Eiffel Tower Cafe

An example of how to do it right. We ate at this restaurant for years before it closed permanently on August 8. Great food, amazing ambiance and a staff who always weber the extra mile. You will be missed.

Best place in Leesburg! Great food, atmosphere, service, and the prices are very reasonable. The steak is superb and the owner is very pleasant and ensures everything meets all your expectations.

Came to celebrate our 21^st anniversary and couldn’t have been happier! It was a true «dining experience» so, if you’re in a hurry, this isn’t the place for you. service was outstanding. Food was even better. While the menu isn’t overly extensive, I had a difficult time making making up my mind — several things sounded so good. But I asked the waiter for his recommendation and went with it. I loved everything I ate! I only wish I had room for dessert as they all looked SO good, but I was too full from my wonderful meal! Thank you for such a nice dining experience. Can’t wait to come back.

I’m going to have to drop this down a star after dining here Friday, Feb. 13^th. It was very, very busy for Vday weekend, and the service was a extremely slow and chaotic. When my boyfriend and I walked in, we were standing by the door, and there’s a very narrow walkway. While we were waiting to be seated, we had to step out of the way of the servers. And another couple walked in and we were really crammed in the entranceway. Someone finally came to seat us, but there seemed to be some confusion about seating locations for us and the other couple. And there were two people who worked there trying to agree on a spot. Us and the other couple just kind of looked at each other awkwardly — we wound up sitting downstairs, and the other couple was seated upstairs. After my boyfriend and I sat down, I jokingly asked if the nicer dressed people get seated downstairs or upstairs.
The service was very slow, and while I understand it was a busy weekend, I still feel that they should have been prepared to accommodate the guests present. It took a while to put in our drink and food orders, and I overheard several other tables nearby grumbling about the long delays. So it wasn’t just me being picky, it was very noticeable.
As for the food, it was impeccable. And I will certainly be visiting again! I love/​LOVE this restaurant — both the food and the vibe. I just felt that for the prices paid, the service should have been prompt and attentive. Guests should have felt taken care of rather than forgotten.

I’ve been coming here regularly for years, it’s a lovely place for dinner, lunch, brunch, whatever. The waiter, Mark, is a riot and he is knowledgeable of the wine list and off-​menu specials that the chef, Chris, makes exceptionally every time. This is the place I go if I want to go out and have a steak, it’s always cooked perfectly, and the risotto is creamy without being too limp. I’ve never been disappointed with anything that I’ve had here, even with foods that I typically don’t like, tomatoes for example; in the spring and summer they often have a tomato salad that is made with huge slices of heirloom tomatoes that are marinated in various liquids, depending on the day, and it is absolutely delightful every time.
The chef uses quality ingredients and matches them together in beautiful medleys every time.
The atmosphere is romantic and great for a quiet date night, but it is still a good place to bring families with older children (10 and up), the patio is open and pet friendly in warmer weather.
This is my favorite restaurant of all time and for good reason.

Excellent food. Prepared very well. I had only been for lunch before a few times in the past 20 years, since I was a teenager. (Yes, I feel old.). Dinner was kind of pricey and more formal. We brought our two year old at 745 on a Friday night, which was not very appropriate to the setting; the other patrons were couples. However, the staff and management were gracious and treated us well. Luckily my son eats like a French child (see Bringing up Bebe) and behaved himself with the help of muted iPhone. We had butternut squash soup and beet salad specials. They were light and good starters. I had the pasta of the day, which tasted homemade and had a nice tomato sauce and shrimp. Not especially French, but good. My husband had veal with cream sauce, which he enjoyed. Then we had crème brûlée. It was properly prepared on top and not too sweet. House Cabernet was very good. Meal took about an hour and forty five minutes.

Wonderful lunch experience! The perfect weather helped as we sat outside and felt very European.
Bottom line: the quiche Lorraine was the best quiche I’ve ever eaten. I’d make the 45 minute trip just to have it again. The beet salad and the gazpacho were phenomenal and perfect complements for the quiche. Did I mention the quiche? Crazy-​muhgosh!
The service was great and complete with a French accent and just a hint of proprietary attitude. It was fun!
Find this place. It’s on a side street. Go now.

Delicious food. Amazing, friendly service who, along with the décor, make for a very romantic and classy ambience. When the weather is nice, the outdoor seating is lot by Christmas lights along the porch and surrounding trees. I’ve been there with my girlfriend on multiple occasions and we both love the food, service, and dining experience we’ve had at the Eiffel Tower café.

