Cafe Boulevard

Came here around 7:20PM. From the outside looking in, my family and I barely saw any customers. There were two people sitting at the faraway bar stool and we were hesitant to walk in, but I already opened the door, so I thought might as well give them a shot. Maybe we’ll bring them good luck and more customers will walk in after us.
WELP. I literally took three steps. Three. And a heavy, heavy, (did I say heavy?) stanky waft of cigarette smoke tried to strangle me to death. HAHAHAno. Secondhand smoking is not my thing. I can’t deal. Sorry, no. Bye.
Judging from the other decent reviews here, I’m gonna assume they’re not like this during the daytime, but I don’t plan on returning to find out. From the evening point, their lights were dimly lit and it was hella dark. I won’t be fazed if there’s a secret strip club or a dead body hidden in the back. I’m surprised Arlington has these type of places. I expect to run into them in Houston here and there, but this place caught me off guard. Anyways, it doesn’t seem like they have anything that will piqué my interest, so I’ll pretend this little incident never happened and be well on my way~

Great place to watch game. Drink and chill out. Great food and service. Coffee and food. Not bad

I can’t comment on the food or drinks because we took two steps in the door before turning around and walking right back out. I’m sure this is a great place for some people, but if you’re looking for a coffee shop/​café with free wifi to do some homework/​studying/​reading/​whatever their is not the place for you. It’s dark and smells like cigarette smoke is pumped in through the a/​c.

I loved it. The atmosphere is great. The coffee is good. You feel very comfortable and are not rushed. They are very attentive. I love the music. It is so clean. I loved this place so much I will be coming back very soon.

For New Year’s, every usual cool place you can go to as a young twenty-​something is going to either be cheap and crappy, or fun and vaguely douche-​y, in the way college bars are near sorority houses.
We went here not expecting much (thinking it was a coffee shop) but instead it was a hidden awesome café-​turned-​bar. The owners gave us a bottle of champagne and a bucket if Coronas in the house to ring in the New Year. We felt very welcome. There was a live DJ, cigars, and a great atmosphere. If you’re a white hipster looking for a hidden Asian scene, this is your place. If you’re Asian, you probably knew about this place.
We has the time of our life and Café Boulevard made it a great way to start 2015.

Wasn’t open as indicated on this page, closes at midnight on Sunday. i arrived at 23:05(11:05PM)

As of recently, everything i’ve tried has been good. I dont think they do the whole «café» thing anymore with the beignets. Nor do i think they sell crawfish anymore with the change of management. On the upside, the thai hotpot, snail with the lemongrass in hotpot are really good. Wish Arlington would become nonsmoking though as smoking is allowed in here

We came there at about 9:00 pm. We didn’t expect too much since they closed at 10. But half of the menu was out. The crawfish was very small. It is drowned in big chunks of garlic. So be careful if you don’t like that. The snow crab was even worse. It was brown and looked like it was reheated in the microwave. The service was okay. There was one person there running the bar and the food. She didn’t write anything down and forgot a few things when repeating our order. Granted she was nice.
The atmosphere isn’t ideal for family. It’s very dark and gloomy. There are about 4 booths and maybe five tables of four.
If you’re looking for a crawfish joint, don’t come here. If you’re looking for a coffee shop with beignets, don’t come here.

Ordered the crawfish and some great toasted Vietnamese sandwiches. The flavoring for the crawfish was excellent, but our first six or seven pounds were extremely small. The service was slow and forgetful, even when there were very few customers.

This place is good for crawfish, but it does not compare to the boiling crab at all. Good flavor but they put too much butter & garlic so make sure you tell them when ordering light butter & garlic.
Also the people there make you feel uncomfortable if you are not Asian they look @ you like you are not welcomed there. I go for take out wouldn’t eat there. They are a bit pricey $ 7.99 for a lb of cf is a bit much but they know they can because your not going to drive to Garland to the BC.

I wanted to like this place so much… and I do, but they are still lacking something. I think the crawfish here have great potential, but they haven’t got it 100% yet. I like how everything is flavorful and concentrated. First time I went there with my friend, the crawfish was good but the meat was sticking to the shells! Every single one of them! The second time I went there, the meat was perfect, so I guess it depends. The flavors are tasty. I’ve tried The Works, Buttery Garlic, and Garlic Parmesan. The Works tasted a little sour. The buttery garlic was so amazing — but the garlic was TOO strong and raw. Felt like I just ate a bowl full of wasabi. The garlic parmesan was just right, and probably is my favorite. The crawfish also gets cold too quickly. I’ve also ordered corn with it and I think it was frozen corn as it was cold.
I’ve also tried the apple custard drink and omg it was deliciousss!

I ordered 5 lbs ($ 6.99/lb) of «The Works» crawfish, sour sop smoothie, strawberry smoothie, and a combination banh mi. Everything was ok.
The batch of crawfish I got had a bunch of tiny crawfish. It was a little disappointing. The crawfish here isn’t as spicy and is actually on the sweeter side.
The banh mi here are all toasted in a panini press. It gives the sandwich that extra crunch but if you’re hoping for something old-​school, you won’t find it here. They use real fruit in their smoothies which is awesome. I just wish it wasn’t so sweet. Go a little easier on the sugar and their smoothies would be phenomenon.
I love the color scheme in here but the seating is a little uncomfortable if you’re sitting against the wall. I would aim for the lower tables in the middle of the room if I were you.

