frites, and for $ 20 for the portion you get — that’s a steal.

Maxime was definitely a step up from Rialto, the previous restaurant at this location. I really loved the restaurant’s décor. It’s a French themed restaurant and they definitely committed to that. The word «Revolution» is spelled out on the back of the chairs with one letter on each chair, the French flag is embossed on the leather cushion, «carpe diem» is written on the glass leading downstairs, and French portraits and silhouettes line the walls. Well done Maxime.
As for the food, they really push their prix fixe menu, which consists of baguette and butter, salad, and steak and frites. I think its a little silly that the first course is just bread and butter. That being said, the baguette was disappointing. I’m not sure if it was stale but it was tough to chew. The salad was very simple but also very good. The dressing seemed like some sort of lemon vinaigrette. I would have loved a second plate of that.
The steak and frites though was really awesome; mainly the steak though, the fries weren’t too special. The steak was tender and the signature sauce (basically just a hollandaise sauce) was addicting and lick-​your-​plate good. They had other, more expensive steak options but I thought the sirloin was fine and didn’t needed to be upgraded. The french fries were enjoyable but not very memorable. It was easy to finish all of them (especially when dipping them in sauce).
Aside from the baguette, it was a pretty solid meal.

I had the pleasure of dining at the new Maxime tonight. I actually called the restaurant thinking I had made reservations for Rialto, unbeknownst to me it was the grand opening of the new concept Maxime.
My immediate impression of the restaurant was great. Like the previous review stated, it was cozy and sultry without feeling overly sexy.
My guest and I were seated in the rear, which meant we walked past the open kitchen with a beautiful display of desserts. Although we ended up not eating dessert, I must say that they looked very appetizing.
The service was courteous and prompt. The menu is straight forward and pretty simple. The restaurant concept has an obvious European influence. The signature dish is steak and frites, though they do offer a vegetarian and pescatarian option. I opted for the mussels and frites. They had several different varieties, I decided to go with the Rockport (sp?), which were simmered with a blue cheese sauce. They were absolutely fantastic! My friend ordered the steak and frites. Although her steak came out a little rarer than she anticipated, she thoroughly enjoyed it and accompanying sauce that was served with it.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my experience. This place certainly fills a niche in the M Street restaurant options. I look forward to returning and trying one of the desserts.

Warm, cozy, sultry but not overtly sexy, Maxime is the perfect place to start off a great night on the town.
The upstairs area is beautiful albeit a tad more casual, but downstairs? Oh, downstairs is a cushy little nugget that will embrace you with velvety delight.
The crystal bed fireplace is a visual pinnacle of the space and sets the ambiance switch to romantic.
As for the food, it came pretty cold so I don’t think I was able to truly appreciate it as much as I would have if it was warm. Room temperature steak and frites just ain’t gonna cut it, but since the kitchen was still probably working out the kinks and serving for a large, private group I’m pretty sure this will probably not be a regular occurrence for most patrons.
Overall I would definitely recommend for a range of needs. It’s a great place to dress up for, but if you’re in a casual mood you’d definitely not feel out of place upstairs.
Looking forward to stopping by again sometime soon!