The French Gourmet
| Address: | 960 Turquoise St, San Diego, CA 92109, USA |
| Phone: | +1 858-488-1725 |
| Site: | thefrenchgourmet-hub.com |
| Rating: | 4.3 |
| Working: | 7AM–6PM 7AM–8PM 7AM–8PM 7AM–9PM 7AM–9PM 7AM–9PM 7AM–6PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 7
JA
James Sheffield
Outside of desserts and breads, Im not known for being the biggest fan of French food. Even a trip to Paris did not necessarily dissuade me of this opinion. So the French Gourmet had to reach a high bar to wow me. I would say it made a valid effort during restaurant week but still fell a little short. Consider this a 3.5 star review. My meal began with the charcuterie and pâté platter, which consisted of three slices of pâté, a slice of what seemed to be prosciutto, and a couple of gherkin pickles. Very French and relatively tasty but not exactly super exciting. But this is probably my own fault in so far as the other options include items like seafood that I dont care for, and the process of elimination led me to this one. Moving on to the entrée (oddly so-called on the menu because an entrée is *not* a main course in French), I dug into my "Mediterranean" cornish game hen, an odd dish because Im not entirely sure whats French about it. Yes, France borders the Mediterranean, but French cuisine isnt typically associated with the region nor does it typically include ingredients like cilantro. Nor is "Cornish game hen" particularly French, the bird having roots in England and the US. The dish was tasty enough, but, honestly, I was more impressed with the grilled cauliflower and flavorful quinoa on the side. (For the record, quinoa is of Latin American origin.) My hopes for the meal really rested on the dessert because thats where French food and I are tight. While the crème brûlée came off as better than other San Diego "French" attempts Ive had (Im looking at you, Arely French Bakery) given that it had an actual crust on top, I would have preferred a thicker creme to really push the dessert, and thus this review, to the next level. Summary: I guess Ill stick with fries next time I want French food.
CO
Colleen Doan
After trying cakes at many different bakeries in San Diego, my husband and I selected The French Gourmet for our wedding cake on June 27, 2015. We worked with Trang at The French Gourmet and were very impressed with her professionalism, customer service and knowledge. We selected The French Gourmet because of their exotic, tasty flavors and they were able to create our requested design within our budget. Our reception was at the Admiral Kidd Catering and Conference Center on a U.S. Naval Base. Trang was able to work with us to get all the required documentation for security on the base while not every vendor was able to meet these requirements with ease. On the day of the wedding the cake looked absolutely beautiful and tasted delicious. We had a four tiered cake with lemon, passion fruit and chocolate mousse flavors. All the guests thought the cake was delicious too and we received many compliments on it. Trang was able to honor her commitment to create a one year anniversary cake with white chocolate shavings in our flavor of choice for us. Just this past month as we celebrated our one year anniversary we enjoyed another 4" size passion fruit cake and it was just as delicious as the first time on our wedding day. We do not live in San Diego and so we really appreciated this special opportunity as we were not able to save and freeze the top tier for our anniversary. I highly recommend The French Gourmet for anyone looking for a wedding cake in San Diego.
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Katherine Levkoff
I drive by the French Gourmet all the time and finally tried it out last weekend! My husband and I got to try 6 different dishes since we ordered the 3-course prix fix dinner and we each got different appetizers, entrées and desserts to get a good sample in. Appetizers: We got the french onion soup and chicken/duck pate sampler. It was my first time trying pate and I love it!!! My husband slurped down the French onion soup so fast, I only had 2 spoonfuls at most. Both were so savory and paired wonderfully with the french bread and Bordeaux. Entreés: We tried the duck confit and the braised short ribs. Although the duck was prepared well, we both LOVED the braised short ribs. If youre really hungry, thats the dish with the most bang for your buck. I would def get the short ribs again. Dont get me wrong, the duck confit was awesome but the short ribs with the demi glaze and potatoes was melt-in-your-mouth perfection! For dessert, we got the carrot cake and chocolate eclair. By the time dessert came out, I was already so stuffed, yet I still managed to eat all of my carrot cake! You can tell how fresh and moist the carrot cake is with every bite! Yeeeaaahhhh baby! Stephan was a very attentive server and did such a great job making us feel welcome and happy. He recommended the Bordeaux which was a hit and even offered us a glass of complimentary champagne while we were waiting to get seated for our reservation. The service doesnt get much better than that!
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Steve Waller
This is almost 5 stars, but only gets dinged for really using too much heavy sauce on our breakfast orders, crepes and eggs Benedict. It also woud not hurt to have a little more seafood in the seafood crepe for the stiff price. Still, it is a pleasant charming place to get French food with always attentive staff. The bakery has a good selection, and there is quick parking to grab that coffee and pastry and dash. We only had one visit, but we are looking forward to our next visit and trying some other dishes maybe requesting less sauce. They do have a liquor license for those wanting a bloody mary or champagne with their meal. Note that at least as of this posting, they are closed on Sunday and Monday evenings, but still open for breakfast and lunch those days. Give the Gourmet a try, if you are anywhere near San Diego.
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Anatoly Petkov
Undoubtedly one of the best bakeries in town, especially for desserts. Twice baked croissants, almond cake, Napoleons, delectable Palmers and tons of other crafty yummies - theyre all great and worth trying. As weve been buying pastries here for many years we finally decided to try the restaurant part. Well, I wish I could say its as good as the bakery but at least the Sunday brunch is nothing to write home about. Im not saying that its bad by any measure but there is so much competition in this business right now that they need to rethink the whole concept. We are planning to come back for dinner and will update the review at that time. Meanwhile it remains one of my main source of desserts.
CL
Clemence Wiart
Went there with some friends to celebrate Bastille Day.. it was great! Food was really good (escargots, rabbit, duck, butternut squash ravioli, only minus would be the crème brûlée but Im French and I always have very high expectations with this dessert.. it should have been creamier on the inside, with more sugar on top, but then again this was Bastille Day so they couldnt spend an eternity on every crème brûlée they made that day!), waiters nice, we were the last ones to leave the restaurant and we did not feel rushed or pushed out the doors. Only thing is perhaps the music, I was hoping for more typical French music, and there was a lot of classical instead. But still, a great find !!
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Chimena Campbell
We have lived here for so many years and never had dinner here. Honestly my expectations were really low. But honestly this place was so lovely! Yes it is popular with the older crowd but they are so lovely. We had the Scallops and Organic chicken Marsala. Both were cooked to perfection. Scallops often are cooked so rubbery and awful. The wine we had was quite nice as well. Stephan was a great server and amazing considering how many tables he had! It was busy in there but they did everything perfect. Remember dinner is an experience and they know it here. I like to relax and not be rushed through my meal. I had the lemon cake for dessert and it was perfectly done.
