Café Varenne

Ok… I really am looking for ways to dock businesses stars to make my reviews more relevant. But, this bistro hit it out of the park. Very welcoming!!! Gave us a beautiful table with view of the corner for people watching. The waiter was so helpful. He allowed me to try speaking broken french and NEVER acted hurried. Bread was amazing even for Paris… their rustic bagette… yum! The Parisien onion soup… magnificent. Finally a place that doesn’t over salt their food! Capuccino… great! Entrée warm goat cheese salad… so fresh, large portion, delicieux! All around amazing.

Go here!!! Amazing service… Top notch. Food is wonderful and I’d highly recommend a charrcuterierie plate.

The owner/​manager and staff were very nice even though my wife and I don’t speak much French. They had a handwritten English menu which did the job for us. The food was delicious and the price was very decent for the area. I’ll definitely come back here in a few days.

Excellent food, friendly and welcoming. They offered a hand written menu in English for us to understand the details of specials and we had 4 different plates, all excellent. The chilled haricot vert salad was particularly delicious as was roasted chicken and «black & blue» beef had a delicious, fresh taste. Bön appètit!

We had lunch here today, my partner had a cheese plate (very good) and I had a large Mozzarella/​Burrata salad, also very good. My salad had thin string beans that were cooked perfectly and had a mild pickle flavor. The staff was primarily young guys and all of them were great, very nice personalities and all spoke English. We split the lemon tart for dessert and it was luscious.

Wonderful desserts and delightful service. A true Paris experience. We stumbled across this place heard to the Grand Epicurean Gran Marche today and loved the recommended rice pudding and apple tart.

This restaurant was such a pleasant surprise. We came along after supper and stopped in for dessert and café au lait. The matre’d, Jerome, suggested we try the Tarte Taton and the Rice Pudding of all things and they were both amazing. The rice pudding was one of the best desserts I’ve ever tasted. Truly delicious. Even for someone who’s not a rice pudding fan. Has some crazy crunchy caramel chocolate drizzle on the top with pistachios that’s unbelievable! The atmosphere was so inviting we really were fortunate to find this little place.

Pleasantly surprised! We had an early dinner here with hubby and baby. Hubby’s steak tartare was fantastic, however I had the veal special with mushroom sauce which was however not as great. Service was fantastic so we really couldn’t fault it. I think I just chose the wrong dish for the night. Would definitely go back and try the duck confit next time. Very baby friendly — They had high chairs for the baby and would warm up the baby food.

I dined here twice recently: for dinner and breakfast. Both meals were good, service was friendly and efficient. No complaints – highly recommended if you’re in the area and want a good french café.

nice quaint neighborhood place with very friendly staff. Food was good for both of us along with glasses of wine. Enjoyed atmosphere. Will go back again on our stay in Paris.

Fantastic omelettes here. We came here specifically for their Omelette via Ina Garten’s suggestion. Conveniently Located near the Musee D’orsey in the Saint Germain area. The perfect French bistro café. Diners are mostly locals which always is a good sign. We had the most fantastic French country omelette ever. Had lardons, potatoes, & chives. Hot chocolate was pretty damn amazing here not as rich as Angelina’s drinking chocolat* which is located nearby. Service was outstanding as expected especially if your order properly in French & speak a little small talk with them ;). This is France a country where French is spoken everywhere not English people. So get with the program, don’t hate if you get attitude or bad service due to you not speaking or at least attempting something in French. Locals take that seriously in THEIR COUNTRY!!!

Lovely neighborhood bistro. Food was delicious could have done with some veggies though! Very accommodating to our two little boys, who are fussy eaters. The wine recommendation was excellent and not overpriced. Staff helpful with a good understanding of English. If you want to eat where French locals do eat here!

We had this for dinner one night in Paris. It was a cute little restaurant The waiter was very attentive and explained the menu in English. We split the French onion soup and it was amazing. It wasn’t salty, the flavors were just right. We had the steak which was pretty good also and came with a large side of fries. I would definitely come back and try the breakfast menu.

Best Omelettes in Paris! Fabulous hot chocolate! Our hotel was a couple of blocks away, so we ate here three times during our one-​week stay. They say that their omelettes are the best in Paris, and I can easily believe that. They were particularly light and fluffy. (Be prepared for them to roll their eyes if you ask for ketchup!) David Lebovitz said that the Pâtisserie Viennoise has the best hot chocolate in Paris; I tried both and thought Café Varenne’s was better! After your meal, stroll south on Rue du Bac. Angelina’s has fabulous chestnut cream pastries and a millefeuille to die for! There’s a linen shop on each side. There’s a chocolate shop on this block and another on the block north of the Café.

Had a great lunch sitting under the umbrellas last week in the rain. Great people watching and the two lunch specials were outstanding. Waiter was patient with my crummy French and was more than affable. Great coffee and dessert, «best lemon tart in Paris».

Refined and sophisticated. The terrine de maison and confit de canard are wise choices. Sip some Bordeaux and try not to act like a tourist

Closer to 3.5 or 3.75. Adorable place with great service. Had the escargot, beef tartare and Caesar salad. The escargot was amazing! (Got a second order). Beef tartare was a bit bland. Caesar was good, with a solid Dijon-​esque dressing.

