02/23/09

food always hits its mark

by playfair

i love presse! I love Presse! The mussels,the sardine salad, the rillette, the cold chicken! I can't get enough. The food follows the seasons and always hits its mark! And whoever that blue-eyed hostess is, I'm sweet on her.

11/02/08

Surprising

by aaron98101

I was a little hesitant to try this place because of some of the not-so-stellar reviews here and because I know so little about French cuisine. I was enormously and pleasantly surprised. My friend and I had dinner at around 8:00 last Friday. We immediately got a table. Our waiter was really friendly and suggested a great bottle of wine and a starter of chicken liver terrine, which was excellent. My friend had the mussels and I had the pork loin. The mussels were tender and juicy in a broth with a hint of orange and came with amazing fries with mayo. The pork, juicy and perfect, was baked in a rich cheese sauce with potatoes and cauliflower. The service, in general, was simultaneously attentive and laid-back and lacked any attitude. All in all, it was a great experience. I will certainly be back.

10/30/08

Wonderful people and wonderful food

by archiepz

I love Cafe Presse and don't know what I would do without it. Everyone there is so amazing and friendly. I particularly adore the platinum blonde, I think her name is Heather. I agree with girlkitty! I remember Heather from Pichet too. Everyone there always takes the time to say hi and see what we need. And the food and wine? Out of this world, and such a great deal!

And Cameron's hot.

09/21/08

Disappointing

by pakiannie

I convcinced two friends that we should try Cafe Presse for lunch on a Saturday afternoon. We were seated in the back, the restaurant has nice decor and was pretty crowded so we had high hopes. I used to live in Paris and the menu is what you'd expect to see in a parisian bistro.

2 of us ordered the steak-frites, the other ordered the omelette. The steak frites were served as explained, medium rare. This is how I normally order hangar, rib eye, filet mignon, etc...in restaurants. And it would have been ok except that our portions of organic hangar steak were completely tough and had thick white ligament looking strings through them (sorry I don't know what this is called.) Our waiter seemed understanding when we asked to have them cooked to medium instead, but the extra time on the grill really did nothing to help the tenderness. It was one of the worst cuts of medium-rare meat I've been served in a restaurant so I highly discourage anyone from spending the $16. When he cleared our plates us noticed that we had not eaten any and was apologetic.

My friend who ordered the omelette raved about it, and we all agreed that the frites (fries) were awesome.

The service was ok, the waiter who served us seemed a bit sleepy but was otherwise polite.

Now that I know what to expect I might go back to Cafe Presse but just for an afternoon coffe/snack. This is not a good place to go when you are really starving and want a satisfying meal.

• Pros: fries, omelette
• Cons: steak-frites, no recourse for bad meal

09/16/08

I love that platinum blonde!!

by girlkitty

It's hard to believe that anyone would have anything bad to say about that platinum blonde woman. She's been serving me for years at Pichet and now at Presse, and she's always taken great care of me! She's attentive and informative. And I love her hair. Oh, and the food is delicious and very affordable.

07/29/08

Bad, snooty, bitchy server

by pinkppr

Service is a joke there. Sat there, ignored us for the longest time. When we flagged someone down, someone else came over with a horrible annoyed attitude. Rushed us to order, and when we got our food, we were never checked up to see how we were doing. I needed more water, wanted a coffee, and wanted to order something to go...and couldnt get any of that. Server came in the end to drop the check off, did it so harshly she knocked over the glass of water. We left so angry, never want to go back again.

I agree with Jitrato03 and Meekonese, I too was Asian. Horrible restaurant.

• Pros: You can get a nice arm workout flagging people down
• Cons: Service

07/18/08

Good food

by TheMemberName

I like most of the food, and the hours and prices are good. They usually give free bread and butter, both of which are soft and enjoyable. Sometimes, though, they'll forget (or decide they don't care?) and the person waiting your table will seem oddly troubled by a polite bread request. I've also been given cold drip coffee more times than is excusable. Twice my latte came after my meal, so now I just order drip when I go. While the service is generally friendly enough (except for the bread, which seems to be a sore subject) it doesn't tend to kick in until after I've been there awhile and the workers have accepted that I am, indeed, staying for a meal. Maybe they hope that if they don't acknowledge me, I'll just leave?

I have a feeling the poor service is the result of understaffing, and if so, shame on the management for putting the staff in this lose-lose situation.

This is my major gripe: I've been here about a dozen times, and I'm still not sure whether I should seat myself. I've tried doing so, and I've tried waiting for acknowledgement, and both methods have earned me dirty looks from employees. I've seen other poor patrons standing around the door looking confused and wish I could whisper the answer to them. WHY CAN'T THEY POST A SIGN? Here, I'll even ghostwrite a few options: "Please seat yourself," or "Please wait to be seated," or "Please go away." Whatever it is, just let us know!

• Pros: Food, prices
• Cons: I think they hate their customers

06/04/08

My Favorite Place, Morning, Noon and Night.

by abcdefg09

I'm white and I always get great service. jitrata03 and chonpz, I think you're on to something here. Cafe Presse must be...

Get real, people, white, asian or otherwise. If you don't like the Capitol Hill attitude, stay on the Eastside.

The food is great. Once, it wasn't. I said something and they fixed it. Easy enough. I've never been pushed out the door, even while clocking 2+hours of laptop time during peak business. The service is merely there. I'm not looking to be entertained or stroked under the table. I'm here to eat and have some coffee or wine and that has occurred without fail every time I've been there over the past year (about once a week).

• Pros: Great all purpose venue, (date, work, lunch,dinner, late drinks), Staff, Music
• Cons: None really. They are who they are.

05/22/08

Bad service

by jitrata03

I have been there twice because food, atmosphere and serives are really good at the first time. But tonight, my friend and I had dinner there. I was so happy with food but very disappoint and very upset for the services. My friend and I were done with our meal and still talked to each other. The restaurant was getting busy. Suddenly, a waitress who was not served us at the first time asked us did we need more water. We said no because the bottle of water was empty but our glasses were full. She took the bottle and glasses of water away. Our table was empty. That was so rude for the customer who pay the bill for $60.- per meal plus tip 20% because she needed our table to serve other customer. She is not deserve to work there or maybe she don't want to serve Asian. I am a server too, I never do that with my customers. I really upset and will not go back because not only that place has a good food.

• Pros: good food
• Cons: bad services

05/17/08

Steak Frite degueulasse

by chonpz

i ordered steak frite, croque monsieur and a salad verte

the croque monsieur was good enough

the salad was ok, nothing to write home about.

the "steak frite" steak was horrible..believe me ... i haven't had meat this bad in 20 years.

Just imagine steak at Dennys but on a really really really bad night....actually i think steak at Dennys is much better compared to this.

btw i haven't writen a review in 20 years...It was sooo bad i fell it is my responsability to warn seattle.

• Pros: hmmm still thinking...
• Cons: steak frite.