Le Central Affordable French

Oh no! Oh no!
It is with a heavy, broken heart, I say au revoir to Le Central. :(
For the past 12 years, I’ve celebrated my birthdays here. Soo many memories, so many wonderful desserts, so many happy memories. So I said good bye to one of my all-​time favorite restaurants last Friday night to have my last bucket (ok… 3 buckets, but who is counting) of Italienne mussels before they shut their doors for good.
Good bye, Le Central. You will be missed. :(

Due to the announcement of the restaurant’s upcoming closing, they were at 100% capacity. Still, our server, Scott, was attentive and gracious. One of the two moules we ordered lacked sauce, probably due to the overworked kitchen. The other was perfect. We ordered all three varieties of escargot and I would order each one again, all delicious and all very different from each other. For dessert, the Le Central, the Mousse au Chocolat and the Gâteau au Chocolat were on point. A wonderful evening out with friends with perfect French Bistro atmosphere. The closing of these doors will be a heartbreaking loss for Denver.

I’ve been here multiple times over the years, and have always had a good meal.
That said, there are items on the menu I just do not enjoy at all.
That also said, I always go for mussels and fries now. Big portion on the cheap, and I always leave happy.

I found this place while walking around downtown Denver, a little lost. The design of the building caught my attention so I checked out the menu and I was sold.
I was in France for a month and this is the closest I have gotten to a real French restaurant in the states. Love this place. Moules et frites (muscles and fries) are amazing.

I have to admit, I’m an absolute fan of Le Central and have been for the eight years I’ve been coming here, but today just felt off.
Firstly, the bread, which is usually very fresh and a wonderful combination of fluffy with a crunchy outer crust and served with rich French sweet cream butter, was much less so this time. It tasted like pre-​frozen mini loaves that were thawed the day of serving. Looking around, these loaves are kept in big plastic tubs at waiter stations. Hardly the pinnacle of proper bread. The butter was also a whipped, near-​flavourless standard discount style for restaurants and lacked any French enthusiasm. Quite a disappointment.
My mother started with the chacuterie, which featured really wonderful homemade sausage, but lacked the rillettes in favour of a lanky salad that dominated most of the plate. There was much less meat than the last time we came here. Her entrée was the mussels in a mustard, bacon, and cream sauce, but they were recently changed to larger, much grittier mussels in lieu of the standard smaller, plumper, sweeter, and overall much more delicious stock. She was quite disappointed, as was I.
I decided to go with the Chef’s choice (Vietnamese and French fusion today) and started with a twist on the standard crèpe. Unfortunately what could have been a light and lovely starter turned out to be an overly thick, bland half-​crèpe-​half-​pancake topped with pork, shrimp, and copious amounts of arugula. I had to add quite a bit more than a dash of salt to make it enjoyable. For my main dish, I went with the «Shaking Beef», and I presume the «shaking» part came from the incredible amount of salt already in the dish when it came. The sauce was too salty, presumably from caramelised soy sauce in which the meat and vegetables were drowning, and more for garnish. The ending dessert was a simple rice pudding, but it lacked imagination and the best part was a macaron placed on top. Thankfully the macaron was sweet and flavorful, contrasting a plain, under spiced rice pudding with bland chunks of fruit.
We really do like this restaurant, and have for very long, but tonight wasn’t a good experience for either of us. It feels as though new management stepped in and is trying to cut costs wherever it can. But when it comes to French food, the extra cost is more than worth it. This quirky little restaurant has lost its flavour, literally, and we would love to come back again, but not with the food as it stood.

Delicious French restaurant that lives up to its name: very reasonable prices. I’ve been here a few times and every time I come, it seems to only get better. I love their escargot in bleu cheese sauce. Yum! Also the mussels with french fries are delicious. The patio area is a really nice place to dine, as it feels like you are outside, but it’s completely enclosed. Definitely make reservations. We came in on the spur of the moment once on a random weekday and they gave us exactly 45 minutes before a reservation was going to take our table. I’ll never make that mistake again. For a frequent visitor of France herself, I can say that I feel the French would be proud. This is a very good French restaurant.

Came here with a group of Unilocal friends to try out the variety of mussels. Well, what a variety there was! I think there were 8 of us and we each got a different flavor of mussel, each served in a HUGE pot, and I think only 1 of us finished it all by themselves. Delicious! My favorite part was dipping the amazing, fresh bread into the cooking sauce in the pot — why must you be so filling, bread!!! And the price for this gigantic vat of wonderful? like 12 bucks or something… yeh. I hate the parking situation, and the service was meh, but the food is totally worth the trip downtown.

Sometimes Le Central is super delicious and straight-​up magical. Sometimes you get stringy, nearly inedible mussels with hardly any broth and stale bread. That’s the way it goes with Le Central. If I were to rate them on their best day, I’d shower them with stars; unfortunately, the food quality is just too inconsistent. On the positive side, the service is always good, their fries are yummy, the atmosphere is very warm and the prices are pretty reasonable. I’ll definitely give them another chance in spite of their off days, in hopes of getting another magical night.

Unpretentious French Food in a cozy downtown Denver spot.
I’ve walked by Le Central for over a decade, but for whatever reason, never made it in. Decided to give it a try with my sweetie this evening and was not disappointed.
The décor was quite simple. No undue fluffery or touristy French nonsense. Food was well prepared. I had the vegetable risotto. It was cooked beautifully and seasoning was perfect. A subtle dish, as I believe risotto should be. My wife had the chicken breast with balsamic strawberries, which was interesting and tasty. Nothing flashy here, just simple, well-​executed dishes.
I’m giving Le Central 3 stars because although the food was well executed, there wasn’t anything that really wowed me. Still, I will likely return to further explore the menu and, perhaps, find my wow.

I really wasn’t too sure how I would fare with mussels, as I have had a mixed response with eating mussels in the past. I met up with a group of Unilocalers to enjoy mussels & frites. It turned out to be a fabulous experience and no stomachache the next day. Yay!
Cyn and I arrived a little early and had a chance to peruse the drink and mussels menu. I ordered a white wine cocktail (something with wine, lemonade, & lime juice) which was a perfect accent to the meal and not too sweet.
I decided to order the mussels pistou, which is a a basil pesto, shallots and parmesan. Of the 8 people there, almost everyone ordered something different, which was nice, because we all got to share and try some of the other varieties. I was very happy with the pistou and could not finish it. Man, the broth was ridiculous. The frites were good, but I could only eat a few and then I put all of my concentration into those mussels. I didn’t finish the bucket of mussels and passed mine down to another lady who seriously killed her bucket of mussels. I was impressed.
I really can’t wait to go back, b/​c I do still want to try their crème brulee. Super yummy and a great deal at $ 12.95!

I came here for an UYE and I’m so glad I did. The food was awesome but the company was totally awesomer!
Ordered the bucket of mussels with frites. Marinière (Parsley, white wine, shallots, and garlic) flavored. It was seriously a huge bucket of mussels but I did manage to finish. The sauce was outstanding, I loved dipping the bread into it and soaking up all the flavor.
For $ 12.95, the bucket of mussels and frites was such a great deal.

I am a fan, of the Mussels! Really it’s the main reason I go here.
This place has been around a while, I remember going here with my family for my sister’s birthday when we were younger, and just finally came back for a couple visits. The wine list isn’t huge but there are some great french wines listed, and the few we tasted were wonderful. The bread and butter is hard to pass up, the french onion soup is fabulous, and the different flavors of mussels are fun to share with the the table. The wait times can be hit or miss depending on when you go, but service has always been wonderful. Space and seating can be a bit cramped on a busy night, but sometimes it’s fun listening to your neighbors dinner conversation, ha! I love this place!

