Cafe Clementine — Restaurant in Saint Petersburg

One of the true pleasures of visiting France is being able to taste delicious, high quality viennoiserie (croissants, brioches, and their relatives). Florida, and most of the US, for years has lacked pastry chefs with the knowledge and inclination to make great croissants. However, this is changing!

Fortunately, Cafe Clementine is among the few houses in central Florida churning out great products that meet these standards. Their traditional croissants and pains au chocolat are fantastic, but so are the more unique products that often incorporate refreshing and decadent flavors (salted honey croissant, yuzu peach tart, mojo pork danish, to name a few). In similar spirit to what you might experience overseas, their sweets are well balanced between sweetness and flavor, which is a true virtue as most bakeries in the US over-sweeten plain bread, let alone their treats.

Additionally, Cafe Clementine offers a rotating selection of sophisticated takes on typical cafe fare such as sandwiches, salads, scones, and breakfast. The staff is always nice and I usually end up buying more than I should, taking home extra goods after every visit.

Their offerings always change, which makes it rewarding and fun to visit them more than once. It's a must-stop, full stop!

(pictured; croissant bread pudding with peach and house-made...

I am really sad because the service and atmosphere were great but the baked goods were extremely disappointing. These baked goods were incredibly mediocre at best and were not nearly sweet enough. Some of their flavor ideas were good and looked beautiful but the execution was terribly lacking. A cinnamon roll is supposed to be sweet but the frosting’s tanginess was so overpowering and the roll had no flavor of pumpkin. The cinnamon roll was actually inedible and the entire dessert was thrown out. The flavors clashed so violently in my, and my family’s, opinion. The s’more tasted overly burnt and the ganache was so bitter and dug out a center of the marshmallow so it ended up being an entire bite of bitterness rather than a beautiful addition to the sweet marshmallow. The tahini banana muffin was fine… it just wasn’t that great. The flavor didn’t match as well as it could have unfortunately. What should have been a fun and unique flavor combination was lackluster and forgettable. The espresso twist actually tasted alright, but it was very hard and not flaky- despite being a flaky pastry. I ended up paying roughly 31 dollars for an incredibly disappointing and unpleasant experience. I wouldn’t recommend it, contrary to the...

As if the sumptuous setting of fine art & the ambience of this weekend’s Flowers In Bloom exhibit wasn’t enough of a thrill, I had the pleasure of sampling Cafe Clementine’s baked delights. I was eyeing their glass case brimming with choices & the glazed cinnamon roll was what I finally selected. I sat in the glass sun-filed atrium & was surrounded by other patrons who were raving about the chocolate chip cookies & lemon poppy & almond cakes. The couple seated next to me decided 1 croissant wasn’t enough & got more for home. These baked creations looked too good to eat, but I assure you every serving was being enjoyed. Special Thanks go to a cafe staff member, Savannah, who waited on me & was most patient explaining the many choices. Every cafe employee smiled or greeted me as I sat there, also. You can attend the museum & taste Cafe Clementine, but museum admission is not required. It seemed like many attendees were going to the Cafe before any art & I know why. I...