Can Can Brasserie — Restaurant in Richmond

DO NOT GO TO CAN CAN FOR A DINING EXPERIENCE.

It seems that the food may only be an after thought at Can Can.

My wife had the Tartare and the Beef Bourguignon. The tartare dish was prepared nicely. This dish does not require any cooking (heat) - so that went well. The Bourguignon uses braised chuck roast (Paleron / Blade Steak). Because this is a tough piece of meat from the shoulder it is slow cooked in liquid (braised) until tender. When done properly it is delicious.

I ordered the “Escargot”. The escargots were served in a “monkey dish”. A monkey dish is used for serving side dishes. Escargots are traditionally served on an escargots dish with six wells (there are many ways to present it). However, it would not work for Can Can to use any sort of serving dish designed for escargots because Can Can serves only five (05) escargots (no warning on the menu). So as an after thought someone at Can Can decided, “Hey, we can just serve these in a monkey dish”. I have been eating escargots for 50 years. This is a first. Not a good first.

Typically the snails are served with a compound of butter, garlic and parsley as well as baguette for purposes of soaking up the garlic butter. Some will say this is the best part. The garlic butter/parsley was overlooked with these five snails - the shells were not stuffed with the compound butter. Also, I was informed that they do not serve baguette with the snails. Someone at Can Can thinks this is a good idea? I do not know why any trained chef would even agree to send this out of the kitchen. The hostess/manager (?) brought two more snails out - they were prepared properly and were stuffed with garlic butter. All of this about escargots is really only of interest to those that seek out this item on menus. It is a thing at French restaurants and there is some protocol to the serving of escargot. It is lost on Can Can - they really don’t get it.

I found the menu to be very limited. I did not see anything that night from the entree list that was appealing. I considered ordering the cheese plate but after the escargots I did not trust the kitchen.

As a retired chef, the primary statement here is not about the escargot(s) only. It is about the kitchen and the management culture. When I look at this menu I evaluate the number one priority to be profit - Not the dining experience - in fact, I think that the culture here in this restaurant is so far weighted on the side of profits that I can be convinced that the dining experience is only a small part of the conversation. The formula at Can Can appears to be; do the very minimum and charge the maximum (for what you are getting).

There is a lot of trust that goes into the relationship between the dinner guest and the restaurant. We spent close to $150 per person. Keep in mind that I did not even eat dinner (wine was $160). I happened to see a gem on what was a narrow minded wine list. The diner (customer) has to trust the restaurant to do their part. The diner’s part is to pay.

So often restaurants do not do their part but the diner is expected to do their part anyway. Also, it is always a hassle to have to coach the restaurant to do their part as the evening progresses. Especially when it is in the $300 - $500+ range for two. This is NOT what I sign up for.

I do not think that it is possible for Can Can to do their part. Service is a big component and the waitstaff presented themselves as unknowledgeable and generally lacking sophistication in the dining room. You will need a lot of luck at Can Can if you are to have a great dining experience. The chances are low.

After my last visit I realize that I am not the best customer for Can Can. When I spend $250+ I expect to have a good dining experience. I don't like to go to restaurants spending a lot of money with my fingers crossed. I like the atmosphere and will go back but with low expectations with regard to service and food. Recommendation: Enjoy the Bar Experience & small dish and take your dinner...

