Cafe Francais

Café Francais is a hidden gem, especially for French pastries and desserts. Their desserts are the best I’ve ever had in the States and certainly on par with anything I’ve had in France. Hearing Edith Piaf singing La Vie en Rose and eating Café Francais food and YOU ARE in Paris.

I’ve been here four times, mostly for desserts. Service is fast, desserts are delicious, lovely and quiet. I will surely be back.

Ok, so I love the desserts, but I’m docking a star for a few reasons: Nadine’s is cheaper, friendlier, and isn’t closed half the time I make it there.

The food was terrible! The salad that I ordered was not fresh, the meat old, the cheese dry and hard, the greens wilted. The sauce on my wife’s veal was watery, with little taste. I asked my server to return my dish and that I would like to exchange it for another meal. Immediately an old lady came to our table, almost running, I explained that I would like to return my meal and the reasons why. She became very upset and said that there was nothing wrong with the food and she would not replace it. I then asked for an adjustment on my bill. She refused and boldly stated that she would call the police if I did not pay for both meals. We ended up paying the entire bill, with regret. My wife and I are mature adults, in our sixties, and just could not believe the way we’re treated. As we left, she said, in a loud voice, never come back to my restaurant! Never!!.

Outstanding French bistro. My wife thoroughly enjoyed her veal piccata and I as well the duck breast special. Both were served very warm with a delightful mix of vegetables. The oysters rockefeller and pâté were superb appetizers and the deserts were outstandingly varied and delicious. The café is a real find in Tucson.

Wow, it’s all in the attitude. I didn’t like the soup, but was forced to pay because I was told that it was good-​just French. Steer clear if you have your own opinions

There are so many good restaurants in Tucson, and so I would recommend that you try them first. Today we were at the Saturday Farmer’s Market, in Plaza Palomino. We decided to stop for a late breakfast, after picking up our bread at the market. The restaurant was very busy, but there was one table outside that had just been vacated. The waitress said that she would clear it for us and then seat us. A single diner came in and marched right outside, past us and sat down. No one asked her to wait her turn. Then, the owner, who was behind the counter, told the waitress that we could not sit down with our purchase from outside, a loaf of bread. The bread was wrapped in paper, and we had no intention of eating it in the restaurant! She insisted that we take it out to our car. Instead, I shoved it into my bag, which seemed to keep her calm.
Then, all of the other tables filled except for a table for 4 people and a tiny table against the wall, both inside. The waitress said that we would have to take the tiny table. At that point, we just left. There was absolutely no evidence of looking after us as customers. We have eaten there many times, sometimes with a large group. The food has been just ok. The service is obviously sporadic. The owner was yelling at the waitress the whole time that we were left standing there, and no one came to our rescue. So, that’s it for us. Customer service is too important to have an attitude.

Excellent pastries and baked goods. Great coffee and a nice place to come for breakfast, sit outside and relax. Dinner sounds amazing too.

Lovely atmosphere. Had quiche and a breakfast. The food was fresh and delicious
The service was fast and efficient. It actually surprised us how fast.
We have no qualms about recommending this place based on our one time visit.

If you’re looking for a place to feel bad about yourself and be insulted just for being here, come here. This place sucks. So rude. Four people glared or completely ignored me while I stand at the counter waiting to pick out pastries. A very dour employee actually glowered at me then picked up a sign to hang outside and walked right by me. Not her job to acknowledge me. Waiters at counter never looked up at me. I just said «never mind» and walked out. I need to see if half my face is missing or I have leprosy. I get consistently rude ignored service here. Owners not in today and whoever works here doesn’t care a whit about the place. Hate this place. Rudest service in all of tucson. I actually feel bad for coming in here. Going to make myself some eggs now and tell myself I’m okay and those mean people won’t be able to hurt me anymore. I’ve been here several times and am a neighbor so I know its issues. I’m personally boycotting this place and soon I hope it will just go away and it’s bad negative energy will dissipate.

The food and pastries here are spectacular.
This is not the place for a quick meal. This is very European, and the service is slow.
I have been here for breakfast lunch and dinner. I have never had a bad Iran in the menu… Or a dessert I didn’t love.
Everything is made fresh and in house.
I was excited to find them selling pastures and bread at the Rillito Downs heirloom farmers market on Sundays!
This is a place we enjoy, and even make reservations for special occasions to share it with our out of town guests!

I’d heard the food is good but that the service is mediocre. I should’ve have just checked with Unilocal,but I’m a sucker for French bakeries.
There were only two other tables there for lunch which set off my Spidey sense. In fact, we came here because the Prep n Pastry parking lot was full.
There were three people working the lunch room/​bakery and the service was still awful. I had to get up and serve myself water– twice. The entrees are pricey, but I’d be okay with that if the service warranted it. My wife liked her omelette so I didn’t give them 1 star.
I expect this place to close down before the new year.

