Cafe des Amis

I had booked this restaurant at least a month or more for dinner Christmas Eve and when I arrived I had asked for a table near the fireplace and we were seated in that area. Now I knew exactly what I wanted to order as did my wife and my son as we had reviewed the menu on their website but much to my surprise we were given a menu with soup/​salad, fish or duck and dessert. This is not what I came here for and I was not happy but we were stuck as it was Christmas Eve and most good restaurants had been fully booked.
We all ordered the duck which was a disappointment as it was not crispy and a little red (undercooked) we ate the part that was cooked and carried on and then we received the bill for $ 250 for the fixed menu which was never posted on their website. It was the classic bait and switch and I will never bother to dine their again. I feel management should have posted on their website about their fixed menu but apparently they were too busy with other things.
Maybe they forgot that without clients you have no business.

As a tradition, I take my mom to french restaurants on Christmas Eve. Last year’s dinner was a bit of a disappointment, so I really had high hopes on Café Des Amis. I would walk buy here weekly as apart of my Skeeball league @ Bar None. So I figured, why not give this place a go on Christmas eve.
They succeeded my expectations! The 3 course dinner was amaze-​balls! The ambance was very nice, very french, very relaxed. Our food came promptly (which was a huge issue at the different restaurant we went to last year), the waiter was very professional, and it was worth the money.
Thank you Café Des Amis for a wonderful Christmas eve dinner!

Attended a private celebration here and thought it was the perfect place for a swanky party! Snacking on bites of Charcuterie, fresh oysters, (big) sliders, fried mushrooms and French fries all night wasn’t too shabby. They set up a wine bar on one side of the rooms entrance doors and water on the opposite side. They were really attentive to drink preferences and kept glasses filled. I would consider holding a party here myself in the future!

Went in for pre-​Opera house matinée event on a Monday. Service and atmosphere were delightful. My salad was balanced and tasty. My son had the cheese burger which really should be on the menu with «smoke» in its name. It was if someone spilled a bottle of liquid smoke in the meat. Almost intolerable. It was cooked two levels under the temperature we asked for, too.

After waiting over a year to return to Café des Amis after being served by a really moody waiter, we finally decided to give this place another shot because I was in the mood for Steak frites and wanted to sit outside with my dog. I am SO happy that we returned. It was still happy hour so we started off with a couple of delightful glasses of sauvignon blanc for 6 bucks a glass. The bread and butter they brought us while we waited for our entrees hit the spot. My expectations are always on the lower side for flank steaks because I have had way too many overcooked flank steaks. They got it right! It was delish, and the petite salad was the perfect addition to the steak and fries. Our server was maybe the friendliest server we’ve had in a while. Had a nice sense of humor and was super attentive. I will be returning for sure this time.

Don’t bother.
This place had good service and a nice atmosphere, but the food is not good.
The french onion soup was straight up bizarre — very sour. And the gnocchi was also super strange — not what you expect when the menu indicates its totally normal… weird.

What a wonderful bistro… wasn’t expecting much on the food although the décor is really nice. Let me start by saying go on a Tuesday (which we happened on) cause on Tuesday’s all bottled wines are ½ off! We immediately ordered a bottle of Falla Pinot Noir (normally $ 70) that was worth the trip alone.
My friend and I shared the mussels with the tomato and chorizo broth. It was outstanding, just the right amount of acidity and smoke from the chorizo. Not one drop was left on my plate. For entrée, I had the pot-​eu-​feu of braised short beef rib, cabbage and bone marrow. The meat was tender, flavorful and who doesn’t love bone marrow? My friend had duck breast which was also very tender.
Service was really good. What a find and both of us said we would definitely come back… on a Tuesday, of course.

Solid bistro! Came here for Brunch and Lunch and both times were a great experience. Friendly servers and very accommodating if you need to make any changes to the dish. I love the complimentary apple loaf bread they give for brunch.
Eggs Benedict was delicious over crispy buttery biscuit. The cooked kale was a great touch.
Pork shoulder was the best dish we ordered for brunch, juicy and crispy edges… we licked that plate clean.
The quiche was ok, very cheesy.
Mussels was a nice large portion and also tasty.
Of the desserts (crêpe cake and profiteroles) I loved the profiteroles the best. Best part is you can make a reservation on opentable, so no need to wait in long lines (like the Brixton).

