Pardon My French

Tonight the hubby and I ventured out for our second trip to Pardon My French Bakery, Cafe and Wine Bar.  The first trip was a Saturday afternoon several weeks ago.  While the overall experience of the first visit was ok, I definitely wanted to give it a second try.

Let me start by mentioning the layout of the restaurant.  It's a large, awkwardly laid out space.  One area is like a coffee shop with oversized chairs, computers, reading material.  Then in the middle of the restaurant is a gas fireplace with sofas and tables surrounding it.  Then the other side of the restaurant has tables and the aforementioned wine bar.  I felt that it couldn't decide what it wanted to be.

The second aspect of the restaurant that left me scratching my head was the clientele.  Nothing was wrong with the individuals themselves, but the first time we went there was a huge group of high school (or college) aged students who took up a large portion of the restaurant.  They didn't seem to be eating much, but rather socializing, etc.  Tonight there was a jewlrey party (Lia Sophia) in the middle of the room.  While they weren't altogether distracting, I just struggled with whether or not this was a restaurant or a community center. The side of the room we were on this evening was all females.  I think the hubby was estrogened out.

Now, onto the food.  During the first visit I had the quiche special.  Two quiches with a side salad.  I had the Quiche Lorraine and the Asparagus, Tomato, Chicken Quiche.  Both were good, but I tired of the spinach pretty quickly in the Quiche Lorraine.  There was a ton of spinach in the quiche.  The second quiche was more evenly balanced and tasted good.

Tonight we both went with the Tart Flambe.  The menu noted that it was a 25 minute preparation time for these and so we waited.  The tarts came out and were essentially flatbread pizzas.  Mine consisted of a lot of cheese, onions, and bacon.  It tasted very good, but I couldn't finish the entire thing.  I still am puzzeled by why a flatbread type pizza takes 25 minutes to prepare.  Thankfully my new iPhone comes in handy when you have a lot of waiting to do.  We finished dinner by sharing a piece of dessert - Raspberry Pave.  It was a lot of chocolate and very rich.  I washed the meal down with a glass of red wine.   

So, we gave it the second try it deserved.  Not sure it will get a third visit anytime soon.  While the food was good and the service was fine, I just can't get passed the idea that they don't know what they want to be.  Even the title of the restaurant sums it up pretty well - is it a bakery, a cafe or a wine bar.  Is it a community center, a library, or a place to just hang out. 

Happy eating!