Cafe Levain

This was my first visit to Café Levain. The food is to die for! Started with the fingerling potatoes with sauce gribiche and sesame, like a lemony potato salad. Followed with the half chicken entrée with corona beans, bacon lardon, breadcrumb, and charred endive. Ended with a dessert of strawberries with pizzelle and elderflower chantilly, which was a lighter version of strawberry shortcake. The items on the menu are familiar but the flavor combinations in each dish were unique and memorable. An extraordinary meal at a good price — mine was about $ 35 for appetizer, entrée, dessert and after-​dinner latte. The wait staff were friendly and attentive without being intrusive. I liked the ambiance with the old style wood paneling. The dining room was about half full on the Friday before Memorial Day, and it was just right for conversation — not too loud. I can’t believe I’ve lived in the neighborhood for so long and have never visited Café Levain. I will definitely go back.

This one is truly a gem hidden in the Twin Cities! It’s kitty-​corner from the Turtle Bread Store and has a relatively unnoticeable façade so it’s easy to miss but once you know where it is, it’s hard to miss! Plus after you taste the food, you’ll definitely come back!
The food was memorable and had a good variety of tastes. As you can see from my pictures, we binged out that night and they have a good selection of wine that pairs well with their food. They do have a limited number of desserts but they are interesting and worth a try. Their main strength is in the main dishes and appetizers. Pasta is home made too!
The portions are generous but be careful as the taste is filling — so share if you must! The menu rotates depending on the season — yet another reason to come back! Definitely a place for me to visit again. I’m looking forward to the chefs creation this spring and summer!

The tomato salad with light spice blew me away. Fries to die for. The best patty melt in town. Loved watching the chefs– just overall wish this was in my neighborhood so I could pop in on the regular for a glass of sparkling.

TRIPLE $$$ DINING AT DOUBLE $$ PRICES. Two couples, long time friends met here because it was halfway between our two houses. Our expectations were exceeded in every way but one during this delightful experience. Price per person ended up being $ 46, which included a great bottle of wine (one person had a wonderful tap beer) entrées, salads, desserts, coffees, and tip. (Two people split salads, and everyone split desserts.) I have eaten at $$$ restaurants many times but Café Levain will leave you absolutely tickled you chose this $$ place instead. They don’t cut corners to deliver a wonderful dining experience.
Delights to consider :
1. Extraordinary wait staff. Bartender greeted us on arrival and departure, water guy kept our glasses full, wait person was knowledgeable about wine pairings, portion size, and flavors. She was attentive, but paced the evening just right.
2. They only put their «A game «items on the menu. So get what you like, it will be great. I would describe this food as American bistro. We got scallops, pasta, and patty melt. (The meat in the patty melt tasted much more delicious than hamburger.) You will recognize the food, and delight in the flavorings. The chicory salad was remarkable, and generous for two to split. I got to try a beet from the beet salad and loved that as well.
3. This place smells incredible! It is the separate back room of Turtle Bread. The yeasty bread aroma you get to savor is a free benefit. The bread basket you are greeted with at your table, a raisin rye, and crusty white bread, whet your appetite.
4. The room is nice and cozy with wood paneling like the library in Downton Abbey.
Only downside, and this is fixable — this place is loud. With wooden chairs wooden walls, plaster walls, and open kichen, the sounds reverberate and amplify like a sounding box. One sensitive person in our party said his ears were ringing as we left, and even after we got home. It was hard to hear each other. I wouldn’t take people with hearing aids here. (And we didnt have anyone with a hearing aid, but i imagine it would be painful to them .)Instead, I recommend to the talented management to hang large acoustic absorbing materials on the plaster walls. If you don’t have any, get a bunch of carpet samples, frame them and hang about 30 of them on your walls to absorb the noise.
Still i recommend this place highly.

Food, service and atmosphere were amazing. The place was packed to the walls so food came out a little slow but it gave us a chance to catch up on life. I love when a great restaurant is packed because I know it’ll be here the next time I come back.

