The Pot Au Feu

I was duped by the overall reviews on Unilocal when I chose to come here. Sad day.
When I first walked in for Saturday brunch, I really liked the place– There is a lot of natural lighting, and the place has an intimate feel. However, when I sat down at the table I realized how dusty and upkeep the place was. The salt and pepper shakers were covered in dust and so was the syrup that was brought to our table. The cleanliness of the items in plain sight made me question the cleanliness of the kitchen.
I ordered corned beef hash and eggs over medium. The corned beef was alright. I was severely disappointed in the potatoes that were served cubed cut and deep-fried…this is a «french» esque place, why would you deep fry potatoes?! The only thing I liked on the plate were the eggs. The toast was gross, and the butter that was brought our tasted like refrigerator.
To top off the entire experience, when the waiter (who was slow the entire time) came back with our change, he said «I kept the .81 cents, I hope you don’t mind.» uhhhhh. I know that it was only .81 cents, but it’s the principle. You always bring back change to the table unless the customer specifically tell you «no change.» I was really thrown off. I mean obviously we weren’t going to leave him .81 cents as a tip. Against my better judgement, I still left a 20% tip… but the entire meal has bothered me for a while now. Get it together, The Pot Au Feu.
Basic Run-​down: Good lighting, intimate feel; coffee served hot; Sub-​par flavor in food; SLOW/​unprofessional service

They serve their corned beef hash and eggs… in a… BOWL. I ain’t even mad, just… who does that?!
Dear faithful Unilocal readers and reviewers, we are gathered here today to discuss a restaurant which, by any other name, I could probably pronounce. But since I can’t, I shall refer to this one as «The Pot».
Now, I wouldn’t exactly describe The Pot as a hole-​in-​the-​wall restaurant, per se. I wouldn’t even describe them as a blackhole hidden in the corner of the universe. I’ll say this though: if this place were the blackhole’s little brother and he went missing, he wouldn’t be seen on the back of a milk carton. The milk carton would be missing, too. And I say all that to say this.
The Pot, upon first visit, is one of the least conspicuous spots in all of downtown El Paso I have ever been to. Maybe because it was daytime and the main sign wasn’t even lit up or large enough to be seen from walking distance. But I literally had to circle the block twice, park in a separate parking lot on which (if it were any other day) I could have been towed, and physically locate this place on foot. However, this turned out to be a minor inconvenience once we figured out that, yes… this place was open for business and their food is as good as the pictures suggest.
Whilst the wife and son both got the lamb burger, I had my mind set on trying the corned beef hash and eggs. Only this version was done very differently and more authentic, I suppose. We’ll get to that in a minute. I did sample the lamb burger for the sake of quenching curiosity. This burger was full of flavor, to say the least. It certainly beat the pants off that other burger I had last night at CMB.
Now this version of corned beef hash (despite ostensibly having the American flag next to it on the menu) isn’t the typical hashed up style like you would buy in a can at the grocery store or have served to you at Village Inn. This corned beef is more like the kind that’s served with sauerkraut and cabbage. It tasted more Irish-​American to me than anything else, but it was by NO means awful! The potatoes (which…they give a superfluous amount of, btw) were homemade and combined with the corned beef. So ultimately, the entire thing was constructed in house from scratch. A different style of corned beef hash you don’t typically see in most restaurants so… just fair warning there.
Ultimately, it was all good. I just wasn’t accustomed to having my breakfast served in a bowl, of all things. Maybe it was because I got my eggs over easy. Still… I eat eggs with runny yolk on a flat plate all the time and have no issues with this. If they’re goal was the keep the yolk from running off the plate, then… eh…I dunno. I always figured that’s what toast and potatoes are good for. I love mixing those together with the yolk.
I was also really impressed with the fact that even my son enjoyed the lamb burger! Considering he’s 8, that’s saying something.
And, of course, service was divine. I honestly have zero complaints about that.
Overall: aside from the fact that this place was more difficult to find than the lost ships at the Bermuda Triangle, not to mention the hilariously odd ritual of serving me eggs and toast in a bowl as if it were cereal, everything else about this place checks out. I like the quaint decorum and the coffee shop style music playing in the background. I may return, provided that parking isn’t a huge issue. I’m giving this multi-​cultured phenomena of a restaurant 4 heaping bowls full of potatoes out of 5.

I’m leaving here pretty disappointed. Not that I hated it. there were definitely some things I enjoyed… but I think I was just OVERLY excited about it. Hyped up by other reviews and friends’ opinions, I expected more than what I found. (Disclaimer– I recognize the fact that I was kind of in a bad mood to begin with, so there’s a chance my mood colored my opinions… or maybe not. Who knows?)
So what did I find? 1 — The place itself just wasn’t what I expected. Tons of tables crammed into a tiny place. Not really fancy. Some big bulbed lights (half didnt work) strung about, some mirrors above the bar… But they try to pull off a more upscale vibe. Just wasn’t working for me. Acoustics were terrible. Sounded like maybe some pleasant sounding jazz was playing in the background, but all I could hear was the chatter from the rest of the tables. Again. just not hitting the mark of the upscale vibe they’re trying to accomplish.
2 — The service was lacking. Immensely. Walked in the door. was given the ‘hold on, I’ve-gotta-take-this-call finger” as the dude answered the phone. stood there for a few minutes before he finally hung up and showed me to a table. It was completely packed (i got the last small table available) with only 2 people working… one of whome was multi tasking as bartender. and someone from kitchen was coming out to run food. I understand it isn’t a large establishment, but 6 pm on a Saturday, you know the place will fill up. plan accordingly. My waiter was brand new. Which makes having only 2 people working that much worse. I don’t hold it against him or anything, everyone starts somehwere. but again. Plan accordingly. Also, I was more familiar with the menu and happy hour and whatnot than he was. I had to specifically ask about things, then he had to consult his manager (the other waitress) to confirm, then come back to the table to let me know. Also, the wait between meals was far too long. I’m pretty sure at one point I went about 45 minutes without seeing/​hearing from my waiter. I ordered my apps then ordered the meal from him, received all my food from 2 other people, and didn’t see him again until he came out AFTER my dinner was cleared about 15 minutes earlier to let me know the kitchen lost my ticket and I’d have food shortly… what?!
3– the food evened out to be just okay. I got 2 apps because I couldn’t decide what sounded better: sesame ginger wings and the cheese plate (recommended by a friend). Both were delicious. Wings were smokey with perfect amount of flavor. (Unnecessarily topped with a pile of shredded carrots though) Cheese plate was blue, munster, and goat cheese with fresh strawberries, black berries, and pear, and a bowl of crostini on the side. (I LOVE goat cheese and strawberries, I could’ve eaten $ 21 worth of JUST that!) After that, not much on the main menu really sounded good to me. But again, I went with a recommendation and got the duck. It was almost inedible. Imagine something with a gamey consistency that literally tastes like nothing but smoke and salt. Blehh. It came with some kind of noodles, which I enjoyed, but there was pretty much equal parts shredded carrots, radish, and onions to noodle. Had to pick em all out. Because blehhh. I didn’t even eat half my plate. not because it was too much, just because I really didn’t enjoy it. So I figured I’d give a chance for redemption and order dessert: white chocolate crème brûlée. This didn’t disappoint! Perfect crème brûlée with homemade whipped cream and fresh fruit on top. I think I’d have been a happy camper if I’d have ONLY ordered the cheese plate, a glass of wine, and the crème brûlée.
I’m glad I tried it. just to get it out of my system… but I won’t be back for round 2

Holy Hannah! This place is cute and cozy and the staff is super friendly. Even though we had a party of 15, they accommodated us with ease. The hummus and naan was an awesome start with the French beer and the tea smoked duck with noodles was AMAZING!!! Top-​notch service AND food.

Whoa! My new favorite restaurant! This was our second time eating here. This time we had Calamari for an appetizer. For dinner we ordered the Cobb Salad. I ordered mine with salmon, my husband ordered his with shrimp. We surely didn’t need the meat added to the salad after eating calamari.
The calamari was in a light batter and extremely fresh. It was extremely tasty.
My salmon was a large portion. The salads had two thick pieces of bacon, a hard boiled egg cut in halves plus all the other veggies over baby spinach. We had our dressing on the side. This was by far THE BEST Cobb Salad I’ve ever tasted. Cobb Salad and chopped salads are my two favorite salads. So I order a lot of Cobb salads!
The chef brings out your food. The waiter & chef were both extremely pleasant and focused on us, the customer.
Definitely be back!

