Oceanaire Seafood Room - Postscript

Shampoo commercials made famous the line, "You never have a second chance to make a first impression," but that can be said about a lot of things besides dating and dandruff, particularly when it comes to restaurants. Take for instance our recent trip to the Oceanaire Seafood Room (review posted 2/17/2009). While any reasonable person would admit that it is completely understandable for a restaurant to have a bad day, when you have as many choices for fine dining as DC presents, one bad or even lackluster experience can get a place crossed off your list permanently.

Shortly after our post about Oceanaire hit the internet, we received a message from the restaurant's general manager and operating partner, Christine de Clerfay, who wrote, "It appears that we missed on a couple of details. Which I apologize for. I would love the chance to talk with you personally, so we can better serve our guests in the future." Ms. de Clerfay clearly has a sincere desire to improve her business by actively searching for feedback and striving to improve Oceanaire, even if it is one diner at a time. Needless to say, we were impressed and for that effort, we will most likely give her a second chance at a first impression.

Note: This post was written prior to speaking with Ms. de Clerfay but posted after a phone conversation took place. Her manner on the phone confirmed our initial impression of her.