Cafe Normandie Restaurant Naples — Restaurant in Florida

Le sigh…😞 How can I describe what memories we made when we decided on our little trip to visit this establishment?

First let’s start with, my husband picked this spot. My HUSBAND, picking French cuisine!?! 👀👀👀 I must he made an excellent choice!

It was small but you didn’t feel like people were sitting right on top of you. It was warm but not in the usually Florida way. It took me back to my 15 year old self, first time out of the country, my first ever plane ride all the way to France!

Every dish exceeded the last. We started with the charcuterie board. Oh the dried ham and the delicious cheeses! Melted and swirled flavors on my tongue! Then with pan fried foie gras (a first for my dinner party posse) was delectable! We introduced one person in our party to authentic French onion soup and watched as her shoulders rolled slowly down and her eyelids fluttered. The foodgasm over a simple soup! We tried sweetbreads for the first time and so glad that we ordered it here because they were amazing! So many good firsts for our table!

I even ordered a dessert to go and because of the container it’s made in she let me take it back to our hotel and we returned it the next day. Where we, of course, ordered more food and my friend ordered more soup!

Worth the trip! If you are in the Naples area and looking for a phenomenal dining experience where the dishes delight and surprise you. Please come here. You will get to meet and converse with the owners who are...

New ownership. We went for lunch. We were asked to choose a seat and waitress walked away. But, we should have been asked what seat we may like and be guided to our seat. Bread came out before bread plates. Asked about dry white wine and was told the Pinot Grigio was dry, but it was junk. It just shouldn’t be in a French restaurant. We had high expectations for a French restaurant and were disappointed on SOME key points. The waitress was only halfway there with attentiveness. No refill on water. I ordered a ham crepe. It had ham the quality of chopped ham from Walmart, but the worst disappointment was the sauce in the crepe-so plain that after one bite you wouldn’t recall what you just ate. My husband had the chicken with the same plain sauce-really plain! The music was 70’s American -not French. What was good: mushroom soup was excellent, the side salad and salad dressing seemed homemade and tasty, exceptionally tasty, the crepe itself was good. No explanation of the food to discern any decisions on the actual quality of the food anyway. When we dine expecting French cuisine we expect the level of French cuisine, not a dumbed down version for tasteless palates. We may try this again for dinner and give it another attempt, but were so let down this time. I hope they succeed and realize that you cannot skimp on quality service and taste when you are trying to compete in a city with clientele that have some sophistication and many French...

It's been 20 years since I've been to France, but I still remember the food - and not just the fancy food, but the baguettes served with super strong coffee or beer. So how did Café Normandie compare? They exceeded my expectations.

The first thing you'll notice is a very distinct smell - it is the smell of country pork pâté. I know this because I ordered it (delicious), brought some leftovers home and the whole fridge smelled like it for days. It is a quaint little place with a very authentic feel - the servers were from France and clearly the chef is because he asked us, "Did you enjoy my recipe?" (with a very thick accent). I've been there twice now and have ordered the baguettes hot and cold. I would recommend hot, not because it's better, but because it's very different from what you'd expect. The pain bagnat (a sandwich sold in Nice, I believe) is amazing, and so is the charcuterie board. Très magnifique!

Update: Café Normandie remains excellent. We've branched out to try other menu items, and everything here is great. The service is excellent - the owners care about their reputation and...