Café Levain was one of my favorite restaurants for special occasions with my family (4 – 5 stars). But something changed since my last visit in October, and I no longer feel good recommending the restaurant. The mussels are nothing like they used to be, which had an amazingly rich sauce that I soaked up with all of my French bread… now the sauce is a subtle broth. The French onion soup was another staple for me… now over seasoned with mustard spice — I do like the tower of onion rings on top of the new soup though. The formerly massive/​thick rib eye, my favorite in town, is now small, underwhelming and not bone-​in. The fruits were over salted. I miss the flavors of Café Levain 1.0 and am disappointed to have lost a favorite restaurant. Atmosphere is still great.

Thoroughly enjoyed eating here. The menu is a bit limited but everything we had was good, well presented and tasty. Loved the mussels garlicky broth and my husband ‘s ribeye was huge and perfectly done medium rare. Loved that the sound level actually allows talking. Our only disappointment was that the dessert menu had no baked options, no cakes or pastries, which is surprising with their bakery connection to Turtle Bread. Despite the recent negative reviews, we’ll be back to this neighborhood bistro.

Used to be our favorite place to go — either just the two of us or with friends visiting from out of town. But about a month ago we took a big group of visiting friends for Sunday supper and it was such a disappointment.
The soups and salads used to make me weak in the knees they were so good, but now they’re just salt, butter /​oil and «meh» for flavor. The service was also terrible for the first time ever — they didn’t check on us and we couldn’t get our server’s attention (despite the restaurant being mostly empty) for 30 minutes after bringing the entrees and 2 of us had burgers that were overdone to the point of being inedible. They offered to replace them but by then we were running late.
So embarrassing since we told our friends how much we loved this place, how we come here about once monthly and planned for a special night out with all of them.
Not sure if we’ll go back now that we know Adam Vickerman is no longer running the show, especially after this recent experience. Such a bummer.

I’ve lived a couple of blocks from this place for 10 years. I’ve been here numerous times. Had dinner on New Year’s Eve. This place recently lost it head chef Adam Vickerman and it showed. I had the short ribs which used to be awesome… now ehh. Entire evening the food and service staff seemed out of sync (i.e. late cool food, no one asking if we wanted more wine or beverages, dirty plates not cleared when new courses brought to us.)
Hopefully ownership can get a talented chef quickly, or business might start to diminish. The place was half empty on New Year’s, which is not a good sign.

I had one of the best meals I have had in 2015 at this restaurant. I got the scallops and they were absolutely fantastic. The three other people I was dining with also loved their meals. Server was also funny and nice. We had a blast, overall a really great experience.

Sunday’s three course «date night menu» means you’ll enjoy a delicious meal while saving them dollar, dollar billz. I started with squash soup that I would have thought made by angels in heaven if we hadn’t been seated within eyesight of the kitchen. You and your wallet will leave full and satisfied.

I really wanted to upgrade my review of café leaving to five stars on this most recent visit last Saturday night. I really do like this south Minneapolis restaurant and I am sure I will be going back many times in the future. On this visit we brought a special aged Bordeaux wine vintage 1998 that we plan to enjoy during the meal. The wine was a special gift from a friend. We told our waitress upon arrival that the wine was going to need some time to air out and we each ordered a glass of white wine to go with our first course. This first course was a amazingly delicious cheese plate that delighted all the senses. There were three cheese varieties accompanied by some delicious side sauces and olives and figs. We were anticipating a relaxing meal when halfway through our cheese course another waitstaff person brought our salads. We turned those back because we were not ready for them however I do think the kitchen was already starting to work on our main courses when they saw the salads go out to our table. As a result our main courses were substantially over-​done. my pork was extremely dry and my wife’s vegetable mélange was mushy and lacked the normal crunch that this restaurant delivers with its fall vegetable dishes.
We do love the space and we do plan to go back and hope that next time we will be happy to give a five star review!

Excellent place for our group dinner. A variety of tasty main courses. Now waiting for desserts!

