Cafe Frank — Restaurant in Charlottesville

The wait is over, and boy is it worth the anticipation! Café Frank is the place where Chef Jose De Brito can finally exercise carte blanche in the kitchen. He's truly a culinary genius and we're so lucky to have him back on the downtown mall!

My first visit was for dinner, but they're also offering weekend takeout (family style meals) + they have lunch hours and aperitif hours listed on the website - though I forgot to ask if they've fully opened for those offerings yet.

Everything on the menu sounded delicious, making the toughest part of our visit choosing what to order. There are plenty of fabulous wine options, by the glass or bottle. No bottle on the menu is over $55. We opted to start with two different sparkling wine glasses with the Old School Seafood Cocktail as an appetizer. If you love cold seafood, I highly recommend this. I'd love to start every meal with some bubbly and this refreshing app!

For entrees, we always try to choose something different so we can share. We went for the Poached Salmon and the Lobster Tail & Fettuccini. Argh! SO good!

I'm always apprehensive about salmon in a restaurant, especially when it touts to be poached, but I knew if anyone could execute it properly, this would be it. Wise decision. It is THE BEST poached salmon I have ever had. If you've never had it, don't expect the dry, overcooked or flaky salmon you'll find at your local steakhouse. This is the real deal and literally melts in your mouth. It was served with the most delicious sauerkraut, potatoes and smoked salmon. I very seriously contemplated licking the plate.

The Lobster Tail & Fettuccini was made with a shrimp bolognese sauce. Say whaaaaat?! Yep, that's right, shrimp bolognese sauce. My dudes. This was a giant, warm hug in a bowl. Definitely one of those dishes I fully expect to crave again before the week is out.

I can't emphasize enough how excellent the service was! Since there wasn't advertising that they're fully open for dine-in yet, we didn't have a reservation and they were at capacity when we arrived. Every person that made eye contact with us, spoke to us and asked us to please wait or return within 30 minutes for a table. Gladly! Once we were there and seated, we were well taken care of by David, Chris, Kathleen and also checked on by another David. We felt extra warm & fuzzy and completely welcome the entire visit.

The bottle of nebbiolo we selected was a steal at $35 and paired beautifully with dinner and dessert. Speaking of dessert, we were pretty stuffed, but had to try SOMETHING on the list, so we opted for the mini pies. Glorious bites is what they were. Perfect for sharing!

I absolutely cannot wait to return and only hope we won't have to fight for a reservation as the word spreads and everyone starts pouring in. That sounds a little selfish, huh? Oops, what can I say? I'm always hungry and I love good food. I'm also a sucker for atmosphere and...

Please don’t fall for this TRAP of a resturant. The only good thing about this place was the waitstaff. We really appreciated your accommodations and help. The food was absolutely horrendous and not what you’d expect at all from the prices the resturant was charging. A list below of everything we ordered and why I was just really bland or gross.

we order 4 different appetizers and mussels as a main. We also asked the kitchen if they could make accommodation for a toddler and they said they could try to make a simple gnocchi w tomato sauce. perfect we agreed.

The adults got escargot, steak tartare, ham croquettes, and a side salad to share together.

The escargot genuinely tasted like it was from a CAN it was chewy and plain. Absolutely zero flavor. Usually when you order escargot it is drenched in herbs and butter. That was unseasoned and barely dressed.

The steak tartar was bland as hell too. I couldn’t taste anything at all. I’ve had steak tartare many many times over the years and this was just a disappointment flavor profile that normally steak tartare has.

The mussels were probably the biggest offense to me as it was my dish. They were rubbery and the sauce was soupy and felt day old. The mussels also tasted as if they were not cleaned properly and just days old. They didn’t not taste fresh which makes me question they’re sanitary practices when it comes to seafood.

The ham croquettes were okay… forgettable but fine. The romesco sauce that comes on the side helped the croquettes enough. Very one note though.

The side salad tasted like they took it out of the package and tossed it on the bowl and just that. Zero dressing what so ever. I expected it to be refreshing but it was just that. Raw greens

They didn’t have a kids menu (fine not a problem) so we asked for a simple accommodation if the chef can just boil gnocchi w/ simple tomato sauce. KNOWING it was for a 4 year old. The chef didn’t listen and made the sauce spicy. The toddler could not touch it at all. And you as a chef should know that children are sensitive to spicy stuff and can’t handle it...

I had a list of things to talk to my husband about over our dinner date at Café Frank last Saturday and I forgot them all the moment my lobster chowder arrived. Light, almost frothy broth, perfectly spiced with just a hint of peppery zing, with lovely, buttery chunks of lobster. I was in love. And I hadn't yet even met the mini BLT brioche that comes with it! (I gave the mini BLT to my husband because I'm in love with him, too). From that first sip of sublime soup, I knew everything we'd heard about Café Frank over the past year was true. It's an exceptional restaurant. The ambiance is warm and unpretentious. The service is outstanding. The wait staff took such good care of us and made us feel special, when really, it's the food that is the star.

Chef DeBrito (I've never met him) is an artist. The ahi tuna ratatouille terrine was like a light-filled pane of stained glass. The Chateaubriand topped with a single lobster ravioli sat on my husband's plate like the domed crown of an Italian basilica. The heirloom tomato salad came with flaky morsels of Portuguese sardines that gleamed like silvery mica. Are my metaphors over the top? Yes. Does the food taste as good as it looks? Oh, yes. Every mouthful delivers surprising layers of taste and texture. This is food that wants to be noticed, that demands attention--like an intricately wrapped gift that you want to open slowly and carefully. My summer flounder (divine) came with a side of wax beans. Wax beans. They don't even sound interesting, do they? Pale yellow cousins of the haricot vert, they risk being mushy or just bland, at best. But at Café Frank, even the lowly wax bean shines. These wax beans were amazing. Laced with sofrito, I later learned. I could not get enough of them. Paired with the summer flounder, the crazy good wax beans made the flounder sing.

Yeah, I know. Over the top. But for once, date night did not consist of me nattering on to my husband about the mundanities of our lives. Instead, I ended up waxing poetic about wax beans. I can't...