Café de Paris

This is a wonderful locally owned restaurant that serves great French food at a reasonable price, especially for the DC/Baltimore area. We had a four course lunch here and everything was fantastic. One thing we noticed is that the chef doesn't overuse salt like a lot of restaurants do. For example, the french onion soup and gratin, typically very salty, were quite flavorful but not overly salty. The ratoutille is probably the best I've had. The vegetables were not watery or overcooked and quite flavorful. We haven't tried their Crepe Cafe, yet, but I imagine it is fabulous; the coffee is great. You will not be disappointed by your visit here.
Mar 16th, 2014

I love the crepe cafe! I like that the crepes are whole wheat -at least gives the illusion they are healthier. Lots of options for fillings, and I have never been disappointed.
Dec 20th, 2013

May 4th, 2013

This French-style bistro is very local to me, and I go here every year or so, but more often than not, I find it ambivalent. The menu is a bit limited. The mussels were excellent last time, but this time were bland and barely tasted of the promised curry. A bistro should have amazing bread, but the bland sliced bread could have been at an American chain. Two versions of steak frite were okay (and the cheaper bar menu version of steak frite is a good value), but the fries weren't as good as usual, and the meat was overcooked with far too much far too onion-y sauce on top. It's steak frite in a bistro, if they get NOTHING else right, this should be the dish they get right. The wine list is extensive, but on our weeknight visit, the female bartender didn't really know much at all about the wine (at a french bistro?!)-- if you get the owner, you might do well, but he was busy chatting with some regulars. We picked a Cotes du Rhone that wasn't bad, but it was luck, not thanks to the wine menu nor staff. It was supposed to be a musical performance night (some sort of jazz), and within the posted (website) hours, but the musician sang a few moments and spent most of his time drinking with the regulars and owner. A couple of songs would have been nice... I really really want to like it-- french, local, cute, musical events... But it disappoints more often than not. We had a good time because it was a date-night, but for a $120+ date outing, I'd rather have a sense of really enjoying it, not just "ok". And when the schedule has performance on it, please provide performance or put up a sign saying it's cancelled...
Feb 17th, 2013

We were looking for a nice brunch spot and I am a crepe lover so we tried it out. BIG MISTAKE! The dressing on the side salad tasted weird. The salad itself tasted unwashed. The crepes were made with a wheat batter that tasted like dirt. The fillings in the hot entree crepes we ordered were cold and lacked flavor. I ordered coffee and was never offered a refill. We were given glasses of ice water without straws. The a.c. was not on and the food took forever to come out even though the place was nearly empty.
Jan 13th, 2012