The rudest most inappropriate pastry counter help! They don’t accept credit cards for less than $ 8 purchases and I just wanted to buy two brioches. I asked for an Almond Croissant and the price was $ 5.40! When I told her that I changed my mind and will pay cash, she had the rudest most obnoxious reaction since «she had already cashed out». It took her 2 seconds to reverse the charge.
I am sorry but that is bad business! Obviously the owners didn’t learn their lesson from running «Le Delice» to the ground.
A month ago I went there for breakfast, even though the food was good, we had to wait a very long time. The waitress tried to make up for the fact that this place does not have any type of milk but FULL FAT! I am sorry, even in the villages of France they serve, Soy Milk, Almond Milk and Fat Free milk!
I am sorry, no matter how good you are, you don’t charge $ 5.40 for an Almond Croissant!
If you guys like to stay in business, you better get with the plan, this is the United States and business survive by having great quality.
Don’t go to this place, go to Whole Foods, their pastry is healthier and tastier than «Café Francais».

We just tried out Café Francais for the first time. We had the rudest waiter that I have ever experienced. Perhaps the norm in Paris… not so much in Tucson. $ 24.75 for two mediocre croissants and an au lait and a latte. Really. When the waiter came by with a coffee pot and asked if we wanted any thing else, I asked him to warm up my latte. No. We don’t do that. I told him to go ahead and charge me for the two inches of coffee. He did. $ 3.50 for two inches of coffee. When we left I asked for a coffee to go as I had paid $ 3.50 for it and I was loudly bitched out by a fat grey haired man who came out of the kitchen. After standing my ground, I did eventually get my cup of coffee to go. They of course only filled the small cup ¾ full.
What a ridiculous place. If you want french pastry, go to Le Buzz. Lovely staff and better bakers.

Overpriced, inconsistent, good Benedict, lousy Belgian waffle and incomprehensibly long wait for breakfast — 35 minutes to arrive
Waitress was nice and tried to make up for the ludicrous wait.

This owner is by far the rudest person I have ever encountered in the service industry. We ordered a $ 100 cake, they messed up the order and didn’t write Happy Birthday on the cake. When I asked the owner if she could fix it she started to yell at me and said we can either take the cake as is or leave.
I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone.

So beautiful to see pride in a business !!
Croissant is the best ever… Including France. Love that QUALITY lives here
I travel the world and this place strives for excellence. Coffee worth drinking
Go here and enjoy clean classic, precise well thought out food experience
Just one little suggestion to owners. White board for menu items not nice (feels like business presentation). Please use classic CHALK BLACKBOARD … It suits your motif!

I am really disappointed in this place. I’ve been hearing such good reviews from my friends and even tried to ignore the bad reviews on Unilocal about this place. But the bad reviews are so real.
First off, I went here for lunch with my friend at 11am. There were only two other tables in the restaurant besides us and we were completely ignored. There were 3 waiters, one lady behind the counter on pastries, and the owner. It took them forever to get us seated, give us the correct menus (lunch not dinner), water, and take our order.
After we ordered our meals we went to look at the desserts and pastries in the window. All of them looked amazing. Being starving girls, we decided to get one as a dessert before the meal ;) The lady behind the counter said she would have our server bring it out on a plate for us so we could eat it before the meal. We waited and waited and we didn’t get anything. Either there was no communication or our waiter forgot. We flagged down another waiter to get us our pastry and we eventually got it when our meal came out 30 minutes later. Normally, I’m really understanding when small family restaurants are slow. But this is almost too unbearable.
The food was just okay. Way too expensive for what I got. I ordered the Pacifica salad and the burger. The salad was so bland and plain. $ 13 for largely cut lettuce drizzled w vinaigrette is ridiculous. The burger was okay, nothing special. To be honest, I’m not even sure if the patty was beef. The patty was a dull grey– orange color. Maybe they got fancy and have me a veggie burger? Regardless, it was pretty disappointing. It came with a small side of unseasoned fries. I was not impressed.
Pros:
–desserts and pastries look beautiful and taste amazing
Cons:
–menued food could be better
–price for the food you get
–poor and slow service
I would only come here to TAKE OUT pastries.

Long story short, true French cuisine without pretension.
There are things you miss about France once you vacation there. Obviously the art, architecture, cafes and sights.
When you’ve lived there and left, you miss those things too… but as in most things, the beauty is in the details.
Café Francais is everything that is good about the French dining experience. Servers that take pride in their craft (yes, Tucson… Serving IS a craft), the best of truly European ingredients and the ability to put them together properly. Quality and authenticity are respected here, and it shows.
Oh…and in regards to another two reviews on here… if you can’t even make it to the appetizer without stuffing your face with pastries… you lack etiquette.

I’ve been wanting to try this place since it opened because I was eager to have an authentic French bakery closer to my house. There are three staples that I try when I go to a new one: baguette, ficelle and a Napoleon.
I was eager and dug into the baguette as soon as I got home. It was hard to cut into even though the crust had initially sounded good and I saw a ring of dried bread around the edge that took up about half of the radius of the bread. I’m not sure how long it had been out but a very narrow portion was actually moist. It was chewy and it genuinely made my jaw tired.
This concerned me because the ficelle are smaller and were probably in the same boat — which they were. The young lady at the counter had told me they were fresh baked but they had to have been sitting out for at least two days.
Finally, the Napoleon genuinely tasted burnt. The layers were too thick, dense and the custard was far too sugary.
In addition, the bakery I drive 30 minutes across town for is significantly less expensive and provides a quality product. The baguette at Café Francais was $ 2.50 while the one I usually get at my other spot is $ 1.75.
I have no problem spending more money for gas to not have an achey jaw. I am disappointed that this place was a disappointment.