Went to the Fairview for anniversary. My wife and I loved it! Service and food were excellent. I had a steak. One of the best I've ever had. The desserts were fantastic. Full disclosure: my son is a line cook there (and he can vouch for their commitment to quality). read more

Top notch food served by an excellent attentive wait staff. The exquisite bacon wrapped filet mignon was cooked to perfection. The dining room is great for any occasion and is romantic if that's what you want. read more

Outstanding!! Excellent food (there were 7 of us and many chose different menu items) and all were terrific and beautifully presented. Service was superb! Not only was the staff efficient and quick to remove used plates/glasses, our waiter was super polite and anticipated needs. This was a Special Occasion for our group and we were running late due to a graduation ceremony, we called and they moved our reservation with little hesitation even though when we would arrive it was close to their brunch hours ending. Lovely Setting. We will certainly return. I rarely give 5 Stars however this place deserves all of them! read more

Came here with my husband as part of the Triangle Restaurant Week. Service here is excellent, and we decided to go with the prix fixed menu for $30. Starters - the WaDuke bacon, shrimp and corn chowder was creamy and hearty. The grit cakes were accompanied by a sauce that was tasty and enhanced the overall flavour of the dish. Entree - the braised beef short ribs were a little dry but it was compensated with delicious greens. the chicken was alright, but the white meat was a bit flat though the thigh tasted good. the cornbread tasted wonderful. Dessert - we were given a small platter of sweets which included blueberry panna cotta, cheesecake and a raspberry tart. All were not bad. Overall, the food was ok but there's nothing really outstanding to point out except for their service. read more

Lovely atmosphere with great service but food is just OK. If you are looking for a place to give you that special feeling with high end service then this is it. If you are looking for a terrific meal this may fall a little short. I have the opportunity to dine here several times a year so my review is based on my overall experience including my most recent this week. The crab cake, my usual lunch selection is just OK. Recently, I enjoyed the Spring Sneak Peak, with wonderful dining partners and the opportunity to try various dishes. The blue crab salad was a wonderful opener but the Kale salad with English Peas and ham didn't have cohesive flavor. The Wagyu beef seemed to be a big hit with our table but I felt it lacked flavor and was not as tender for this quality of beef. In fact the very next day I had Wagyu beef at another restaurant in Durham which was melt in your mouth fantastic, delicate and full of flavor. "Back to Washington Duke"...The Passion Fruit Cremeux was a very nice finish to the Washington Duke Sneak Peak. What you're paying for at the Washington Duke is the ambiance, the name, the service, nice events and the beautiful decor. It is enough to impress most except the real foodie. read more

The menu is now a fall menu and I would not recommend it. I have always been there in the spring or summer and have had enjoyed their crab cake. They changed the preparation for autumn and it is now created with whole grain mustard. The tang of the mustard overpowers the entire dish. The friend I was with ordered the pork and said all you could taste was the overpowering flavor in sauce and not the pork. The coffee poured from the carafe was cool, not hot and the wait service was slow. Very disappointing. The ambiance, however, is lovely! read more

Can I give this place more than 5 stars? The food, the service, the atmosphere and ambiance was simply perfect in every way!

Like the other reviewers said, this place can be pricey. Unless you go to the happy hour dinner 5:30 to 6:30 Monday through Friday. For $25, you get a 3 course meal of amazing dishes made from high-quality and local ingredients. This is really one of the best kept secrets of Durham!! read more

The Fairview is a fine dining experience in the beautiful most elegant Washington Duke Hotel, next to Duke University, Durham, NC, overlooking the golf course. This restaurant and hotel is first class in every way including the cuisine and ambience. A true test of a fine institution is that every employee I met has worked here countless years making customer service and pride supreme. If you have an anniversary or special occasion this is the place for romantic occasions, fine dining. While officially classified as 4 diamond rating, it deserves a 5 easily. read more

My sisters, best friends and I visited for an afternoon tea before my wedding. The food and service were lovely - personal tea pots, scones, and trays of sandwiches and cakes with enough for everyone to try one of each! Some of us got drinks, others chose not to - they were great! What topped it off for me was that I was so busy enjoying myself, I didn't read the receipt carefully and accidentally added a tip on top of the gratuity already added. One of the staff from the dining room called me to clarify if I meant to do this, and he happily removed the additional tip. This honesty was amazing, and it increases my desire to return to Fairview in the future. read more

Has dinner here last night, Tuesday, 11/15/16. It has been 16 years since I last ate here. It was as good as it was way back then. It remains an outstanding restaurant with great service and wonderful food. read more

