Cafe Rouge - Bournemouth in Bournemouth

Do not come in here the sandwiches are disgusting couldn't even eat the sandwich full of butter no filling

We went for afternoon tea. The food was nice but the staff were quite rude

Very friendly staff and the food was amazing. We had the Xmas set menu option (£23pp)

Service was fantastic, food was poor over cooked steak and mussels. No champagne in a French restaurant???

First time I've been there. Tried to book for January, but sadly they are closing for good just before Christmas. Book if you can before they close, lovely meal.

Visit white you can, the restaurant is closing down in December 2023. It is looking tired inside and the festive menu was just OK. Very pleasant and welcoming staff though, I wish them well in the future. Bon Chance.

I have been coming here for 10 years but had the worst experience ever today. First the manager, someone I had never seen before, said we couldn’t come in as it was short staffed. Then she let us have a coffee. The bar was piled up with dishes and glasses and she told us the place is closing down on the 17th. An elderly man I know came in for a coffee, he’s a regular, several times a week. This time the manager would not allow him in. He put up an argument as a regular for years, complaining . She began shouting at him, told him he was rude… he wasn’t. After 10 minutes of this he could get nowhere and he left. The manager then started pulling faces and sneering about him, thinking I would join in with her hate fest. Other diners looked horrified. I defended him, said that she had treated him badly. She didn’t care. I left too. What the hell has happened to cafe rouge?

Our favourite restaurant in Westbourne and it's sadly closing its doors. What a shame that the top management couldn't see what a brilliant place this is and that they have incredible staff and fabulous food. Big mistake shutting down as just a bit more thought on their menu and budgets could have made the difference. Really want to wish all the people loosing their jobs just before Christmas the very best and thanks for all the wonderful service we have enjoyed over so many years.

Helpful and very pleasant staff

Just went to cafe rouge in Westbourne ordered two fillet steak dinners , full of grissle did not resemble fillet worst steak I’ve had in years . Could not finish meal very disappointed.

Sebastien was wonderful! I love this place!

Lovley afternoon tea Lovley staff very friendly welcome

Service was very slow, only two people serving (one of them remained behind bar). Eventually got drinks order took after 10 minutes then another 10 minutes for delivery to table. Waitress was not writing down orders so forgetting things. Not sure why they do that, customers want orders written down!! When asked if I wanted my minute steak cooked pink or well done I asked for pink. Didn't realise pink meant RAW! Would have asked for medium had I had known, but wasn’t given the option. Didn't say anything as waitress was clearly overwhelmed as it was. Steak was supposed to come with rocket but was only given 4 or 5 leaves as a pathetic garnish at best. Picture attached. Whole restaurant felt rundown and in desperate need of a makeover, feels like Cafe Rouge is on its last legs, going downhill very fast, disappointing and sad. I’ll be very surprised if it’s still open this time next year.

Always good food and service, great value for money

Lovely place. Great food and lovely atmosphere . Not too busy

What can I say,we had our friends come round for dinner at our favourite Cafe Rouge in Bournemouth and as usual Franco the Manager and Dany the waiter were as professional and friendly as ever The food was sublime as it always is and the restaurant was busy and a great atmosphere Well done Franco and Dany for great service

One of the best restaurants in Westbourne. The service is absolutely brilliant because the people are so dedicated. I hope that the top management at cafe rouge London realise just how hard they work to keep things going. We love going here and hope that all the brilliant staff remain! Great manager Franco (always professional and welcoming) supported by his great staff members including Dany who always makes us smile.

Such a rare treat now to be visiting a town with one of the few remaining Cafe Rouge restaurants.

We visited Cafe Rouge last night and had a lovely meal. The food was good, don't be put off by the fact it's a chain. What really made our evening were the staff, so friendly and pleasant, thank you gentlemen for looking after us so well.

Staff very nice but food really awful. Don’t waste your money just find somewhere else see to eat even McDonalds is better.

