Café du Soleil — Restaurant in Alexandria

It really sucks to have to leave a 1 star review for a brand new place, but unfortunately our recent visit warrants it. My partner and I are very fond of the original Cafe du Soleil location in Old town across from Hotel Indigo and have had many lovely meals there.

Naturally, when this new location opened up across the street from us, we had to swing by and try it out. The atmosphere was very nice and the staff were friendly. However, the reason for this one star review is due to the fact that my partner has been suffering for the last 36 hours with some of the worst food poisoning we have ever experienced. I ordered a Crepe which was great, but my partner made the extremely tragic mistake of ordering the Niçoise salad, and very soon after eating just a couple of bites it was clear something was very, very wrong. He commented to me that the potatoes were completely raw and expressed concern because raw potatoes are very risky to consume. Fortunately, he sensed something was wrong and stopped eating after only a few bites…but the damage was done. I have been nursing him as he has faded in and out of delirium for the last 36 hours during which there has been ample projectile vomiting and explosive diarrhea. Thankfully, right before we were about to go to the ER, he began to be able to keep down liquids and we have been recuperating ever since he made the most horribly unfortunate decision to order the Nicoise salad at Cafe du Soleil. Partake at your own risk.

Edit to owner response: Thank you for your well wishes, as of Tuesday morning the symptoms are beginning to subside. To clarify, neither of us had eaten anything before ordering Sunday morning, so we have no doubt it was the salad. Shortly afterwards my partner had a mildly upset stomach but nothing crazy. It wasn’t until that evening that symptoms intensified to nausea and sweating and the next day to vomiting and diarrhea. Unfortunately we threw away the salad but in hindsight should have kept it as evidence. Though boiling and pan frying may be the standard protocol, I can assure you with 100 percent certainty that the ones we had in our salad were not - and if they were boiled they were definitely undercooked.

Regardless, we will still go back to the original location as we really do enjoy it and it is one of our...

I’m a local customer and recently visited your restaurant with my children shortly after the big storm in July, when many people had lost power. I ordered a crepe with prosciutto, and unfortunately, I became severely ill after eating it. The taste of the food was off, but I didn’t want to make a fuss at the time. However, I now regret staying silent. I believe the meat may not have been fresh perhaps due to refrigeration issues during the outage. Instead of discarding it, it seems it was still served, which led to what I suspect was food poisoning. My stomach is still not fully recovered, and I felt it was important to let you know. I’m disappointed and won’t be returning. I hope you take this seriously and review your food safety practices to prevent this from happening to...

Cafe du Soleil II just opened in Old Town Alexandria, at 720 Jefferson Street, right on time for spring! So cozy, warm, inviting and from the same crew that has been building community around their first location opened since March 2020 on Union Street, across from Indigo Hotel. The new space is spacious, lots of light, friendly smiles, great coffee, French cafe food, wine and pastries. They will also have outdoor seating as soon as the weather allows it, so dog and people friendly too! The owners and staff are just wonderful,...