My sister and I stopped here last week for dinner. The neighborhood is very cute with some cute little shops. Be sure to look around the area before you sit down to eat.
Food: I had the roasted chicken and my sister had the pasta. They both were delicious! We were too full for dessert.
Service: The service was fantastic. Our waiter was a very kind about our non existent French and even poked fun at us a little bit. Other waiters stopped by throughout the evening and were also very fun to talk to.
Cleanliness: The restaurant was immaculate and the bathroom was by far the best/​cleanest we experienced in Paris.
Prices: Typical for Paris. We had wine and 2 entrees for about 30E
Stop by here! It’s definitely worth it!

Lovely home-​cooked food in a quiet, clean, inviting atmosphere. I ordered the legume soup and lentils with poached egg; my husband the plate du jour-​cote de boeuf with roasted potatoes. The owner makes the rounds during dinner as well as the desserts. We shared the chocolate pie with salted caramel. Oh my! The staff was tres gentile and thanked us for speaking French with them as we left. All in all, the loveliest Paris café meal yet. Tomorrow we are going to try breakfast. Get thee to café Varenne!

Great spot for breakfast, thanks to a recommendation by my favorite chef Ina Garten in her Paris cookbook. Freshly baked croissants, frothy, fresh squeezed orange juice, great coffee and hot tea (Mariage Freres, of course), and the best omelette I’ve ever tasted — perfectly cooked eggs and simple, without any other ingredients. We attempted to speak the little French we know which I think was appreciated, but the waiter and owner were very nice and spoke English which was helpful. During morning hours the street and neighborhood were very quiet which made for a nice, relaxing start to our day. Would definitely come back! Thank you Ina!

This was a cute little spot that we heard about from Ina Garten on her Facebook page. Service was good. The waiter spoke very little English, but he was willing to work with us to figure out what we wanted. We had eggs with mayonnaise, lentils with a poached egg, and the beef tartare. All were very good and well priced. The street it is on is a little noisy, so sitting outside can be annoying but nothing overwhelming. All in all, a really cute place with great service and food.

It’s still a lovely quiet and civil place for a very good beer, coffee, plate and dessert.
However, i found the dessert to be flatter than I’d liked and it was chocolate (pot au crème).
The waiter is funny, helpful and friendly. He was perfectly willing to speak in English after I spoke my poor French.
He made the late evening stop worthwhile.
I suggest you stop for a break here.
I’ve been going for twenty years and it’s still a pleasure to see the actual stone blocks that hold the building up as part of the decoration.
The beer is really good.

Excellente tartelette au chocolat maison mais elle est trop petite et on en redemande!!!
Service très sympa!

J’adore !
Un café restaurant intimiste et chaleureux. Contrairement aux anciens avis, je né trouve pas les prix exorbitants pour la qualité des produits (chose très rare à Paris où on nous fait souvent manger n’importe quoi à n’importe quel prix… type restaurants Costes.) Personnellement je trouve la décoration très chic, le personnel super réactif et le service vraiment rapide. Bref je recommande Le Varenne à toutes les personnes qui recherché un restaurant où les produits ont du goût et où les serveurs né font pas la gueule.

Cher pour des petites portions
Je suis allé manger hier à midi au café Varenne et je suis sortie en me promettant de né jamais y remettre un pied. Nous étions trois et avons pris un seul plat chacun: deux poulets rôtis/​frites et un chou farci. Le minuscule morceau de poulet est arrivé Froid dans une grande assiette blanche: 17 euros. Le chou farci était en fait un bloc compact de viande hachée et de chou avec un coulis de tomate: 16 euros… le tout presque froid. Une petite assiette de frites sans sel a été déposée et lorsqu’on a réclamé la deuxième portion on nous a répondu que c’était pour deux ! Le Chinon rouge était à 4,50 euros le verre et fut servi directement sortant du frigo: pratiquement imbuvable. Le service est peu attentif et pas très chaleureux mais on s’en contenterait si la nourriture était bien servie et surtout servie chaude ! L’addition fut de 101 euros pour un repas rapide, à midi je conseille un sandwich plutôt que d’aller au Café Varenne !

Faute de mieux…
Y a pas grand chose dans le quartier, alors pourquoi y aller. Les calmards y sont bons, les salades honnêtes. Il né faut pas s’attendre à quoi que ce soit, juste profiter de la terrasse, c’est un café dédié aux employés des ministéres du coin.

Plus jamais !
Un soir d’automne, envie d’un verre de vin, je sors et tente ce café que je vois habituellement animé le midi. Personne dans la salle sauf une sorte de vieille duchesse anglaise titubante qui en est à son 6e verre de rouge… Le personnel est attablé au fond de la salle et semble passer du bon temps sans prendre attention à mon arrivée, il me faut quasiment crier pour qu’on entende ma commande. Un verre de vin blanc très sec comme je né les aime pas et qui me revient à 7 euros. Je sors déçue et pleine de pitié pour la pauvre petite anglaise qui va finir sa soirée seule dans cet endroit bien glauque.