The wild salmon and short ribs were amazing! Excellent restaurant! First time here but would definitely come back.

We held a sales dinner here during our last MN trade show. Customer service was amazing from the planning to the final goodbyes at the end of the evening. Harvey & his team ROCK! They worked to plan an elegant delicious meal that fit within our budgetary request.
Chef Adam went out of his way to plan a special menu. Our team is still raving about the meal here.
Here are a few comments from our group: Beautiful an delicious salad. Halibut was prepared perfectly. Loved the short ribs (and wanted 2nds!) Chicken was unbelievably tender and flavorful.

The atmosphere is very nice. We had 15 in our party and everyone was raving about their meal. The asparagus soup was awesome. I then had the vegetarian entrée and it was the best I have ever eaten. I am from another state, but will make sure to come here every time I am in town. It was a great evening!

On an actually dark and stormy Wednesday night in mid-​September my friend, A, and I walked into Café Levain. The restaurant is comprised of a single open room: warm, dark, welcoming. The restaurant was mostly empty. Service was gracious and attentive without being oleaginous and there was mostly excellent flavor to everything we ordered. The wine list is small but has something for everyone and every price range, as long as your price range starts at around $ 30.
We started with mussels and french onion soup. The mussels were delicious; chunky croutons, flavorful tomatoes: finger licking good. And the soup was tasty too. But tasty in an institutional way. Like maybe the stock was not made fresh. I know it’s nearly sacrilege to suggest.

My husband and I continue to return here and are amazed every time. I don’t often write reviews but we both thought this was worth it. The food is consistently fantastic. The French onion soup is a stand out on the menu. The ribeye is a perfect piece of meat and cooked with precision. This time we also had the root vegetable salad and brussel sprouts — both of which we loved. The servers are knowledgeable and conscientious. We didn’t have reservations for a Saturday night but when I called the host said there was a place for us (6pm). By the time we left it was a full house and every other time it has been too.

I had one of the best ribeyes of my life here. It was cooked PERFECTLY. It was seasoned and cut PERFECTLY. My first bite was an explosion of flavor that lasted to the very end. To top it off, the selection of wines was diverse and exceptional. The ambiance was relaxing and warm. We had prompt but non-​intrusive service throughout the evening. I look forward to returning soon.

I wish I could give this place two reviews.
If the restaurant is mostly empty, you will have a lovely dinner. The food will be good (not mind-​blowing, not memorable, but pleasant enough), service will be adequate, and you will leave satisfied.
If the restaurant is more than half-​full, turn and walk away. As far as I can tell, nobody has been trained to run the front of the house, so the waitstaff are pretty much on their own figuring out what to do, and this all collapses when they are busy. Expect a simple two-​course dinner to take two hours. Expect to not see your server (except far away, across the crowded, noisy room) for 30 – 40 minutes at a time. The food will still be good, but not worth the aggravation.
I put the blame squarely on the owner, who needs to hire front of the house staff who can manage the room so that an average busy night doesn’t turn into a clusterf***.

First things first. This would have been a 4 or 5 had I not gotten to the entrée.
The mushroom soup and onion soup we order was interesting and very good.
The short ribs where off the chart excellent.
Now comes the problem. I order the ribeye with frites and seasonal mushrooms. There was so much gristle in the steak I couldn’t even cut through it. Zero flavor for a medium rare steak (I’m being genourous here leaned much closer to medium) and the entire plate of food was cold. Now normally I would have sent it back, but when u haven’t seen your waiter in over an hour it was difficult to do. The bus buy took care of us most of the night because he was the only staff member in the dining room.
I was very excited about your food until midway through then it all fell apart. No customer service at all took 15 minutes to get drinks 40 minutes for soup and another 30 for entrees (which one was inedible) is unacceptable. I can overlook the long time between courses normally but I cannot overlook the fact my waiter came to my table 3 times during a 2 hour meal. Took my order dropped the check and returned my credit card. A little customer service could have gone a long way here to resolve my issue.

