Leek American Bistro

I had a very unpleasant experience, and I was surprised how the staff approached the situation. I intended to have a lovely brunch experience with my friends when the chair underneath me collapsed! I laughed it off, but I was humilated. They removed the chair, BUT I grabbed a new one for myself! (I am so small, you cant even say it was because of my weight!) They did not even apologize that I can really recall. I gave them an opportunity to compensate me somehow, and they did not. I will NEVER come back to this poorly managed place. The food was average, the service took forever to bring us drinks. I have never dealt with such poor customer service, e they should of treated us with more respect because we were a big group bringing in business. I would never recommend this place even to my worst enemy!

I’m sorry, but this place is a mess. I’m probably one of the most forgiving, accommodating food patrons out there. I rarely see a point in complaining, especially if the food is passable. In sum, it takes A LOT to motivate me to formally denounce a restaurant. But alas, Leek American Bistro merits such a rebuke.
The attitude of the wait staff, for starters, betrays the secret. Their lack of effort, enthusiasm, and professionalism demonstrate an acute awareness of how bad this place is. But there are plenty of restaurants with poor wait staff, I consider that an aggravating factor. What makes Leek so bad is far more critical to a dining experience: the edibility of the food.
Imagine ordering a McGriddle, removing the egg product, and unfolding it onto a plate. Then add two «sausages» that look/​taste like small water balloons of grease mixed with sawdust. This is followed by two slightly charred pancakes. Now throw this plate into a refrigerator for 5 minutes, long enough to be cold but short enough to retain a semblance of heat, a small reminder that this food was, in fact, cooked recently. If you can imagine receiving this as your brunch order, then you can understand the shock of being charged nearly $ 20 for such a product. The couple behind us took a few bites of their brunch and literally left on the spot, without paying.
Again, it’s not in my character to be so harsh on a restaurant. But Leek is an utter catastrophe. On the bright side, any change would be an improvement. So they can only go up from here.

Started off strong, ended up in the toilet.
I bought two Groupons for Leek even with the marginal reviews on Unilocal.It’s close to work and at first appearances seems to be one of the few «nicer» dining places in an area filled with deli’s and food courts.
I took a few of my staff to lunch at Leek today. Upon arriving at noon we were the ONLY patrons in the place, never a good sign. The only server (I believe his name was Fatoush) showed us to our table. Ambiance is solidly 80’s — white table linens, little tiny salt shakers, and old «crooner» music playing; not exactly «hip».
We surveyed the menu which is decidedly different than what is currently listed on the Leek Bistro website. The bad news was they didn’t have the dish I had already picked out from the web menu. The good news is that the menu prices have been reduced for lunch — which is a good thing because I don’t know many people that are going to spend $ 20+ for a lunch entrée in Ballston. I will say that the food was actually decent but I have some quibbles.
We tried the Braised Short Rib appetizer which was one of the best items of the day. The meat was extremely tender and very flavorful. However, it was served with cold «salad» of pickled cucumbers and onions — a rather strange accompaniment for short ribs. Additionally, since there was no starch on the plate and no bread served, there was no way to «mop up» the great sauce with this dish.
I was quite excited to see a «Kentucky Hot Brown» on the menu as I only know of one other place in NoVA which serves this distinctive dish. Two of us got this dish as our entrée. Others in my group got the Salmon sandwich and the Chicken and Spinach salad, both commented that their dishes were fairly good.
There are some variations of a Hot Brown however, one item never changes (if you want to retain the name) it is an OPEN FACED sandwich finished under a broiler. What I got was a turkey sub with a light drizzle of «gravy». It was fairly tasty, though an absolute mess to eat and the «garlic fries» were rather soggy.
When the water brought our entrees we had to ask for water refills, our glasses had been empty for about 5 minutes. By this time Leek was packed — there was one gentleman sitting at the bar and one other couple dining.
The waiter never checked back to see if we needed anything else or if we liked our dishes. I had to get up and go and get salt from another table, I would have liked some pepper but couldn’t find any. We never did get any more water refills. I finally flagged the waiter down to ask for the check after we had been sitting in front of our finished meals for 15 minutes.
So, my Groupon was for $ 50. However, our order only came to $ 46 plus tax. I was surprised to find a $ 10 gratuity added to the bill. I asked the waiter about the added 20% and he said that was part of the Groupon deal and that he would bring me the info — he did not, he dropped the check on the table and disappeared again.
When I checked the Groupon myself after our meal there was no indication of adding a gratuity. I am well aware, after years of Groupon use, that gratuity and tax are not covered by the Groupon but ADDED gratuity is always noted. Usually, I wouldn’t mind… but in this case service was atrocious, especially given the fact that we were only one of two tables.
I know I could have made a stink or simply crossed out the gratuity. However, instead I opted to contact Groupon and ask for a refund of my unused voucher. I simply wont go back to this place. With the awful service I now understand why they are empty.

