Cafe Francais — Restaurant in Tucson

People need to know about the policies of this restaurant. My husband and I most recently ate here on March 16, 2016. We had been here 2 times before, always for lunch. Although it is very expensive, especially for lunch, we considered it a special event each time we went. The food has been good each time. Nothing remarkable, but decent. But we loved the little French Cafe atmosphere, and the service was good. After lunch, we went to the pastry counter to take some goodies home for dinner. Among our choices was a brownie, that looked very nice. That night when we had our dessert, the brownie was so hard and stale it was like a rock. The girl behind the counter who put it in the bag could not have missed that fact, but she gave it to us anyway. My husband could not eat it, so we threw it away. I tried calling right away to report the problem, but there was no answer, so I guessed they were closed. I called again the following morning and got to speak with a representative. I told her what had happened and she remarked that they just threw some of them away. She apologized and told us she would have the owner call us back to confirm that we could come back in for a replacement. I indicated that we could not come in until next week to get a fresh brownie (we were on our way out of town when I called.) When we received a call back, it was not the owner. We were told that, unless we brought in the stale pastry, they would not replace it. I explained that we had already discarded it and there would be no way to bring it in. Why in the world would anyone call to report a stale brownie unless they actually had one, and why would the restaurant want it back, especially when they were told that we could not return until the following week? My biggest gripe is that I did not request a replacement- it was offered to me but they refused to keep their word. I said that we had spent a lot of money there but that made no difference to them. I told them that we would not be returning and, again, no difference. I needed to bring this to the attention of people googling for a French cafe- look elsewhere. These people could care less about their customers. And their pastries...

Cafe Francais is a long-time vendor of the weekend 'Farmers Markets' in Tucson. When the original founders were still in charge, who I'll call "Madame" and "Monsieur" because I don't have their names, Cafe Francais appeared both at the Oro Valley/Steam Pump Ranch (Saturdays) and the Tucson/Rillito Race Track (Sundays) markets. ... ... ...

Now, unfortunately, Madame and Monsieur have retired -- although by their excellence in their craft they certainly deserve a wonderful retirement -- and they passed on their name to the current owners. ... ... ...

In those 'olden days' the pastries were not just tasty and VERY French, but they were a work of art. The croissants were not just crunchy, and the almost croissants were not just loaded with almond paste, but the croissants were flaky, due in no small part to Madame's habit of getting up every morning before the birds and doing what she did best. ... ... ...

Now, the croissants are still tasty and large enough to fill you up (at least if you are my age -- a 20-something might go for two) AND they are crunchy. Shockingly crunchy, in fact, given how dense they seem to be from looking at them. But, they are not flaky in the way that croissants are supposed to be flaky, and while this slight demerit does not take away from the taste, they are a little too doughy inside to be considered perfect.

So, while the current rendition of almond croissants does not quite match Madame's magical creations, it's a fine, fine, treat for your mouth...

I had lunch here today with a friend. The food was fine- french onion soup was very good. The fisherman's plate was alright, but for the price I expected more than just "ok." The service was fine, our waitress was friendly but not as attentive as I would have liked given that there were only three other tables occupied at the time and I saw three servers walking around.

The weird thing, however, was the desserts.. we wanted to have some coffee and sweets, and since they have a generous collection of desserts we thought we'd choose something from the bakery counter. We were told, however, that only one variety of cookie and one variety of tart were permitted to be eaten at the tables in the restaurant. Um, what? We were not allowed to buy something AT the bakery counter and take it back to our table to eat it, the pastries are ONLY sold as a take-away deal. What?? Apparently the owner is neurotic or something, I can not think of any good reason for a restaurant/bakery to not allow customers to buy food items in the establishment and also eat them there.

Definitely won't be back. If I want mediocre food and no dessert, I have many other...