The French Press — Restaurant in Eau Claire

You order at the front counter and pay first, then recieve a number for your table and then later, your food. You must grab your own silverware and fill your own drip coffee. You can find creamer and jelly near the silverware station. The butter was behind the checkout and we had to ask for it because our pancakes did not come out with any, although maple syrup is on the tables. You also bus your own table when finished. These steps might not be obvious to newcomers, we stumbled through them but we also assisted by local patrons who knew the ropes. Food was delicious with great variety on the menu, cafe and omelet foods and great coffee. Food is a bit pricey and with tip it's a little overwhelming being that you do a large portion of the table work yourself, including grabbing your own drinks. They will bring your food out to you to 'auction' it off (ask everyone who ordered what) so make sure your seated between trips to properly stock your table so the server can get the plates laid down correctly. Great attitude from the folks there and smiles and great service, good food. For large parties, it would help with problems in flow by having a server help stock the table so that people aren't required to wander through the dining room on top of the others carrying two drinks at a time (this is where it may be great for some professionals who can come out with a tray!) The lobby had a nice line and it felt slow to break through the line to travel between the silverware and coffee station and back to the table, but we made it. An explanation of how to order would be helpful to new folks, for some reason it was not obvious we were expected to grab our own things and bus the dishes from our own table, but we made it somehow. We came at a busy time, but this is a cozy place with local charm. Bathrooms were clean and restaurant was well stocked, bustling, and upbeat. Great coffee, I loved the choices. Beats any fast food joint hands down. We...

My friends and I read good things about this place for brunch so we wanted to try it out. There was a bit of a line, so we were thinking that's a good sign! I decided on the crab cake benedict. When I got to the counter and ordered, she said, "I'm out of crab. It didn't come in." So I was flustered and ordered the biscuits and gravy, asked if it came with eggs and she said, "we can make it that way." So I got two over easy eggs with biscuits and gravy, and a large latte, my total was about $21. I wish I had known that they used mugs for dine in and to go cups for carry out orders because I would have asked for a to go cup. The "large" latte mug filled about half of a to go cup, and it was about $7. My friends had ordered the eggs benedict and biscuits and gravy. The eggs benedict came with a side of breakfast potatoes, I didn't try them but she said there wasn't much flavor for them being seasoned. My other friend's biscuits and gravy came with a huge sausage meatball in it which was kind of funny. The sausage gravy was mediocre, I added pepper to mine, my friend added both salt and pepper to hers, but decided she didn't like it enough. I was a little surprised that it was about $10 for one biscuit open faced with sausage gravy on top, and $3.60 for two eggs. Maybe I'm just used to small town pricing, maybe I had higher expectations, but the food was kind of underwhelming. My friend had also ordered some macarons to go, I think $2 each or 6 for $10. She got her box of them and when she opened the box, they weren't much bigger than a quarter. She tried one flavor and said it didn't really have a flavor other than the frosting that was...

We are from Minneapolis but stop at this place every time we’re passing through EC. It’s always a welcome treat.

They gave a sizable coffee menu and some new, unique drinks every time we come in. The pastries and treats selection is also filled with cheesecake flavors I’ve never seen anywhere else.

The pastries are sizable - big enough that my kids can’t finish one in one sitting. And always taste good.

I’ve only gotten breakfast one time, which was the eggs benedict with a side of breakfast potatoes. The portions were enough. The hollandaise sauce wasn’t my favorite, BUT it did taste homemade. And I appreciated that so I’ll give it full marks. It wasn’t bad by any means, just not my personal preferred taste of hollandaise sauce.

Now, to address some recent negative reviews, I have some suspicions. This place has a fairly young crowd, with many diners from “alternative” demographics. I suspect many of the low ratings come from a certain demographic that hates the support of non-traditional demos and are giving the place a 1/5 to try to kill business. A quick scan of many of the low ratings will show some rather questionable reviews of the lower ratings.

When we stopped in 2 years ago, they had a 4.8 or 4.9 I believe. Now it’s dropped considerably yet we haven’t noticed any actual decline in food or drinks.

I say that to suggest giving the place a try for yourself. Don’t let the rating, and people with an...