Everything was fantastic! The Shrimp and Grits was a very unique dish and a very flavorfully balanced plate. The sweet shrimp and tomatoes nicely complimented the spice in the sweet potato grits. The Shrimp and Corn Chowder was very rich and creamy. The Crab Cake was a generous serving, one crab cake was plenty for my father. I personally had the Eggs Benedict which came with very salty proscuitto, sweet, honey flavored english muffins, and tangy goat cheese. The Fairview Dining Room nailed each dish. To top off a great brunch, they had a wonderful spread of gluten-free and glutinous desserts, all of which we ate (being the gluttons we are) and all of which we enjoyed immensely. I can't wait for my parents to visit again so I have another excuse to dine at the Fairview Dining Room. read more

Service is great, dining room a bit stuffy, food overpriced. Their $48 fillet is small and is the quality one would expect at a nearby "Australian" steakhouse. read more

Incredible classy atmosphere. Food prepared specially for my child who has multiple allergies. James and Chef Murray took great care of our family and we will forever be grateful for the special attention and amazing food choices. read more

My boyfriend and I dined here for a birthday/anniversary and they made sure to make it a special experience. The atmosphere is very upscale with elegant furnishings and a live piano player. All of the food was had interesting flavor combinations and was plated beautifully. The service was good, a little slow, but it was a very busy Friday night and they need time to actually prepare the dishes. We were here during restaurant week and pleased at how many choices there were for the appetizer and entree. I started with the sweet potato soup which my boyfriend liked so much he asked me to try to recreate it. For my main dish, I order the salmon which was cooked perfectly and served over a delicious mixture of vegetables. The dessert sampler was a fun idea, and the panna cotta was by far the best item of the three. After we finished, our server came over and said he was bringing out one more thing. A few minutes later, he came out with a special birthday dessert for my boyfriend. Now, neither of us had told anyone it was his birthday... maybe Open Table notifies the restaurant. As we got up from the table to leave, the piano player started playing a jazzy version of happy birthday. The food, service, and experience of dining at the Fairview Dining Room was a night to remember! read more

I went to dinner at Fairview for the first time recently. Service was horrible. We called a week in advance to make a reservation for a group of 12 people, and also called the day of to confirm the reservation. When we arrived, we were seated at two separate tables of 6. When we asked if sitting together was possible, the manager was very rude and told us we would be more comfortable at two tables of 6. Then, we were given a smaller menu and told that with groups of 12 or more, they could not offer the full range of choices. Of course, we had two separate waiters for our two tables, and were essentially now two groups of 6. Our two tables ordered dinner at the exact same time, but one table got their food at least 45 minutes before the other. The table who had to wait was never apologized to for the delay and were rude when we asked when their food would be ready. After our food arrived, no waiters came by to refill our water, offer coffee, etc. for a long time. It was very disappointing. Despite the awful service, my food was very good and I have nothing bad to say about it. I had the special, which was salmon with a bacon risotto. read more

I've complained bitterly to the management and also left a TripAdvisor review about the restaurant 3 years ago. The restaurant has not improved. Nor has anyone called me -- even though I requested to talk to a manager upon my checkout. We come here at least 3-4 times a year and take a suite each time, so we spend a lot of money at WD. While I can't fault the rooms or cleanliness upstairs and the friendliness of the check in - out staff, the dining facilities just can't get it together. We went to brunch with our grandkids and it was a disaster. I had to ask for water and bread. The woman took our drink orders and started to walk away as if my granddaughters were nonexistent. No one refilled our water glasses or even looked over at our table to see if it needed it. The soup came. It was lukewarm -- EEK factor for a cream based soup. Then we sat, and sat, and sat. Lots of staff running around frantically seating people who had no food who then sat and sat and sat. After one hour and 20 minutes of waiting and asking repeatedly about our food, we just left. The next day they apologized and comped us our breakfast, but the happy brunch that my grandkids were looking forward to was a bust. This seems to be a chronic issue. If your kitchen can't handle a full brunch house, do a buffet. Your servers are incompetent at worst or simply ill trained and at this price point and having been in business since 1988, you should be on autopilot. The service personnel at breakfast the next morning were no better. We asked for water 3 times before the waitress got it. The dining room manager did apologize and comp our breakfast, but I don't want a free breakfast. I can afford breakfast or anything else they have. I just want some improvement and some competent customer service. AND it would be nice to have someone follow up with a phone call when asked. Do they really care? read more

I am a regular customer of the Fairview Dining Room and have had consistently positive experiences. The food has always been incredible, and the ambiance is extremely sophisticated. For the most part the wait staff is friendly and professional. But I recently ate at the Fairview Dining Room and after eating almost the entire salad, I reached in for a bite and found a a large dead cricket about the size of my pinky on my fork amongst the greens. Upon telling the waiter, he immediately grabbed my plate and gave me another salad. My meal was complimentary, but I was shocked by the lack of hygiene or an apology from the chef. Apprehensively, I returned to the Fairview Dining Room on a separate occasion and received incredible service as usual, but found that there were houseflies all over my dining table. Several flies circled my table for my entire meal, landing on my food many times. I constantly had to swat them away for hours, and was unable to enjoy my food because of this. Based on these last two experiences, I have started to question the sanitation of the Fairview Dining Room. read more