My husband and I went to De La Terre for a belated Valentine’s Day celebration and had a wonderful time! The ambience was lovely. Well decorated, tables were not crowded, easy to hear conversations and perfect lighting. Everyone was very friendly, and service was prompt but all the food was well timed. We never felt rushed to finish a dish to make room for another.
Our amuse-bouche was a morel mushroom stuffed with goat cheese, and a wonderful start to the meal. We ordered the french onion soup, tuna tartare, and beet salad to start. All were the best version we have had. The tuna tartare was bursting with flavor, and the goat cheese ice cream was a wonderful added touch to the beet salad. For mains, my husband had the halibut and I had New York strip with blackened cabbage and a mustard sauce. These were also both divine, perfectly cooked and so flavorful.
All in all, we had a lovely time and a fantastic meal. We will be returning!
Service
Dine in
Meal type
Dinner
Price per person
$50–100
Food: 5
Service: 5
Atmosphere: 5
Recommended dishes
Beetroot Salad
MainLine Today selected De La Terre BYOB as its best new restaurant in Philadelphia western suburbs. Evan and I visited them last night. Overall, they were fine. Service was very good, the seating was excellent (tables not placed on top of one another), and the chefs have some obvious skills with the French preparations. I would say several of the dishes lacked "personality". It is not that they had bad flavors; more that they lacked distinctive flavors. The deviled eggs are a good example. Very well prepared, but kind of boring. My wagyu beef tartare was exceptionally well made but lacked seasoning of some kind (salt? pepper? something else?). I also definitely made a mistake by choosing the steak frites since it felt like something I could get at any more moderately priced restaurant but I paid $45. The flourless chocolate cake was good but was unnecessarily decorated with unhelpful add ons. There are other restaurants on the list where we have had experiences we were more enthusiastic about: At The Table, Amada Radnor
Service
Dine in
Meal type
Dinner
Price per person
$100+
Food: 3
Service: 5
Atmosphere: 4
Recommended dishes
Flourless Chocolate Cake
Went for the NYE pris fix and had an incredible meal. A few hiccups with the incredibly busy holiday, hopefully something they’ll learn from for next year or other holiday/tasting menu events. We, along with others arriving at and after us, had to wait for our reservations to open due to tables taking longer than expected. We were served a nice glass of bubbly while we waited, though the venue is not set up for parties to wait.
For “nice” options we don’t feel the food in downingtown is that great, getting “creative”, serving underwhelming dishes or cocktails, yet still asking premium prices. We are thrilled to finally find properly good food in town. De La Terre is able to serve up excellent cuisine you could expect even in the NYC area.
The tasting menu was plentiful, varied, and gave us an opportunity to try more than we would have if we had come for a normal menu dinner. Generally well balanced dishes with interesting ingredients, keeping a lot of the traditional French cuisine in mind while still exploring other cultures and locally sourced ingredients. Well plated, nicely presented, and served pleasantly. A few nitpicks were discussed on a couple dishes that could make for a minor improvement in either appearance or taste, not much tweaking needed.
Finally we felt the ambiance was not fitting of the food, the chef deserves a finer stage to present his dishes. It’s nicely renovated but lacking some coziness, warmth, and character you may expect from a French restaurant or cafe. Service was friendly and prompt, I’d like to see a bit more knowledge and excitement for the menu and ingredients.
For something on the finer side, De La Terre will be taking first place on our list for local options. We’ll be sure to return.
Service
Dine in
Meal type
Dinner
Price per person
$100+
Food: 5
Service: 4
Atmosphere: 3