I picked this restaurant for a celebratory lunch with a few colleagues. One is allergic to gluten, so I try to find places that accomodate her.
You should know that there are gluten-​free options on the menu, but you won’t be amazed and blown away by them. There was one gluten-​free entrée; it was based on tofu (bleh), and two appetizers, one of which was short ribs. So my one colleague asked if the short ribs were a big enough portion to make a lunch out of (no), so then she asked if she could have the lobster roll without the roll (yes), so she orders that. Skipping forward, later (halfway through lunch later) the waiter comes up and tells her that there were supposed to be fries, but he didn’t bring them because they’re covered in flour, and would she like a different side. Fine, but this was kind of a strange point in the meal to be asking if you want a side dish. And frankly, had I been the waiter, I would have just said, «we can make you a short rib entrée if you’d like» to begin with.
So, they’re gluten-​free, but pretty lame about it.
The service was, as you can figure out by now, pretty bizarre. Nothing was refilled without being empty for a while or having to ask for it. The restaurant was not busy (only two tables were occupied when we came in, only two more parties came in after us in the two hours we were there), yet we waited for a good long while for some water. I tried to hint about the bread basket being empty (we only got four small baguette slices), but subtlety does not get you more bread here.
I ordered the special, which was grilled chicken with pasta and vegetables. The chicken was really fantastic, a little bit of char on the outside and juicy on the inside, but the pasta was completely dry – no sauce on it at all (what is pasta, but a medium for sauce?) I asked for some more of the pesto and olive oil that they bring with the bread, which is something the kitchen should consider doing.
This place would actually be good if they got their act together; the menu is interesting and there’s potential for greatness if the chicken is a barometer; maybe they could find a waiter who is aware of the expectations of a waiter and isn’t a weirdo. Suffice it to say I probably won’t be back.

4 stars for brunch
Brunch started off with fresh, warm chocolate chip muffins with an apple/​pineapple glaze for dipping/​spreading. I ordered The Lox Bennie and my husband the Leek Omelet. Our orders came with a fresh fruit salad, bacon and potatoes. I was very satisfied with my plate, and we agreed we would come back for brunch again. They offer bottomless bloody marys and mimosas for $ 10. Our waitress was very friendly and attentive.

I work in the area and decided to try this place for lunch the other day. There’s a wide variety of dining options in Ballston and Leek is slightly off the beaten path. Unfortunately, should you find yourself on the path, you might want to keep walking.
The menu is a bit limited. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I feel that if you have a small menu, you should make sure that the things you serve are actually good. I had the Leek House Salad to start. It was overdressed with an «herb-​cider vinaigrette» that was disproportionately vinegar. The bread that they serve to start is decent, and the parmesan pesto that comes with it has a slightly spicy kick — not bad. It was probably the best part of the meal, which is kind of sad. I had their daily special for my entrée, a lobster & crab stufffed ravioli with a tomato cream sauce. The raviolis were filled well and would have been fine with a more alfredo-​based sauce. However, the tomato cream sauce that was poured over it (so much so that it was soupy), was like something out of a can. The meal as a whole was okay… not anything that would make me want to eat here again, but not bad.
What really made me give this place 2 stars was the service. The restaurant was NOT BUSY at all. There were 3 other tables that had people seated at them during the noontime lunch hour. However, once I was seated and served the waiter never came back to check on me or even refill my water. I had to flag him down to get the check.
So, if you are looking to try someplace good in Ballston, I would recommend skipping this place and walking a block down the street to some of the better local venues (ie: Rustico, Bangkok Bistro, Big Buns, etc.)

