Café De Paris

Café de Paris is now closed. Café de Paris was a nice friendly neighborhood restaurant that served wonderful food. They also have a nice bar area with music entertainment on the week-​ends. The food was absolutely wonderful, and always had a great time there. Eric, the owner always made sure that everyone was entertained. We’ll miss you!

I read from HoChow that this place was already closed for good in July.

After hearing so much about this place, I had to try it.
1^st time: ordered French Onion soup. Slow service during lunch time, empty restaurant and the soup was too salty.
2^nd time: Decided to give it another chance, ordered a Ratatouille crêpe. There was barely any filling inside of it, the crêpe was very dry and doughy. Slow service. The one waitress working was nowhere to be found and also a little awkward.
My advice, try something else in the area.

When I moved to the area — this one was one place, in particular, I was excited to try out. A cute Parisian café with wonderful crepes that has been around for over a decade and a half. It was everything I expected as I stepped in. A whimsical feeling, with clients who have been going for years, gracious hosts — and the fresh fruit crêpe with fresh whip crème was amazing.
Unfortunately, our first chance to come visit was also our last. The waiter informed us, as he sat down next to us, it was there last day. Actually, the day before was their last day, but they remained open while packing up. The menu was limited, but we still found a few savory crepes to savor. Sure — there was a delay for more batter to be made — but, as I told the server «it’s not like I’ll be coming back anyways».
So — au revoir Café De Paris — I wish I could have gotten to know you much better!

went to give them a try for Howard County restaurant week yesterday. Server told us no restaurant week special — they are listed on the Howard County restaurant week website. Food is mediocre and overpriced. There are better restaurants out there for the price.

The place is very cute and quaint. I ordered the bacon, egg and cheese crêpe with a cup of coffee. The eggs were extremely runny and The waiter had to be asked to replenish my coffee. The gentlemen sitting at the table next to me had the same exact complaints. We all refused to eat our meals because of the raw eggs, but the kitchen was closed so we couldn’t put in orders for exchanges. I gave two stars simply because of the ambiance.
The staff was friendly and the kitchen seems to be family run, but the meal was extremely subpar overall.

This restaurant is a gorgeous, white-​tablecloth, candlelit dinner setting that is very romantic. There is lovely French artwork and music playing, and sometimes there are live performances as well. The waiter that always serves me is Benoit, and he has a lovely French accent and is quite an adorable man. Needless to say, this restaurant seems to be quote authentic.
The wine list is extensive and can be very pricy, especially when looking at the champagnes. However, they are delicious and affordable. Last time I went (yesterday), I was going to try a white wine (Wilm, $ 32) but they didn’t have it– so Benoit gave me their other Alsace French white for the same price! It was a delicious wine, and I typically don’t like white wines (this was very subtly sweet but dry at the same time, and paired excellently with my escargot, Caesar salad, and French Onion soup). The white wines are served with a cold stone to keep the bottle inside.
The food… Oh my goodness. Everything here is delicious. Even though the bread costs extra, it is something to enjoy because it is delectable. It tastes amazing dipped in the butter from the escargot, which is sublime. The first time I went to this restaurant, I placed two orders of escargot! I’ve had the Caesar salad (cut perfectly into small pieces instead of those long, narrow pieces you get at Outback Famous Dave’s), the French Onion soup (which doesn’t taste like it’s out of a can), the salmon on ratatouille dish, the beef dish (sorry, my French is abysmal, so I can’t even guess the name of the dish), the mussels in curry, and the fromage (cheese) assortment. They were all amazing!!! The only thing I was not so sure about was the mussels drowning in curry– you can’t even taste the mussels, just the curry. Also, the fromage comes with four types of cheeses: Brie, Gouda, a delicious Italian cheese, and an interesting curry cheese.
Don’t leave before ordering the crème brûlée. It is the most heavenly crème brûlée I’ve ever had the pleasure of eating, and it certainly is a pleasure to eat!!!

I do not live in the neighborhood and never heard of the place. An out of town old college room mate is visiting and staying in the area, so I was trying to find a place to have brunch. He stayed in Laurel, and there is only chain eatery in there. A friend suggested I try the next town in Columbia. This was the place come up with best brunch in Columbia.
I call up for a reservation, the owner Eric — who speaks with French accent stated to leave a message and he will call back to confirm. He did.
We arrived early, wanted to seat outside, there was only one table available, but the table was broken, the first waiter did not even state that, and said grab a chair. I thought I grab a chair or you grab a chair.
The deco is rustic and might need a fresh look, it seems it has been there for a while. I think Eric had been in the area for 20 years and started the place in Laurel and hen moved to the present venue.
Anyway, we went in and said in the corner with the big brown sofa. We ended with another waiter, he was great. I forgot his name. I stared by asking the history of the place.
There is a brunch specials, that is what ever stuffings on a croissant. My ex-​roommate and I ordered a Savory Crêpe, a Norwegian — smoke salmon, capers and sour cream. The other friend ordered a Norwegian on a croissant. I found that the crêpe was a bite cold, I asked the waiter it was made here, he said everything is except the bread and croissant. The crêpe is made up of buckwheat flour, so the color is grayish or light black. It was ok, but nothing outstanding. We finished it off with a dessert crêpe, he recommended butter and sugar and it was actually nice and warm and not too sweet. One of us had a strawberry crêpe with crêpe and it looks great too.
I would say the service is 4 stars but the food is 3 stars.
It was just nice to have a waiter that is friendly, informative, helpful and make recommendation with confidence and knows what he is talking about.