Excellent restaurant that is amazing. I have now been twice for lunch and the service alone is outstanding. The food on the lunch menu was superb. This gem of a restaurant is to be acknowledged.

Appalling service. Had a voucher for afternoon tea for two. There were 3 adults and a baby. The waiter said we could choose from any of the three types of afternoon tea. We chose 1 savoury and 2 traditional. A single cup of green tea and the savoury afternoon tea arrived quickly but no plate. We queried the size as it looked like it was for two but we’re told it was for one.45 minutes later nothing else had arrived. I asked twice and also asked two staff for hot water . The waiter said the kitchen was confused! 20 minutes later a small traditional afternoon tea arrived clearly for only one person. We asked where the other one was and the waiter said that was it, I pointed out there was only one scone! The ‘manager’ who said she wasn’t really in charge, was ‘on seasonal’ and ‘wouldn’t have had two new starters on the same day’ was useless and unconcerned. The second traditional tea arrived but again no plates. The food was mediocre and the service was dire. We were offered no apology. My 80 year old mother had eaten her savoury tea before we even got ours! The poor baby got fed up in the highchair after the first hour! We were offered nothing off the bill which was supposedly £41 for 2 savoury afternoon teas even though we only ordered one! All we were offered was the email of the actual manager. Avoid at all costs

Perfectly steamed milk in the coffee. Care obviously taken.

I had an Afternoon tea with Croque Monsieur which was included in the price. Wow! What a pleasant surprise, the Croque Monsieurs were so tasty and the cakes were cute and very tasty too, the scone was lovely with a hint of cinnamon…. Defo recommend. I’ll be going back for sure.

Excellent service this evening at Cafe Rouge and some scrumptious French food! Will return again! :)

A bittersweet experience. Staff were superb. A big thank you to Franco and Dan. My garlic mushroom starter was bland and hardly detected any garlic. The toasted bread it was served on, had gone to mush, very soggy. This was replaced with the pate, which was lovely. When the mains arrived, my beef bourgenon was bland, with small pieces of beef in it. For nearly £20, this was unacceptable. The manager, Marco, explained that most stuff is now just delivered, pre-packed to the restaurant. He said his head chef was more than capable of cooking these French classics, but is now not allowed to. My partner's minute steak was tough and twice overcooked. In summary, poor, pre-packaged food, with wonderful and understanding staff. Cafe Rouge, you need to up your game and stop trying to save money by cutting corners, whilst still charging a premium price.

Food and service was great.the waitress was very good .All in all a very good night.Will go again .

Never listens to customers who asked politely to fix their toilets upstairs and downstairs and yet it still doesn’t fully flush, quite a disgusting cafe bistro to be honest. Tables never cleaned before a customer like me sits down. No wonder they offer lots of discounts all year round. Food is bland and they just smother every dish with salt and salt everywhere! Pre pandemic was the best food I’ve ever had there! Nobody comes to your table if they are doing other stuff! Get your basics right, it has to be customers first!

Charming service and ambiance, delicious breakfast and rich coffee and hot milk to the side. Service and great charm from Sebastian is priceless, attentive and welcoming. Choice of inside or outside tables. Happiest of treats to start the day.

Tastefully decorated café, good food

Great place to spend your Tesco vouchers! Nice food, good service, great value (with Tesco vouchers)

Just got back from a lovely meal at Cafe Rouge with family. Have never been before but really enjoyed it, from the really warm welcome and amazingly friendly service from the French Waieter (didn't catch his name but what a thoroughly lovely man) to the food and atmosphere. Will definitely be back!

Popped in desperate for cuppa and cake. Had beautiful scone, jam and cream and a massive pot of tea. Great service. Thanks.

Authentic French experience, great food, we’ll be back. We both had the most amazing fillet steak, cooked rare to perfection with fries. Followed by warm apple pie with ice cream. Very filling and just right.

