Fig & Olive

Had a reservation for 6 people on a Sunday evening. We were seated promptly and the décor is beautiful. That’s the last positive thing I have to say about the experience. Three hours later we left, livid with the service and underwhelmed with the food.
Started off ordering two bottles of wine, which were brought to our table ~15−20 mins later. When they finally did come, the server immediately started pouring a full glass, instead of pouring for a taste. The untimeliness and lack of professionalism were recurring themes thru the rest of the meal.
Having forgot it was restaurant week, hadn’t realized there would be a pre fixe menu option, which most of our group decided to try. Would have thought ordering pre fixe would mean food would come out relatively quickly, but not the case.
Our waiter apologized two or three times for the slow service, but did not seem overly concerned. There were also a number of tables that came and went while we waited. Overall it was a much less-​than-​pleasant experience.
Fig & Olive Salad — A bit heavy & not particularly impressed with the flavors. Could have had a much smaller serving size. Would not recommend.
Salmon Crudo — Quite good. Light and citrus flavor.
Octopus a la Gallega — Have had this at a New York location before, and actually the reason I wanted to come back. Nice light flavor, and a unique dish.
Fig & Gorgonzola Risotto — Would recommend. Sweet, light flavor & good presentation.
Fig & Olive Tajine — Would not recommend. While it wasn’t bad, was also not something to write home about. Since it came recommended by the waiter, it was a bit disappointing and the chicken was a bit dry.
Rosemary Lamb Chops — Did not actually eat these, but someone at our table ordered and said they were very good. Looked delicious.
Salmon — Again, did not try, but had an order at the table. Wasn’t a particularly well-​styled dish, and the cut of fish didn’t look like it was the best.

The space to be in whether you are dining or after after sup liquors. The visuals and sounds are right for enjoying a private conversation or just the peps surrounding Very corporate in service

I went to Fig & Olive once for a birthday party, and overall, this is the kind of place but you can go to once and see what it’s about, and then not go again.
Aesthetically, this place isn’t that bad. The vibe is pretty nice, coming with the huge oversize chairs. But then, we are trying to get a group together, 10 people are basically taking up three smaller tables and can’t fit on the chairs. I would say that when I was here, it seemed like there were mostly big groups of people for happy hour. The space is open enough to account for a good number of people, but it can get crowded.
For food, we ordered a good sampling of their flatbreads. Some were better executed than others, but overall they were overpriced for what we received.
Really, I don’t need to go into their salmonella or E. coli or whatever food-​borne outbreak that happened here that closed Fig & Olive for a period of time. But for other reasons, I won’t really be rushing back.

One of the few restaurants open during the blizzard! Thanks! Beautiful decoration, comfortable intimate tables and delicious food. I had the Mediterranean Branzino for main course and the Caramelized cheesecake for dessert.

Fig & Olive is great!
The décor is beautiful! This Saturday a good friend and I had dinner at Fig & Olive. We decided to sit at the bar instead of a dinner table. The service was exceptional, although it did take awhile for us to get the bartender’s attention.
My friend ordered the paella (which was so good!) and I ordered the scallops. Unfortunately, they ran out of scallops BUT the manager came over and offered me anything off the menu on him. Which is a really nice gesture. I then decided to get them shrimp risotto which was also pretty good.
Also, one of the bartenders gave my friend and I some pretty cool dried apples and a cider cocktail on the house!
Overall, I had a GREAT experience at Fig & Olive and will definitely be back. Also, on Saturday night they have a DJ who plays really good music.

Bland and overpriced.
I really wanted to like this place. Inside it’s gorgeous. Not your typical DC restaurant. And the menu really commits to the fig and olive theme. Unfortunately, the food and drinks — at least for vegetarians were simply not good. I went with a large group and I’ll caveat this by saying people really seemed to enjoy the meat dishes. Here’s what I had.
Fig & Olive (their signature vodka drink) — made with olive oil, celery, vodka and egg white. Absolutely no taste. Gave it to my girlfriend who enjoyed.
Butternut squash soup — Came out luke warm, had to be reheated. Was ok, but no better than Trader Joes’ boxed stuff. The little bits of squash in the soup were undercooked. Presentation was nice though as it’s poured at the table.
Fregola Salad — Beautiful Sardinian toasted pasta that you rarely see on a menu. Cooked fine, but no flavor again in the dish.
While the service was quite nice, there were a lot of hiccups. Pasta dishes coming without meat as ordered, coats being misplaced at coat check, and drinks without taste. When we said something to the manager, he insisted that his bar tender make his «best» fig & olive and brought it over to make sure I like it. Nice gesture, and they did take a couple items off our bill, but for the amount this place costs, I really wanted to be «wowed» by the food. Won’t be headed back any time soon.