Went for brunch on a Saturday, this place was deserted. We had a $ 10 coupon so we didn’t think anything of it.
Everything seemed upscale, so I was expecting some damn good food. I ordered a cheeseburger and my friend had Eggs Benedict.
The burger had a prepackaged cylinder shaped patty. I had ordered it rare, but the patty was so thin they couldn’t help but overcook it. The lettuce they used was shredded…
The bacon on the burger was extremely salty and my friend complained of the saltiness of the meat on her eggs benny.
I expected this quality of food from 5 Guys or Wendy’s, not a white tablecloth place in Arlington.

My husband and I had a nearly inedible dinner at Leek on a Friday night. He had the lobster roll and I had the falafel «encrusted» salmon.
As salmon goes, at the high end, there’s what you might expect a few blocks away at Willow, then maybe the quality you get in a Big Buns burger, then cat food… and then there’s Leek’s salmon. I managed to finish about 3 forkfuls before my heroic husband offered to finish it, but even he couldn’t clean the plate, which was a first. It was, though called «medium rare,» almost as raw as sashimi. They use the term «encrusted» to describe the falafel, but really it was uncooked falafel mix, «smeared» on top of the salmon like cream cheese on a bagel. There was nothing crusted — as cooking is required to create a crust. That dish alone was $ 20.
When he saw I wasn’t finishing my meal, out of pity, he offered to trade his lobster roll for my salmon. I do love him, but I still took the trade – and he knew what he was getting. I’d seen him dipping the lobster roll in the olive oil and basil, which seemed odd – because it was lobster, after all. Then I tasted it and understood. Not fresh. The slaw that came with the lobster roll had apples in it, which sounds interesting, but it also had floppy brown lettuce, which might disagree with you.
Highlights: Horse Heaven Hills wine from Washington State – good choice. Olive oil and basil on the table for the bread (which was good). Pleasant waitress. Never having to eat there again.

This is an update to a very good review I submitted late last year. My husband I went to Leek last week for our second visit. The place was active but not packed on a Friday night. First of all, there was no host or hostess and waiters were serving double-​duty. Even though there were plenty of tables, the waiter wanted to seat us at a two-​top right in front of the door. We waited quite a while for the bottle of wine that we ordered because the waiter had trouble finding it. Surprising given that the wine list is not that extensive.
We ordered soup and salad and then entrees. After about 20 minutes the waiter brought our entrees. The salad and soup never arrived, and the waiter could not explain why. Either he did not order or the kitchen did not prepare. How hard is that to track with a computer ordering system? The waiter was very apologetic and offered free dessert and 20% of of the next meal.
Now for the food, which was WONDERFUL when we visited the place in late 2012. Not so much this time. My husband’s burger was bland — it seemed to be a pre-​shaped frozen burger rather than the hand-​packed one he was served last time we ate here. I had the scallops with pappardelle and mushroom consommé. The scallops were fine and the pappardelle cooked al-​dente, but the consommé was very heavy and the dish had way too many mushrooms. We ordered a choclolate torte dessert. The torte was tasty but a little stale, and the chocolate mole sauce had way too much spice and not enough chocolate.
I hope this was just an off night, but I fear not. Last night (Friday) we drove by around 9PM on the way home from work and noticed the place was empty. It seems as if the owners have given up and are now content to be a mediocre restaurant in Ballston that makes enough to get by simply because there are so many people who live here.