Cafe Rouge is a big restaurant is in the centre of Westbourne which is a good and very busy location. Unfortunately it lacked any atmosphere as it was almost completely deserted. The staff was lovely and very attentive, but we found the food of average quality, the portions were very small, its presentation was non existent, so overall poor value for money. The worst item was my starter, Hot Smoked Salmon Pate at £7.30, it came with plenty of bread, but the size of the actual pate needs to be seen to be believed, please refer to the attached picture.

Food was great, service was fantastic. Really lovely place

Good food good service. Could've done with another server as they were pretty busy but the team they had were doing all they could!

Small portions, food very dry. I had chicken and chips. The chips were skinny and tasteless. I had to put mayonnaise on the chips to make them edible. Photo of half eaten chicken, I played spot the meat! Had no garnish with meal! So disappointed 😔. Service ok.

I had a lovely lunch here today. I have special needs but everyone was very nice especially Ellis who served me, she is so kind. I had some plump juicy olives, very good garlic prawns and a goats cheese tart with salad which was perfect. A non alcoholic cocktail was excellent and just right for a warm summer day.

Me and my girlfriend paid a visit to this venue yesterday afternoon for 2 steaks. Sadly we were severely let down by the quality of the food we received. We both ordered from the pre fix menu, nothing was said about the £6 per steak surplus charge that was in the smallest possible font. The olives we had for a while you wait were disgusting, definitely not marinated and most certainly old. Our main wasn’t bad but not amazing 5/10 at best. We had to wait 45 minutes and chase someone down to receive our dessert which by far the most rancid thing I’ve ever tasted. It was over loaded with gelatine and tasted synthetic. The poor waitress who had just started as I went to complain had no form of handover or anything. Clearly this needs to be addressed and your venue really needs an update and clean! £75 for some olives 2 steaks a beer and a glass of wine is disgusting. We certainly won’t ever be coming here again. No wonder it’s mainly dead. Should’ve been the first red flag

Always a pleasure to visit, friendly efficient service and a variety of good food & drinks

Sehr schönes Café, aus Sicht der Touristen "typisch britisch".

Quality, great service and surroundings👍

Nice atmophere. Well cooked food. Served by friendly staff. French cafe feel

Great place and the staff make it. They are always very kind,efficient and knowledgeable. Thank you to Sebastian who served Denises large ( as in number )French group .You were very patient and brilliant as always. Moira

Food was very good, can recommend the ham hock and chicken pie. Staff were very nice.

We sat down, a table of two, for 30 mins waiting for an ice coffee and a latte. Wasn’t even busy. Actuall a joke. Do not recommend.

The food was fantastic and so was the friendly reception. All the staff were great, especially Ellouise who was attentive, professional and couldn’t have done enough for us.

Usual good food - a little tightly packed - short of staff the day we went

Lovely place with lovely food. Spent few of my bdays here plus other occasions. Onion soup is amazing.

Fui concretamente a merendar a este bonito restaurante. Aunque mi primera opción era tomar un batido, zumo o similar me decanté por el café, ya que no tenían mis primeras opciones. Fue todo un acierto: el mejor café de Bournemouth lo encontrarás aquí. Local tranquilo y perfectamente decorado. Servicio más que amable. Limpieza aceptable. Ubicado en una bonita calle.

Popped in for a quick lunch. An excellent choice as always. Great choice of menus. Excellent value. Very personable staff.

We go here quite often when we visit. The food is a safe bet and never had a bad meal. We very much like the waiter Danny here who seems a bit gruff but in fact is hilarious and has a dry sense of humour. He also is able to observe the best and the worse of the British way of life which usually has us in stitches. Setting is good and can get some air.

What an amazing atmosphere I really felt like I was in France! The music, the atmosphere, the decoration all made such an impression on me and my missus - we had just the nicest time. The waitress was ooh la la!😍 and the quality of the food honestly was Top Top Top! I would love to return but unfortunately I live over 200 miles away 😢

Great restaurant for my birthday meal. Staff were great and very attentative, considering how busy it was. Would recommend.

Great venue, great food, variable pricing!

Good food but place needs to be cleaned better. