Carafe

Should have read the Unilocal reviews more carefully and given more weight to recent reviews written about this place. We were on vacation here in Portland and wanted to go to a nice French bistro for dinner. Here in Chicago, we go to Mon Ami Gabi or Bistro Margot and I had hoped Carafe would be similar.
We walk in to the door about an hour before the restaurant’s close time. The place was ¾’s empty and the host actually asked if we had a reservation. Seriously? or are you just trying to be pretentious and pompous? This offends me for 2 reasons. First, if I did have a reservation, don’t you think I would have said, «we have reservations for 4 at 8pm — the name is…» Second, since I didn’t say that and it is clearly obvious that the restaurant was ¾’s empty and a reservation was not necessary, why bother asking me?
My family and I are sat down and for 15 minutes, were completely ignored. Every waiter in the place walks by, never even giving our table a sidewards glance. Finally, after 10 more minutes, the busboy appears with water. 5 more minutes, the waiter appears to take our drink order. 10 more minutes and he finally returns with our bottles of Perrier water. After putting down our drinks on the table, he says, «ready?» No explanation of the fixed price dinner or the special. He definitely didn’t want to be bothered.
I ordered the steak tartare for us to share and my daughter and I both had the lamb shortribs, while my son and husband ordered the steak frites. Steak tartare was yummy but only came with 3 tiny slivers of toasted bread to eat with the entire mound of beef. We had to finish it with 4 slices of the french bread dropped on the table.
The short ribs arrived and smelled good, but was a very small portion for the cost — 3 chunks of lamb attached to bone that was basically 2 bites of meat on each bone (6 total bites), 3 tiny 2″ garbanzo bean frites and a very overdressed and sour handful of arugula salad. That was it for $ 18.
Of the 3 pieces of lamb on my plate, 1 piece was burnt and inedible. You couldn’t even get a fork into it so now, I’m down to 4 bites of meat for $ 18. My daughter’s lamb also had 2 edible pieces and the third piece was an end bone with little edible meat so she too is down to 4 bites of lamb for $ 18.
Both my son and husband’s steak frites arrived with 7 small pieces of steak sliced and fanned over a big plate of frites and a very uninspiring handful of frisee lettuce thrown onto the plate. Their dinner was $ 22 and their meat was under cooked.
As we ate the meal, no one bothered to come over to check on us or to refill our water. As such, I wasn’t able to tell anybody about my inedible lamb until we were ready to get our check. When someone finally did come to our table, it was the busboy and not our waiter who came over. I told him about my inedible lamb and he took the dish into the kitchen to show the chef.
Normally, I don’t complain and perhaps, if the portion were smaller, it wouldn’t have mattered, but when you only have 3 pieces of meat on the plate and 1 of the 3 has the consistency of biscotti, then it does matter.

I came here on my lunch break and happen to catch the midst of happy hour. We order quite a few dishes such as mussels, fries, escargot, wings, smoked salmon, and ribs. Portions for happy hour was me okay. Taste okay. Prices okay.
There wasn’t anything I’m wowed by. Probably wouldn’t be the first happy hour place I’d pick around the area. Definitely a fun cute atmosphere and outside seating during warm weather is a plus.

Carafe is OK. Everything my friends ordered (the burger and the chicken sandwich) looked decent, but my particular selection left plenty to be desired.
I ordered the charcuterie personal plate. It was 4 toast points (large ones) with ¼ of the toast point actually having charcuterie on it (pâté, terrine, etc). The amount that was designated per toast point wasn’t even enough to spread on the entire toast point. Also, the pickled veggies that came as garnish certainly weren’t pickled long enough. I also ordered their pomme frites with the house mayo. These were really good.
Service is where Carafe loses two points. We got there at around 12:07, were sat within two minutes (although they told us we should have called ahead). They delightfully turned on the patio heaters, as these were the only available seats and it was raining. Some time shortly after, our server brought us water and we told him we weren’t ready since we’d practically just sat. For some reason, he heard «give us 20 minutes» to decide what we want to eat… and that’s precisely what he did. He didn’t return until about 12:30pm, which at that point, he was totally in the weeds and was like ¹⁄₃ servers working the whole restaurant (talk about poor table management on part of the FOH manager who was seating).
At around 12:30pm, we placed our order. At around 12:47pm, our food hit the table and that the exact same time we asked for boxes and our checks. We took 1 – 2 bites of food, packed everything and left. In no way was he apologetic (hello, did you learn your steps of service– every server knows those!) and in no way did he regret that we didn’t have time to savor our food. When we asked for the boxes and check after dropping our food, he said «ok, I’ll be right back» as if it were what happens normally.
Overall, Carafe is a nice place to eat, but it is not a good place to eat if you don’t work within 2 – 3 minutes walking. Maybe I’d try it for dinner again, but not for lunch during work days.

First lunch meal in downtown Portland. SUCCESS! It was very eclectic and has a fantastic menu offerings. I am a big fan of beef carpaccio, so i opted to get the beef tartar. After cracking the quail egg on the mound of tender read meat, and realizing AFTER ordering it that I might the only one at the table partaking in this delicacy… that this might not end well…
Good news is it did end well! I enjoyed the other cheese plate app, the really good gooey sandwich named after royalty, or some fancy name. The 3 shot dessert was also really tasty, and i’m not a sweet tooth kind of guy.
All in all, wish I were around more often to enjoy lunch here.

I want to give 3.5 stars but I don’t know how.
The food was better than other places i’ve been recently. I had the burger and fries and they were very good, and the house mayo was amazing. I miss good mayo. My friend had the chicken sandwich and she loved it. My other friend got the charcuterie plate and was disappointed. She said the only really good thing on there was the pâté. Otherwise, way overpriced for what was essentially grocery store meat.
What dropped the stars really was the service. We went for lunch hour and didn’t even have time to eat our food there, we had to take it to go. Our waiter took FOREVER to get to us after he gave us our water. We waited about 20 minutes for him just to take our order. Our food came out in good time, but for people on a lunch hour, definitely do not go here unless you like eating on the run.
The location is good, and I think in nice weather sitting on the sidewalk area will be such a pleasant way to pass some time. I may try it again for happy hour when the weather gets nice to see how I like it.

Ready to knock another burger off my diner-in-crime’s BurgerQuest, we stopped by Carafe as soon as they opened for dinner. The house burger did not disappoint: it had an awesome Ken’s bun and juicy, perfectly grilled beef that was topped with pickled veggies and the added kicker of Brie cheese. The burger’s even on their happy hour menu (sans frites), so you can satisfy your cravings on a budget. I ordered some mussels cooked in an aromatic broth and their house salad comes with that delicious signature French Dijon vinaigrette dressing. The service is overall good, but sometimes spotty. The vibe is classic French bistro style, very reminiscent of Café Campagne in Seattle, WA. Both times I’ve dined here, there were hardly any patrons, but seeing as it wasn’t a Kemper event day, may have been an off night.

This is one of the Best French Restaurant in all Portland! Since the Chef changed, the food got even better to a point that I’m addicted to it now! I was there for their lunch!
Food ⁵⁄₅: Definitely one of the best place I ate French food. The escargots are out of this world! The Gnocchi are just amazing! I would eat those everyday. The sauce is a cream mixed with diced apples or pear I think with some fine herbs on top to add flavor to it. We also tried the beefsteak that is excellent.
Atmosphere ⁴⁄₅: The atmosphere reminded those Bistro in France. Simple but elegant at the same time. They have a small bar as well.
Service ⁵⁄₅: Perfect service, always here to ask us of our experience was good. Great service overall for a Bistro and the price you pay.
Downside, the food is overall heavy which is normal. This is French cuisine with a lot of butter and cream so you should expect to have a slow afternoon when you decide to go there for lunch.

Are they open on Monday for happy hour? It certainly doesn’t say so on paper (the menu), so we paid Carafe a visit on one unfortunate day and were politely turned around. The restaurant was recommended by a frd’s coworker as a cute place for girls to hang out in Portland, and sure enough, this place was a charm when we returned in a few weeks.
Located next to the Keller auditorium and several downtown apartment buildings, Carafe is away from busy streets of pedestrians on a weekday afternoon with plenty of outdoor seating. It’s a pleasure to sit both outside as well as inside. The atmosphere is also very causal, very laid back and relaxing.
Their HH menu isn’t too vast, but offers us enough for a taste, serving drinks and food from $ 3 up. I had the salad with lemon vinaigrette as dressing, drizzled with seasalt, while sipping a bottle of Stella Artois beer on the side (Why Belgian? I know, I should have tried some «apertife” – strong French wine at the start of a meal – as I was told). My friend is allergic to mustard, so our server kindly switched her mustard dressing to a blue cheese vinaigrette. The greens were very fresh, dressings tasted fantastic, I just wish they scaled down a bit on the seasalt.
I do recommend their cheese spreads: Apple Camembert, Honey blue cheese, as well as a goat cheese whose name I forgot. They were so flavorful, both sweet and savory on toasted baguette!
Service was a bit slow in American standard, in that it took about 20 mins for our salads and bread to be served. However, I enjoyed experiencing such French culture where people actually take their time to enjoy a slow meal, spending quality time with family and friends at the table for hours long.