This is a fairly new restaurant and it is too empty for what it offers so I’m writing to try to give it a chance.
I have had two lunches here with colleagues. In both cases, we had the daily special. The first time it was steak! and it was tasty and well accompanied. The second time, it was salad with grilled chicken. The chicken was a bit tough but the greens were nicely dressed and fresh.
The restaurant is well laid out and there is space between tables. At lunch time, there was no hostess, but we received prompt and attentive service, with the exception of one order being forgotten. When the mistake was noted, it was quickly corrected.
Leek will not become a standout DC eatery, but I think it is a pleasant addition to the neighborhood and is trying to improve. Try it.

We went for brunch – my boyfriend got an omelette, which was fresh and delicious. BUT my chicken and waffles were beyond disgusting. The waffle was flat (not big and fluffy like you’d expect) AND the chicken on top was not breast like you’d find with any other normal chicken and waffles. When it came out, I was absolutely shocked to find two dark meat drumsticks on top. How are you supposed to eat drumsticks and waffles? So i had to peel all the meat off with my fingers (drumsticks don’t go well with fork and knife) and lay it on top of the waffle. At that point, I was just annoyed. But then when I pulled out piece of marrow after piece of marrow, I became disgusted. The best part about the whole meal was the spinach, which was fresh and normal. Definitely will not be back.

Went for dinner and was totally disappointed. I should have known when I walked in at 7:30 and there was one table being serviced in the entire restaurant. The food was uninspired, undercooked, confused and overpriced. Needless to say, will not be back.

Leek is really failing out with this LivingSocial coupon. If you’re going to lure new diners to your restaurant, don’t treat them like this. I live around the corner, and will never be back. The second star is for the soup and the pesto that came with the (oily) pre-​appetizer bread.
* Bad service. We asked our waiter what the prix fixe menu was, and he literally said, «I don’t know, I don’t go online.» When we stared at him, he amended it to, «I’ll find out from the kitchen.» Um yeah, kthnx. Water was refilled approximately every five minutes. We couldn’t find our waiter to order. Then they brought two chickens instead of a chicken and a sandwich. The hostess behind our table was sympathetic and kept trying to fix things for us.
* Bad value. I paid $ 39 for the coupon. For that we got one soup to share (!), one Quizno’s-quality sandwich, one bone-​in chicken breast, a panna cotta, and a peach-​cookie dessert. Leaving flavor aside (see below), this is not coupon-​worthy. I would have been sad to pay $ 39 for this food without a coupon! Why on earth would you make a coupon-​for-​two and give only one appetizer, and have that be a soup?!? You can’t share a hot soup!
* Mediocre food. The leek soup was quite tasty. The sandwich was totally inappropriate for a fine-​dining restaurant and tasted, as I said, like Quiznos. Turkey and bacon on a sub roll with cheese melted on top. The accompanying «garlic fries» had no garlic at all (or salt, frankly). The «lemon-​chili chicken breast» was tender, but difficult to eat on the bone, the skin was not at all crispy, and it did not taste at all of lemon or chili. The accompanying (steamed?) potatoes were good, as was the jus, but the brussels sprouts would have been better roasted than steamed. The panna cotta had apparently-​defrosted corn all over the top, which was weird, though the custard was good. The peaches were great, but the accompanying heavy, unbreakable cookies were not.
tl;dr: If you must come, DO NOT BUY THE COUPONS.

