Chez Axel French Restaurant — Restaurant in Albuquerque

Talk about a wonderful and authentic classic French lunch experience!!! We travel to France (where a daughter and her family are permanently installed) at least twice a year, spending at least 4-8 weeks each stay. Chez Axel is the perfect reincarnation of a French neighborhood restaurant with its simple, well prepared, classic French dishes that the French still enjoy on a regular basis. And yes, even the unpretentious decor and warm hospitality makes us feel "right at home". The fresh spring pea soup and the French onion soup were spot on. My husband ate every morsel of his Chicken Provencal, mopping up his plate of every last trace with a piece of the classic Paris style baguette (!!?in ABQ!). My brother and I thoroughly enjoyed our ham and spinach crepe made with the classic "Paris style" ham and plenty of freshly lightly cooked spinach. We also appreciated the absolute authenticity of the vegetables served-- lightly seasoned and nice and tender the way you'd find them in France--- the French are not into "crisp tender"... We were so happy, but wanted to be virtuous, so we split their signature chocolate mousse-- another perfect example of a chef's personal take on a classic that you'll experience at homey neighborhood restaurants in France. We have officially added Chez Axel to our very, very short list of restaurants we patronize almost weekly. We can't to experience the dinner...

Tuesday night didn't feel like cooking so my family and I went out to dinner. Never been here before but saw it and thought we would check it out. They where very slow we where the only customers in the place. The server was very friendly and knowledgeable of the food. There was 3 of us and we all tried different dishes. I started with the onion soup which was very good for the main course we had the sea bass, shrimp and the pork cutlets. Everything was cooked perfect and just full of flavor. Just small things that they could do better such as wine would have been great with this meal. The server said that they where changing ownership so no liquor license. Also, they have the smallest beverage glasses. Our server was constantly having to fill our drinks which could be problematic if they where busy. For desert we had the crepe and the flan brulee. The crepe was very good but the flan brulee was pretty ordinary. It could have been better. Overall a very good meal and a decent experience. I would recommend this place for a date night or a meal...

The service was so poor it was almost comic. The waiter was incredibly awkward even during the simple task of getting us seated. When we asked about a wine list we were told that the new management hadn't printed it yet and ended up drinking water because nothing else was offered. At the end of the meal, the waiter dropped off our bill and said nothing but "here you go." When we asked for coffee and tea at the end of the meal, my coffee came out five minutes before my date's tea so it sat and got cold while we waited for the tea. The meal was (to me) expensive at $100 and the food was definitely not impressive. Each part of the meal took a very long time to come out. We were there about a half hour when suddenly loud French and German music started playing. It played for about an hour and then the restaurant was suddenly totally quiet again (because there were only 3 tables on a Saturday night at 7pm). Eventually we were laughing about how badly everything was done.

I cannot recommend against this restaurant...