Café d'Marie — Restaurant in Davenport

Struggling to find proper superlatives, one would be required to seek the assistance of a thesaurus to describe the experience of Cafe d’Marie. The restaurant is located in a wonderful historic home, the beauty of which would cause Norm Abram from “This Old House” to weep tears of joy. Immediately upon entering the building, we were greeted by the family and welcomed, not unlike the welcome one receives when returning home for Thanksgiving after an extended journey abroad. We were promptly seated among the other diners, all of whom displayed a happiness which promised our group that we would soon be at ease with life. The menu offered many outstanding choices, which created a degree of difficulty in choosing just one dish. After deliberation, I chose the number five (corned beef with sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and thousand island dressing on artisan bread), as well as cream of Brussels sprout soup. As we awaited our soup, we were taken in by the restaurant’s setting, which brought to mind small cafés one may stumble upon in the South of France. Just as the thought entered my mind, I spotted an apparition at a corner table which I believe to be the spirit of a young Ernest Hemingway, penning notes in a book whilst sipping coffee. Shortly thereafter, my soup arrived, which is best described as a hot bowl of happiness. Devouring my soup in such haste afforded me the opportunity to observe the wait staff delivering lattes and coffees, the likes of which would make the founder of Starbucks blush in embarrassment. Our food arrived and brought with it my only complaint: it was not “all-you-can-eat.” The corn beef tasted as fresh as though the delicatessen was slicing the beef in some hidden back room not accessible to the public. The bread rivaled any bread, fresh baked or otherwise, one could purchase. I am fairly certain the Swiss cheese was made fresh on site, which seems odd because I did not notice any dairy cows around the perimeter of the building. At this point, only one thing could possibly make the meal any better: dessert and coffee. At the suggestion of one in our group, I ordered a cinnamon roll and a “honey bee latte.” The young woman who prepared the latte can be best described as an artisan: her medium being hot beverages, and her skill great enough to force da Vinci to rethink his own life choices. At the first sip of my latte, I immediately gained the inexplicable ability to speak fluent French; which is curious being I have never studied the language. The fresh-baked cinnamon roll was served hot, and was undoubtedly the best cinnamon roll I’ve had the pleasure of knowing. The whole experience was cathartic, from the moment we entered until the moment we departed. The staff made us feel like family; the owner even wishing us safe travels on our journey home. Overcome by the kind gesture, I may have asked her to serve as godmother to any future children, although by this point I was greatly distracted by the number of fresh-baked cookies at the counter. I highly recommend this establishment to any and all that will listen to my words; including the number of strangers I crossed paths with later who seemed frightened by my enthusiasm. We cannot wait to visit Cafe d’Marie in the future. My wife had a smoothie. It was...

I'd been told by many people (including my mother) that I had to visit Cafe d'Marie. I'd tried to get in on a previous weekend, but gave up early due to parking being hard. This was a bit of a silly reason to not visit somewhere, so I brushed up on my parallel parking skills, found a spot right in front of the place, and made my way in.

The place looks like it used to be a house, and indeed it was prior to the cafe's opening in 2009. There's still a stairway leading upstairs to the right of the entrance and along the main hallway into the interior, benches are set up for those waiting on a table. After getting polite direction to wait in the hallway, I sat for about 20 minutes waiting for a table to open.

The interior of Cafe d'Marie continues the ambiance of being a Cafe created inside someone's former home as you walk through the main dining area. There's a Christmas tree and decorations in a corner, books and family photographs along a shelf in another room, all with tables and chairs spaced throughout. The floors are solid hardwood throughout all the spaces, with lighting supplied by what appears to also be existing fixtures for when the place was still a house, with only some added accent strips in the prep area. It's all warm and inviting - you're in pretty close quarters with everyone else, conversation melding with the quiet music playing in the background. It's a small, intimate cafe space.

I ordered a hot white tea to begin and a muffaletta with chips for meal. The tea is some of the best I've had anywhere in the Quad Cities! It was a Mandarin Citrus flavored tea and was enjoyable through the whole cup. While it was still hot, I enjoyed just sitting and smelling the strong citrus aroma from it for several minutes before it cooled down. Truly great, I'd come back just for this!

The sandwich was similarly fantastic! It wasn't a huge muffaletta like one would expect from Louisiana - this came as a small panini with a few slices of ham and salami, a small spread of olive salad, some spinach, and a little cheese. Between the sandwich and chips, however, it was the perfect amount of food for a quick Sunday afternoon lunch. It tasted great throughout the entire sandwich and I was satisfied without being bloated or too full at the end.

While paying at the register, I chatted a bit with one of the servers, who asked if I'd been here before. After telling them I hadn't visited the cafe before today, they gave me a free cookie. This was really nice, both in the gesture and the cookie itself (it was delicious).

I really want to come back here in the warmer months when the back patio is opened. It's a really special place and if you haven't been here yet, you need to come try it. Thanks,...

Wow! Just wow! My husband and I discovered this place after a Google search. We wanted a place that served breakfast/brunch, was reasonably priced, local, and unique... This place checked all those boxes and then some!

My husband had the Scarlet herbal tea with garden salad and raspberry chipotle, turkey, and provolone panini, while I had the peach, pear, and apricot smoothie; quiche du jour (bacon, artichoke, and spinach); and garden salad with their signature blueberry, feta, vinaigrette. We also split a cup of their soup du jour (cream of cauliflower). For dessert my husband had their dark chocolate and sour cream cake with a dark chocolate, hazelnut mocha, while I had their signature bread pudding (peach and almond) with their Mandarin citrus white tea.

All of the food exceeded both our expectations, which was hard, as once we stepped inside, we had huge expectations. When you drive up to this beautifully-renovated mansion, one thinks, "This'll be really good." Then when one walks inside and gets a feel for the ambiance, looks through a photo album of their renovation progress, reads the history of the restaurant (if one finds themselves with a little wait for a table), and smells the food being served in the background, one's anticipation and expectations get higher.

Then when we got a table and got to soak in all the details of the buildings history and architecture, we thought, "This'll be good, but there's no way they could live up to our now built-up expectations." We were so wrong, as everything we made tasted great, and we could tell they made it with love.

And the icing on the cake... The owners came out and talked to us and genuinely cares for our experience and beamed with pride as they told us about their place as it is now and their future plans.

We highly recommend this restaurant. You won't be...