Continental Flambe

Times have changed. Saturday night dinner and pretty sure there wasn’t even a manager on duty. We had a brand new server that was nice but not ready to work a Saturday night shift with no manager. The food was okay, filet had no juice to it and covered in sauce. Wasn’t served a wine list and come to find out the Santa Margarita Pinot was $ 60. The bottle of wine is $ 18 at the store. The most we’ve paid at a top 5 star restaurant was $ 50. So very upset to have ok food and paying 200% more for wine. Women’s bathroom has water leaks in ceiling and the sink has a layer of straight funk. The Salt and pepper shaker might be from the 80’s and it was cracked. Very upsetting and disappointing experience.

I was so looking forward to our Valentines Dinner here. For a prix fixe menu they had great offerings, however the food doesn’t live up to the hype or the price. The owner was not overly pleasant, but our server Jubilee was wonderful. The Dollar store decorations immediately turned us off, then when we ordered the House Cab at 25 $ only to find out it’s 4.99 at Total Wine we knew we were in for a less than spectacular evening. Escargot came out cold, mashed potatoes with the entrée were watered down and the vegetables were overcooked. Steak had a good char on it but was rather flavorless otherwise. The only saving grace was the crème brûlée. I was truly disappointed and will recommend anyone seeking fine dining drive right past and head to Scotts on Fifth. Such a shame.

Very disappointed. They charged $ 25.00 for a bottle of wine that you can find in ABC for $ 4.49
Their house wine is called «Tisdale»
I think it’s ridiculous that they charge more than 5 times the amount of the original bottle.
Food was good, but decoration was terrible!!!
I think if you are going to a «High Class» restaurant, everything should be balanced: Good wine, good atmosphere, good food, good service!
Unfortunately it didn’t happen this time

The stars are for waiters who were indeed stars. Kudos! This review is for the owner to read and hopefully take to heart. Your restaurant has the framework for greatness and yet one gets the feeling no one cares about this place. No music. No ambiance. A French restaurant missing distinctly French dishes. $ 30/​plate for an entrée served with mushy, every-​day broccoli & mashed potatoes (not garlic mashed — just your mom’s mashed potatoes). That was very surprising for fine dining. Our feet were stuck to the wood floor. One person’s dish was knocked out of the park — it was truly amazing — and another person’s NY strip was all gristle. Mine was okay. Not bad, just lacking inspiration. Nothing special. The biggest thing: our bill was twice as much as it should have been. For the price, one expects trained waiters, food quality, and ambiance (the most crucial detail! Throw on a jazz record, Edith Piaff or Louis Armstrong, acid jazz, ANYthing but silence [or worse, KennyG]). If you build it, we’ll come again. Lots of people will. The wine was outstanding. It saved the night.

So sad! We took my mom here for her birthday. It has always been one of our favorite restaurants and we were very disappointed with how it has changed! Service was very slow even though it was a Monday night. Our appetizers were very good, but two of the four entrees were a. big disappointment. The filet was bland and not top quality beef. The shrimp scampi was a disaster. When I pointed out that the thick creamy sauce on the pasta was not what was described on the menu as a sauce of herbs, wine and butter (which is what scampi is). I was told that the chef said there was no cream in the sauce — it was just thick and white from the parnesian cheese!!! Who puts Parmesan in scampi??? I did not eat the pasta and received no offer of a substitute or compensation. it took two and a half hours for dinner which is well beyond a leisurely pace. Overall a disappointing experience. I would expect more when paying over $ 270 for dinner for four!!!

I was very disappointed. The service was slow and our waiter was incompetent. they were out of the wines we wanted and the red wine was on the warm side.
Our dinner were so so. I was told mine came with potatoes and I was served rice. The waiter then told me «so you got rice». The steaks were over cooked. The crepes were stale and cold. We shall not be going back. the next day I called the restaurant, all I got from the manager was, sorry. Well, there were four of us, and none of us will be going back. I use to love that place. It has changed, for the worse. Don’t waste your money or your time.

Love this place for lunch and have gone for dinner in the past. Always enjoyed not only the delicious food but the ambiance! Excited for our upcoming visit with the family!

I have enjoyed dinners and lunches here for 17 years and it remains my favorite for all special occasions! Give it a try for high quality food and service. We also live in the San Fransisco Bay area and it is just as good as the restaurants there for half the cost.

