Oh, fine French dining: the setting for a fancy night out to celebrate a promotion, propose a marriage, or, if you’re in a movie, to inevitably stumble into a waiter when he is carrying an enormous platter of heavy and very loud dishes.
I love fine dining settings. I love the candles, flowers, long wine list, and most of all, I just love feeling special. I don’t, however, always love the fancy French food that comes with these settings. Maybe I have a low tolerance for butter or some lingering rebellion against my Francophile mother. Regardless of the reason, after years in Charlottesville, we had never been to one of the poshest places in town: Fleurie off the downtown mall. So in honor of ma mere’s recent visit, we headed there for a spontaneous Monday night out.
The ambience at Fleurie is downright charming with its exposed brick walls, romantic lighting, enormous daisies on the tables, and excellent service. It feels special without being the least bit stuffy. I just wish the food had been as impressive.
It started out wonderfully with an amuse bouche of tomato gazpacho with pesto sauce. (It amuses me, pun intended, that my reaction to the bouche is always “free food!”, without any rational calculation of how much one must pay to achieve that small bite.) Jed’s food stayed strong with an appetizer of incredibly rich but delicious gnocchi in truffled herb sauce. I would have licked the plate if the lights were dimmer. My salad was heavy with roquefort but didn’t celebrate the produce like many excellent dishes in town do. For main courses, Jed’s lamb was good but my mom’s chicken was dry and my halibut was sadly drowned and strangled in a heavy garlic crust.
After we passed on dessert, an adorable plate of three mini desserts arrived complimentary. Again, the touch was perfect but the flavors weren’t mind-blowing. Maybe Jed was just the better orderer, maybe it was an off night, maybe I’m still teenage rebelling, but after years of hearing this praised as one of the most special restaurants in town, it was a letdown. Merde.
Jed says: “If you’re the flexible sort, ask your server to have the chef make his or her favorite dish for you.”
Erin’s Mom says: “I was having dinner with such beautiful/handsome, interesting, charming people, I didn’t pay as much attention as I should have.”
Rating: Erin: 
Jed:
Pros: Romantic ambience, great service, extensive wine list.
Cons: Food quality doesn’t match the price.
Price: About as pricey as it gets in this town. Apps $9-18, Mains $27-37.
Parking: Limited.
Contact Info
Photos
More Info
- Trip Advisor: Fleurie Reviews
- Charlottesville Dining: Fleurie Reviews
- Urban Spoon: Fleurie Reviews
- Locallectual: Blog post on Fleurie
Best in Chow
#1 by misterdonalddraper on October 6th, 2009
I recently went to Fleurie on a random Monday night as well, also similar was that it was my first visit after hearing about this place for many years. After the buildup of years and trying to pick a moment worthy of such a destination Fleurie had a lot to live up to. Upon arrival we loved the inside of the restaurant and it took you away from feeling like another evening on the downtown mall. However, being short staffed it took us almost half of an hour to receive a beverage. That is a huge pet peeve of mine. I firmly believe that servers should ask for drink orders and promptly bring them moments after you sit down. If I have a glass of wine in my hand then the server can take all the time they want to take food orders. The “free” food that book-ended the meal was great and definitely gives you a feeling that you are somewhere special. I would say that the menu did not impress much and I actually had a challenging time picking out something that I really wanted, which was a disappointment to say the least. However, once we received our gnocchi, chicken dish, and short ribs we thought they were all cooked to perfection. Unlike the unfortunate chicken you received we had moist fresh and abundant in taste chicken. The short rib was juicy and tender and complimented by the garlic and celery puree. The desserts looked amazing and I anticipate going back for just that at some point soon. However, we were too full and unable to order dessert this past visit. The main criticism I left with was that if you are going to charge that much for food and drinks then find a way around be short staffed, and if you happen to be short staffed and leave patrons waiting for drinks and waiting to order then bring us out something more than the standard “free” bites to try and reconcile that fact. Simply hearing that a server could not make it in does not compensate for waiting almost half an hour for a bottle of wine. With that said though, the food and wine recommendation and atmosphere was outstanding.
#2 by erin on October 6th, 2009
Don Draper, I love your commenting style! You have great insight… you should be a M2M guest reviewer. I'm glad all your Fleurie dishes delivered, and I agree that gnocchi is something special. I also agree that nothing makes me grumpier than a long drink delay.