Listen, I had a wonderful dinner at Pot Au Fue!!! I don’t even know where to start but everything was just perfect.
So I did a little research on Unilocal and found out that they do Happy Hour on Saturdays as well. (–7pm) drinks are 25% off even a bottle of wine and appetizers are 50% off except the cheese plate.
We decided to order a bottle of wine to go with the cheese plate but they have a good size of wine menu. We needed a help to pick one. We asked for a help and our waitress Ashley was very knowledgeable. She pick a French wine for us and it was very good. She left the cork so we could re cork it and take it home but man we just finished the entire bottle of wine so quick. It was that good haha
Besides the cheese plate, I ordered wings (for happy hours, the wings are only $ 4 and it comes with like 10 wings. Awesome deal) and tea smoked duck, and my husband ordered a sandwich. Oh the duck was super delicious. It’s interesting to see that they fried soba (we usually eat it raw) but it was okay. I’m still thinking about the juicy flavorful duck.
For our desert, we got the white chocolate crème brûlée to share. It was not too sweet and delicious.
Food was good, drink was good, affordable price, and the service was excellent thanks to Ashley. I am so excited to go back to the restaurant already!

Check the stats on my reviews homeboy, I don’t usually give 5 stars. The Pot Au Feu, sh*t, this place bets 6.
Another small, tucked away spot in downtown El Paso, the Pot Au Feu is a dope place to have an intimate, or small group meal of some great French/​American cuisine.
Let me start by saying, the dude there, didn’t catch his name, but he did a great job. However, Ashley or waitress, she’s what’s up. Helpful, polite, attentive, knowledgable… Ashley had this gig down pat. Really enhanced the experience.
The food? Man… To die for (in my opinion). We started off with the best cheese platter that I’ve ever had. One, I love cheese. Two, instead of a bunch of extra junk usually on a cheese tray, it had sliced apples and grapes and stuff that I would eat. Killed the whole thing. The sliced and toasted baguettes that accompanied it, word. Until 7pm on Saturday (and some other days as well I forget when) is happy hour. So we were given 25% discount on a bottle of wine. Obviously wine goes with cheese, and they have like 2 pages of wine to select from, the normal dope Napa Valley biz (hometown Bay Area biz whaaaat!). But we were in a French-​ish place and having cheese, so Ashely recommended a French bottle, a red. Perfect choice. Nailed it. Killed the bottle. And you know what? She recommended one that would go well with what I was eating, NOT just the most expensive one… It was very middle of the road priced and I appreciated that. #Integrity
Also ordered was the wings off the app menu (FYI: expect the cheese platter, all apps are included in happy hour as well.) and they were big and plentiful enough to be a meal in itself. After this giant cheese tray and wings and a bottle of French wine. I’m FULLLL. But I can’t stop won’t stop. So here comes the food. Why not right? They have to go boxes. Rather nice ones at that and they box it for you… Anyways,
Yea yea… I know, I ordered the Philly Cheestake. But dude, it was amazing! My side?!? Ooohhhh, I dunno… Just some MF’N POUTINE!!! Dude you don’t know? Take crispy seasoned fries, and drizzle some legit brown gravy and cheese on top. Yea, the French have their flaws, but those dudes can eat. Next up, smoked duck and green tea soba. Let me tell you, duck, at least this duck, is like delicious ham and chicken put together. That’s what’s up. Top it off with delicious white chocolate Crème brûlée … Magnific!
If you’re downtown and heading to the speakeasy but wanna grab a bit and a drink prior to heading down to the basement … Pot Au Feu is DEFINITELY where it’s at. Probably my new favorite spot in the EPT.
Check it Mayne

We were able to take the short walk here from our hotel. The food was all very good! They had a happy hour with discounted drinks and appetizers. My husband and I were on a diet, and they made a lot of effort to meet our needs. The cheese plate was awesome!

