Cafe Rouge – Birmingham

I’ve been here many years ago for a after work group meal. Atmosphere was very good and relaxed, the staff were very pleasant and professional, helped us with our choices and was attentive. If you are planning on going to a concert at Symphony Hall or seeing a play at the Rep, this restaurant has a well convenient location. Situated at Brindley Place in the centre of Birmingham, you are also very close to the bustling night life of Broad Street and Gas street.

Nice place, the risotto was great and the fries in there are really yummy! Especially in the summer it’s nice to sit outside, it’s a lively place in the middle of brindley place. In the winter it’s nice and cosy inside and can be really romantic as they put up candles on all the tables. Great if you want a quiet dinner

Had a ribeye that rivals any I have had in Texas! Steamed mussels in wine sauce were killers! Almost could eat everything, but did. Could not waste!

Definitely the nicest Café Rouge in Birmingham, right by the picturesque canal, one of my favourite places to eat when i’m back home.
The food is absolutely exquisite (I recommend the fritots de camembert to start), and the service is usually pretty fast too. The portion sizes are a little on the small size (think french minimalist) but you can always ask for a box if you want to take it home with you.
It is a little pricey, but there’s plenty of offers available on martinstips if you’re looking for a cheaper option.
It can get quite busy over the weekend, so i’d recommend booking, but its definitely the loveliest time to visit. They often have live music acts playing and the atmosphere is romantic and intimate; the perfect place to celebrate an anniversary or valentines.

I have eaten in a few Café Rouge locations around the country. This particular one I found very good. They had a lovely open air seating area with heaters so we were able to eat while watching the hustle and bustle of this popular area. The food was good for the price and the staff were very friendly and attentive. Would go back again when I am in town.

I’ve worked in Brindley Place for a couple of years now, and I decided on a whim to try Café Rouge for lunch. I wish I hadn’t. The service was slow, and not very friendly. I had an apple juice — which came in a dirty glass (blugh!) and a mushroom omelette with salad. The salad was old and brown, and drenched in cheap oil. The omelette was very dry & rubbery, and really quite cold. I told my waitress who didn’t seem to care. Despite being a lunch time it was very quiet, and I could see why! Considering it’s not the cheapest place for lunch they really didn’t live up to expectations. ¹⁄₅.

Went to Café Rouge last night in Brindley Place with my wife and 4.5 yr old daughter after a day out at the ThinkTank Museum. Great pick me up food after a long day. We shared a steak and bowl of moules servied with fries. My daughter ate from the kids menu which is really well priced at £5.95 and there are ‘kids eat free vouchers’ on their web site. As previous reivews have said it is a formulaic offering, but a very pleasant place to eat and the food is well cooked it was a real experience for my daughter who loved the place, and the waiters made an effort to speak to her which was nice. Friendly service, great food, great value and dependable if you allow your self to, for a while it feels like you have left Birmingham behind and gone to Bourgone!

Our server was great! He had a good laugh at us because we were Americans. He was trying to tell us what they were out of! and we could not — for the life of us — understand what he was saying. We thought he was saying «coffee and tea» but he was saying something else. Too bad it’s not on the menu… you won’t get the laugh that we did. Thankfully, our server asked us if we were Americans and had a good laugh b/​c we didn’t understand the English accent.
We got the brownie w/​vanilla ice cream. The brownie was very rich (as the server suggested). It was good, but very rich…
The server recommended the «Crêpe Chocolat Banane» (Crêpe filled with fresh banana, a rich and sumptuous chocolate sauce and vanilla pod ice cream). I’ll try that next time… !!

There’s not much you can say about a Café Rouge that you won’t already know if you’ve been in any of the numerous outlets throughout the UK. It’s sanitised French café-​lite by numbers, with generic décor and a pleasant, though over-​priced menu. The portions are fairly meagre, although the quality of the food itself is quite good.
You could do far worse, and far better than to come here, although to be fair to them the service at the Brindleyplace café is good, the atmosphere is relaxed and the food comes to you hot and in good time. Bland, but reliable, and not all that bad if you need a table somewhere at short notice for a business meeting or lunch break.

Excellant service, pleasant, helpfull staff. Clean, speedy, great for pre-​concert meal prior to visiting concert at NIA (5 mind walk).Nice food well prepared.

Probably our favourite restaurant in Birmingham. Very good for a quick Steak Frites before going over to Symphony Hall, and super for a great cup of coffee afterwards. Very popular place, so be early if possible.