We came in at about 7:45pm and was immediately seated. The waitress took our drink order. Our drinks came out pretty quickly. Which is a plus. We then ordered crawfish. It was very flavorful… we ordered The Works (all the flavors combined), however it was a bit too buttery for me, but still pretty good. The first 5 lbs came out rather quickly, but the second bag came out about 45 mins later. By the time it came out it was close to 9pm. I’m not sure what happened, but waiting for it made me full. I didn’t try any of the items on the menu, maybe one day.
If you’re craving for crawfish and don’t feel like driving to BC in Garland, I’d definately come here. I just think that they need to tone down on the butter a bit, but that’s me. The flavors were all there, just the butter was a bit overwhelming and I thought it took away from the other flavors.

best place in the metroplex for crawfish. now we dont have to drive all the way to garland (boiling crab) to get our tasty mudbugs. i also had a banh mi hanoi, panini style, price was pretty steep for an average banh mi so i think i’ll stick with the viet deli’s when needing a sammie fix. décor is contemporary with a few flat screens adorning the walls and service was super nice. all in all we’ll definitely be back for the crawfish and maybe some beignets next time.

I think this place would get better ratings if they changed the beignets and coffee out of their name and just made it a primarliy seafood place. I’ve tried the coffee and beignets and they are very average, but the crawfish, crabs, shrimps, other seafood are amazing!
The atmosphere is ok, it’s kind of dark in the place. They sometimes host mic/​karaōke nights and the place turns into a bar at night so it’s definitely not some place I’d take my whole family at night but it’s a fun night out with friends if you want a place to relax and drink.
As for the crawfish, my favorite item on the menu goes for $ 7.99/lb– they have flavors such as lemon pepper and garlic Parmesan that I’ve never seen at other seafood places. They taste just like the boiling crab if you get «The works» which was an off the menu flavor last time I was there. The sauce is thick and garlicky so it sticks to the crawfish really well and is very flavorful. I’ve tried all the flavors but my personal favorite is the garlic parmesan. Definitely coming back when it’s crawfish season again.
Tip– check in on facebook when you’re there and you get 10% off! Mon-​Thurs they have happy hour on oysters a dozen for $ 5.99 and other specials that change a lot. Call ahead and see!

Place does not sell beignets after a certain time at night and turns into like a little club/​bar as you may have heard. The beignets just wasn’t like the café du monde in new orleans.

One star for the rude awakening that this place turns into a club/​bar after a certain time… and I had a 10 year old with me. Needless to say, no beingets for us… but I will try again another time in hopes of giving it more stars… and beignets, of course.
UPDATE:
Came back here finally to try the beingets and WOW, WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT! We ordered two types, the small ones and the regular sized ones… the small ones were hard to bite into because they were.well.hard.and the regular sized ones were a bit better, but nothing like real beingets.

my sister and i heard so many good things about this place. we decided to go there yesterday for lunch. the place was vacant. the waitress came to take our drink order. we had to ask her the menus, plates, and napkins. she didnt bother to bring us utensils either!
we ordered:
–banh mi combination– ew! they took a perfectly good banh mi o and greased it and put it on a panni press.
–wings– no thanks. ill go to bww down the street next time!
–sliders-​the only decent thing we had.
–fries– blah!
we originally came there for crawfish and beignets since people were raving about it. they were OUT OF CRAWFISH. we didnt even want to bother ordering the beignets after tasting the others!
overall.i will not come back to this place. the service was horrible and i could care less for their food.

Awesome place!!! The food and atmosphere are both creative and tasty. First of all, the beignets were light and sweet. For those of you weened on the New Orleans Café du Monde variety, you may be disappointed, but it is a very unfair comparison. If you want the sweet funnel cake variety that they have, that’s great. But for a great tasting variation of the pastry made famous by that eatery, give café boulevard a try. It seems to be the theme they’re going for there. Catering to mostly Asian clients, they put a twist on local favorites to draw in other crowds who maybe are not ready for full blown authenticity. For instance, the panini banh mi they serve is a refreshing take on the famous Vietnamese sandwich. Cut into slices, rather than served whole, is a great way to eat it without the «crumby» result. Yes that’s a pun but you won’t be covered in bread shrapnel when you’re done, and the panini definitely adds texture to the tasty meaty goodness inside. To continue along with the theme, it is a café. BUT they also have a full service bar with the most beautiful waitstaff I’ve seen. Coffee and liquor? Will they ever co-​exist? Yeah!!! Duh? This is a place where it caters to today’s twenty to thirty somethings. You drink alcohol at night and drink coffee in the morning to get over the alcohol you just consumed the night before. I swear if Starbucks did this, then you could justify their high prices. Why not do this all in one place!!! It’s pure genius.
In conclusion, I get what they are doing here at Café Boulevard. If you’ve seen traditional Vietnamese coffee shops, you will understand what I’m talking about. Most are little holes in the wall where everyone knows each other except for you. Not very inviting. And up until now, I would’ve never ventured into one. This seems like a gateway for the next generation of Asian men and women to enjoy their coffee and beignets in an upbeat and comfortable setting. It’s not your daddy’s coffee shop around the corner anymore. It’s better.

I came here for my friend’s open mic. That’s the only thing I like about this place… I’m a little confused because they serve alcohol here like a bar but it’s a café. The drinks are a little bit overpriced! I got a soybean drink and it was $ 3 in a skinny glass! I also got a basket of beignets… which is enough to share with a big group. And that wasnt bad, only $ 5. The beignets taste nothing like new orleans café du monde!!! so don’t expect too much when you come here.