Cafe Rouge – St Pauls

My waitress disappeared after I received my order. Gave up trying to get a second cup of coffee. Had to flag down a waiter to ask for check.

I remembered going to Café Rouge in Hampstead and in Greenwich and finding it quite all right. Although this branch right next to St. Paul’s obviously has a great view, I didn’t find the atmosphere very comfortable. I only wanted something light so I ordered a salad. I was surprised by the neat, colourful presentation but not really convinced by the flavour.
This place is probably a convenient solution for tourists but definitely not a place you have to go to.

Ambience was great but the food only soso. My prefix included pâté and mussels. pâté was so so and unappetizingly prepared– mussels came out in a small individual pot but some of the buggers tasted a little funky/​unfresh. I didn’t get sick so maybe it was just the prep? Walk down carter lane — more choices that way.

This place is excellent. Good good, good service, good food, good price. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. What a restaurant should be.

While taking a walking break from visiting St. Paul’s Cathedral, we discovered this cozy little place. It was early, few people here, so no waiting.
The staff was lovely and very quick. The prices are average for London, even on the cheaper side I would say.
The afternoon tea was WONDERFUL! You may have tea or coffee and a sweet cake.
We sat by the window and enjoyed the view and people watching. It was one of the most relaxing parts of our trip.

I had a glass of champagne with my friend to kill time for a Christmas celebration at St. Paul’s cathedral. It was around 5pm and relatively empty but a café-​seat was limited. So a staff took us to the counter-​seat left available for the last two.
It was only £4.7or4.9. cheaper than I had expected but I had a good time. After paying, I got a 50% discount ticket for food. I hope I won’t lose it.

French, dim lit, jazz, baguette at the door, oh my! Purrfection! Je vous presente Café Rouge, mes amis! We had the Lobster bisque, the Plateau a partager (board of charcuterie, olives, pâté, soft goats’ cheese, rocket and a selection of bread with d’Isigny butter) and the holy trinity dessert. Washed down, of course, with wine. Because of all the reasons. The lobster bisque was so dreamy. Like Colin Firth in The Bridget Jones diaries. Sweet, steamy, intense, rich, creamy as fuck, respectful and loves you for who you really are!
I didn’t think anything could top this, until I had a lusty love affair with the pâté. I’ve never known pâté like this, I was living in the dark ’till it came along and showed me what true pâté tastes like. It had such complex, complete flavours, 5 dimensions all in one bite! His core, grounded, meaty flavour, the base that then sustains the sweetness, and then the lightness, and then the perfume! Oh, the perfume! And the texture! It was like cutting into cheesecake, creamy, airy, layered! Imagine this: a slice of baguette– crusty outside, soft inside, cut in a big, inviting chunk, drizzle that with melted butter with garlic and herbs, then top with the pâté. I got dizzy at one point.
For the dessert we had miniature tarte tatin, tarte au citron and fondant aux chocolats. Even though I wasn’t blown away by this (not sure I even had the capacity at this point) it was all good. It was the perfect ending to a decadent meal.

Was visiting St Paul’s Cathedral, & just across from it was this French Café gem. They have an afternoon tea set with coffee & a French cake for only £4.5 Lovely restaurant, with open windows, overlooking St. Paul cathedral. Loved the décor! I totally enjoyed sitting at the window table, people watching & having my ‘white coffee’ & chocolate cake. For that price it’s a steal! They were busy even at 4pm… service very good, very French !

We arrived for a late evening meal when many other restaurants were just closing. Although we were among the last in the restaurant, you could not tell by the food that was served. Excellent taste and well prepared. The food was wonderful and affordable! Excellent view and service!

Good, fresh, healthy food. Pulled Duck Eggs Benedict was a treat. Cappuccino was hot, pulled duck was a tad over seasoned, but good nonetheless. Service was fine, comfortable seating, generally nondescript experience, but that’s ok with me if the food is good.

After a cold walk around the St. Paul’s area my cousin and I were ready for a hot cup of coffee and a tasty treat. Café Rouge was just the place to get us both and a break from the cold. Our cappuccinos were served promptly and sprinkled with just the right amount of cocoa, a nice surprise. We both got the pineapple tarte as well and it was the perfect afternoon pick me up. A great place to stop in for a quick bite or just a coffee.