In light of Can Can's recent change of ownership, I am posting this review from dinner in March '24: For Richmond's sake, Can Can needs to get their ** together. On a simple early evening outing for 2 with only 5 items ordered including beverages and the restaurant half full: From beginning to end, Can Can's multi-tiered service heirarchy is no longer enhancing the dining experience, obviously exacerbated by poor front of house communication. After checking in at the 'front desk' with two employees on duty & no acknowledgment of our reservation, our menus were handed to a third who led us to a back section before hesitating & leaving us standing there with an "I'll be right back" as she returned to the 'front desk' to confirm our table #. Already communications have broken down (a minor interruption but indicative of their service logistics). While not a long wait for our somewhat slovenly but affable server, he was quick with a thwarted "I'll be right back" while I took 10 seconds to select our wines by the glass. After ordering the first, he assumed by the bottle & was corrected. The second, a simple Cremant, he did not comprehend, so I pointed it out on the menu (maybe these items should be numbered like a Chinese menu?). Again, minor inconveniences. Then Water, Bread & Butter is promptly delivered by a 4th person, presumably a busser or backwaiter. The wait was much longer for our Bubbles to arrive, during which time our food order could have easily been taken. Now the 5th employee serving us (also unkempt) arrives with our Sparklings, which are poured tableside allowing the diner to sample & accept a full pour (a nice touch that has remained since their 2005 opening). Both glasses were good but would have been very good if at proper temperature for sparkling wine (I estimated 47° out of the ice well formerly used for their raw bar but now poorly maintained by a service bartender, which also explains the delay). Our Petit Plateau (chilled Shellfish, Shrimp & Lobster -still a wonderful presentation at Can Can), which again was not intially understood by our server, arrived quickly but the time taken to actually place the order with our server meant that our wines were now above 50° and more than half consumed. I contemplated moving on to a dry Riesling as we started in on our 'Tower', but unfortunately the seafood did not warrant it. The Oysters, Mussels & particularly the Clams were all excellent with 3 types of Oysters but inexplicably some with abductors separated and some not. The two 'stars' (and expense) of the show were extemely disappointing. The Shrimp are now unimpressive U16-20s but worse were tough & mealy (I would say cooked, improperly chilled and 2-3 days in the walk-in before served -which a competent kitchen would not). The lobster was so overcooked that I had to resort to my knife, and that with some difficulty, to portion the tail to share. What a shame. Fortunately Dessert & Cappuccino were good, but (alas, one last 'but') followed by another unnecessary wait for our check. A management and service structure/logistics reassessment is in order with an emphasis on communication, simplification and ongoing adequate training of service personnel. Furthermore the Chef Owners must rediscover and reinvigorate the passion and maintain the standards that motivated their ambitious purchase...

Can Can gets 4.4 or 4.5 stars and that’s about right. Some of their food may very well be the best you’ve had in a month or more and worth the price. There’s also a chance some item might come out that isn’t right or to your liking, and you might want to ask for something else.

There are other upscale French restaurants nearby open with even higher reviews, but feel free to give Can Can a try. Unlike the others, Can Can is easier to get into and isn’t just open for dinner.

The French cafe atmosphere and decor with white tiles and authentic cold solid aluminum bar surface (a reclaimed antique I think?) is pretty cool. It’s conveniently? located in Carytown, though you sometimes have to look for parking.

The place is noisy and hard to hear when busy, due to the antique Richmond tin ceiling tiles and high airy ceiling.

The lunch menu is fairly different than the dinner menu. We prefer the latter. In the afternoon between lunch and dinner they say they’re open but the menu is more limited.

We’ve never liked their grilled/seared fish over the years. It can be overcooked, lacking in flavor, or sometimes fishy. We avoid it.

Their frites / fries are delicious and huge servings. Be aware they don’t have A1 steak sauce or anything similar.

The bread they serve is great. Our dinner didn’t come with bread and butter last time. Also great are their baked goods (croissants etc.) and Lavazza coffee drinks sold at the bar. (Try the cold brewed, it’s smooth like chocolate milk.) If you get there after 3pm or 4pm they might sell you the day’s pastries at deep discounts.

The desserts aren’t cheap ($10-$14) but they’re good. Check out the ice cream. Today’s flavors included brandy date, which suggests the ice cream may be artisan and/or specially made in house or local.

The steak tartare appetizer was quite good and again a HUGE serving for the price. It wasn’t ground or flat cutlets but large cube chunks. It tasted like rare beef (roast beef, steak or burger) with light caper flavor.

I didn’t care for the small raw clams which were tender and priced at just $6 for 6 but tasted like ocean water. Maybe that’s just me.

Something was wrong with the iced tea they served us. It was bitter and muddy in color — you couldn’t see through it at all. Surprising that would happen in an upscale place, but we sent it back and got something else. Not...