Although it has a French name and described as American, the menu is scattered among many different cuisines: Greek, French, Italian, Japanese, etc.
Poutine ($ 7.50): The fries were great and the gravy was decent, but it was missing the traditional cheese curds. I would probably stick to just the Pommes Frites.
Bourekas ($ 8.50): Flaky filled pastries made with phyllo dough. Theirs was filled with mushroom and served with a yogurt-​based sauce. Tasty!
Tea Smoked Duck ($ 19): Duck breast, green tea soba noodles, rice wine vinaigrette, carrot, green onion, and radish. The duck was perfection. Tender with a medium rare center and very flavorful. The noodles were also delicious, but overcooked and slightly mushy.
Fattoush ($ 12): Arugula, cherry tomato, cucumber, red onion, feta, mint, fried naan, and lemon oil vinaigrette. This is a Levantine bread salad reminiscent of what we identify as a Greek salad. I loved the fried naan and all the vegetables, but I did not care for the overall flavor of the salad.
It’s a small space and when it’s crowded, like it was when we visited during the weekday, it’s not very intimate. There was also only one person manning the bar and serving the room, so service was sparse.

Loved it small awesome downtown El Paso. Our waiter was attentive. Really enjoyed the fresh vegetables well cooked and the spicy curry and rice. The chicken appetizers were good and the chocolate cake was great and well naked. Nice drink selection

Simply fantastic. My work compadres and I have come here a few times when we have had the time to swing downtown. Nothing on their menu is excellent as it offers an ethnically eclectic variety of choices. Surprisingly for such a variety, they get it all right. I love their burgers, you cannot go wrong with any of them. The fish and chips is best in town. The place is small, the service is good, the ambiance is welcoming and the prices are decent given the quality. This is a must try in El Paso!

I have been here more than a few times and the food has yet to fail me. On this occasion I went with the Rigatoni Portofino Pasta and added the Shrimp. I followed it with one of the Craft Beers offered on special during their Happy Hour for only $ 2.50. Happy hour also offered ½ off appetizers if purchased with an entrée. How can you go wrong? My meal was perfectly prepared the wait staff was attentive and polite, and of course I am now a fan. We will be back :). My only concern is the location is downtown and located near a local favorite pizza spot so parking can be a challenge. Nonetheless, well worth the visit and pleasant walk downtown if you have to in order to get there. Enjoy!

Cozy romantic ambiance, worldy menu, fabulous smells, great service. The standout dish of the night was the white chocolate crème brûlée! It was so smooth and light, my mind was blown by the crème brûlée.
The cheese plate had a giant chunk of a delicious bleu cheese and large helpings of brie. The bleu cheese wedge was larger than my fist– it was amazing because our large group had plenty of cheese. The toasted bread was warm, crisp yet soft inside, and smelled homemade. The cheese plate lacked in the fruit department due to mushy apples and skimpy portions. If they had better fruit and kept the cheese portions, I would say definitely worth the $ 21.
The duck confit sandwich had an amazing sauce which made it creamy and full of flavor. My friend ordered the onion rings as a side, which were boss. They were big and just a bang of yumminess. The lamb burger was the best smell, I could not wait to dig into it. There was a big hit of feta on the lamb burger, great seasonings. The beef bourguignon was cozy, filling, and well cooked, but it left something to be desired: I was missing that kick of red wine flavor, no mushrooms, my entire bowl only had 2 bits of onion. I like cooked carrots in my beef bourguignon, but PAF’s came with thin sliced raw carrots on top. I really missed the red wine flavor.
The menu was lovely, I am curious about the yellow curry especially. No cocktail menu available, but a decent beet list. We were excited to see their Hefeweissen selection.
Loved the service. My friend could not decide on a wine and just blindly ordered a red wine, and the waitor brought her a sample of a few reds and the one he recommended she loved. Our waitor was very cute, knowledgeable, friendly, and had a cute accent that set the mood. The restaurant has lovely orange walls and lovely rustic museam looking decorations. The setup of the restaurant was not very intimate, but I would still say it is a great place for a date.

I was fortunate to find this place on the Sunday afternoon after Thanksgiving, so I had the place to myself. At first, I was concerned that Pot au Feu simply wasn’t very good so people were staying away.
But nothing could be further from the truth. It’s just that everyone in town overate on Thanksgiving and were giving their stomachs a rest.
I had the fish n chips and was pleasantly surprised to learn they used swai rather than generic, white, flaky «fish». But it didn’t even prepare me for the dessert: a baked-​on-​premises blueberry bourbon cheesecake. Say it with me: Blueberry. Bourbon. Cheesecake. It tastes even better than it sounds.
Ashley, my server, was an attentive, personable, yet unobtrusive hostess and I could not ask for better food, atmosphere (hope you like jazz) or hospitality.
Pot au Feu carries my unreserved recommendation. Your review helps others learn about great local businesses.