The poulet maison was a 5 star by itself – get it!
If you love white meat chicken, mushrooms, and creamy type foods-you’ll like this a lot.
Dark, «romantic» atmosphere with eiffel tower candle holders all over the place, and an older woman playing the accordian! Breaks the bank a little at $ 20-​$ 30 an entrée, but that dish is worth the splurge.

Café De Paris… a trip to Paris without the TSA pat down!
CDP (Café De Paris) is a small, but maze like place. When you first walk in the bar is to your left with 3 other sections jutting off, this review is only for the bar area since that is the only area we went.
The bar is small, but on certain nights its Jazz night and the music is great and the bar has very nice intimate feel too it. CDP also offers HH specials, which are decent, 5 dollar house wines and 2 dollar off cocktails… so ok sign me up! After ordering a drink we decided to order some apps, we ordered an order of fries and their cheese plate. Both were awesome! The fries were cooked with rosemary and salt, which was a great combo and they were cut shoe string style and fried perfectly! The cheese plate was good, came with 4 cheeses, a small salad, candied walnuts, strawberry, bread and crackers… i know it was a huge plate! lol Everything on the plate was good, the cheeses were top notch and the bread was great as well.
After having a couple drinks and apps, we decided to order food as well, one Chicken with mushrooms in a crêpe and one salad… both were great. The chicken was tender and the cheese and mushrooms were well cooked. My only negative was that it was heavy, but I knew that going in, plus the portion size is huge so be ready either with a take out box or a food baby!
Overall CDP was great! my only knock is the price, it can pretty high when most of the entrees are $ 20+ so thats my only negative, but I would recommend trying out jazz night if you like live music… an overall great experience.
So in the mood for some solid French food with a some jazz, Monsieur/​madam… then Café De Paris is your next stop… and no passport needed!
Time to fly, cheers!

We were a party of four. We started with the cheese plate; I especially enjoyed the curry cheddar, but my companions liked the smoked Gouda best. We moved on to soups and salad. My husband and I had the lentil with duck soup du jour which was delicious. Two in our party chose the ribeye, for entrees, I had Veal and the other diner had duck. Three clean plates and one nearly clean. The risotto croquette was especially nice with a dab of the veal gravy. Dessert was an apple tart for each of the gentlemen and shared profiteroles for the ladies, not to sweet. Perfect ending to a good hearty winter meal.
What we loved more than the food was the jazz and the conversations with the owner, Eric. He is warm and friendly, and he introduced us to others who worked there including the chef. He tells a good joke. It felt like being at someone’s home for dinner.
We will be back and hope you will try it. It’s nice to have a non-​chain local spot.

Very good food! Really enjoyed the French décor as I’m fluent in French. Had the crab omelet, which was a special. It could have had a little more meat, but it was still good. The home fries were excellent, too. Service was good as well. Will definitely go back. Nice little café.

This French-​style bistro is very local to me, and I go here every year or so, but more often than not, I find it ambivalent.
The menu is a bit limited. The mussels were excellent last time, but this time were bland and barely tasted of the promised curry. A bistro should have amazing bread, but the bland sliced bread could have been at an American chain.
Two versions of steak frite were okay (and the cheaper bar menu version of steak frite is a good value), but the fries weren’t as good as usual, and the meat was overcooked with far too much far too onion-​y sauce on top. It’s steak frite in a bistro, if they get NOTHING else right, this should be the dish they get right.
The wine list is extensive, but on our weeknight visit, the female bartender didn’t really know much at all about the wine (at a french bistro?!)– if you get the owner, you might do well, but he was busy chatting with some regulars. We picked a Cotes du Rhone that wasn’t bad, but it was luck, not thanks to the wine menu nor staff.
It was supposed to be a musical performance night (some sort of jazz), and within the posted (website) hours, but the musician sang a few moments and spent most of his time drinking with the regulars and owner. A couple of songs would have been nice…
The interior space is nice, cozy, cute. It raises hopes…
I really really want to like it– french, local, cute, musical events… But it disappoints more often than not. We had a good time because it was a date-​night, but for a $ 120+ date outing, I’d rather have a sense of really enjoying it, not just «ok». And when the schedule has performance on it, please provide performance or put up a sign saying it’s cancelled…

Cute interior and was expecting the food to be great as well!
Slow service, only one person was working there. Had their crab omelette and there was two little pieces of crab and loads of peas and carrots, and the potatoes that came with it were super salty!
Tried their hazelnut chocolate dessert crêpe, and it was a bit dry and doughy…

I first dined at Café de Paris around 10 years ago, when originally located in Laurel, and the restaurant has not lost a step! The welcoming from the staff is always warm and superb. The décor is lovely and easily brings me back to my travels in France and Quebec.
I absolutely recommend the Boeuf Bourguignon, Saumon Grille Ratatouille, Cassoulet Toulousain, and the Crevette Sautees (my personal fav). For dessert, the Chocolate Mousse, Profiteroles, and Crème Brulee are truly delightful.
As with all French restaurants, a good meal takes time to prepare so be sure to have a look at the wine list and aim for the live jazz nights! They also accomodate large parties, gatherings, and business meals. Hope you enjoy it as much as I have!

