Cafe De France

We drove from Ft Lauderdale and i was expecting a good night of food. I was disappointed. I ordered their price fix dinner for 29.95 USD. We started with the Amuse Bouche, it consisted of hummus, olive tapinard , babagonoush (eggplant) and some small amount of cheese. This was pretty good and the bread served with it was good to. The appetizer was french onion soup and lastly i had a rack of lamb. It was served with a tasteless potato thingy and the lamb was smothered with a way to sweet sauce. My companion had better luck with his foie gras and some chicken dish. There are a plethora of other restaurants on Atlantic Ave, i suggest you find another one than dine here. more

Cafe de France was terrific, but Carpe Diem is just beyond my wildest dreams. The food is so very good. The menu always offered fois gras, escargot done right, creme brulee the French way (custard, not pudding), quiche the French way (light delicate custard rather than gluey thick pudding), and other things that are truly French and rare luxuries to me. But now, they have a $23 sunset menu! a half-price Happy Hour! A series of $5 appetizers! They offer flatbreads! Now I can eat there painlessly and all the time. \r \r And Carpe Diem has a slew of excellent and inexpensive French wines BY THE GLASS--Puligny Montrachet, Sancerre, Pouilly-Fuisse, and Sauternes by the glass; Gevrey-Chambertin, St. Emilion, Chateauneuf du Pape, Pomerol, BY THE GLASS! And the prices aren't $50/glass, as I paid at the Omphoy for a glass of Dom Perignon. They're $7.50 to $15 per glass! Their wine list is packed with dazzlingly alluring, affordable wines by the glass--it's an education as well as a pleasure. Whew!\r \r They also serve some great and famous French wines at $200+/bottle--Clos d'Estournel, Pichon Longueville--that kind of bottle is easy to find, though the prices elsewhere are over $300. BUT what's unique is their unknown, excellent French wines that I can afford. They use their experienced, knowledgeable palates to identify wines for us that are excellent AND inexpensive, and that's a wonderful and rare thing. Sommeliers rarely are interested in providing anything inexpensive. Inexpensive excellent FRENCH wines especially are hidden from ordinary mortals.\r \r Needless to say, the service is smooth, pleasant, and kindly--they aren't snotty or snooty. And they are really, really good judges of food as well as wine. They know how to pick and dismiss chefs. And they're a bakery, with great desserts. The wines and the food are just beyond anything else I've seen, and I've tried Cafe Boulud, Ta-boo, the Breakers' restaurants, the Omphoy.... The latter was really good, but Michelle Bernstein isn't there anymore. Carpe Diem is better than these famous places, and has saner prices. It's a unique treasure. more

The food is delicious - my favorite was the chocolate volcano dessert! The servers and staff friendly and helpful which is not always the case with French restaurant. I recommend requesting inside when making reservations in the summer but we survived outside under a fan enjoying the excitement of Atlantic Avenue on a Saturday night! We are going back again tonight taking our son and his wife and thinking now of the filet mignon - can't wait! more

The entire atmosphere is warm and romantic. Most certainly a perfect date or special occasion with close family/friends. It is very inviting with indoor/outdoor seating and comfortable chairs. It is cozy but still enough room to keep table conversations at your own table. The service was wonderful in my opinion because I did not have to ask for anything. The only thing that I was not sure of was my server's accent, real or not. I took my parents here for their weekend visit and they loved it! Remember to take pictures of your desert and post it to receive the same item for free. I forgot to do this, better next time. more

Great food and wonderful service more

With my husband, we re going dinning at Cafe de France pretty often:the reason: we Love this place: food is always so good, ambiance & service are great. Their menu offers a nice selection of French & Mediterranean Cuisine. My favorite is the Bouillabaisse ( fish soup), my husband loves the Filet mignon "o poivre" . Last time he try a Burger; Yes a Burger at Cafe de France!! a Prime burger w/ Melting French Cheese " Chaume",That was so good....! Also, we appreciate their nice selection of Wine: French ,California, or Italian wine..at reasonnable price! \r If you looking for a Great & Charming place , w/ excellent food , great service, and everything at reasonnable price; try it! And you ll love it! more