Went in on Saturday our first visit to a
Café rouge restaurant and what a pleasant
Surprise, I had ribeye steak and asked
If the chef could cook it blue which he did
And I can honestly say it was one of the
Best pieces of steak I have had in a long
While and with two starters two mains two
Drinks and one pud for £73 was well worth it.

Spending an hour or two waiting for hubby to finish his business meeting I’m in café rouge and one waitress in particular is being so sweet, bless her she is singing, dancing, chatting, an asset to her employer.
I’m only enjoying a drink, it’s lunchtime and busy as could be, but it’s great food great value great service as always

Unfortunately it’s a shame of French cousine. For US and UK guests will be fine but slow. Chef has no idea how to make french food. Sorry.

Another chain…
This is a wonderful spot for a decently-​priced meal. If you get a table near the window, the view of St. Paul’s is spectacular, especially in the evening. This puts this place in my romantic dinner category. I tried posting a photo of St. Paul’s from our table, but the little Unilocal*dinosaur had the broken cables in his tiny dino hands. It would have been a beautiful image.
This trip to London marked the first reunion of the Bretagne and USA branches of the family. It was only fitting our last meal together was in a form of French restaurant. The Bretagne branch knows how to take a Euro to the basement of The Tower and make it scream. They were very satisfied by the food and prices. Cousin C also commented most of the French painted on the walls was correct.
Sweet D and I ordered from the Prixe Fixe menu. We each had avocado and bacon salad. There are many bad ways to serve avocado, or many ways to serve bad avocado. In a restaurant far from its Mexican homeland La Aguacate tasted native. D had the breaded chicken — a nicely breaded and cooked chicken breast large as a filet of T-​Rex. If we were home, half would have come home.
I had the ricotta and asparagus stuffed pasta. It was fine.
All vegetables and sides were fine.
None of this food sounds French, does it?
We broke with the Prixe Fixe menu and finished dinner with a Tarte Tatain, in honor of the Britanny grandfather who cooked giant and excellent tarte tatain for his family. Caramel apple upside-​down pie. If we were home, the dessert would have been split. I finished with Caffè Latte.
Very satisfying, decently priced, phenomenal table, good service. This was my winner of the week in a sit-​down, multi-​course U.K. restaurant chain. I would definitely return.

Nice location next to St. Paul’s Cathedral, but service was extremely slow. The cappuccino was good but the crème brûlée was lacking in texture and nothing exceptional.

Myself and three colleagues were aiming for GBK next door to this branch of Café Rouge, which was closed for refurbishment. Unfortunately for us we dived in out of the rain and ordered various items for lunch. Well at least it was dry in there (thats the reason for the star). Ghastly, uninspired food with service to match (note to the chain: you don’t HAVE to be an insouciant waiter in a French restaurant). Real end of the pier experience.
I’m actually more annoyed with GBK for allowing me to suffer.

Not a very thrilling gustatory experience. My wife wasn’t feeling well so she ordred a bowl of potatoes with nothig on them (and had to return them twice to avoid eating just raw potatos). I ordered four hors douvres for 10.95 pounds and completely misunderstood what I had ordered (a ramekin of very fishy-​smelling crab, two different sets of sliced thin sausages, some blue cheese, some red-​pepper coulisse and two slices of ham– all served with some breads and croutons. All were served cold. Actually, there were plenty of things on the menu I could have tried, so I can only complain for making some bad choices. Given the location, however, across from St. Paul’s, the place attracts a tourist trade and need not be known for haute cuisine. The service and ameince were great.