I’ve been to Carafe twice and I thought both times I’ve been there wasn’t bad at all. I had the burger, though I’m assuming its a Euro burger. The last time I had it I felt it had it’s plus and minus.
Plus, the burger was moist and for the price you pay it wasn’t bad. I’m not a big on ciabatta bread but this wasn’t bad. The bottom bun wasn’t soaked up in hamburger juices and stuff.
Minus– well the burger I ordered was suppose to be medium, so a little pink. I got a well done. Now I know what your thinking, «hey you just contradicted yourself» Yes… the burger was moist, but it wasn’t medium, just turned over cooked. Also the burger was salty, I mean so salty that my lips were dry and I felt really dehydrated. Thus the reason why the ciabatta bread wasn’t soaked with juices.
The service is alright. It could use some improvement. I was eating with my GF’s roommate and when my GF finally came by after work it took a while for the waitstaff to figure out that there was a third party. Actually I had to wave down a bus boy. However by than we had to catch a show at the Keller and thus my GF ate half my salty French Euro style burger. She even concurred that the burger was a little salty.
Overall it’s a nice place. Some thing to try whenever you in that area.

I have been to Carafe for lunch a couple times. Even though it is located on a busy road, it is sufficiently set back from traffic that it does not interrupt the café ambiance. The waitress that helped me both times was friendly and knowledgeable. A guest I was dining with did not like the food he was served (problem with his palette and not the preparation) and the waitress exchanged his meal for another entrée with no questions or visible frustration in her demeanor. That was very accommodating of her.
The first time I ordered the Risotto and found it tasty and surprisingly filling. The second time I got the Croque Monsieur (tasty and filling… eat while hot!) with the pommes frites/​house mayo. I am not a mayo fan in general, but their house mayo is exceptional and the fries are about as good as you will find anywhere. Prices are very reasonable given the quality of food and dining experience. There was no wait to be seated at the peak lunch hour. I can find no flaws here, so they get 5 stars.

There are few places in Portland who really embrace the whole Parisian thing. Carafe nails it! The atmosphere is very French, complete with a patio with all chairs facing out.
I met a friend there for her birthday during happy hour, and we ordered the Croque Monsieur, escargot, smoked salmon, and baguettes to split, and we were both glad we did. Very filling, and quite delicious! Along with some wine and martinis, we round out our delicious dishes with a dessert featuring a couple pastries with cream filling and ice cream topped with chocolate (I forget the name of it!). The food was wonderful! I absolutely look forward to revisiting this terrific restaurant.

Avoid at all costs if going to an event at the Keller Auditorium! This review has two parts. First attempted to go here a couple of months ago. When we tried to go we were simply told «no more service.» This was about an hour and half before the play started and I’m positive people were leaving. However, the hostess didn’t wait around to answer any questions. Rude… but it is a French bistro.
Gave it a second try before another event at the Keller. Arrived two hours before the play and were seated this time. Received water, bread and our ½ litre of wine with no problems. About 40 minutes after ordering our meal, my wife asks the waiter to check on the food since many people that arrived after us had received their orders. She added that we were here for the play, to which the waiter snidely retorted «So is everyone else.»
Shortly thereafter, the waiter sheepishly returned to inform us that «somehow the kitchen never got the ticket for our meals, but it’ll be out quickly.» Hmmm.
Most of the food did arrive within 10 minutes. The fries were thick and OK, but not up to the quality of many other places in Portland. My wife had a beet salad that was overwhelmed by the blue cheese. Her farmers salad was OK.
I had ordered an escargot and a rabbit appetizer. The escargot arrived and was flavorless. Please, add some garlic. I have had better escargot on a Holland cruise ship. The rabbit appetizer never arrived, and the waiter never returned until I caught a different server and asked her to fetch him.
No apologies for missing one appetizer, but at least they didn’t try to charge us for it – which I half expected them to try. Place might be better if there is not an event going on. However, I’ll never know since I have no plans to ever eat there again.

I was there in Feb. I’m French. I expect authentic French food when I go to a brasserie. The onion soup was bland. The endive au jambon was just awful. It was full of water. The cassoulet was disappointing. The fries were undercooked. Gâteau basque was okay nothing extraordinary.
The wine list is phenomenal. I recommend going for a glass of wine. I had the Cameron 2007.

Portland’s destination for authentic French food and atmosphere
Carafe is a special place. My wife and I fall in love again every time we go. The food is amazing.
We’ve probably been 10 times or more. We’ve never had a bad meal. The fresh fish is always outstanding. There menu rotates with the seasons and what’s fresh. Something I really love about Carafe is that you can go for dinner and spend $ 10 on an entrée or you can spend $ 25. The less expensive food is more lunch related, like burgers and croque monsieur, but the plates are usually very rich and filling.
We often get the Vespar cocktail, but the wine list is really great too. They have a great selection of French wine for a relatively small place. French wine can be tough to find in Portland, but Carafe has an excellent selection of local wines too, all very reasonably priced.
My favorite thing here is the Parisian gnocchi in the cream sauce. They don’t always have it on the menu, but it is the best gnocchi in the world.