Le Central used to be one of my favorite restaurants. The vibe and the food were amazing. As the years have passed and a new chef stepped in, it’s not the same Le Central.
I tried it again last weekend to see if there were improvements but was disappointed.
Good things:
The bartender knew how to make a sidecar and they were delicious.
The vibe has always been one of my favorites. The seating is very traditional to how they have it in Europe which adds to the atmosphere.
We were seated quickly for not having a reservation.
My roommates meal was cooked accordingly and actually pretty good.
Parking and Location, the restaurant is really easy to get to and you can usually find parking.
Bad Things:
The French Bread isn’t the same. It’s obviously not made fresh like it used to be.
The server was new and didn’t know much in regards to how they do things there. (I can’t hold that against him since he was new).
We ordered an escargot appetizer, and didn’t get the one we ordered.
Had a Caesar salad and request a lemon wedge with it, the waiter brought me oranges. (I will hold that against him because everyone should know the difference between an orange and a lemon).
Finished our drinks and another server got us our second drinks because he noticed we were waiting.
I ordered the mussels and fries and to my disappointment, they were bland. The more wine, butter, garlic the better.
When we finished the waiter offered to box up the remainder of my meal and failed to include the fries. And to top it off, it was $ 80-​$ 100 and in my personal opinion, not worth it.

I had heard good things about this place but was truly disappointed. I ordered the
Bouillabaisse, it was really bad — poor quality seafood. My friend got the mussels, they were simply okay. Honestly the fries served with them were the best part of the meal. The service was very very slow, so slow that I chose not to send my meal back because it would have made us late for the next event we had planned. The waiter was unpleasant, to be sure. When I payed in cash he asked if I wanted him to reserve any of it for his tip, a trend that I find to be rude. Needless to say, I won’t be back.

Le Central is «La Bombe»
Le Central is one of my favorite restaurants … anywhere … and I have eaten at some of the best restaurants in the 39 countries I have visited. I was in India a week ago, but found out that my mom was hospitalized and dying, so I made my way over a 72 hour period to be by her side in Colorado Springs when she died on February 12^th, 2015. Long story short, I was taking my wife to the Denver airport so she could return to work and we decided to stop at Le Central for their Happy Hour menu.
We have been gone for seven years, but the place has not changed except for the being open in the afternoon with a limited, but exceptional menu. They offer a $ 3 glass of wine, escargots, crepes, their fabulous mussels and French fries (moules frites).
I has a glass of pinot noir ($ 3), which was excellent, the escargots in brioche ($ 7), and the moules Portuguese ($ 12.95). The pinot noir was dry, a deep red, and robust. The escargots were superb as usual and I mopped-​up every last drop with the wonderful French baguette. The Portuguese mussels were excellent with slices of chorizo and chunks of fresh tomato in the white wine based broth infused with garlic although the broth was not as plentiful as I would have liked as was the case in years past. The frites were excellent, perfectly salted and hot, but by the time I de-​shelled all of my mussels, they were not as hot as I would have liked … DRAT!
The prices have gone up a bit since we were there last, but Le Central is still an outstanding value. The service is always excellent, the food sublime and very reasonable, the wine list extensive, and the ambience country French. If you have not tried Le Central, you do not know what you are missing!
CombatCritic Gives Le Central the Coveted 10 Out of 10 Bombs … Plus Y’A De Bombes, Mieux C’Est! (The More Bombs, The Better — Correct Translation Courtesy Of Mel A From Austin, Texas)

I don’t know, maybe we visited on an off night, or maybe it is my gigantic dislike for snobby French people, but my opinion differs greatly than most others. Five of us ate last night for a Valentine’s Day dinner, so there was a set menu. No problem, lots of choices. I had the Bisque to start and the Filet as a main course. Yes, I consider myself a Filet connoisseur and have unbelievably high standards. Another in our party went with the Filet, one with Rabbit, and the remaining two have Salmon and Scallops over Linguini.
I am told the Rabbit was pretty darn good and the Salmon and Scallops were to die for. However, I found the Filet and Bisque both lacking in depth and flavor. Meaning the initial taste was ordinary and shallow, not unpleasant, but not like a fine wine as its complex flavor hits the entire palate. I ordered my Filet medium and it arrived perfectly cooked. Definitely not a top 10 steak for me.
The service was, well, just not good. Our reservations were at 8p and the restaurant was about half full and by no means busy. We had to track our server down several times for beverage refills, which is unacceptable. I like to food to arrive shortly after the previous course has been finished — we waited a minimum of 15 minutes between courses.
I will return to give them a second chance, like I said, maybe they were having an off night.