Good but…
Could be better. From the second my wife and I got there, we felt out of place. Very cute on the inside. We just got the feeling we were the only people who the staff didn’t know by name or vice versa. Regulars are cool, but this was weird. It was Saturday night and this place wasn’t without their share of minor mishaps which I understand happen in any busy restaurant. Wine list was limited and left a little to be desired. Only priced by the bottle which I thought was confusing so I just ordered a bottle… hey it’s Saturday right?
My plate was awesome (red snapper special) My wife wasn’t in love with hers (shrimp and scallop linguini), but really enjoyed the mushroom soup.
Dinner took 2+ hours with dessert and coffee. Not an issue but the tables around us were lapping us and were not taking nearly as long. Kind of bizarre.
All in all… I would have to give ETC another dance before passing final judgement. Showed a lot of potential, but another night like this one, and I probably would just write it off. Plenty of other good eats in Old Leesburg.

Fantastic food. I find it such a shame that to eat food this good you need to pay so much though. Back in Europe we would have paid ½ the price.
We sat outside and it was very quaint. The staff were very entertaining and friendly.
We’d definitely head back for special occasions.

Solid 2.5 stars. Food was overpriced, but good. I had the beet salad and their chocolate cake for dessert. I ordered hot tea, but it never came. I sat inside, but I highly recommend you sit outside, if it is a nice day. They have a nice patio area.

Just had a delightful lunch here with a family friend, my wife, and our five year old. This downtown gem has a real personality and a unique flair that’s a welcome change from the Leesburg usual.
Service was attentive and careful, with white table cloths and napkins and forks and knives all placed in the right spots and a waitstaff that cares that things are done properly. The menu is small but varied and shows an artful selection of fresh ingredients.
The cream of asparagus soup was delicate yet rich. My entrée was a sliced flank steak with red wine sauce, potatoes, asparagus and other vegetables. It was fantastic. My wife had the trout. Our friend had the quiche. Our boy had the pasta with butter. It was all excellent. Mine was one of the best lunch entrees I’ve had in town ever. You’ll think I’m crazy comparing it to L’Auberge Chez Francois, but it was truly reminiscent. Fresh vegetables boasting their natural favors in a way French cooking has truly mastered, and a rich red sauce complimenting perfectly seasoned, meaty steak. A true classic meal.
We finished with dessert and coffee, all great. Stayed about two hours. A very comfortable and pleasant experience. Can’t wait for a nicer day and we’ll try the patio.

I went again last night and I had the same experience as before. Mediocre food and snotty servers/​owner. I will not get talked into going again!

My best friend and I wanted to try somewhere new for us in Leesburg.
We walked inside the Eiffel Tower Café and weren’t sure where to stand
to be seated. After a minute or so, the owner came up to us and asked
it we made reservations. We said no and asked if that was OK and she
started walking away, we were unsure if we should follow. The place
was not crowded at all. We asked to sit in the front room and were
seated there with only one other couple. The couple was very nice and
said they come there 1−2x per week and the food and service there is
excellent.
After we were seated, we were given an amuse-​bouche which was good. A
server came and asked if we would like a drink. We asked for a wine
list and she named about 10 or so wines. Our actual server came up to
our table and said he would be back shortly to list the specials. We
waited for awhile and had not received any bread, neither had the
couple that comes there regularly. They had to ask for bread and asked
them to get us bread too. The waiter finally came back, listed the
specials and walked away without asking if we had questions or wanted
to order. Again we waited for him to come back (the place was not
crowded by any means). The bread came and was disappointing. It was
cold and hard as a rock by the end of our meal. The couple said if you
come at lunch the bread is hot (which did not make sense to us). I
wonder if the dinner bread is leftover lunch bread?
A lot of time passed before we ordered our meal and even longer for
our food to come out. My friend commented that it took an hour for us
to get food and 5 minutes to eat it. She ordered the duck and said it
was good, but it did not have a wow factor. I had one of the specials,
salmon, shrimp, and scallops with a puff pastry in a sauce. I had
debated between getting that or the steak. The waiter recommended the
special. I should have gotten the steak. The seafood was OK, the sauce
however was amazing! I would have liked to lick that off the plate.
I’m not sure what the couple next to us experiences when they come
there every time. He said this was the best place to come in Leesburg
and it sounded like they’ve been to a lot of restaurants. The owner
did come visit their table multiple times. She did come over once to
ask about our meal.
After we were done with our meal, the first server came over threw a
plate of desserts on our table and described them. We said no thank
you and she whisked them away. Ten or so minutes later (maybe longer?)
we received our check. My water was refilled once while we were there
and neither of us were asked if we wanted another glass of wine. We
were not impressed.

This is where I go on my birthday. The food is wonderful, the service is excellent, attentive, almost homey. The Steak au Poivre is always an excellent choice. The pâté is very good. We have never had a bad meal — or a bad experience here.