What to say about the rouge? It’s so formulaic. Bland averagely cooked food in an overly-​lit tacky French environs. So why do I go back? It’s a good place for a quickie. Meal. And the baked camembert is very good.
This branch near the canal in the nice part of Birmingham is at least nicely set. A lovely pedestrianised area with a water feature outside, the feel is one of calm. And as long as you order sensibly the food is pretty good. I suppose you have to stick to the classics, really. Steak frites, moules, croquet monsieur. All good. However the half chicken was a massive disappointment in a study of dry over-​cooked meat. At least the frites were good.

I was actually going to meet my friend Mandy in Slug and Lettuce because I love their bread apertiser with pesto and a red pepper sauce, however I noticed the board outside Café Rouge. Which said 2 courses x 2 + bottle of wine £30. If you have been Café Rouge before you may understand the reason I was shocked. It is generally good food but reflected in the price. I went in and quizzed the staff on the menu. Must be a new sign as they weren’t clued up on what or more importantly, what not is part of this menu. Luckily the manageress came over and assured me that everything is included in this menu apart from the sharing platters. Which obviously is common sense. Called Mand who loves the Slug and lettuce and told her about the offer as she was getting into town and she went for it as she had never eaten at café rouge before, she was ok about it.
Met her in there. I’d already ordered the wine. This is where it gets slightly limited. Mand normally drinks rose wine but only house white and red are on this menu. I went with the white. To be honest I was really surprised at how nice it tasted. For starters I had a starter salade de la mer, which consisted of sauteed King prawns, squid with cherry tomatoes, mixed leaf, pepper and red onion salad and a lime and chilli dressing. The dressing was amazing. I could’ve drank the plate at the end! The prawns had been marinated so the flavour was great, the squid (which i can be very particular about) was cooked well. I can’t stand it when it’s still rubbery. A really light and beautifully presented salad. Mand ordered the Salade Cesar au Poulet grilll. Obviously the chicken caesar. I don’t eat meat at the moment, but i tried her garlic crouten and it was nice. Also came with shave parmesan, standard really, but she seemed to enjoy it. She loved the wine as well. Do not quote me on this, but I think we were drinking Sauvignon blanc vin de pays (la serre). The gooseberry flavour one. I’ve just picked it off their menu now but I’m pretty sure it was that.
For my main I had a blackboard special. It was similar to the pan fried Seabass on the menu but instead of the bed of spinach, chickpea and lime salsa it had beurre sauce (which is a white wine and butter sauce with shallots) and came with roast baby potatoes and green beans. The fish had crispy skin which I love and the flesh was tender. Miaow!!!
Mand had the Boeuf Bourguignon; a beef casserole in red wine sauce with bacon and mushrooms, it came with potato dauphinoise, which is what swayed her to this dish in the first place. We had another bottle of wine, which took us slightly over our budget. But to be honest it was worth it. Just our food would have been way over £30 at almost £15 a main b (starters about £6-£7, you do the math!). I promise you it is well worth going to your local Café Rouge before the offer is over which may be by Friday. I’m going again with my boyfriend tomorrow as I want to try the Dory fish now. I can’t normally afford it especially in this climate but on what you save and the quality it’s great.
I didn’t say but the staff were great, really helpful with the dishes and translation of sauces, etc. Plus they didn’t look down at us as they do in some places if you’re going for a set menu. Mandy thoroughly enjoyed her food as I did. The place was quite busy so the atmosphere was quite nice as well.

I went to the restaurant on an evening out with one of our Customers, I’d never been before so had my fingers crossed when we first entered! It was lovely, quite minimalist décor, a bit like a french café but Tres Chic! The menu was Very nice with a little of something to suit everyone, between the three of us that were eating the meals were absolutely excellent, cooked to perfection and the portion sizes were just right, no complaints anywhere, the staff were very pleasant and the atmosphere very chilled, all in all it was an absolute pleasure to eat there!

Finding myself in the City Centre on an extremely busy Saturday evening, myself and a friend were struggling to find somewhere to eat that wasn’t fully booked. We ended up at Café Rouge, which wouldn’t have been my first choice but I was thrilled with the evening. Service was a tiny bit slow but this was only because it was so busy. The staff were friendly and apologetic and I didn’t mind in the slightest as it meant I could sit back and enjoy my wine after a long day! We nibbled on olives to start and when our mains arrived, I was practically salivating. My friend opted for the steak and fries whilst I decided the Sea Bass en Papillote. I have to admit I can be a bit of a snob when it comes to chain restaurants but I couldn’t find one fault with this food! It was a treat. The service was excellent and despite how busy the place was, we were looked after and were never without a drink. I would 100% recommend.