La Cigale French Bistro

Tried this restaurant tonight after walking past it so many times. The food was very good: rich and full of flavour! We loved the special mushroom penne with prosciutto and the dessert chocolate mousse was to die for. The service was excellent (aside from having to ask for the bill twice) and the atmosphere was quaint. I will be back to try other dishes!

Last night’s meal was absolutely embarrassing. I was treating out of town family to dinner and saying how much I love this restaurant. It let me down tremendously even though the food was delicious.
There were only two servers working and they were swamped. They turned away a walk in saying it’d be an hour wait, so they left. They were so busy and scrambled that they didn’t bring us menu or water for around 10 – 15 minutes. Half the specials board was scratched out already. We ordered food and then our baguette took forever to show up. Then our other 2 appetizers were nowhere in sight and we had already devoured half the baguette. Then the pâté came. It did not come with any cured meats as it always does. We got a salad with it… that’s never happened before. Then as we were waiting for the last appetizer, he tells us that they’re out of the one we ordered. It demonstrated that the kitchen and front end weren’t remotely on the same wave length. We then ordered another appetizer that took way too long. While waiting for our entrees (this is over an hour into the meal), the server informs me they’re out of the entrée I ordered. Are you kidding me? Wouldn’t they have known maybe when he put in my order… not over an hour later? Fine, I ordered something else. 1.5hrs into our meal we still don’t see entrees. I’m quite pissed off considering I love this restaurant and it was not remotely a well oiled machine like it usually is. We ask where the entrees are and are already looking up other restaurants to go to to finish off our dinner. The food shows up and it’s as amazing as it always is. The food here always deserves 5 stars. Always!
Turns out the chef is new apparently, according to the waiter. Apparently he was the only one working the entire kitchen. Almost every table had some portion of their meal comped or they had free desserts. Whatever happened was a one off, but it was just so drastically different from every meal I’ve had here in the past that I can’t forgive it. It was an awful perfect storm.

This restaurant rightfully deserves the classification of French bistro. It’s a comfortable little joint with quaint décor, French accented servers and mouthwatering French food.
The pâté was fantastic and the portion size was generous. Also, if you order a side of French baguette, it comes with a delectable olive spread.
My favourite entrée was the short ribs. Not only was each bite effortlessly tender, but the sauce was rich and densely flavoured naturally by the meat.
The steak frites was decent. We had wanted the moules frites, but it was sold out.
Even the dessert was impressive! The passion fruit cheesecake was nice and light, with a thick crumbly crust, teamed with a tangy passion fruit purée.
C’est magnifique!

Really nice restaurant with very friendly service! Dishes I like here are the escargot (with baguette of course), beef bourguignon, and lamb. The French onion soup isn’t to my taste though since it’s made with a vegetarian broth and so I find it lacks the richness that I like. The cheese on it is great though. If you like ile flottante, they have a beautiful presentation.
A quaint little place that’s quickly becoming a regular spot for me!

Fabulous lunch at La Cigale today!
Mussels & fries for me and Pasta Carbonara for Angela. They make everything themselves: sausages, breads, smoked fish & meats, and so on. Brigitte, the owner, is welcoming, open & delightful! Her son Kevin the Chef does it all. Schooled from the cradle since they lived above their restaurant in France.
Looking forward to being there on a sunny summer day when they roll up the windows and you feel like you’re right on the street!

First off the service was great except for one blunder. We asked for an order of baguette but the guy forgot. Had to ask a second time. The owner came by to ask how things were especially hearing feedback from us on a new item roast of lamb. We were the first to try out the item. A sign of a great restaurant. Very tender but the portion is small in comparison with the beef short ribs. My favourite dish that night was cod in white wine sauce accompanied by vegetables like carrots, grill leek, and mini potatoes. Beef short ribs slightly over cooked due to a little too high heat. During the slow and low process. All ingredients were fresh.
The atmosphere was west coast casual with a touch of Parisian. Overall a nice experience. Worth trying.