4 stars for the ambiance and the scene, 2 stars for the food. 1 star for the prices.
I had dinner here with my boyfriend and cousin, and man was it expensive. I don’t remember what I ordered but I remembered it wasn’t good. My cousin got the chicken tagine, and it was DRRRRRYYYYY. I make chicken tagine all the time, since my trip to Morocco in 2009. It’s a pretty popular dish, having chicken, preserved lemons, and olives. It’s quite easy to make though it takes a lot of time, as you slow cook the chicken in the spices for at least 2 – 3 hours. I found it odd at the time that Fig & Olive’s version was so dry given how it’s prepared. Now of course Fig & Olive is all over the City Paper and how all their food is made in some cafeteria in New York, frozen and trucked to DC, then reheated. Well it makes sense now.
The charcuterie wasn’t bad, from what I remembered… buuuut I also heard people got sick from them so I’m not sure I’d want to try it again. I mean, so many people got sick to the point that health inspectors shut them down. Salmonella sick. And the place was shut down for about a week.
Drinks were mostly good, with the exception of their dirty martini. I downed it as I couldn’t fathom throwing out a $ 15 drink.
Now the good — well, the service is great. The restaurant itself is beautiful, and it’s a sceney kind of place, so if that’s your thing…
If you want to check it out, go for happy hour.

Beautiful new space in City Center with large glass windows overlooking the City Center Plaza. Fig & Olive has a nice large bar in the center surrounded by tables on the side for dinner. This was a great place for happy hour or for catching up with someone for post work drinks.
Happy Hour runs from 4pm-​7pm with an excellent list of cocktails and wine and inexpensive crostinis (bread with delicious toppings such as prosciutto, fig, olive, and walnut and other tasty combos) for either 3 for $ 7 or 6 for $ 12.
The signature and specialty cocktails cost $ 8 for happy hour and range from the tequila based with jalapeño (for an added kick) El Matador to the bourbon-​based Fig and Walnut Julep.
The service was attentive and quick and there was a good post work crowd. This is definitely a great happy hour, catch-​up, or date spot.

Great location at the City Center DC. We’ve been to the West Hollywood branch and this one mimics the way the menu was presented. Comfortable dining seats which has a homey feeling, couch like chair with pillows.
We came for lunch, enjoyed their lunch menu and service was very good.
The butternut squash soup was out of this world! Scallops was cooked to perfection. Kale Caesar salad is just so good, I added shrimp to it.
Overall a great place for lunch!

My new fave happy hour spot in DC, great specialty cocktails for 8 bucks and the yummy 6 for $ 12 crostinis (got the shrimp and prosciutto). The service was excellent and great ambiance. Go to the upstair bar for faster service and less crowd. I will definitely come back!

I want to say this is my favorite Fig & Olive but honestly I say that about every Fig and Olive. It’s freakin’ gorgeous, sexy, sophisticated and swanky. The location is so perfect and on point! It’s right inside City Center across from Dior! How fitting right? A sophisticated restaurant surrounded by sophisticated shops.
The inside reminds me a lot of a Restoration Hardware store. What I like about this location is the first floor seating is similar to a lounge. The seats are extremely comfortable, cozy and chic. It’s like having dinner in your living room at home.
Food was delicious, no complaints at all which is rare for a chain restaurant. I really love their Crostini’s and their Paella was small but delicious.
Gorgeous spot in a gorgeous location with great food.

5 Star atmosphere – One of the best looking restaurants in DC
4 – 5 Star Wine and Cocktails
3.5−5 Star food
3 Star Service
F&O fits right in City Center. This restaurant was filled with beautiful people, that looked dressed like they shop in the same stores that fill this Center… yes, if you were there, I’m talking about you… Actually, i think I was looking pretty sharp that night myself:) Does that matter? Not really… but it makes for great people watching. The downstairs lounge is outstanding. The nice furniture and white tables, and large marble bar, with floor to ceiling windows is stunning and the music and buzz of the crowd gives it great energy.
That energy follows upstairs, where the dining room is large and slightly subdued, but not much. The music continues, there’s another quieter bar and an open kitchen.
The food straddles good to excellent. Some highlights below:
Beef Carpaccio – the server said it was life changing… we all rolled our eyes and made fun of his description – we were wrong! As far as beef carpaccio goes, it’s by a long shot the best I’ve ever had. I can’t even do it justice to explain it, but the extremely finely shaved beef drizzled with 18yr old balsamic, white truffle oil and herbs, was the best part of the evening!
They seem to be able to do fish and meat equally well. The Branzino and Filet were cooked perfectly… big flavor and delicate meat, for both. Our friends had the Salmon and chicken… they seemed very pleased as well. Desserts were pretty impressive across the board.
Three of us did the $ 42 Prix Fixe menu, and it’s a very good value to get a feel for F&O. The wine list is large, interesting and has a couple of good values if you know what you’re looking for.
Service was friendly, and adequate. It’s the one place F&O could really improve in.