#3 by Name on October 20th, 2009
Okay, so I will never ever go back to this place. My husband and I took some friends to Fleuri a few weeks ago for a birthday celebration. My friend and I decided to split the wild salmon and halibut since neither of us could decide on an entree. We both took about two bites of the salmon and agreed it almost inedible. We were extremely nice when we told the waiter that the salmon tasted fishy. I am not one to normally send things back so we shyly explained that something may be wrong with the cut of fish and that chef may want to be informed. He came back to our table and declared that both he and the chef tasted our salmon and that it was perfectly fine. He actually told me that I must not be used to the taste of wild salmon. This comment really threw me for loop because I eat out several times a week and I normally order wild salmon if it is offered as a menu choice. The waiter then stated that, since the small piece of salmon was nearly half gone after our four combined bites, we would be charged for 50% of it. How insulting!! Our point in telling him about the rancid salmon was not to get a refund but just to make him aware in case other customers were to order it. The waiter's attitude during the entire meal was arrogant and this was the icing on the cake. Thanks for creating this blog because I've been dying to vent about Fleurie!!
#4 by Name on October 20th, 2009
Okay, so I will never ever go back to this place. My husband and I took some friends to Fleuri a few weeks ago for a birthday celebration. My friend and I decided to split the wild salmon and halibut since neither of us could decide on an entree. We both took about two bites of the salmon and agreed it almost inedible. We were extremely nice when we told the waiter that the salmon tasted fishy. I am not one to normally send things back so we shyly explained that something may be wrong with the cut of fish and that chef may want to be informed. He came back to our table and declared that both he and the chef tasted our salmon and that it was perfectly fine. He actually told me that I must not be used to the taste of wild salmon. This comment really threw me for loop because I eat out several times a week and I normally order wild salmon if it is offered as a menu choice. The waiter then stated that, since the small piece of salmon was nearly half gone after our four combined bites, we would be charged for 50% of it. How insulting!! Our point in telling him about the rancid salmon was not to get a refund but just to make him aware in case other customers were to order it. The waiter's attitude during the entire meal was arrogant and this was the icing on the cake. Thanks for creating this blog because I've been dying to vent about Fleurie!!
#5 by Name on October 21st, 2009
Okay, so I will never ever go back to this place. My husband and I took some friends to Fleuri a few weeks ago for a birthday celebration. My friend and I decided to split the wild salmon and halibut since neither of us could decide on an entree. We both took about two bites of the salmon and agreed it almost inedible. We were extremely nice when we told the waiter that the salmon tasted fishy. I am not one to normally send things back so we shyly explained that something may be wrong with the cut of fish and that chef may want to be informed. He came back to our table and declared that both he and the chef tasted our salmon and that it was perfectly fine. He actually told me that I must not be used to the taste of wild salmon. This comment really threw me for loop because I eat out several times a week and I normally order wild salmon if it is offered as a menu choice. The waiter then stated that, since the small piece of salmon was nearly half gone after our four combined bites, we would be charged for 50% of it. How insulting!! Our point in telling him about the rancid salmon was not to get a refund but just to make him aware in case other customers were to order it. The waiter's attitude during the entire meal was arrogant and this was the icing on the cake. Thanks for creating this blog because I've been dying to vent about Fleurie!!
#6 by Kevin on June 28th, 2010
Those type of reviews are what I dislike about “self made” food critics. None of them have the long, exhaustive years of training of a chef, the fact that they are able to reach their mouth make them think that it should give them the right to pontificate a restaurants, chefs and their cooking.
This review reveal just how little they know about food.
Now to finish, I really feel sorry for the chefs at Fleurie.
They are doing a great job, using great technics that very few restaurants in C-ville can reproduce, buying top notch ingredients while many other unload frozen bags from Sysco.
Please keep reviewing pizza & sausages if you cannot understand fine dining.
#7 by Jed on June 28th, 2010
I recently read an article about a filmmaker who called the audience stupid for not understanding and liking his movie, which was a box office flop. It's possible that he was right. It may be the case that his movie was so thoroughly nuanced, so far ahead of its time in many of its dimensions, that very few of the critics and viewers got it. Then again, it might have just been a bad movie. A blog by and for filmmakers probably could have made a professional assessment one way or the other, but nothing they said would have changed the average viewer's mind.
Same goes for food. A blog by and for trained chefs might be able to explain how a dish that didn't otherwise taste good is actually the result of brilliant technique. But it won't change my palate, and it won't change most people's.
True fine dining doesn't require intellectual analysis for the enjoyment of its dishes. Such analysis or training can deepen our appreciation of them, and of the chefs behind them, but it can't make a bad dish good.
Note: My food was actually excellent last time I went to Fleurie, but I did taste others' dishes and agreed that some of them were not great.