Reviews

	One of my all time favorites!!!
	I love this place! So cozy, intimate, a great place for a romantic dinner. The food never disappoints. One of the only restaurants where they can make crème brûlée and not have it end up like scrambled eggs Make sure you make a reservation they are small and busy. Feb 3, 2010

	If you're looking for a restaurant offering an intimate experience.
	If you're looking for a restaurant offering an intimate experience, look no further. Cafe De Ville offers a pleasant dining experience in a cozy atmosphere. Whether it's a family supper or a "just desserts" evening, this restaurant will not disappoint. If you come here at night, the close proximity of the chairs and the dim lighting create a very inviting ambiance. The restaurant is upscale, but the service and food quality justify their higher prices. The waitress was courteous and I never felt rushed with my order. Their duck confit is amazing. The duck is very tender and the sauce (5-spice, honey, ginger, shallot, soy, garlic chili glaze) is sweet but does not take away from the overall taste. I've also had good experiences with their halibut- it may just be one of the finest cooked fishes in Edmonton. I enjoy how they present every dessert item on a tray...makes me wish I had a second stomach to digest all their desserts. I have been known to just come here for their desserts. If you can get past their high prices (although there are much more expensive places in Edmonton), Cafe De Ville will not disappoint whatever you're in the mood for. Jan 22, 2010

	Vue Magazine
	Classic cuisine: Café de Ville remains one of the city's best It was like old times, getting together with Irene and Romana, my two longest-standing restaurant review buddies of years gone by. And get together we did at Café de Ville. I remember it as one of the better restaurants in Edmonton, with a nice European décor, the fireplace along the wall, the jazz music playing softly, and a fairly impressive menu featuring creative culinary treats. Fortunately, not much has changed. Café de Ville remains one of Edmonton's better dining options for either lunch or dinner. Yet you can feel just as comfortable in blue jeans and a nice shirt as you can in a jacket and tie. The dining crowd here is highly eclectic. Appetizer choices range from bouillabaisse, to smoked salmon, mussels, escargots and baked Brie, ranging in price from $13 to $15. Bouillabaisse was very tempting, as it featured fresh fish, prawns, scallops, mussels and other goodies in a Pernod saffron bouillon. It would have been ideal on a cold, blistery evening. However, as there were three of us, we decided to share the Crab and Corn Cakes. Four round crab cakes were artistically presented with shredded red and yellow bell peppers. I refer to them as crab cakes because crab was indeed the dominant ingredient—as it should be. The cakes also had sweet corn, peppers, dill, panko and lemon basil aioli. Panko is an Asian version of breadcrumbs, often used atop casseroles while aioli is a condiment traditionally made with olive oil and garlic. However other spices and seasonings can be added, as was the case here. The taste of crab was sweet, yet distinctive, and the elegant texture was befitting a quality appetizer. It was enjoyable, stimulating our taste buds and our appetites. For an entrée, Irene selected from their choice of pastas and went for the Cran-Pesto. Finely-diced chicken, peppers, leeks, pesto, spinach, feta, tomato and sun dried cranberries were served with garlic, olive oil and white wine over penne. To be honest, this dish did very little for either Irene or me. Irene found it on the bland side, and not particularly substantive in terms of the richness of ingredients. To me, there was neither harmony of flavours nor complexity. Rather, there were various isolated tastes that were weak and dominated by peripheral spicing. All pasta dishes on the dinner menu are $23. Romana and I did far better with our respective chicken dishes. She chose the Saltimbocca, which was a pan-seared breast of chicken, served with very nice proscuitto and seared with sage, wild mushrooms, shallots, garlic, white wine and cream. It was listed under "de Ville Specialties," and it was obvious why. The chicken was moist, flavourful and delightfully crusted. In terms of crusting, it was among the best I've encountered. Romana chose to have roasted baby potatoes with a vegetable medley accompaniment. My chicken was stuffed with wild boar bacon and a sundried roma, feta cheese, roasted garlic and spinach enhanced with an Amaretto tomato cream sauce. Now this was a far better harmonizing of rich flavours. The wild boar bacon definitely added its own dimension, but was a supportive taste, not an overpowering one. Both chicken selections were $28 and while mine had the exotic stuffing and is a choice I wouldn't hesitate to make again, there was still something about Romana's pan-seared chicken that took top honors. In terms of wine, we shared an Australian Shiraz at $27 per ½ litre. All house reds were the same price per ½ litre and $9 per glass. The three of us shared a pumpkin and chocolate cheesecake from an esthetically picturesque dessert tray offering a number of chocolate- and fruit-based delicacies. That and coffee made an ideal end to a fun evening. Service, by the way, was outstanding. The young lady who served us was cheerful, attentive and anxious to please, yet she had the wisdom to leave us when three old friends, who haven't all been together in years, decided to yak up a storm. But then, hospitality and easy-going, friendly service is another thing I remember about Café de Ville which, despite one less than exemplary dish, earns high praise and my vote of confidence. November 12, 2009