Oh, Fig and Olive. I’d give you two stars but… I just can’t.
My fabulous friend and I decided to try out F&O for brunch this past Saturday. It’s a restaurant at City Center; it’s just assumed that this will be posh and well done, correct?
Nope, nope, nope.
First of all, my friend was running a little bit behind so I got seated before her. It took over fifteen minutes to get a cup of coffee. I had to flag down two waiters and a bus girl. My friend and I ordered the bread basket to start. It’s bread, y’all, with fig jam and butter and raspberry sauce. Wanna know how long it took us to get our bread? Twenty five minutes.
We would have forgiven this (we are inclined to leisurely enjoy brunch, regardless) but service just continued to deteriorate dramatically. Our server was difficult to understand. We had to request water no less than four times and coffee refills were slow to come.
We decided to go with the prix fixe brunch menu. Or at least, we tried to. Our waiter seemed to forget multiple times that we had actually ordered. He even asked us if he had forgotten to take our order.
It took us over a half hour to get salad and soup. Then, we wait, again. For another half hour. At this point, we are astonished we don’t have our main course. Our waiter comes over and proceeds to ask us which desserts we wanted again. We stared at him, shocked, but proceeded to remind him that we had yet to have our main course, reminded him of our orders, and finally stared at each other. At this point, we call over the manager.
Kudos to Sofia, who, bless her heart, at least tried. Our main course orders had never even been put in. We finally got our course, but my friend’s chicken in her salad was hard as a rock. Our desserts were pleasant, but at this point our noon brunch reso was swiftly turning into a 3pm completion. Regardless of Sofia’s attempts, we still had to beg for coffee, water, and for dirty plates to be cleared from our table. We sat with finished meal plates for no less than twenty minutes before our waiter noticed.
Oh, and the table next to us got served a coffee cup with lipstick stains on it that were most definitely not from the lady who ordered the coffee. Shudder.
Sofia comped our meal, so I guess I can’t complain about wasting money. But good god what a waste of time. Fig and Olive is a fiasco, and I don’t see how they’ll survive in someplace as exquisite as CCDC without some serious training and upgrades. Boo hiss.

First of all the atmosphere was an A+
The food was an B
The service was an F. Our waitress was incompetent. Our menu was littered with melted chocolate and who knows what. Our waitress for forgot our appetizers. She never asked us to taste our champagne before she poured when we ordered a bottle (s). Our glasses of champagne and water were constantly empty. This place needs help– it has such potential but terrible service. Our waitress was more suited for the Olive Garden…

For some reason, my review was removed…
Got sick with the worst stomach pain of my life 3 days after my last visit here right before Labor Day. Luckily, I ended up getting antibiotics for something else which aided in my recovery. Took 2 weeks for me to feel better. I had the mushroom croquettes, a Piscine and a Fig Vesper. Tuesday night, I felt fine. Friday night, I was miserable and stayed that way for two weeks. I ended up losing 10 lbs because of my stomach issues.
Also had my credit card information stolen by the extremely rude and nasty Dominican female bartender. The girl went into the back for about 10 minutes after me asking for my credit card back and then she came back and acted like she couldn’t find my card. Later that evening, I get a phone call from Amex saying my card was used at some flight school and hundreds of dollars worth of purchases were attempted at some online store in the Dominican Republic.
I loved everything else about this place (minus the terrible service) but scared to go back at this point.
It speaks volumes that the company is just trying to remove reviews instead of addressing the issue.

Finally got a chance to try this place! And I just fell in love with it!
Simple and beautiful décor, ambiance is upscale, service was excellent and the food was deliciousness.
I heard there were 60 cases of salmonella reported from Fig & Olive in the last few weeks… two days later. I’m feeling just fine. And the restaurant was fully booked! So don’t freak out and come try it.
I had crostini as an appetizer: the goat cheese and caramelized onion was my favorite! The shrimp avocado wasn’t tasty.
Bronzino for two was excellent, perfectly cooked and well seasoned, it comes with two sides of your choice, and it’s a table side order! Which I think it’s fun to see them deboning the fish and plate it right there for you! $ 40 pp.
I find this place pricy for what you get! But it’s good to give it a try! Next time I’m trying their happy hour from 4pm to 7pm. And they also have a prix fix menu for $ 38. It has a good selection! You should definitely order from the prix fix and I will try it next time.
I’m giving 3.5 stars