Came on Friday night. We shared a few items:
Puff pastry appetizer (⁹⁄₁₀)
French onion soup (⁷⁄₁₀)
Baguette and tapenade (⁸⁄₁₀)
Short rib in pepper cream sauce (⁸⁄₁₀)
Overall, very good french food. The puff pastry appetizer was delicious and freshly made. The Onion soup was exactly that, it’s always good but once you get past the cheese, most of the fun is over (right?). The short rib was really good and cooked perfectly. All items were beautifully presented, but the place is a tad expensive. Too many items in the $ 25+ range, specifically what’s on their list of specials. Service was OK.
Will be back, likely if someone else pays for it ;)

I love this restaurant. 4.5 might be a bit more accurate, because there are only a few drawbacks — it’s a bit small and cramped for how busy it is. The food though, is pretty spot on. I went there for new year’s eve dinner and there was a special menu — which we actually didn’t know about, and it would have been nice for them to note it on their website — through which we made the reservation. My boyfriend was really looking forward to the shortribs, which weren’t on the special menu (he’s had them there before, and they are spectacular). They did have a two leg duck confit, which is my favourite, so I was very pleased. It was very good, but could have been crisped up a little bit more. I really enjoyed it though, and the service was excellent, despite the fact that they were swamped for New Years. The prices are quite high, but pretty much what you expect from a nice french restaurant.

Went there for a peaceful dinner with flavourful French food. The acoustics in the restaurant were horrible. They had a large group and it was louder than a sports bar
Also The Coq au Vin was more like Coq au gravy. More bone than chicken and a flavourless thick gravy.
Way better restaurant options in Vancouver for sure.

I came here last night for dinner with my boyfriend and his family. We had gotten the groupon deal for 4 people, which included two appetizers, four entrees, and two deserts. I have to say when we first walked in and got seated, I didn’t get a good impression. This was because we got seated and the servers kind of ignored us, or gave me the impression that we were being ignored. But, benefit of the doubt, the restaurant was packed and everyone basically got seated at the same time and once it die down a little, our server was pretty good in her attention to our needs.
The seating I have to say was satisfactory, but if the restaurant is busy, it can get very crampted as it is a small restaurant. The service, like I said got better once it got a little bit less busy. The food was very well presented and plated, the only thing I didn’t like was that the food was on the salty side. The deserts were very delicious! Over all, I think this would be a restaurant I would recommend. I would come back to this restaurant next time I am in Vancouver.

I liked this place, even though I don’t speak French
I showed up without a reservation at 6pm and was seated with one other person quickly. Service was really good. The reason for the 4 star over a 5 star was because it was pretty darn good, but nothing earth shattering. I would probably have given 4.5 stars if I could

Good food, good wine, good service. Hubs and I really enjoyed our meal. This will be one of our go to resto in town

We started with the salade nicorse (tamatoe salad). This also comes with canned tuna served on crostini. We thought that the dish was expensive at $ 16.
The beef short ribs were very tender immersed in super tasty sauce. There is fat layer between that some health contious people might be concerned with.
The sea bass was done just right. The sauce served with it was amazing.
The veggies that was served with the main course were roasted and very enjoyable.

I came here because I bought a Groupon. Took my parents here. The place is quite small and the food is good. but for its price, I think I would rather go for a higher end French restaurant with better food. I had their chicken special and its only a Chicken leg but it was marinated but not to the point it was to the bone. This is not chop competition so you don’t have time limited to cook it.
As well, had the lamb shank and it was the same as the chicken leg. Again both the lamb shank and the Chicken leg are tasteless.
This is not a genuine French French cooking restaurant. It is a genuine Canadian French restaurant that is trying to be a french restaurant. This is a family ran business. The restaurant is small but they don’t provide the same service as other French restaurant.
I guess this place has to rely on Groupon in order to get people to come in. I live in the hood and this place is not that busy. It was busy when they first had the groupon up for sale and after that there are one or 2 tables and that’s about it. At times, the place is empty.
Hint they are not doing the Groupon Sale anymore because the hype has died down. They had the La Cigale Groupon sale for a long time. :(people are buying from La Régalade instead.

