Alphonse Cuisine & Cocktails — Restaurant in Quebec

The good: We’d made a reservation and our table was ready right away! The food was good, steak and fries was tasty and great portions for the price. The pasta was nicely plated, however a little undercooked (on its way to al dente), still delicious. We also ordered the burrata which was super super delicious, big thanks to the server who was able to procure some even after dinner service (entrees) was in full swing! Definitely a favourite. Finally, the cocktails were very creative and unlike anything I’d had before, the spicy grapefruit one is excellent! Definitely not underpoured. Although it was very loud, there was a great atmosphere! As a plus, all the front end staff spoke excellent English and French, so tourists will find it easy to communicate.

The not-so-good: the restaurant was very busy and unfortunately our server seemed very overstretched. She took our order after some time, then disappeared for the entirety of our meal. Some other waitstaff, unfortunately we didn’t catch his name, was able to help us out, including running plates, getting our bill ready, pretty much everything aside from creating the meal ticket. He was super awesome! We truly weren’t in a rush either, we waited for our server to bring a bill for about 15 minutes, plates stacked on the end of the table before the gentleman caught notice and helped out. Finally our server turned up to ask if we wanted dessert, and realized we already had the bill. Then she not-so-subtly asked for a tip. Frankly, we wanted to tip the other server who had gone above and beyond but felt it would be really rude to ask her about that. That said, we noticed she did spend a ton of time with other tables explaining the menu and answering questions, so she’s surely a great staff member. Plus, other staff were able to help us out, so points...

Highly recommended esp if you want a refreshing break from tourist fare in a chic, friendly setting. The menu is smaller, more focused & intentional than many of the area restaurants, because they are not trying to be all things to all people. We had afternoon or late night snacks, lunch, dinner & a nightly cocktail there. We also dined across old & new Quebec City, & we kept coming back to Alphonse. Fine modern fair for a reasonable price compared to some of the surrounding restaurants. Favorites: Brussels sprouts Caesar salad (salade Cesar aux choux Bruxelles), a refreshing take on Caesar salad, & a very welcome break from American-style fried Brussels sprouts, ubiquitous at pretty much any American bar/restaurant these days! The burrata with peaches - fab for burrata fans. Loved their pasta carbonara - I wish I could make mine this creamy. (Be sure to pair it with the Cosimo Taurino Salice Salentino Rosso riserva!) Wine list: balanced, quality essentials. Cocktails: try the Financier (old fashioned adjacent but more fun) or their version of the aviation cocktail (j’ai oubliè le nom). Dessert: we had our share of chocolate while out & about so we greatly enjoyed the non-chocolate Framboises et basilic (dense little cake with tantalizing raspberries & basil creme). And the staff were truly lovely too. The location was perfect, close to all Artisans walk, shopping in pretty much every direction & just up the hill the Chateau Frontenac. Hang out & enjoy the fountain show at the plaza across Rue...

We had dinner on a Saturday night, 8pm. We had a reservation and were seated immediately. Hostess and wait staff were extremely pleasant. Most patrons that we noticed were dressed fairly casual and there were families with children as well. I believe I heard a waitress mention some children's menu items for another table. We ordered drinks, Le Hold Up and (I forget) but both were good and nicely presented. Next we ordered the bread with maple butter, also good. For the main course my wife had the Steak Frites. They were cooked a little more than ordered, but still tender and flavorful. The accompanying matchstick fries were very good, cooked just right and salted well. I ordered the Risotto and was disappointed by a bland lukewarm dish with 3 overdone shrimp on top. For desert we ordered Raspberry Tartlet and the Creme Brulee Maison. The Tartlet was tasty. The Creme Brulee was served in a very shallow dish with an extremely thick layer of sugar. The caramelizing of the sugar heated the custard too much and it was no longer cold underneath. So overall an OK dining experience but a few misses on food execution, in...