We had a great meal this evening starting with an order of samosas which were very tasty. It’s chilly tonight so we both decided on the house specialty, pot au feu which was delicious! Our server Mario was very attentive and made the meal a truly enjoyable experience. Thank you~

If your looking for delicious chef made cuisine but are on a budget (or not) this place is just wow!!! The food is delicious. They’re menu has a little bit of everything from every country! Me and some some friends went for a celebration I had a taste of everyone’s food and everything was too die for!

I really don’t get the high ratings on this place. I figured I should leave a review for other people passing through town. Go elsewhere.
I should have known something was up when we were the only table at 7pm on a Friday night. When we asked about the menu, the server said everything was good. Not very helpful.
The wings were ok. Sauce was too sweet. Needed some acid to balance it. The meat was overcooked to dryness.
The croque was pretty good. It would have been great if the cheese had been better than grocery store, sliced, quality.
The soup of the day was some sort of carrot aberration. Honestly (not exaggerating, seriously) this was the worst soup I have paid money for. It was like stewed carrot water and broth that they had tried to thicken with flour. It reminded me more of a gravy (that was serperating) than a soup.
A friend’s veggie sandwich was underwhelming. Ingredients in general seemed mostly «meh» quality.
Service was efficient and timely, but that was probably because we were the only people there.

Definitely fond of the food. The restaurant I’d say is fairly unique. It may appear more of a French theme however, offers a variety of dishes from of course French dishes Japanese, Thai and Greek. I’d recommend you walk in and choose one of the variety.

I’m French and I tried the Pot au feu, thinking that it would not be really similar to the one you can have in France. I was really suprised to have a very close dish, good flavors and ingredients. I recommend to go there if you are curious to try some very good typical countryside and not specifically fancy French food. Excuse me.

Here meeting friends for a quick bite and a drink before the Chihuahuas game. Servers are very friendly and I love the atmosphere. Going to try their wings for the first time. It’s halt hour right now so half of appetizers and draft beer. It’s only 2 though.

Today I took a 5am, 5 ½-​hour flight to El Paso that had stops in 4 different airports. On the second leg of said flight, the crazy woman next to me stole my childhood binky while I was sleeping and took off in Dallas. Then I come to realize that Priceline scored me one heck of a secret deal on a hotel… across the border in Juarez, Mexico… a border city known for it’s kidnappings, killings, and dismemberments.
Things are not going smoothly, I thought.
Today is not my day, I thought.
You need a mimosa (or three), I thought.
Enter, The Pot Au Feu… which despite my dining partner’s best efforts, I still cannot properly pronounce.
I arrived a little early because despite the world being against me, I was able to sort out my earlier stated issues rather quickly and settle in with a stellar PAF mimosa, of which they offer a number of flavors, including traditional, pineapple, pomegranate, and white grape, all available at the low, low price of $ 4.25 (or $ 2 each on Saturdays and Sundays from 10−3pm).
Things are looking up, I thought.
Maybe today really is my lucky day, I thought.
You should soak up this booze with some brunch, I thought.
Enter, The Pot Au Feu’s nicoise salad. Which I had high expectations for, with it’s $ 19 price tag.
Verdict: Stupendous. A HUGE slab of slightly seared tuna, two soft-​boiled eggs, garden fresh spinach, the most tolerable anchovies (I’m not normally a fan), the plumpest little tomatoes, artisanal olives for days, and the snappiest green beans to maybe ever exist. Plus it was enough for a meal and half.
Wow, I thought.
El Paso, you spoil me, I thought.
How long do I have to wait before I can come back and do it all again, I thought.

Le Pot au Feu est un excellent restaurant du centre-​ville d’El Paso. J’y suis passé deux fois, une pour le fameux ‘brunch’ et une autre fois en soirée. Le propriétaire m’a raconté qu’ils avaient retiré un plat de leur menu (de la poitrine de canard aux nouilles asiatiques) et que face à un déluge de plaintes sur Unilocal,avait du faire machine arrière.
C’est un restaurant jeune, dynamique et qui cherche à relever le niveau culinaire de la ville avec force et brio. Je dis bravo !