My husband brought me here to celebrate our anniversary this year. We’d been wanting to go, so he figured it was a good night to give it a try. It was during the week, so there were few other tables occupied.
I started with the escargot — I love them and order whenever I am eating out French. I was in the mood for steak au poivre, and theirs certainly hit the spot. I believe we split a dessert and I ended with a cup of tea to warm me up on a very rainy evening.
My husband and I were both happy with the food. Nothing groundbreaking, hence four stars instead of five, but I would definitely go back again. Service was steady, but not rushed.
Don’t be turned off by the website: it could use an update, and they certainly need new photos to do the food some justice.

So, the day started with taking my wife and my 86 yr old Mum to the Leesburg outlet Mall for shopping; Mom for pants, my wife for clothes for our impending trip to Europe. We drove from our home in Rappahannock County — a haul I wasn’t up for. But, being the good son and husband that I am, I knew the dawg-​haus only awaited me if I didn’t comply willingly!
Now, it’s late Saturday evening, and I thought many places were closing, so hobbled my now tired mom up a street in old town to see what we could find… et voila «Eiffel Tower Café’» And it was a wonderful experience: here we are getting excited about a trip to Paris and we «tripped» upon this place! WE sat outdoors as it was a balmy June evening.
The service was great and the owner or manager (?) couldn’t have been nicer –amazing for a Parisian ex-​pat! She ran the famous Sans-​Souci in DC for years and then opened this place — and without any loss of quality that her former employer imparted to her!
I began with a test appetizer that is a test for standards of quality at any decent French café, mussels mariniere. Mess those up, and it’s likely they’ll mess everything up. In brief, tey were wonderful — and I usually like the way I make them better than anyone! I tend to prefer the tart/​briney-​ness of a little more wine and salt marinade, but this version was actually much smoother without it — and the mussels? As fresh as if they’d just been harvested off the rocks.
Then, I had three of the most tender scallops with spinach I’d ever had. I cannot remember what my wife and Mom had, but they were equally impressed. All in all, a great experience. I would give them 5 stars, but I’m a true believer that cafes in the provincial style as this one is, should be on a four star system. They earned that and my continued patronage.
Thje photos attached to this are in winter — the place has the most ambiance in spring and summer when the trellises are fully covered with vines!

I love foreign food and living in the DC Metro, you get to experience a lot. I never get to eat French food, so when finding a place to have Christmas dinner, I found this to be the restaurant of choice. When we walked in, we were greeted by (who I think was) the owner and in French! That got me excited. :-)
The restaurant was decorated for Christmas but not in a «Santa was here» way. It had Christmas lights and little ornaments hanging from the ceilings and walls. Their décor was very nice, in my opinion. It was dark, but it is supposed to be intimate.
Our server was also dropping French here and there when speaking and was very professional. He took our orders and gave us water and really yummy bread. My dad thought the service was lousy because they weren’t coming to our table every five seconds asking if we needed anything. They left us alone which, to me, was preferable.
They had a Christmas menu which included beef mignonettes, seared bass, lamb, and duck. With a small menu and a family of five, we ordered ALMOST everything, which was good because I got to try all of it. I ordered the salmon appetizer which was a bit small, but still very good. The salmon was perfection, especially with the sour cream and garlic bread. The beef, bass, and lamb were also very good.
We had dessert which was a little disappointing. The French pride themselves in everything culinary, but I must say they fell short. They has a Christmas log which was really yummy, a large fruit parfait, and a warm chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream and berries. I had the latter and the cake was very dry, almost like it had been microwaved. Perhaps that’s the way it’s supposed to be, but I like my cakes moist.
Overall it was a good experience and a good choice for my second time ever eating French food. I will definitely come here again, but when they have their regular menu.

We were married at the B&B across the street and had our reception at the Eiffel Tower. They went out of there way to accommodate us and ensure all of our guests were well cared for. Its one of our favorite places in town and having our reception there was a no-​brainer.
The food is really good. The service is even better. The décor looks kind of like my grandmother’s house would, if she was French.

I took my girlfriend here on a Saturday night (the night before Valentine’s Day which fell on a Sunday this year). We really enjoyed it — it’s tucked off of a little driveway off a street in Old Town Leesburg, and it really is authentic French. The waitress and most of the others working there had French accents and talked to each other in French. It was rather cold and drafty in the front room though, even though the heat was on. The setting was tasteful and intimate, however, and reminded me very much of my time in Southern France.
The food was excellent — guacamole with excellent crabmeat on top (though I’m really not a guacamole person, and I kinda wished I hadn’t gone for it because onions don’t like me, it still tasted great). She then had the lamb-​chops which she liked very much, and I had the filet mignonettes special which was very good.
One fairly big gripe — it seems somewhat exorbitantly expensive for what it offers on the one hand. On the other, how many French restaurants that make you feel like you’re in France do you know of in this area? Not many. I guess they have a monopoly. I’d go back for a nice occasion again for sure — I’ll just check the prices of the specials a little more closely first!