Excellent afternoon long french lunch.
Moules frites so delicious.
Service excellent.
A lovely french waitress, well informed.
Crème brûlée is perfect

I don’t know if they still refer to themselves as «the affordable French Restaurant,» but that’s why we started coming here about 15 years ago. It’s still one of our faves — they never disappoint. Memorable French fare and incredible service, for a reasonable price. Highly recommended!

Mussels: good to great
Service: absolute crap
Dining space: definitely eat on the patio (year round)
I am addicted to their mussels and its become a staple of mine whenever I come back to Denver. I also love their intimate patio — even in the winter, you can sit in the covered and heated patio and bask in the intimate glow of soft lights and hanging plants. Their house red wine is tasty and the clientele is fairly unpretentious.
All these things are great. The service kills me. At my last visit we were at the table for 10 full minutes without even a greeting or water. I watched as our waitress bantered with other staff (clearly on non-​work-​related matters) and then literally stood staring at nothing at the water station for a good minute or two. She looked bored and no matter how many times I set my best assertive yet puppy dog eyes full of hunger glance on her, she just looked around.
Finally 10 minutes later she comes with water and apologizes for the wait as if circumstances were out of her hands. During our meal, she proceeds to interrupt me in the middle of conversation not once, not twice, but SIX times. Homegirl, I ain’t talkin’ about the weather. I am fully invested in this conversation. Let me finish my damn sentence before you interrupt with «is everything ok?»
Of course, as with most poor service, they are there when you don’t need them and they disappear when you do (like when you’d like a check, you’ve stacked the dishes in front of you, and placed the credit card on the table for them to see — the hint was not taken for 15 minutes).
Sigh. Point being, if you’re in absolutely no rush and have no penchant for attentive waitstaff, you will be just fine with a big bucket of mussels and a charming atmosphere.

This is a good restaurant, solid. Nice French flair. A little attitude, some accents, hot flavorful food.
Two major points detract stars for me and those are parking (you have to pay $ 5 for the attached lot or deal with a meter), and the place is just a little shabby: Sticky vinyl table clothes, beat up chairs, and old paint and décor job from 1982.
The food however was nice, and they paced the meal like the Europeans– slow, easy– plenty of time to talk. We enjoyed the menu of the evening: $ 29 for 4 courses consisting of a soft shell crab appetizer (fresh tarragon popped!!), a stuffed chicken breast (the chic airplane cut), a salade, and a blueberry cobbler for dessert. The chicken and crab were absolutely delicious. The salad and cobbler were just ok.
We had a nice time, and the soufflés walking past looked amazing!

Affordable french dining indeed. Everyone is raving about the Mussels. I came here for Sunday brunch. People were waiting in line for them to open. I love the B52 coffee they have. It’s nice and strong… a little bit too creamy for me so I diluted with coffee.
Vegetarian omelet is huge same with my friend’s waffle. The setting is in an old but cute house. Le central is one of a kind!

Donc, c’est un examen pour le restaurant français écrit en français.
Comment d’origine — l’humour auto-​référencement.
Maintenant que nous avons que de la route, l’examen peut commencer.
Dieu merci, je fait des réserves, parce que cet endroit est populaire.
Il a été très occupé quand nous sommes arrivés, mais nous avons été accueillis chaleureusement et place rapidement.
Le tableau a vacillé. Il a été ennuyeux. Rien de mauvais, mais comme je suis obsessionnel-​compulsif sur les petites choses qui n’ont pas d’importance, je l’ai remarqué.
Vous né serez pas.
Mon compagnon manger suggéré que nous commencions avec les moules, qui a été une très bonne chose.
Ils étaient au beurre, succulente et la texture parfaite. Toute personne qui sait comment faire cuire les moules est génial dans mon livre, car ils sont terriblement faciles à perdre.
La carte des vins a été un peu moins que prévu, mais il a été autorisé comme je l’ai été plus légèrement tanké quand nous sommes arrivés.
Le service était attentif, mais pas trop envahissantes.
J’ai eu un aloyau avec une sauce succulente douceur de champignons, qui a été servi avec des pommes de terre cuites à la vapeur et de sélection des légumes.
J’ai failli mourir il a été si bon.
Dans l’ensemble, je suis très impressionné et sera certainement revenir encore et encore et encore et encore …