Bistro Maxine

Dog friendly seating. They even offer a bowl of water for pups. Gluten free batter!

Authentic( French) crepes.
Great little place with friendly stuff.
I can not fine one little thing that is wrong with this place.
There is also gluten free option!

Just ok. My omelette was fine but bland. Husband had a crepe, which he described as similarly unmemorable. Fruit bowl was cheap (melon and grapes), no berries or seasonal fruit. Service was good but we're unlikely to return.

Contrary to many other Yelp reviews, they do NOT have gluten free crepes. They have a buckwheat batter, but it contains wheat flour as well. Our server checked with the kitchen to be sure.

This is THE place to go for crepes in downtown Palo Alto. Charming French atmosphere, great menu of sweet and savory crepes, salad, wine etc. They are limited on space, but I've gone at 6 pm and had no problem getting a table. Fast or average service. Very friendly staff. I pretty much never drink wine, but they have a great Viognier. THEY CAN ALSO MAKE GLUTEN-FREE CREPES!
The only drawback is they don't have a restroom, but you can go next door at the hotel.

Terrible service, gluten free crepes like glue....

I have eaten at Bistro Maxine probably 10 times total and it has gone slightly downhill, until today. I can say that this is my Last trip there.
We came at 2pm as a party of four, the waiter said it would be a 10 minute wait and then warned us that they were closing at 2:30. when the other party left, the waiter neglected to clean off the table, offer us menu's or offer us a seat. He had no eye contact or visible social skills at all. Finally, when the table was cleaned, we walked to it and waited for menus, or a drink order.... for 15 minutes, while we watched others get seated and served around us. Finally I asked for our order to be taken. We ordered all of the crepes we were going to eat since they were to close at 2:30. The waiter was completely unable to comprehend our order, and ended up completely messing up/skipping/ misordering most of our lunch. At some point a femal waiter came in and tried to salvage the mess that was happening in the restaurant. Come on though, it only holds 18 customers tops... it isn't rocket science to write down orders correctly and then serve people in order of arrival, or is it??

Gluten free crepes gummy, under cooked and gross... stomach ache from them, buckwheat crepes overcooked and hard....crappy service and an additional huge bill that was wrong!
Thanks, my birthday lunch was terrible!

Get: Maxine WITH ham or some meat


Quaint place. Slower service but understandable because notamy employees and small. The hot chocolates are really big and pretty but I wasn't blown away by the flavor. The butternut squash soup was really good especially with the bread. Super hot and a little thick and sweet.
The crepes are available as buckwheat or gluten free which is nice. I got the Maxine - spinach ad cheese and mushrooms and egg. The Maxine was good. Buckwheat was nice. It would have been perfect with some ham in there to add a little more flavor. But it was healthy. My moms had ham and hence more flavorful. Overall very good.

I have to say the service was awesome, the cafe itself is adorable and I was with great company.

As for the food, I was expecting it to taste more like SF's Ti Couz (which I'm still looking for that kind of authenticity). They didn't have the gluten-free batter that day so I got the buckwheat (which is always a good alternative for me with my wheat sensitivity), but it was a little on the thicker side and the inside filling wasn't as savory as I expected and was a little drier than the way I like my crepes.

But I'd go back and try another crepe. I always like to give places a second chance, especially if the service is good and the atmosphere is nice.