Sage French Cafe & Oyster Bar

First time to this establishment. Tom was our waiter from Mass.
I had 2 Corona Beers and my sweet wife had 2 glasses of Pino. Service was very good, however don’t ask for «Crispy» duck as it is real super crispy! Food was served in a timely manner and no long waits as I had seen in previous blogs…. but we went at 6 PM due to later engagements. I suppose by 8 it is very busy. The french onion soup had way too much cheese (I thought).

The guy on Piano and singing SUX. Every song’s tempo way too fast. He sings contemporary music but is like elevator music. Also way too loud. He ruined our whole night. Ruined the ambiance. SUCKS bad. Hopefully they won’t have him back.

Shared a meal with one of my girlfriends; we started with the pistachio covered brie, shared a salad with endive and had the mahi mahi. The brie and salad were both served with chutney which was a nice pairing. Overall the meal tasted good and the service was fine (it was a quiet Thursday night). The one negative was that they seated us near the window and there were a bunch of flies and some small bugs swarming our table.

Came here with family on a Monday because all of our top choices were closed. It was definitely a mistake.
The things that were okay: oyster shooters were pretty good. This suggests the oysters would probably have been good, but we didn’t get them alone, so can’t say. Also the martinis were decent.
Problem number one: at the bottom of the menu, they have a comment «ask your server for more vegetarian options». I do eat seafood, but often prefer to eat vegetarian, so I asked my waiter for the vegetarian options. He pointed out a few things on the menu that I had obviously noticed myself. I asked if any of the pasta dishes could be made vegetarian (there are a few pasta dishes on the menu, but all contain meat). He said no. I was kind of shocked. It seems like if they have pasta, and they have sauces (i.e. marinara and pesto, which are both on the menu), it could be done. Apparently not.
Problem number two: to begin, I ordered the Caesar salad, which the menu says is made tableside. Well, it is assembled tableside. Some lettuce is dumped in a bowl, along with a premade dressing. Ta da! It seems like they would want to hide the fact that they don’t use homemade dressing, but apparently not.
Problem number three (the big one): two people at my table ordered mussels for dinner, each prepared a different way. Both were awful. The mussels smelled off, their texture was off, and we ultimately concluded that the mussels had been frozen some time long ago. If you can’t use fresh mussels, don’t offer them. This isn’t South Dakota, when I’m eating seafood in Florida, I expect it to be fresh.
Other entrees were disappointing (i.e. soggy pizza), but the biggest problem was the mussels. Won’t be back.
***Update: Just got a response from the restaurant. I am posting it in full, no edits.
«1, our eggless caesar dressing is not pre made. I make it myself. And assembled table side? Its a salad. do you want us to make the bacon bits and dressing in front of you? So you can then complain about skew service perhaps? And as for our vegetarian options. we do have a mushroom parpadelle. truffle risotto, porchini risotto, a VEGETARIAN pizza. and the only meat that our pastas contain are seafood so your hypocritical review is not valid. and ps. we do make special orders too. IE pasta and sauce only. so take your negative review and put it where all this food will eventually come out of. your ass!»
Professional, right?

Oysters although over priced fairly good, service on the other hand horrible!

Great place. Groupon

The service was horrendous. There was very few people there and it took an extremely long time to get my food. The escargot needed more garlic. The french onion soup was too sweet. The seafood crêpe however was very good. There was more than a few times where my drink was empty and I had to flag someone down for more.
There are plenty of good restaurants in downtown Hollywood. Don’t waste your time with The Sage.

We went for dinner while in Hollywood, FL on business/​pleasure trip with my husband from Philadelphia area.
I am surprised to see some negative reviews here. We found the place with great ambience, very helpful and pleasant waiters and really felt like at home. We do appreciate a great food, especially a French food.
We ordered some oysters; they came with a very interesting mignonette with small cut inions. The red wine was outstanding and cheap, wow.
Then we had a bouillabaisse and a lamb shank for dinner, both outstanding, definitely not frozen? They have a great kitchen with a real oven etc.
And for desert, I ordered a cream Brule and my husband had a French crêpe.
It’s a cozy, welcoming place with a great French kitchen, so don’t hesitate and visit soon.

This place is a very typical french restaurant, nothing more and nothing less. Yes, the food is expensive… but again, it’s to be expected for a French restaurant. I tried the escargots and the salmon, both were very good. The service was friendly and our waiter was really helpful. I would recommend to anyone craving something good and exotic.

So, yeah, for some unfathomable reason I end up here, hanging out at the bar. Did not have dinner though so can’t comment on food.
Martini, check. Cold and plenty.
Sauvignon, check. Nothing to write home about though.
Oysters, check. Fresh enough.
Fries, check. Oil a bit stale.
Hollywood, looking up, save for the pseudo French due to arrive starting September.

