Cafe Brioche

IMHO

Who doesn't love brunch, especially at a charming French cafe! I tried making an Open Table reservation but the site always said there wasn't availability for anytime before or after the 11:30 a.m. reservation that we desired. So I decided to call and speak to a live person. I had no issues getting a reservation! I would've preferred to get 100 points for an Open Table reservation...

We arrived promptly at 11:30 and we had our pick of tables...

I didn't get the name of our drink server but he was very charming and smiley! The gentleman who took our order seemed slightly impatient when we couldn't decide what to eat. Everything on the menu looked scrumptious.

Our party of three ordered Eggs Benedict ($16.95), Portobello Mushroom Sandwich w/side salad ($13.95), and a Ham Scramble ($15.95). We forgot to order beignets but it was probably a good thing. We had no room for anything! Before our entrees arrived, we received a basket of sourdough slices, cranberry scones, and brioche!

Food was delicious and perfectly portioned and inviting to look at.

We will return!

3.5 stars

Café Brioche is on California Avenue in Palo Alto. It serves casual French dining in a cozy bistro inspired venue.

They have seating in the smallish main dining room or outdoor tables of the sidewalk café. I like the outdoor seating in the summer for breakfast or brunch.

There are comfort food dishes that are a blend of Southern French and Californian cuisines using seasonal ingredients. In addition to the regular menus, daily specials are listed on the menu board and are usually a good option IMO.

I had the French Onion soup to start. It was good, not too salty or overly cheesy but it could have been hotter.

For my entree I had the Moules Marinières (Mediterranean mussels, white wine, garlic, braised leeks) & french fries. The white wine broth was good and the mussels were fresh.

The wine list has bottles from Southern France and California and wines by the glass.

This cafe is pretty good. However it is definitely a bit on the pricier side. $20 for brunch for one person? Whoa.

I did really like my pancakes though. They were light and fluffy, and they were different from most of the other pancakes I've had at other places. The eggs were okay, as were the bacon. I really liked the pancakes!

Update: I made the mistake again...this time the restaurant was under "French Bistro" on DoorDash. The order was worst than my previous one (if only I knew it was the same place, I would not have ordered). Burger had no brioche bun/bacon and was overcooked, no truffled fries, and cróque monsieur was just a sandwich with weird orange sauce! Pictures below


I wish I had read the most current review for delivery during quarantine via DoorDash today...same thing happened like the other review. I also received regular fries (ordered truffle), the brioche burger was on a sesame bun without bacon (more like a 5 Guys burger), and the beef stew was a small portion for $26! The only thing that was worth the price was the French Onion soup! I'm disappointed since I've been there a few times and wanted a nice bday dinner:(

3.5 stars
A casual French cafe on California street, Brioche offers up classic French bistro dishes in a sunny, cozy dining room. Coming for dinner, we were seated right away and started with a basket of bread, served with an addictively sweet butter!

To share, we started with a few simple but tasty appetizers--the roasted beet salad with goat cheese, apricot compote, and arugula had the perfect balance of sweet and savory flavors, while the delicious, salty, crispy salmon cakes were dressed with a lemon aioli and a cucumber salad. For our mains, I had the special of scallops with risotto, and every element of the dish was done very well--the scallops were tender and juicy, while the risotto was creamy and al dente! The dish was dressed with delicious chopped tomatoes and herbs, which really brought everything together! I also tried the bouillabaisse which came with shrimp, baby scallops, and various other fish, along with a rouille crouton. The soup was decent, but the seafood didn't taste particularly fresh, and the broth was a little overwhelmed with tomatoey flavors.

Overall, Brioche was a great experience, though the dishes were somewhat average for a French restaurant--while I'd recommend a visit, I wouldn't go out of my way to come back again.

Very nice environment. Sitting outside at a Friday lunch time is very pretty and nice. Clean set up and beautiful sunshine.
Got seated around 12:15. Order taken around 12:35. Onion soup came out pretty fast. And the entree came around 1:20. There were not that many people there and the service could be faster.
The onion soup was good. Ordered scallop rice ( which was not on the menu) which was ok... the scallop and rice were a little bit too saucy which takes away the freshness the scallop, it's a little bit over cooked. and the avocado omelette was very delicious.
Dessert was mango sorbet and it's awesome.

Hungry and on the go, my friends and I opted for Cafe Brioche over the french restaurant next door which may have been a huge mistake. They chose here due to a larger menu to choose from but I guess mother never told them quality over quantity!
As this is a french restaurant, or atleast they call themselves that... I ordered the croque madame. I was extremely sad to see the french dish to be made with mediocre sliced bread from the grocery store. Perhaps for $17 I can get some french bread!
My friends ordered the omelettes and belgian waffle with nutella. This cafe charged $2 for a spoon-size portion of nutella....
Keep in mind I don't mind paying any amount of money on food as long as it was delicious. This entire meal was certainly far from that.

On top of that, our waters were never refilled, they didn't make my friend's mocha because "their chocolate wasn't good" and it took about 25 minutes to get the check.

Definitely do not recommend if you're looking for quality french food. I'm sure the Huevos Rancheros would have been better since their french food was far from it!

My friend Mark and I ate at this place yesterday 2/23/2019... mid-afternoon during their brunch. We were sat pretty quickly at a cleaned table... the place was fairly packed and given the time of day, we were glad. So far off to a good start.

And that's where it ended. The wait staff was overwhelmed. I'm not sure if the owner/manager just didn't plan or expected the crowd size. What I do know that, after watching the more experienced wait staff struggle with the kitchen to get our neighbor's kid salmon salad right...Like our neighbor's husband had taken his daughter's food back to their serving window. It's was their 2nd attempt to get his baby's food right. They were not happy. Another table started getting frustrated as well...over how long it took for their food to be delivered. That mature guy's face screamed..."I'm done with being nice." They were there when we got there...

As we waited for our food...I saw several new customers wait for 10 minutes at the host stand, before a staff member stopped what they were doing to greet them. 2 ladies decided to just leave. And 1 stayed... and was patient.

Once our food arrived..we both were like "really?" The potatoes are cold. The food was not prepared as the menu described...nor as requested. We made a decision to just hurry up and leave. Neither us had eating anything all day... and after my ER visit for my eyes... we were like done.

The only good thing about this place... small full size bar and it's a quaint place. What was prepared for us... was ok if it was made by your mom or the person you are dating.... and that won't cost 40 bucks plus a tax and tip.

First time visiting during the farmers market. The wait wasn't too bad compared to the other locations on the avenue. However we had to ask for waters after ordering and waiting for them, the food came to the table without the bread, and my dish came out on a soaking wet plate making everything on it cold where it touched the plate. We sat for a good while waiting for our check and the table next to us got their check twice since the server forgot someone had their credit card. I will not be returning there are much better options in Palo Alto for breakfast.

I should add that the food was okay.... but the service is horrible!!!

This review is about delivery (I do not know if quality is better when you dine in).

A few of us ordered Cafe Brioche for lunch with one of the delivery services. The food looked very pretty but a bit pricey. We decided to order just to check it out.

Well the food was not up to par with what we expected. We ordered two steak sandwiches (sandwich au steak). I attached one picture of what they looked like. There was barely any meat on the sandwich and it has a large Romaine lettuce stem. Was expecting a bit more steak for $14.95.

The Caesar salad ($10.95) looked like a side salad. I also attached a picture. The quality was also lacking and the lettuce themselves were all stems and not cut/chopped at all. They were huge pieces.

Very disappointing and not worth the price.