	See Magazine
	This Cafe Never Disappoints At some point every winter, you should go to Café de Ville. Along with a few other cozy nooks in the city, there’s a faintly golden glow within that makes it a salve for seasonal affective disorder. For the couple-few hours you’re there, the trampled winter landscape outside melts away and you can relish the sensual delights to come. Which is to say I was lightly tipsy already when we showed up a few minutes late for our 6:30 table for four — not so buzzed that I was likely to become obstreperous, but definintely susceptible to the fancy-yet-easygoing vibe I’ve encountered every trip I’ve made to deVille. No mistaking, a good and proper meal at de Ville — where you take the time to enjoy some wine and starters, an entrée that’s a masterwork of locally sourced ingredients and dessert with coffee over a couple of hours — is not inexpensive by the restaurant-going standards of some. But the sitting in that comfortable space, tended by servers who are really good at their jobs, receiving plates of marvelous food feels like value for the money. The first of many good bits of advice we got from our server was to pay the extra dollar over the $39- price point of the house wine list and share the Doña Paula malbec, a bottle he promptly and assiduously doled out across four glasses for the remainder of the meal. I was struck dumb by the menu descriptions, basically imagistic poems about food, and took a while to decide that I really did deserve the lamb ($40). My perennial co-diner opted for the night’s special, a seared duck breast ($36), while a filet and a salmon (with mango papaya peach chutney) rounded out the entrees of our companions. A meaty entrée usually deserves a salad accompaniment so we got two orders of the house salad ($10 ea.) and the fromage pate ($15) would keep the wine from going to our heads more than it already had... The mixed greens topped with green apple, carrot, red pepper, cucumber and parmesan in a thyme-shallot vinaigrette (on the side, of course) was fresh and palate cleansing, and the perfect portion for two. As the server set down a basket of warm buttery pastries, he announced, “I’m putting these beside you, but you have to share them.” Otherwise I might very well have eaten them all. Our appetizer was a mound of truffled goat cheese topped with cranberry chutney and peppery sprouts, surrounded by herbed crostini and French bread, which was again the perfect size for four of us to savour the richness of the flavours and still leave room for the main course. Good thing too, because my main course was huge — two racks of lamb on a dark pool of rich demi laced with dried juniper berries, surrounded by potatoes, vegetables, and hidden pockets of flavour that would suddenly erupt across the palate through the course of the meal. The rare-cooked lamb was succulent of itself, but the array of flavours that lurked nearby for the dredging — basil pesto, merlot, chutney a fleeting nasal twinge of Dijon — made it an unending source of delight. Well, it did end eventually but it took me a lot longer than my co-diners to finish, and with a good deal less dignity as I slurped a few bones to harvest every shred. Would it surprise you to know that the side baby potatoes, asparagus, squash and assorted roots on the side were perfectly turned? That really should have been entirely adequate but presently another graceful young server arrived with the dessert tray. Bourbon-vanilla gelato sounded quite attractive especially when accompanied by warm apple strudel ($9) redolent of cardamom and spiked with sweet raisins. Our guests for the night enjoyed a lavender crème brûlée ($9), another suggestion from the server that turned out to be in our own best interest. The coffee was like a cigarette after sex. At this point de Ville hardly needs my endorsement to keep up a brisk trade plying the prepossessing diner with a premium dining out experience. But they’ve got it anyway. So if winter is kicking your ass and you can’t come up with a single thing you like about Edmonton, book a table at your first convenience. January 21, 2010

	www.edmontonplus.ca
	The Scene While the interior of Café De Ville oozes Bohemian charm, this 124th Street staple's menu is pure imagination. Fresh delicacies created daily will guarantee to satisfy those seeking traditional flavours as well as those with an adventurous palate. The Food Chef and owner, Paul Campbell pulls together culinary threads from Europe, India and the Far East, resulting in something approaching an impossible tapestry of food. Some fantastic features are the evolving specials that utilize the flavours of the season to highlight the freshness of the food. The subtleties of flavour are evident in their sauces and dressings made daily, and with a talented pastry chef on staff you will be tempted to end your meal with a delectable array of tasty treats. The Rest The food alone, however, is not all there is to a fancy dining-out experience, but Café de Ville has good news on that front as well. An extensive wine list had numerous choices to complement any meal choice, and the service strikes a proper balance between formal and friendly. It’s the perfect place to enjoy a Sunday brunch on their secluded patio, or a special romantic dinner for two. Bohemian charm, this 124 Street staple's menu is pure imagination. June 26, 2008

Last Updated: Monday, October 04, 2010