Yesterday was my girlfriend birthday. Since she loves France I decided to bring her to a real French restaurant. I have never eaten there before but I heard really nice things about the place and I decided to give it a try.We arrived at Cafe De France at 6pm and were greeted by a charming hostess who told us we had an option to sit inside or on the nice outside patio. We decided to sit inside.The place looked really beautiful and cosy: with shiny chandeliers on the tables and comfortable gold chairs. While we were listening to nice french songs by Charles Aznavour, a nice french server approached our table. He informed us that we were on time for their happy hour, so we ordered a glass of wine each and we get one free. I had a glass of nice rose from Provonce called Whispering Angel and it was the best rose I have ever tried. My girlfriend had a glass of red wine called bordeaux, which was recommended by our server and she really loved.Then it was time to place our order. My girlfriend ordered from the Sunset menu which includes an appetizer, main course and a dissert and costs $22.99, while I ordered from a different price fixe menu called "Carpe Diem" that costs $29.99. Our first courses arrived; an "escargot" served in a cute ceramic with lots of garlic, just the way I love it. We also tried the "french onion soup", which was very delicious with melted cheese on the top, reminded me of the onion soup I used to eat when I was in France. For main course I had "Duck Orange" which was very crispy and tasty covered with sweet orange sauce. My girlfriend had their award winning dish called "Bouillabaise". It was very flavourful soup made of shrimp, mussels, clams and snapper. Please believe me, if you like seafood, you deffinately need to try this dish. It is Amazing! The dessert arrived with a nice sparkling candle. It was their best dessert called "Chocolate Fondant" , which was the most delicious chocolate lava cake I've tried, covered in a real dark chocolate and served with a scoop of vanila ice-cream on the side. Chocolate lovers, this is a must try dessert. We really enjoyed the ambiance, the food was very delicious, and the wait staff very attentive. I would recommend this place to everybody, who wants to try real French food in Delray Beach. more

I went with a party of 4 last night. Everything from the purée olives to the chocolate cake dessert was horrible. I had the salmon in lobster sauce and there was hardly any flavor at all. The fish was overcooked and the rice tasted like it came from a box. It was watery and mushy. My date had snapper and it too was overcooked. The chocolate cake was awful, too. How can you mess chocolate cake up? It was runny on the inside and burnt on the outside. It was sitting in a pool of chocolate sauce. I love chocolate, but this was just not right. I recommend going to Calypso or the place right next door. Save your money on this place. more

I had dinner with my husband at Cafe de France a few nights ago while vacationing in Delray. It was our favorite dining out experience in the area. The food was delicious and the wait staff was attentive and very pleasant. We enjoyed the whole experience. If we make it back to Delray Beach in the future, we will definitely return. more

I have purchased the bakery items and these are good. The almond croissant is amazing. Also, I like the sandwiches. I haven't gone for dinner but I am sure it is good. The staff is friendly. I wish they kept the bakery items covered though--go early before the flies from outside (they keep the doors open) go in and sit on the pateries.... more

Dinner on 12/30/2011. Meal, service and value were superb. What a find! We will be back many times. Dennis more

We absolutely love this place! Amazing, creative sandwiches with the best side salad house dressing we,ve had in a long time. more

I am not sure what these other negative reviewers have in mind when they go for French food. We have eaten all over the world and this is an excellent French restaurant in Delray. The food is always fresh, flavorful and unique. After 3 years of dining the consistency and quality has only gotten better. The deserts are to die for and hard to find this type quality baked good anywhere in the area. The specials are always the best and the wine list is quality and priced to have more than one glass. Enjoy more