One day, my boyfriend and I were both home early, and decided to run down the street to get some happy hour. We ended up at Carafe about 25 minutes before happy hour ended… and we were basically turned away because it was a «performance night». I was aware their happy hour ended early on those nights… and made it there before the restricted time. However, we were told by the host that they would not be serving it to us that evening because they had decided to switch over EVEN EARLIER than the abnormal performance night times. Obviously, we decided to leave.
So, REALLY?! We had nearly 30 minutes to spare… and you won’t serve the food to us? I think that is pretty crappy. You know, I enjoyed their food before… but that kind of service is unacceptable. I will never go again, and will make sure to warn my friends.

I adore Carafe. Walking up, the exterior took me back to the time I spent in Paris, wandering the streets and peering into every little bistro along the streets of Montmartre. And I was not alone in my sentiments — my three flatmates agreed with me, all of whom have lived in France.
The prix-​fixe menu is a great deal, as is the carafe of house wine. We ordered escargots and rabbit terrine around the table, both of which were very good. For my main course, I chose the duck leg confit, which also was a throwback to my time in Paris — classic French preparation, and undoubtedly delicious. I don’t typically order dessert when I go out, but this time I was drawn to the chocolate mousse with poached pears, and I was not disappointed. The mousse was rich, but not overly so, and the pears were perfectly soaked and spiced. Service was prompt and attentive, though not exceptionally friendly (I suppose this is another truly French characteristic), and it was a great place for a girls’ night out.
The two cons I have are that the bathroom placement is quite strange — through the parking garage? — and that the snails were slightly over-​salted. For the most part, however, it was a very positive experience and the food was classic, so I will definitely be back to give Carafe another go.

There are so many things to like about Carafe. First, they have the BEST French Fries of any establishment in Portland. As a fry nut, I’ve sampled just about all the spots that are heralded for their fries. One of my standbys here is the Steak Tartare: the cracked egg and mini toast make it a wonderful experience. Others include the Croque Madam sandwich and the Salade Carafe. Some desserts are very good, some just average. My all-​time favorite (maybe of any restaurant) is a concoction of espresso, chocolate, whipped cream that’s layered multiple times, unfortunately, it’s not on the current menu. There are some outstanding servers and some that need a slight attitude fine-​tuning.
The only downer: Stash tea! One would expect a much better quality offering to accompany the wonderful food.

WHOA. I really have never been treated so rudely in my life. I can’t rate the food, drinks, or even atmosphere, because I was told (twice) by the hostess and bartender to actually LEAVE the RESTAURANT.
I walked into Carafe before a show at Keller Auditorium on 3÷19÷2010. I understand that there aren’t a lot of restaurants/​bars in the area and that they may have been busy. My first issue is to the naked eye they didn’t look that way. I get that they may have been short-​staffed, etc but the attitude we received did not match what seemed to be going on.
The hostess ran after us and told us we couldn’t sit at an empty table in the bar, because we couldn’t have a server. The bartender was in the process of telling us he wouldn’t make us a drink, when two people sitting at the bar chimed in and said that they were leaving so it was ok. Bartender then tells us we cannot sit at the barstools. Ridiculous! There are many ways to handle a situation like this, such as «You are welcome to have a seat, but just so ya know it could be 20 minutes before we get to ya» etc, which would have likely made us leave still, but at least wouldn’t have made me never want to come back here. Aye!

Finally! We got to eat here!
It was a glorious summer afternoon back in June…
The escargots were swarming with butter (out of shell, fyi) and garlic and. parsley. I think there’s about nine. A nice cocktail. yum.
The only down side, is unlike real restaurants in France, the bread is not free. It’s about $ 1.95 a pop, and expect to buy two orders if you have another person, if you are French, or if you are dating the French.
My recommendation for a nice lunch, cheap, and an authentic ‘french way’:
Apertif (aka predrink) — Cocktail (any kind, they are all good) $ 5.00
L’entreé (aka appetizer) — Marinated Olives $ 2.95
Main Plats (aka entrée) — Croque Monsieur $ 3.95 OR Order of escargots + bread $ 6.94
(During the above have red or white wine for $ 3.50 or so a glass)
Dessert — Petits Fours Plats $ 5.00
Otherwise a cocktail and some squiggly little snails are good too!
bon appetit!

Every once and a while you get the urge for Steak Frites, real French Steak Frites. Meat and potatoes, French style. A nice Cotes de Rhone, maybe a bit of a salad but… Steak Frites, Mmmmm. This is the place in Portland.
Good for other French Bistro stuff. I’ve had a spot-​on French onion soup. The owner, Pascal Sauton, is a Parisian so this isn’t faux french-​style. It’s authentic and excellent.