I went with two other people on a weekday evening, so we ended up being one of the two tables in the restaurant. Even so, the atmosphere in the restaurant is very welcoming, and the kitchen is in full view of the dining area (a feature I’ve come to appreciate in restaurants.)
The service and food were out of this world. I’ll admit that the two others I went with have been regulars for a few decades now, so the service was a bit above and beyond (multiple wine refills, free dessert) but you’d be hard-​pressed to find a place like this anywhere else in the neighborhood. I had the spare ribs which were served in a house-​made polenta. I don’t know what they marinate those ribs in, but it might not be legal in the US because it is just to die for. Prices are a bit on the steep side, so it’s more of a special occasion type of restaurant, but it’s still certainly worth going. I’ll certainly be back.

Cool place! Nice ambiance for a date. I expected the portions to be small due to this having a French Influence, but the entrée portions are actually really big (enough to share). It’s an open kitchen concept, which I love. The bread is to die for. You can’t go wrong with the short ribs and French onion soup, the are the signature dishes and are both beyond amazing. One star deducted for a limited menu, not many options but you can’t go wrong with anything on there. Bakery and pizzeria are next door and look like they are under the same ownership.

With all things go, I have mixed feelings about Café Levain. On one hand, their menu selection is quite limited and, in my opinion, not representative of all that French fine dining has to offer.
When it comes to the taste department, however, this place has it solid. I was blown away with the samplings of their Mussels, French onion soup, short ribs, and sword fish. Since I was already full before I came to this place, I can vouch that my review was unaffected by my hunger.
As for the ambience, lovely. I didn’t go there for a date (doh), but I wouldn’t mind having one there since it’s cozy and intimate like stepping into someone’s living room. In fact, the intimacy of the place might even be too much since all the tables were set pretty close to each other.
Would I go there again? Yes, but only on special occasions since the experience and pricing of their dishes weren’t spectacular enough to warrant another casual visit.

We enjoyed an early New Years Eve dinner at CafeLevain, we arrived at 5:00, and we were one of two couples (not together). They sat the first couple the second table from a corner by a open doorway, then proceeded to sit us behind them — the restaurant was empty! So we asked for a different table and were accommodated.
We started with an appetizer — mussels (eye-​rolling delicious), and French Onion soup (perfectly made). For our entrée we had lamb sausage (spicy, but just right), and beef short ribs (decadent!).
Table service was wonderful; we haven’t had such a lovely waitress in a very long time — not one did she refer to us as «you guys,» my biggest pet peeve!
We will definitely go to Café Levain (just so you know-​its down the block a bit from Turtle Bread Co.).

I stopped by this place last evening, as I had some extra time in the area, and needed a meal and a semi-​quiet place to try and do a little reading. The meal was so excellent that I’m kicking myself for not visiting this place sooner!
I had the red wine (a Bordeaux) that was on special, which held up a little better with my first course than with my second. First course: a curly endive salad. Second course: the mussels with a cream sauce and spicy sausage. I love mussels, and this delivered.
My third course was unexpected but delicious: I think the chef behind the counter (I sat at the open-​kitchen bar) took pity on a single diner, and donated a pumpkin cheesecake serving to my quiet cause.
The place wasn’t very busy, though as I left, it looked like the connected bakery had about half its tables full. I plan to return, with my husband. Soon. Maybe we’ll sit at the bar, too– the aromas and activity were great to witness.

This little café took us totally by surprise.
A wonderfully calm but not stodgy space with well-​spaced tables and friendly, efficient service. And the food was perfectly prepared and fresh: our group shared a wonderful chicken liver pâté to start and, for the entrees, the beef short ribs and the seared tuna were both standouts. There is a good, not-​too-​expensive wine list and select microbrews. Not surprisingly for a café sharing space with the Turtle Bread Company, the bread basket (generously replenished) was also a highlight.
The café was pretty quiet on a Wednesday evening in the summer and (while we wouldn’t like to see it become overcrowded!) it deserves more attention than it seems to be receiving.