This place was an absolute disaster. We were bombarded by the hostesses and waitresses that were out on the sidewalk basically pulling people in for business since the place is obviously struggling and so slow. It reminded me of South Beach and the restaurants there how they attack you on the sidewalk as you pass by just to look at the menu. My boyfriend wanted me to try escargot for the first time so we went inside.\r The place was like a crackerbox inside, with hardly any space, tables crammed & jammed together and a huge pastry case that took up more than 1/2 the whole restaurant inside. We were the only diners in the whole restaurant which already indicated to me that this place would be horrible & that my boyfriend had made a mistake choosing to eat here. \r Our waitress was very friendly and excited to finally have a table. The service was very courteous. They are so desperate for customers though, that we each received a complimentary mimosa just for dining in the restaurant. Bad sign. The escargot came out bubbling hot and trying it for the first time ever, I'm not too sure how fresh it exactly was, but I could definitely taste a bleached essence in my mouth, as if they were old and bleached to preserve the lack of freshness.\r The crowning touch was that the whole entire INSIDE of the restaurant had clouds of mosquitos that were nibbling at us and our legs under the table. My boyfriend told the other waitresses just standing around that they have a SERIOUS mosquito problem inside here and that we were being bitten. One waitress lit & brought a candle over which was kind, but we asked for the check and immediately ran out of there.\r I would never ever ever recommend this place to anyone looking for a restaurant on Atlantic Ave. Skip it, other than the mosquitoes and lack of business this place more than likely has old stale food and I'm sure will be out of business soon. more

I went with my mother on mothers day, we were looking to try something different for lunch on this special day. We ordered the crepe of the day which was seafood crepe and the house salad, for desert the creme brulee. The crepe was excellent. It was stuffed with lobster and was covered in a creamy flavorful sauce. The salad was fresh and crisp. The creme brulee was tasty, but the custard was a bit too fluid. Other than that, service was great despite the business, we were served promptly and attended to often.Even the bread that was given before the food was delicious!\r I highly recommend this place for its authentic french tasty food and feel. more

Place is not for on-time service or on-time anything.7.30pm reservation means you'll be seated by 8.45,will get your menu by 9pm and overpriced mediocre food wil START arriving by 9.30.but all of that will be very politely explained to you by a very polite lying Maitre D-so don't feel bad-just do not come hungry at reservation time :-) more

Food was not freshly prepared. Undrinkable wines by the glass. All four of us ordered fish which came rubbery and lukewarm seeming as if cooked hours prior and rewarmed. Sent back five glasses of wine before finally giving up. One wine tasted like it had been left open in the fridge. Interior space is cramped and overwhelmed by a sparsely populated counter of pastries. French onion soup was poorly done. Way overpriced for this lack of quality. more

Really? Come on! What is so original about a French Restaurant? \r \r This place is sad... more

We had a fine French meal here from start to finish. Excellent tomato basil bisque and wonderful hot, fresh baked French bread. With a bowl of the soup, the French bread, the excellent salad with goat cheese and any of the fine pastries baked on the premises, one could have a very satisfying small meal. But the entrees are exceptional as well. Unlike Urbanspoon's bad spelling reviewer who hated it, we particularly liked the coq au vin. In most south Florida French restaurants, the various ingredients in this dish float around in a thin stew, but at Cafe de France, the liquid has been rendered down to a thick intense tasting glaze. A wonderful potato au gratin comes with the coq au vin, in which the "gratin" is subtle and the sliced potatoes al dente and not the gooey, sticky mess this dish usually is. For dessert, the profiterolles are as good as they get, and the creme brulee has just the right caramelized top, crisp but not so thick it tastes like candy brittle. There is an early dinner menu till 6 PM, which includes soup or salad with the price of the entree, but be warned, you have to ask for it. The coq au vin complete early dinner thus cost under $30, including tax and tip. Additionally, the ambiance of the small restaurant is charming. The restaurant sits several feet above street level, so that one's table looks out over Atlantic Avenue, above the noisy and foul smelling motorcylcles that constantly ride up and down that boulevard. Cafe de France will remind you of a small, elegant Left Bank bistro. DONALDAW more

Cafe de France is, unfortunately, just another in the endless line of esablishments pretending to prepare fine foods, while, in actuality, doing little more than warming, boiling, broiling or whatever the pre-prepared frozen/vaccum sealed concoctions delivered to them by their vendors. more