If I could I would honestly rate minus 5 stars Service was terrible waiter hardly understand English or French, gets all order wrong. We had to look for him at all time, when we needed anything.
Now the food quality is tasteless and watery. 3 different food selections for our party eyes closes all would have been better from a frozen dinner home. Oh yes presentation was looking from a frozen box and dump on a plate
I gave them a fair change, been there twice, gave them benefit of going again and now I am writing the review convince that I will never go back
French café with a tacky Motown karaōke singer REALLY !
And let’s not forget the over price $$$$$$ let the cook come to my house for a real French meal ! And a little French lesson for Free

For a French café serving good preparations of French cuisine, Sage in Hollywood falls far short of the mark of my expectations.
My first problem with Sage was that I was presented with a menu but not informed that there were several items they didn’t have. I find it unsettling to labor over a menu, make a well balanced decision only to later have my hopes dashed by then being informed that they don’t have, as in this case, two out of the four items of my order.
Then, on my wine selection, I was informed that they were out of Pinot Grigio by the glass, but I could buy it by the bottle. Hmmm? If they had bottles of it, couldn’t they open one and sell me a glass? No, instead I was offered and settled for a house Cabernet Sauvignon which turned out to be a rather watery, unbalanced varietal lacking both in symmetry and nose; more suited to be drunk from a brown paper bag while seated on park bench rather than in French restaurant.
I then had a dozen oysters raw which were elegantly served and delicious. However, star awards for that dish are more properly awarded the oyster than the restaurant serving it.
For entrée, I had their Crêpe Maritime. The filling was delicious but the crêpe itself abysmal, more resembling the texture and flavor of a cheap Mexican taco than that of a French crêpe. The same also held true for the crêpe of my dinning companion, however, the filing of that Crêpe Normande consisted of little more than chunks of dry chicken overdosed with a tarragon herb in a cream sauce.
As far as my dinning experience at Sage, with the exception of raw oysters having little to do with the art of French cuisine, I left totally unimpressed. Two stars… I’ve had much better elsewhere.

Brian, the bar tender, makes the best martini. He had pride in his drinks! Love… Oyster was so fresh!

All the business partner and I did was stop in for an app and a cocktail around 2P on a Monday. The place was a graveyard. The service, drinks, and appetizer were stellar. More to come when I go back…

A short and sweet review of my short but very sweet lunch:
Perfect salade nicoise –fresh tuna and light and flavorful vinagrette.
Lovely crepes in a rich sauce with chicken.
Belgian ale — La Fin du Monde — delish!
Let’s hope this place gains a following and lasts longer than most restaurants in downtown Hollywood. I’ll do my part and come back here soon for dinner and more of that great beer. Magnifique!

Under new ownership and management, with a totally revised menu and style, Sage is a true French experience! Amazing traditional and creative new French food and wine selection, gracious staff and class atmosphere make this an even better experience than before. Now if I could only finish everything I order! Try the escargot, the black truffle risotto — (usually a special) and the foie gras. The duck is always a safe and winning bet. Everything is perfection down to the caviar spread that is served with the bread. The special martinis are great too. The true french no rush atmosphere makes this the place to fine dine in Hollywood.

Went there last night with a good mate of mine that just moved to the area. While the food quality was decent (I ordered the Rib Eye), but was rather appalled at the service and to a certain extent the price.
I asked the waiter to see if the kitchen can do a Surf & Turf with a lobster tail, the waiter waited 20 minutes before coming back to me and tell me yes and it will be $ 46 — a bit steep for Hollywood, but not a big deal. However, when my steak showed up, instead of lobster I had 2 shrimps, 3 scallops and 4 mussels. I asked where’s my lobster tail, the waiter said that’s how they do the Surf and Turf. Oh our bill also came out to be more expensive than our bill at The Forge (just look them up on Unilocal).
Needless to say our dining experience was a complete disappointment and this is the first and last time we will ever go there.
If the management is reading this, a bit of unsolicited advice: devil is in the detail.

The atmosphere was great… food not so much. We over heard an employee talking with a long time patron new management new chef.
On there menu it said wild salmon, which in Florida is hard to find… the waiter asked his chef where it was from he said Atlantic… he almost got a lecture, but I held it quite.
My lamb and husbands pulled pork was good… the crispy duck was crunchy the first round… second round better but not good.
Arturo our server was fun.

I had high expectations for this place on my first night in FL and left disappointed from food to service. Started with the endive salad which lacked a lot of flavor although the apple chutney, walnuts, and blue cheese sounded lovely on paper. Felt as if the dressing lacked flavor. Very similarly to the pistachio crusted talapia. Presentation was excellent and I really wanted it to excite my taste buds as well. Further it came with jasmine rice that was a bit boring. I tasted my bros mussels and since you can’t really go too wrong with mussels they got it right.
Service was high in low as it started out great but I had to ask for my salad to specifically come out before my entrée after waiting for a while. When my bros entrée came my entrée was no where in sight, apparantly the waiter totally forgot about it. Really? An apology was given by the owner but none by the waiter when the entrée was served. Check please!

Last time I was here I got the Coq au Vin, which is a MAJOR fave of mine… but it was meh. It was just Chicken in Tomato sauce. There was nothing braised about it.
However…
This place is pretty nice inside, the bar is pretty and the wine room (left over from when it was Michaels Kitchen is still there) so thats nice to look at.
I went in for a few apps the other night w a friend, and the Escargo was to die for. The baked brie was pretty good as well! I think when I go here I will stick to the apps list.