A-​OK for a Canadian French restaurant. No, not a French Canadian restaurant. I mean a French restaurant in Canada. In Vancouver. Far from the city of lights.
The service was great. Brigitte gave us a great wine suggestion (Cotes Rhone Delas), and I found her very professional and friendly.
We came with a Groupon which was $ 55 for one starter, two mains, and one dessert. To start, we had the millefeuille beet salad, which was a petite tower of 3 or 4 sliced beets with herbed goat cheese and some pine nuts with olive oil and balsamic reduction for $ 11.50. The flavours were good, but having eaten at many bistros in Paris, I felt the price was way too steep.
Moving on to the mains:
The hubs had the salmon galette, which was a nicely-​sized piece of fish and was just to his liking.
I had the beef cheeks, and unfortunately didn’t end up enjoying my dish. Due to my ignorance that this part of the cow is actually quite fatty (it’s the facial cheek muscle of a cow), I ended up not enjoying this dish and couldn’t finish it due to the amount of fat on my plate. Live and learn. I have now been educated.
For dessert, we ordered the Floating Island, which was a dessert consisting of meringue, caramel, and sliced almonds floating in a vanilla sauce. This was delicious, and I felt it was quite unique.
So, while the service was great, and there were some very good dishes, I felt it was very expensive even with the Groupon. My total minus the $ 55 groupon was $ 42 + $ 23 tip on the original price, so in total I paid $ 120. I think I would come back again to try the prix fixe menu at lunch time to get more value as my experience was mostly positive.

The food was not bad? favorite part was the desert. The service was bearable because of the team work. Our designated server (French guy) was too hurried for a what was supposed to be a quaint/​intimate early dinner… He didn’t take time to explain any of the menu items… food and drink order at the same time, etc.
Most of all, the ambiance of the restaurant needs work. The wooden chairs have no cushions and the floors are a stone tile making for a very very cold fall dining experience.
I would give it another try if they ever renovate their space.

My friend and I had dinner at La Cigale about two days ago. We used a groupon deal that was $ 29 for $ 50 worth of food. Unfortunately, even with the groupon, the meal was not worth it.
We ordered the Lamb Shank and Duck Confit, along with a French Onion Soup to share.
The Lamb Shank was OK and was not as delicious as most people described it here on Unilocal.The dryness on the outside was too distracting and did not coincide with the interior. The inside of the lamb shank was easier to chew and less rough, but was not tasteful without the sauce on the side.
The Duck Confit was very poor. It was dry on the outside, inside, and even the complementing potatoes were overdone.
The French Onion Soup was also not as great as expected as the reviews here praised it to be. The cheese was well done but the soup was tasteless. As it is a French Onion soup, I expected the soup portion to be the most outstanding part. It was a disappointment.
I have definitely tasted better French food and unfortunately, La Cigale does not top one of my favourites.

My previous review was written for the previous version of this restaurant, Bistrot Bistro.
My experience was Cigale was disappointing despite their best intentions. I came with 6 others and had a reservation for 7:30 and somehow the restaurant had planned very, very poorly for our arrival. No table was available and we were not seated for another 45 mins when a table of 4 left. We were then squished into that table (with some maneuvering). This part of the experience was the worst I’ve encountered in many, many years.
That said, the staff tried to keep the mood light and the food was quite good. We were comped a couple deserts at the end of the evening but to overbook to that degree is unacceptable.
There are many very good casual French restaurants in Vancouver so while I’m willing to forgive I’m unlikely to forget and I’ll choose to go elsewhere when I want French food.

Read the reviews on the French Onion Soup and decided to try it out. There’s a lot of onions and not a lot of broth, the taste is on the sweeter side compared to most FOS I’ve tried, its good that I like sweet foods though but I can see people not enjoying this.
The baguette is average but isn’t complimentary, if I ever come again I will definitely skip it. Its served with tapenade but you can ask for butter.
The rabbit is loaded with olives and too sour, I can’t taste the actual meat underneath the sour. It comes with fries that aren’t crispy. Just bad all around.
Seafood vol Au vent comes with a rich creamy sauce with a good seafood taste. I’m not a huge seafood guy but I loved this dish.
The lamb shank is on the tougher side but that’s not to say it wasn’t tasty. The sauce is a little tart but works well with the gameyness of the lamb. The couscous on the side was barely warm and the portion was way too much for the amount of lamb and sauce you get.
vanilla crème brûlée has a nice thin crust, the custard is served cold which I actually like and the custard is solid.
plum tart is again too sour for me but I’m sure some people would love it, the pastry came out a little soggy underneath the plum.
Service is great and happy to translate for you, something I appreciate in a French restaurant. Would’ve given ³⁄₅ for the food alone but the ambiance and service bumped it up.

Great place for a date out on Kits. With its French flair from the menu items to the ambiance, we had an enjoyable time. Food was great, we had escargots to start off with, and had the simmered Rabbit and Fish, all was delicious!
So many other items to choose from I needed another stomach and will come again!