Someone wrote: > Cafe Le Royale, on Centre Street in West Roxbury has a Sunday brunch. > Haven't tried it, but their evening menu is fantastic. > My wife and I went there last fall with high hopes that were soon dashed. It turned out to be a bad start to what we had hoped would be a special evening. The dining room was depressingly decorated and lit, a cavernous space with grey walls and a tin ceiling, the meal long (as in 45 minutes) in coming, the appetizers and entrees heavy and unappetizing in appearence and taste. The loin of pork in a port wine apple sauce that I ordered turned out to be thick slices of tasteless meat drowned in an equally tasteless purple sauce. I could not finish it. My wife had a bland haddock dish that she also could not finish. I am sorry that I cannot be more specific but most of the details of the meal have faded from memory. My impression was that this restaurant appeals to those who value portion size more than flavor and presentation. - Paul
Boston, MA
2 Questions
Mime-version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Lines: 63 Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 09:23:14 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 65.96.147.10 X-Complaints-To: [email removed] X-Trace: typhoon.ne.mediaone.net 1011259394 65.96.147.10 (Thu, 17 Jan 2002 04:23:14 EST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 04:23:14 EST Organization: ATT Broadband Xref: usenet.INS.cwru.edu ne.food:18821 Oh, wow. That couldn't be far from my experiences of the place. I have been there four times, and loved it each time. One occasion we had a group of six women, so we ordered most of their entree menu for a tasting. They had a mixed seafood offering (maybe bouillibase (sp) wonderful-tasting mussels and other fresh seafood) We were all delighted with our food and felt for the price, it compared favorably with some more prestigious French restaurants downtown that we had visited. As for "cavernous," the place has only about 18 tables, and the ceilings aren't outstandingly high. The "neutral" color on the walls and the charming posters that decorate the place remind me of a real bistro in Paris. You make it sound like a bunker. My favorite appetizer is a goat-cheese and eggplant timbale which, although a challenge for a single diner, is so delicious I always order it and share (a little) with my spouse. I liked it well enough to try to duplicate it at home. The presentation is done with care. I ordered Shrimp and Scallop en Croute with Asparagus which was delightfully presented and delicious, although they could scrimp and still leave me happy. I decidedly would never sacrifice flavor for portion size, although it is true their portions are more American than French in their scale. Usually I cannot finish all that they give me, not because it is bland, tasteless or slow in arriving, but because I have eaten more than my share of the timbale first! I'm sorry you an experience so different from mine. I understand that the menu was about to change the last time I was there (maybe November?) Maybe we should both give it another try. Linda > From: Paul Kinnucan > Organization: The MathWorks, Inc., Natick, MA 01760 > Newsgroups: ne.food > Date: 16 Jan 2002 17:26:23 -0500 > Subject: Re: 2 Questions > > Someone wrote: > >> Cafe Le Royale, on Centre Street in West Roxbury has a Sunday brunch. >> Haven't tried it, but their evening menu is fantastic. >> > > My wife and I went there last fall with high hopes that were soon > dashed. It turned out to be a bad start to what we had hoped would be > a special evening. The dining room was depressingly decorated and lit, > a cavernous space with grey walls and a tin ceiling, the meal long (as > in 45 minutes) in coming, the appetizers and entrees heavy and > unappetizing in appearence and taste. The loin of pork in a port wine > apple sauce that I ordered turned out to be thick slices of tasteless > meat drowned in an equally tasteless purple sauce. I could not finish > it. My wife had a bland haddock dish that she also could not finish. I > am sorry that I cannot be more specific but most of the details of the > meal have faded from memory. My impression was that this restaurant > appeals to those who value portion size more than flavor and > presentation. > > - Paul