This review is for the Crêpe Café side of the restaurant. Walked in at 1:00 on a Sat afternoon to a completely empty restaurant, (first bad sign…) I ordered a double espresso, and moments later after hearing no espresso machine running in the completely silent establishment, an espresso cup appeared with some watery opaque light brown liquid. What was given to me was super sweet, and tasted more like hot chocolate than espresso. The only thing I can guess is that it was created with some kind of powdered instant mocha from an envelope. (second bad sign). — But like a trooper, I just asked for the espresso to be replaced with a glass of water.
On to the main course… Choices in the Crêpe café are pretty much Sweet or Savory Crepes & Paninis, so I opted for a Panini. Brie, Tomato, and Smoked Salmon. What came out was brie, tomato, and smoked salmon between two slices of lightly toasted presliced multigrain bread (right out of the Nature’s Promise bag I presume). I don’t really NEED the vertical lines showing that an actual panini press was used on my panini, but I tend to expect a panini to come either on sliced ciabatta bread, or on a french bread roll. So ultimately I ended up with a diminutive little toasted sandwich that I could have gotten from any deli. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz
I don’t know what the food is like in the dinner half of the restaurant, but based on my extremely sub par experience in the Café Paris side, I don’t think I’d bother giving the other side a try.

For the price and food quality, you can do far better than Café de Paris.
We arrived for an office dinner and were promptly seated in the nearly empty restaurant. At peak dinner hour. In Columbia. Bad sign #1.
They were out of the bottles of wine we chose. The one they recommended turned out to be completely, utterly, totally boring — almost flat/​corked (both bottles). At 3x retail, it looks like in retrospect. Bad sign #2.
The food — there were 8 of us — was uniformly bland, uninteresting, and pedestrian. At these prices it should have been great to outstanding. And, luckily, a friend was at a 1-​top not too far away and I checked with him the next day (to make sure we weren’t victim of Large Group Food — an understandable challenge) — this was his first time here and his food was just like ours: meh.
Desserts were good, and the staff was quite friendly, so that’s something.
All in all, a complete waste of money. There’s some great French food in the area (Tersiguels for example) so don’t bother with this.

Having driven past this place almost every day, as it’s a few minutes drive from our house, my wife and I finally decided to give it a try. This was our wedding anniversary dinner and I have to say that this was an enjoyable choice for such a personal event.
Let’s start with the ambiance, which is quiet, fancy, and gives a nice air to the experience. The staff were friendly and informative, particularly in regard to wine and favorites on the menu. Perhaps it felt empty because it was a rainy Monday evening, but it was still nice to be one of only a few diners throughout the place.
We had the Ratatouille, Duck, Veal, and some select desserts as well as a glass of the Riesling. All of these were cooked very well, with the vegetables crispy but not overcooked, the meat tender and juicy, and the sauces adding amazing flavor. I also have to make note of the amazing Croquettes, which were a nice crispy outside with a fantastic hot, soft interior. We finished up with two of the desserts, both of which were rich and filling.
I’m not a food connoisseur, but I do know good food when I’ve had it. Yes the place is a bit pricey (appetizer, two entrees, two desserts, two glasses of wine, and a coffee came to $ 100), but for a nice night out this place was worth it. We will definitely be visiting here again!

We just love this place. Very authentic French food. Always served with a smile. Try the foie GRAS and the champagne. The owner is always so warm and welcoming. Very reasonably priced food. I don’t see how any Unilocaler with knowledge of French cuisine could give this place a bad review. We love coming here c’est manifique!

I can’t believe it has taken me 10 years to return to Café de Paris. I have such fond memories of Café de Paris when they were in Laurel and now nice, new memories at the Columbia location.
We started off with the cheese and crackers which was a selection of 4 different cheeses, crackers and sliced strawberries and blueberries. The cheese selection included a tasty soft brie, morbier and 2 harder cheeses. We continued on with a crock of French onion soup which was rich and covered in melted gruyère. The mussels farmer style were perfect with bacon, shallots, tomato and white wine. The best part is the broth after plucking through the mussels. We finished off with salads. The house salad was a fresh pile of mescun tossed in a light vinaigrette, and the blue cheese and cranberry salad was a a nice finish to the heavier soup.
The service was good. Our sever was a bit quirky/​nervous but really nice. I kinda miss our server from years ago… server by weekday and competitive body builder by weekend. He was our lunchtime server in Laurel.
This is a nice large space with 3 separate seating areas including seating in the bar. There are booths and tables with bistro chairs. This is a great place for intimate dinners and larger gatherings. I’d like to return for a date night and try some of the entrees and rekindle the flame with Café de Paris.