Oh dear. I really wanted this place to be good as I live just up the street. To be fair, I used the living social deal which limited our dining choices to only 2 things in the entrée and dessert bit, so perhaps we did not get the best of the restaurant.
The soup to start was fine, not great, fine — could have been warmer but tasty. Bread and pesto were fine. The choices of entrée was a turkey sandwich or the roasted chicken — both were well, terrible. The sandwich looked slapped together and the «roasted» chicken was more of a mishmash — too many things going on and a sauce that was again, lukewarm.
Dessert was sad — it was a panna cotta with corn. Just very strange — not innovative, strange. The peaches and cream dessert came off very cheap.
This restaurant needs a revamp in the kitchen — its has a great bar, ambiance and service, but the food isn’t up to par. Sorry, can’t recommend. :(

I would have given a zero if I could. I dined there with my boyfriend last Saturday night. It was 7:30pm and there were less than 10 people in the restaurant, including the visible waitstaff.
The bread with the pesto was fine, nothing fantastic but it was the highlight of the meal. I got the scallops and my date got the duck. The scallops still had the abductor muscles on them, a big no-​no. There was no sear on them and absolutely no seasoning. The pappardelle pasta was over cooked, stuck together, and had clearly been sitting out for a while before it was plated. The mushrooms were over salted. There was no sauce to the dish and it just seemed like three poorly cooking ingredients thrown together.
The duck dish wasn’t much better. The fat had not been rendered on the duck resulting in a flabby and unappetizing layer on top and no sear. It was ordered medium and came out closer to the rare side. The slaw looked, smelled, and tasted like it had been sitting in it’s own juices for days. The best part about the plate were the pears which were not seasoned so they still had the inherent pear sweetness to them. Again, the dish seemed like 3 components thrown together with no harmony. There were some juices on the plate that I suppose could be called a sauce, but really they were the duck juices that ran out when it was sliced before it had time to rest.
Overall the meal was completely underwhelming and calling the bread the star of the night seems like an insult to good bread everywhere.
Also, why cover up such pretty tables with generic white table cloths that waste money being laundered every time they are used?

My boyfriend and I went here for New Year’s dinner. It’s right across from my building, so we had been meaning to try it out for a while. The hostess was very friendly and since we had made a reservation, we were seated very quickly.
The atmosphere was very nice with white table cloths, etc. Our waitress was very attentive and knew the menu inside and out. We ended up ordering the Maryland crabcake as an appetizer, I had the falafel crusted salmon and he had the black pepper tofu. Before the crabcakes came out, our waitress brought out some «fresh baked bread» and pesto. The bread was sub-​par and essentially just white flour, but the pesto was really good.
We both enjoyed the crabcakes, I’d say that was the best thing we had there. My salmon was okay, but the «falafel» crust tasted more like soggy hummus with bread crumbs. The tofu was supposed to come with baby bok choy but didn’t. When we asked about this, the waitress claimed she wasn’t sure and would check with the kitchen. A few minutes later, she came back with kim chi and said that it was closest they had to bok choy.
Overall, I’d have to say that the food is mediocre at best and not worth the prices they charge. The service was friendly and the crabcakes would be good for a lunch, though they are still a little over priced. There are better restaurant options nearby, including Rustico.

I had dinner here with a good friend last night. Our original plan was to eat at Rustico, but with a 30−45min wait, we decided to try out Leek across the street. It’s new to the neighborhood, so why not? We got seated pretty quickly at a small little table for two, covered with a white tablecloth. We got a glass of wine (for him) and a pint of beer (for me). The beer selection isn’t too extensive, but they have a few decent standbys as well as some cocktails. They also have pairing suggestions on the menu, which was kind of nice.
For our meal, I got the crabcake sandwich and he got the burger. We were both content with our food, though I found it rather average overall. The restaurant was not crowded, so it was nice to be able to chat and catch up with my friend. The staff was very friendly and attentive and checked on us multiple times asking how everything was. The restaurant was pretty empty by 8:30pm, so we weren’t sure if they were closing soon. We ended up leaving around then anyways, so not sure how late Leek stays open on weeknights.
Overall, I’d say 2.5 stars if you’re looking for a quiet, slightly «grown up vibe» venue with decent food.