I can’t believe I’m giving this place 2 stars because it was a place I used to rave about. We went for Valentine’s Day dinner and from the moment we walked in the door it was disorganized. After we were sat at a table with one chair, it took about 15 mins for anyone to acknowledge us and get our drink order. The waitress seemed stressed but was friendly. After we finally ordered it took a while to get bread, which was not fully cooked in the middle. Also they usually give roasted garlic and butter with the bread which I always look forward to and this time there was oil and herbs, which was already on the table when we got seated. Appetizer was great, I’ve always loved the baked Brie and apple crêpe. The salad was ok. After a while the entrée came along and mine was pretty bad. I got the grouper and it tasted really old and fishy. Not how fresh grouper tastes. It was a little tough and the sauce was very salty. Very disappointing. The dessert was good. I had the brownie and it was one of my favorite parts of the meal; however, my fiancée got the crème brûlée and it was very runny.
I noticed people that were sat about 30 – 40 mins after us were getting the same course at the same time as us. We did a lot of waiting. There were empty tables around us and the staff still seemed super stressed. There was even a sign on the door saying no walk ins for the night. Not sure why you would do that when there was room!
Another thing that has gone downhill is the staff. They used to be very proper and really good at their job. Our waitress kept using terms like ‘sweetie’ and ‘honey’ which reminded me of being at a diner. She also didn’t know much at all about the menu or wine.
Another little thing I noticed is that the restroom used to be all cute and have mouthwash, mints, etc. which are now gone. However, I don’t go there that often to know when that change occurred. The soap dispenser was empty and there was a kitchen like squirt bottle filled with soap and of course with soap covering the bottle which was lovely.
We actually went here last year for Valentine’s Day and had bad service too but at least the food was better. That’s probably the last time we will be going there unless they make some changes and stop cutting corners. It’s really sad because I’ve been going there for 10 years. It was the first restaurant I went to in Melbourne.

Disappointing Valentine’s Day dinner. The house Pinot Noir was probably the best part of the meal. The service was fine.
The tuna appetizer was nothing to rave about either. The grade was pretty rough to be served raw. I received a small spoon with my lobster bisque rather than a soup spoon. Not a big deal, but for a «fine dining establishment», they should have the eating utensils down.
The Caesar salad was soggy and had more croutons than salad. The croutons were for sure not homemade.
The duck was prepared like a baked chicken thigh. It was extremely over cooked, yet it still managed to have soggy skin. The balsamic/​port reduction was more like bbq sauce too.
The Crème brûlée was flavorless. No taste what so ever. For sure a different recipe that has some flavor would be a good idea.
Also when we walked by the restaurant today their prix fixe menu that was in the window showed a different price and menu options (better options). We are visiting here, but it looks like this place has been here for a while and been under the same ownership for quite some time. We are surprised they have gotten away with ripping people off for so long.
The ambience was very nice and it was an excellent place for a romantic dinner, but the quality of the food was way out of line for the price. It honestly tasted like cruise ship food.

I was extremely dissapointed on my last visit to Continental F. I had special guests which I had highly recommended the restaurant to and couldn’t wait to visit it. When we arrived at the restaurant we had to wait about 15 minutes to be greeted at the door. Afterwards the waitress went to the back for 5 more minutes only to come back saying we had to go. It was offending not having at least a wait time where we could make the decision to wait or go. The restaurant was not busy at all. There were empy tables in their main sitting area, not including their second room of tables qhich was completely empty. I used to love this place, but they have lost a loyal customer. There are other places where customer service means something. No more recommendations from me!

What was once my favorite (and one of the few fine dining) restaurant in Melbourne is now utterly a disgrace. I felt embarrassed bringing my guests there and I even felt embarrassed for the owner.
We had an 8PM reservation on New Year Eve and from the moment we arrived it was a «sh!t show». Here is a list of unacceptable behaviors I witnessed:
1. When we walked through the door, we heard the owner/​GM (lady with French accent in silver dress) saying to her staff «Oh great, everyone decided all to show up at 8PM». Great way to make your customers feel welcomed!
2. We waited for 15 minutes before someone came over to take our drink order and it was well over 35 minutes before we got our bread. The entire dinner took over 2 hours.
3. My guests ordered a bottle of Chardonnay and it took them almost 15 minutes to tell us that they were out.
4. The staff: even though it was our waiter’s first day, he is the most pleasant of them all. One of the waitress was dressed for Walmart than for a French restaurant: she did not even tuck her white undershirt in. To top it off, she looked miserable and complained to us that she can’t be at all the places at the same time. With the exception of our (rookie) waiter who was probably their best and most professional, the rest of the staff is just not properly trained.
5. Food: our escargot appetizer was cold and the Avocado salad was completely crap my guests took one bite and left the rest. My ribeye cut was USDA Standard/​Choice but by no means it was a Prime cut. Waffle House serves better tasting steak… really.
6. The bill: they automatically slapped on a 20% gratuity. That is a practice you only see with large parties or at tourist traps restaurants. It’s just insulting. (See pic) for horrible food and service.
I don’t know what happened to this place from two years ago, but the owner obviously has no clue in running a high end restaurant or she just doesn’t care. It’s really a shame as this place was once spectacular. Please don’t waste your time or money there, as this place does not represent fine French cuisine.