Not that great, coffee lunch mix location

It’s a long story how we ended up by St Paul’s at 10:00 PM so I won’t go into it but it worked out well. We were looking for a late night bite when most places were closed and we came across Café Rouge. We were greeted by the manager and seated in a cozy corner with a perfect view of St Paul’s Cathedral, lit up by spotlights just across the block.
I always love a damn good steak frites and upon the server’s recommendation, we both ordered the Bavette steak, cooked rare as suggested. The steak had a nice flavor although it was a tad tough. I would have preferred it to be a little more tender but still not bad. We moved on to desert for the Crêpe Chocolat Banane. It was a gooey-​chocalate frenzy of bananas and chocolate over crepes. It was paired nicely with a café latte.
The service here was one of the best features. We were checked on frequently by both the server and manager who made sure our meal was pleasant. It was near closing time but we didn’t feel like we were being rushed by any means. Overall, Café Rouge was a nice finish to our evening on a night when our plans had been abruptly changed. I saw a few other Café Rouge’s around London so I’d certainly be happy to return again.

Food is a little hit-​and-​miss here. The rillettes (both de porc and de canard), coq au vin and confit de canard were excellent! But the boeuf bourguignon was a bit dry and the soufflé au fromage was a bit too salty. (The soufflé has a sizable chunk of brie in the center, so if you like brie, you might enjoy it; but if not, you may want to stay away from the soufflé.)

I honestly loved it ! It was quaint and cheap and a quick French bite. I mean really, their confit de canard was good for what it was & didn’t disappoint at all. Whilst visiting my nana, I went to Café Rouge at least 2 – 3 times a week for lunch or dinner and although I’m not too fond of chains, I think they’re quite good and reasonable for what you get. It was always pleasurable dining here with nana x

This was the very first restaurant I visited in London – a very memorable place. :)
I still had my jet lag and was half unconscious, but I remember I liked this place very much. ;) It has very nice atmosphere. I had a salmon salad and it was delish! The service was prompt and pleasant, too.
I’ll definitely be back here. :)

I really like Café Rouge. It’s got a cute décor and the thing I like most is that it does the basics very well. This is something I have found that you can’t always take for granted, but Café Rouge didn’t disappoint in any way. The food was tasty, fresh, fairly priced, served quickly and with a smile. The view from this branch is pretty. Nice. See photo.
I would recommend it and I will go back. And not just because my favourite colour est rouge.

After climbing to the top of St. Paul’s Cathedral, my legs were twitching and we needed somewhere to take in some nutrients, fast. We asked a couple locals where we could eat around there, and they said that Café Rouge was a chain but a decent one.
My mother and I split an order of salmon cakes and an order of crab salad. The salmon cakes were okay, a little bit dry and very uninteresting. The crab salad was better, served with a tasty dressing and crunchy crostinis. Both entrees, however, came on beds of old browning lettuce, with the browned pieces tucked underneath as if we wouldn’t notice.
The service was snail slow, perhaps in homage to a perception of the French as a lazy and languorous people who also happen to eat snails. The restaurant was grossly understaffed — the space is pretty big, but the only waiter I saw was our own. At the very least, this waiter seemed nice, if a bit awkward and shy and evasive of eye contact whenever we wanted service.

I have to say, Café Rouge is one of the better chain restaurants in London. If you’re looking for a no-​fuss, no-​frills French meal, head in their direction. I recently accompanied my visiting grandmother to this location for lunch. What a wonderful place to people-​watch (as long as you get a seat by the window). Directly across the street from St Paul’s Cathedral, you have stunning views of the cathedral. And you can simultaneously laugh at all of the crazy tourist groups.
Our meal was delivered QUICK QUICK QUICK and pretty decent. I have the chicken and roquefort salad (hold the roquefort, of course) while the g-​ma enjoyed a cured meats platter (salami and prosciutto with pâté, bread, and gherkins). Even though it was bustling during the lunch rush, it wasn’t too loud or crazy in there, and the waitstaff managed to keep up.
Another approval for the Rouge.

Not a place where I would return. It might be an established pearl of the Café Rouge chain, but didn’t leave a very good impression. The décor –delightful, but not unique; cheerful, but spoilt by the tensed faces of international waiters and waitresses. Were they watched or what?!
There is the restaurant part of the place and the bar side of it. Though the restaurant tables were empty, me and my friends couldn’t be seated (we only wanted some drinks) and had to wait long minutes until some other, generous customers finished their drinks and let us sit down at their table.
Then the long wait for our order. I don’t mind giving tips but here this thought somehow didn’t seem to cross my mind.