What a hidden gem! I stumbled in for brunch with my family and had the «Bloodiest Mary» which happened to be the BEST Bloody Mary I’ve ever had. Cleverly there was a spike of Jack Daniels in it; who would’ve thought? My niece & nephew loved the Donut Fried French Toast and had to request refills of the homemade blueberry muffins. The experience was so amazing it drew me back for dinner! My group shared the Ahi Tuna Tartare & Pulled Pork Sliders. The pork was so flavorful we cleaned the plate! For the entrée I chose the Shrimp & Grits and it is no stretch to say it’s the best I’ve ever had. It seems like the perfect place for a date night. Can’t wait to visit again! Since they just opened weeks ago, I’m sure there is much more to come. Thanks Milo for the great service!

Went on grand opening day, on ¹¹⁄₁₆ for lunch. Since I was one of the first customers, I knew there wouldn’t be a smooth operation, there’s never been a smooth operation for any business’s first day. I should note that there has been a couple soft openings, so they had two weeks to address some issues, and I went when it wasn’t too packed (I went early). First off, the place has a nice, clean modern décor, I liked the whole design of the place. Now onto the food.
The first thing they brought out were breadsticks, sesame seed rolls, and olive oil w/​garlic. This bread was STALE! Not just slightly «hrrmm it may be a little hard», more like «stale like a ROCK» hard! In fact, the roll was so stale, i tried to break off a piece, but couldn’t. No I’m not that weak. I literally took a knife, and stabbed it like a kid playing with his food, and it wouldn’t even cut it. It would stop halfway. Amazed at how hard it was, my co-​workers thought I was exaggerating. So they went on to try to break the bread, but couldn’t either, even with using a knife. Just on the bread alone, this place loses a star! Eventually the waiters saw us struggling with the bread, and gave us some new breadsticks, they were slightly less stale but were still stale. My co-​workers were hungry and ate em anyways, I, however, was hungry but not desperate enough to eat stale bread.
Then onto my «handheld,» I got the lobster roll from the waiter’s recommendation, who appeared genuinely enthusiastic that the lobster roll was good. For $ 14, the lobster roll w/​garlic fries seemed like a really good deal, you can’t really get a lobster roll for that price around here. The lobster roll came out with a long and big piece of baguette bread. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much lobster meat in it, as suspected. There was a whole lot of bread, lettuce, and tomatoes, but the most important part, lobster meat, was in short supply. The sandwich didn’t taste bad but it wasn’t very flavorful either. Compared to Red Hook Lobster pound, even though this lobster roll appeared bigger, didn’t have the same substantial lobster taste. There was little picked pieces of lobster. They didn’t completely skimp, but the best lobster rolls are stuffed with lobster meat. Again, for $ 14, you can’t expect them to stuff the sandwich full of expensive lobster meat, but if they charged $ 4 more (more in line with other lobster rolls) but gave more lobster meat, I would be much more satisfied.
My co-​worker got the pulled pork on biscuits, that dish actually looked pretty good and he was satisfied. The waiters/​hostesses were nice, but when it came to payment, there were literally 3 waiters trying to figure out how to charge our credit cards. It took them 20 minutes. Then they charged one guy two bill’s (we had separate checks) and took another 5 – 10 minutes to figure out. Again it’s grand opening weekend so I expected some hiccups, but that’s a little ridiculous, it was a work lunch so we had to hurry back. Overall, this place has potential, and maybe I will give them another chance when they work out the kinks and do a re-​review in the future. For now, I would expect slow and inconsistent food/​service while they work out their kinks. Because of this, I won’t be harsh and give 2 stars, I’ll give 3 based on potential, but they have a lot of work to do before it can get a respectible 4 stars. I went during a slow time so I can’t imagine when it gets packed.

Wonderful Experience!!! From the food to the décor, this place has made it to the top of my list for DMV faves. The menu has several great choices and wasn’t overwhelming. Picking just one was extremely difficult because it all looked so good. Luckily, I was with a group so I got to sample a bit. The portions were perfect and the taste… AMAZING. I will be returning on SEVERAL occasions and advise EVERYONE to go check them out!