Not impressed at all.
Went to celebrate on Christmas Eve with our adult children and had the worst service ever! Waitress never introduced herself and had no idea what the specials were for that evening! In fact she went to find out and came back and forgot that she was asked to find out what the Specials were for the day! After asking her twice she had another waiter come to tell us. She was never around to refill our glasses and when she came to fill them up, she filled only Half the table. We had to ask her to come back again! She then slammed our glasses on the table after filling in disgust that we had her come back! When it was time for dessert she never cleared our table off completely it still had our dirty dinner dishes, plates, glasses and bread left on the table. We proceeded to clear it ourself in hopes she would get the hint. Not! We then placed our order for desserts, we got cherries Jubilee and banana foster and finally lost it when we realized that they lit the ice cream on fire to only make soup flambé and to our surprise to find one banana slice in the banana foster and three cherries in the Cherry Jubilee!
Never again!

The food was excellent. Unfortunately I have had better service in a New Jersey diner. Our server didn’t take all the menus back after we ordered, left some dirty plates on the table, insisted we leave our dirty silverware on the tablecloth instead of replacing it, and handed plates to us put down on the table instead of coming around to put them down. My husband asked for help with the wine selection as the list was excellent, but the server knew nothing about the product. Nor did she bring anybody over who did. Service was too slow. The three hour dinner could have comfortably taken 1 ½ to 2 at the most. The waiting was exacerbated by the fact that our party of 7 was seated at a table directly under an AC vent that was going full blast in November. We had to wear our coats throughout the meal. Yes– we did ask them to turn it down. The surprise ending was an automatic 20% tip added to our check for service that was less than stellar. If they get their act together this place could be outstanding.

I came here with my grandmother and mother for brunch, which ended up really being lunch. I wanted to give this establishment 4 stars, but it gets knocked down for several things.
First, I had the escargot appetizer. It came in a nut butter. While good, I was under the impression from the sparse wording on the menu that it would come in a traditional garlic butter sauce. Still was good, but not what I expected.
Second, when I went to the bathroom, there was a Corona bottle in the sink, no toilet seat covers, and no paper towels. Really? I would expect better from a restaurant that at least tries to masquerade itself as being a nicer establishment.
As to my meal, I got the ahi tuna wrap. It was good, but the creamy sauce it came with wasn’t exciting. I ended up eating with soy sauce and that was pretty good.
Our waitress was attentive and service was otherwise good, aside from the dirty bathroom.

Not bad. Pretty average considering the hype. Not overly priced but I expected better.

We’ve been there twice and had a very good experience both times. The food was great and the server and owner were very nice.

This used to be my go-​to spot for fine dining on special occasions, and always worth the price. On a recent visit however while I was back in town, they were rather unremarkable.
Four of us recently dined here, and all had unremarkable meals… especially for the price point.
For the appetizer, two of us ordered the avocado with salsa — and the avocado was seriously under ripened, that it tasted rubbery and was way too firm to bite into. Very disappointing.
The salads were all just pretty bland and common place.
For the entrees, two of us had the shrimp and parmesan encrusted mahi — which had some nice flavors in the sauce (which was way too scarce), but the fish was seriously dried out. The other two in our party had the peppercorn steak, which was a bad cut of meat — very grisly and under flavored.
The desserts were mostly ok. Two of our diners had the crème brûlée’ — which was nice. I had the bannanas foster –which was excellently decadent. However one of us sprung for the chocolate lava cake, which was very dry and mostly unremarkable.
All in all, dinner for four at $ 160? Not worth it. This place has definitely gone down hill in the years since I moved away. I’d definitely not be itching to return here anytime soon.

I went here with a friend not to long ago. My friend was visiting from out of state and really wanted some local seafood. I ordered a simple caesar salad, so that was alright… however my friend ordered a dish with crab, because remember he wanted fresh seafood?
We were served our food and about 2 – 3 minutes later the waiter comes back and says that the crab meat was spoiled. We then watched a guy trying to sneakily carry a can from the back room up to the bar area and vwala, there was a fresh plate delivered to our table. Seriously can’t believe they served spoiled canned crab. I won’t even give them a second chance.

On my first visit here I didn’t have a reservation, so I had to wait about 45 minutes. Normally this would be a bad thing, but they own the Lexi Martini and Tapas (that’s where their drinks come from), so they gave me a two for one drink voucher and had me hang out there until a table was ready. I’ll do a separate review for Lexi.
I usually go with the Prix Fixe menu option, this gives you the best bang for your buck (and a big buck at that). For one price you an appetizer, salad, entrée and dessert. I usually get a soup for my appetizer. Before you’re meal starts, they’ll give some bread, which comes with roasted garlic and butter.
On my last visit I had a beef and potato soup. The beef was very tender and came apart very easily, hardly any chewing required. For entrees I’ve tried the blackened chicken and well as the filet mignon. The chicken was a little too dry for my tastes, but the filet mignon was like being in heaven. The filet mignon was cooked just right, it came with caramelized onions and was topped with a bearnaise sauce.
The atmosphere is great and so is the service. But the portions are so small for the amount you are paying. Just keep the bread coming and I’ll be fine.