I came here for brunch to celebrate my friends birthday. The event fell during restaurant week — I’m always wary about how much effort restaurants put into their restaurant week meals– but I decided to try the restaurant week menu anyway.
For $ 22 I got a three course meal. I came to the birthday brunch half an hour late (I went to the gym) so everyone was already on the first course. I got a chance to look at the items off of the restaurant week menu which looked great. Made me regret my decision. Haha. I chose the Salmon Crudo as my first course. It was refreshing because of the citrus from the oranges and the salmon was delicious without any fishy taste. My second choice was the Grilled Thyme Chicken Paillard — it was very disappointing. The size of the chicken was great but it was so under-​seasoned. On the other hand the salad was super delicious and I would have liked to have more of that. Finally I finished with the Crostini for dessert. So good!
I will definitely return… when it’s not restaurant week.

Decided to take my SO to Fig & Olive for her bday. This was my first time back at City Center since they started filling in all the retail shops and restaurants. And wow, talk about a mix of high-​end EVERYTHING. It kind of reminded me of my visit to Tyson’s Galleria over the wknd, but a lot more modern and refined with some nicely added flair. Just outside of Fig & Olive are Hermes, LV, Dior, and Del Frisco’s.
We arrived around 8:30pm (Mon night) and were promptly seated at a window table on the 2^nd floor. Both floors were packed. Overall, it had a pretty nice feel to it, but def not as nice as the original location in NYC-​meatpacking. Our waiter did a pretty good job with everything (menu/​drink recommendations, olive oil explanations, complimentary bday dessert) so we maxed out his tip!
Appetizers:
8.5 *Rosemary Olive Oil Fougasse Bread w 3 distinct extra virgin olive oils (our fave: Italy)
7.5 Carrot & Brussels Sprout
9.0 Octopus a la Gallega
Entrees:
8.0 Maine Lobster Boullabaisse
9.5 Provence Roasted Chicken
Drinks:
7.0 FR Sauvignon Blanc — Domaine de Tonnellerie
8.0 Summer in Provence
Dessert:
8.5 *Panna Cotta a L’Orange
*COMPLIMENTARY
All in, $ 140 after tax/​tip

Visited Fig & Olive for lunch today with a group of co-​workers. What was great about the location was everyone enjoyed their orders. Three folks got the salmon burgers, one had a salad, one got the quinoa, one went with the lamb, one had a fish and mushroom dish, several folks tried the grape soup.
I tried the fig and gorgonzola risotto. It had a nice contrast and was enjoyable. For dessert I ordered the sample set that had several tasty items in nice small portions. All the flavors were good.
The décor is relaxed, light and upscale with books, living area chairs, herbs, and olive oil. The lunch crowd was also upscale. While most groups were likely work related a couple were parties.
Our waiter was frazzled but nice.

I was thrilled when my good girlfriends invited me out to try this chic new restaurant in the City Center DC luxury complex. The pictures of F & O’s interior and the food were stunning so I walked through the door with high expectations.
We arrived around 4:30 last Friday. The bar was moderately crowded with professionals wanting a drink and good conversation after a long work week. We wanted to stay downstairs versus going upstairs to the formal dining room. Fortunately, the hostess was able to seat us in the downstairs lounge area despite not having reservations. I took a moment to soak everything in and was mentally transported to the French Riviera. I absolutely adored the restaurant’s open/​airy design, comfortable seating, colors, and all the natural lighting. I would design my home exactly the same way. Plus bottles of their signature extra virgin olive oil and books were everywhere. Did I mention I love traditional hardback books? Using them as decorative elements worked well.
Just as you would expect, there was an extensive wine and signature cocktail list. We started off with a balanced California pinot noir. It seemed lighter than traditional reds, but really smooth with notes of vanilla. It was $ 28 per glass and I found out later we could have bought a bottle for $ 114. The cuisine features some of the best of what the Mediterranean region has to offer. There were many fish and vegetable offerings – I was in heaven. After much contemplation, I ordered the Riviera shrimp & salmon salad. It was chock full of things I love to eat including butter greens & arugula, well-​seasoned tiger shrimp & crispy salmon, avocado, and the highest grade olive oil. Good lawd is was good!
There was good background music playing, but at 8:30 the downstairs portion of Fig & Olive transitioned to more of a club scene. The lights got really dim even in the restrooms so ladies, reapply your makeup before 8:30! A DJ started playing and a younger crowd migrated in. There was only a little space to walk around the bar after everyone started to converge. It was great energy and I can’t wait to return. We ran into old friends and met a few new ones too.