Came here on a stupid hunger driven impulse yesterday.
Honestly I wanted to give this place a shot. Great location on Union, cute décor, and seemly full outdoor seating area.
I went inside with 2 friends to ask for a place to sit and the hostess was about as excited to see us as a death row inmate would be to see the executioner. Not friendly at all, zero. Actually the entire staff (albeit our server) was pretty cold and unwelcoming. Strike one.
Two, we ordered a couple things including the crispy chicken salad, croque madame, and soup in a pastry shell. All were not good. Most memorably, the crispy chicken salad is nothing but two flash fried chicken tenders under a bed of iceberg lettuce. How was this 14 $? Two chicken fingers at Denny’s won’t run you more than 4 $ and they taste better too.
The only reason I’m actually giving this place 2 stars instead of 1 is because our server always greeted us with a smile and seemed like an outlier amongst the staff at this place.
Never again.

Pastis in New York, eat your heart out!
Happy hour awesome deals, fantastic Euro ambiance and wicked delicious morsels!

The Nutella beignet is great; sooo delicious.
The brunch mimosas are cheap and good.
The tomato soup in puff pastry though… is very dramatic, beautiful but the soup was quite bland. The version at bistro jeanty is way better
Attentive service and good bistro ambience.

Des Amis is a nice neighborhood bar to go to in the Marina area. My boyfriend put it well when he described Des Amis not as a place to go to meet people but as a place to go to hang out with people that you already know. Union St can be way too crowded and fratty so it’s nice to find a place where you can just sit and relax (the crowd tends to skew a bit older here). Try to get a table outside when the heaters are on.
They have a really good happy hour here that lasts til 7pm! $ 6 moscow mules — you can’t beat that.
As a vegan, you can eat the french fries and they can customize some of the side dishes like beans or the tomato soup, but don’t expect a full meal.

After brunch nearby, my friend and I sashayed into this bistro to sit at the bar and have a couple drinks. The bartender was very pleasant and efficient without being stuffy. He recommended drinks to us and they were terrific! The marble countertops and the clean lines of this bistro made it extra beautiful. Giant baskets of grapefruits, limes and lemons were on the bar which added to the ambience. The bathrooms were downstairs and, probably weird to add, but they were clean and gorgeous! They spared no expense at this restaurant. Perfect! Next time I’ll try brunch!

WOW! Just loved how they prepare their french toast here! Crunchy on the outside and flavorful custard on the inside.
Must come back for more.

Adorable restaurant, came for lunch one day and had a great experience.
Steak frites — DELICIOUS. There is some type of sauce over the steak that is unique and utterly amazing.
By server recommendation, for dessert I ordered the pain perdue and it was absolutely heavenly. Like, literally came from Heaven for me to eat.
I would come back over and over again :)

This is great place for appetizers and good drinks and beer!
I made it on time for happy hour with my boyfriend. Nothing better than to start off the weekend with a nice glass of French 75. It reminded me of a lemon drop but better with no sugar on the rims. This was a well made drink because the bartender didn’t skimp out if the alcohol. My boyfriend had a couple beers but obviously I didn’t pay attention to which ones he had. Lol
We had the oysters it was blah, don’t order it. We were glad we only ordered half a dozen. Also, chicken liver mousse which went gray with the fig jam.
Overall I gave this place four stars because of the atmosphere and drinks. The only downer were the oysters.

Pretty shocked I haven’t written a review for this place. Café des Amis makes one of my favorite quiches in the city, always seems to have a table available, and provides speedy, pleasant service. This one really hits the mark as a French brasserie. Those who want a bit of SoHo’s Balthazar will find it right here in the Marina.
I usually come for brunch or lunch on weekends — quiche, steak tartare, and/​or onion soup. I love the bread they bring to the table. For dinner, the steak was surprisingly flawless and the burger was above average.

