The Café Campana

Great service (compared to most other places we’ve been in Paris), above average food, and beautiful interior. Price is steep but a nice place to rest and dine/​snack after the long walk inside the museum.

Having arrived directly at Musee D’Orsay off that morning’s Eurostar from London, my first port of call was to grab some food to power me on my trawl through her treasures.
Opting for the top floor Café Campana, I timed my arrival well (12.15) as there was no immediate queue to be seated at a table — when I passed by later, those queues had increased greatly.
I’d already picked the pasta dish when I’d looked at the menu earlier, so it was a speedy process to make the order of that and a glass of white to go with it. I was very impressed by the quick turnaround as it probably arrived five minutes later!
To be honest, it was a little bland and tasteless — but it filled me up and speed and efficiency were more important to me in this case. You wouldn’t expect haute cuisine in a high turnover museum café.
The price was about right too. But the main attraction of Café Campana is its décor and environment — it’s mesmerising light fixtures and wall-​sized clock face are dazzling and a treat for the eyes, a nice hors d’ouevre for what was to come elsewhere.

After a couple of hours of looking at paintings in the Orsay, we decided to take a break and have lunch here when we came across this place. There was no line at that time thankfully! We lucked out I guess because a line formed shortly after that!
Aa usual bread was brought to our table after we ordered. In France butter is not served with bread, so you’ll have to ask for butter if you want to butter your bread. I’m fine with no butter. The bread is good on its own. We asked for a carafe of water as it was a warm day and all that walking to and inside the museum has made me thirsty. Tap water in Paris is perfectly good to drink, so save some money and ask for «une carafe d’eau s’il vous plait» when eating out!
My husband ordered the penne pasta dish which is vegetarian and has a nice amount of shaved Parmesan on top. I ordered the Beef Stir-​fry noodles. The pasta was better than my stir-​fry. My stir fry had too much onions and not enough beef. The sauce was okay. My husband’s dish had a nice sauce and the generous shavings of Parmesan made it even better.
For dessert, I ordered an espresso to go with a slice of their Blueberry Tart. The tart was great. You can’t go wrong with fruit tarts in Paris. They had a couple of other tarts, but this one caught my eye. Unlike desserts in the U.S., French bakers show a little more restraint in adding sugar, so their desserts are not too sweet!
The service was good here and even though they have a line of people waiting for tables, they will not rush you. In fact they will not give you the check if you don’t ask for it. And even after you’ve paid, they still won’t rush you! It is like that everywhere in Paris and I love it!

Excellent, excellent café/​bistro in an excellent setting. We came here for lunch, where I had the salmon. We had tried the restaurant at the museum the day before, while good, the café was much more enjoyable. The food is high quality, although the setting, hard to describe, but I would say to feel more New York (busy, noisy) than Paris (think of a roadside bistro). Love the Campana Bros furniture, and the clock in the space.

The beautiful Musee d’Orsay, formerly a busy train station, is home to a café and two restaurants. On the 5^th floor, is the Café Campana is a great cafeteria to have a light lunch and relax during a tour of the large museum. Shiny gold «bells» hang from the ceiling, and there’s a huge clock through one wall. We had the Caesar salad with chicken (16 euros), and a quiche Lorraine (13), both of which were quite good plus café au laits. While a little pricey, we had a very pleasant lunch there.

Le Café Campana est un de ces lieux tape-à-l’oeil où l’esthétique très intéressante des frères Campana risqué de vous faire penser que la nourriture qu’on sert sous ces cloches reluisantes égale sans doute la qualité de la décoration. FAUX.
On m’a servi des Rigatoni à la Carbonara très mauvais: on aurait plutôt dit que le «chef» s’était borné à mettre quelques lardons mi-​cuits et un filet radin de crême fraîche sur les pâtes, ce qui m’est permis de faire en ma qualité d’étudiant flemmard, mais complètement inacceptable de la part d’un lieu qui vous vend une assiette à 14,50. Heureusement, j’étais invité. Une amie avait commandé le croque-​monsieur maison qui lui s’avéra plus goûteux.
Ceci dit, lorsque le serveur (d’une politesse neutre) nous amèné l’addition et nous demande ce qu’on a pensé des plats, et qu’on lui dit que la Carbonara était décevante et que à nos yeux l’exécution de la sauce sans goût relevait plus de la paresse que d’une simplicité gastronomique quelconque, il nous dit que «la carbonara, vous savez, c’est comme ça», comme si je n’en avais pas goûté des meilleures dans ma courte vie. Il a quand même déclaré qu’il ferait part de nos remarques au «chef».
Mécontents, on est partis sans commander de dessert et on a volé les très jolis sous-​verres en carton imprimés à l’image de l’exposition en cours.

This was a great intermediate and casual choice between the cafés (coffee and sweets) and the restaurant within the d’Orsay. Especially helpful when kids need refueling before the local restaurants reopen.
Service was friendly and efficient, offerings were varied, and food was tasty. Not the best in Paris but good and comforting.

Au 5ème et dernier étage du musée, le Café Campana n’est pas qu’un café-​resto.
C’est avant tout une superbe création design, une autre oeuvre d’art au sein du musée. La fameuse horloge du musée en est l’élément central, les abats-​jours dorés et les chaises en fleurs ajoutent une touché lumineuse et moderne. Y faire une pause fait donc entièrement partie d’une visite au musée, pour apprécier au mieux ce joli cadre.
Au menu, du basique pour touriste pressé, des prix sans surprise. On y va pour un café ou un thé, point.

Wow — the food is great, service fast, and you get a view of one of the Musee D’ Orsay’s clock windows. Definitely a great option if you get hangry while visiting this terrific museum.

There are two cafes and a restaurant in the museum. This is the larger of the cafes, located on the fifth floor. You can take the escalator at the back of the museum or use the lifts. Those are along the outside walls and are generally reserved for the disabled.
The menu has a few options for food– from salads to some entrees. I had the carbonara pasta, which was delightful. Expect to spend about 20 € per plate. Beverages are 4 €-5 €. The food was surprising good for being in a museum. Service was friendly and the staff spoke English.

We stopped in here just to get a little something to tide as over until dinner. The Croque Monsieur was fabulous. We also got a millefeuille and the kids loved it so much we had two were a second. Very nice wait staff. A limited menu but very good food. Just a nice place to take a break in this awesome museum.

We do not expect much from a museum café… not even in Paris.
The service was warm, but once they found out we are an Italian speaking family? It was exceptional. Thanks to Francesco.
The food was nothing to write home about… but the service definitely made up for it.