I came here for a work dinner. Isn’t that the most depressing opening you can think of for a Unilocal review? Yes, I came here because my paycheck was riding on my cheerfully professional presence, and I was determined to make the most of it despite my poor networking skills. Small talk is not my forte. It’s not my fifte either. Get it? That’s my idea of a knee slapper. Anyhow, the menu was already set, and it was pure standard brasserie fare (photo:
). Nope, it’s not Balthazar (review:
). A nice amuse bouche came first with a Croque Monsieur done up as a finger sandwich (photo:
). No culinary artistry on display here but who cares?
Things slowed to a marginal pace with the Mussels Marinière which were the Prince Edward Island variety swimming in a buttery broth of garlic, parsley and white wine (photo:
). I just found it all a bit too salty-​briny to enjoy with brio. I stopped at four, a paltry sum for me (photo:
). The French Fries were a nice albeit predictable complement (photo:
), but again, who’s complaining? My entrée came next, the Hardwood Grilled Flat Iron Steak, which in itself was well executed to a medium rare, but it was hamstrung by the aggressive red wine shallot butter. It was accompanied by a watercress salad lightly doused with oil and vinegar as well as pommes mousseline also saturated with butter (photo:
).
Dessert was a saving grace as the Chocolate Mousse contained cacao nibs and espresso along with a couple of hazelnut sablés which were crumbly and yes, buttery (photo:
). The Gallic Paula Deen is obviously in the house. As far as I could tell, the atmosphere is appropriately Parisian in the main restaurant, although I spent most of my evening in the private dining room in the back with the large windows facing Buchanan Street. I may come back as a paying customer, but I have to admit there are a number of quality French bistros closer to my home starting with Zazie and Absinthe. However, a stroll down Union Street may lead me to an outdoor table on a warm Sunday afternoon.
FOOD — 3 stars… standard bistro, heavy on the butter y’all
AMBIANCE — 3.5 stars… the interiors look nice here and very much for the boulevardier
SERVICE — 3 stars… reasonably attentive for a big crowd
TOTAL — 3 stars… not a standout among the French restaurants but you can the expected dishes here

Café des Amis is ok. The atmosphere is nice and the food is good and reasonably priced. I don’t usually order farmed salmon but for some reason I did at Café des Amis (they call it Scottish Salmon — and I think all salmon that we get from Scotland is farmed, so that’s kind of misleading). It was tasty. Not quite sure why I broke my rule.
We definitely suffered from more than one mis-​step in service, including the waitress walking off without taking one person’s order… leaving him with his menu right in front of him, so kinda hard to miss that. It just wasn’t attentive service, I guess, and despite it being a Friday night they weren’t all that crowded…
I’d go back.

After searching around for a good place to have dinner, we arrived at a Taco Tuesday restaurant and lo and behold, our hands were stamped as we entered the club/​bar like atmosphere full of young drunkies. With the music blaring and all the inebriated folk screaming and booming with laughter, I never felt so old in my life.
We quickly bolted out the door and headed across the street to a place that was the total opposite, Café Des Amis.
The hostess greeted us immediately and sat us down upon entering. It was a very classy vibe with candlelit tables and at the very opposite end of the spectrum from the other joint; posh, well-​mannered patrons enjoying their delectable wine. Gee, I don’t even think I fit in here either, but I wasn’t about to bolt out the door again. Besides, I was so prepared to try out some great food and some great drinks!
The waiter waltzes by to our table in the most hospitable manner and begins explaining the wine and dinner menu. Per his recommendations, I decided upon the Greyhound’s tooth cocktail, the calamari frits, and the Café Des Amis burger with grilled onions and gruyère. The Greyhound’s tooth cocktail was just exquisite. Big ups to the bartender! The cocktail was beautiful and perfectly balanced. The calamari was delicious with the house made aioli and my burger entrée was cooked to medium perfection. Juicy and satisfying, I found it completely enjoyable along with the served condiments and crispy side of french fries.
Overall, this turned out to be a lovely experience and I will most definitely come back for more. Except next time, I won’t have to bump into this place by pure accident! I guess things happen for a reason sometimes! Excellent service!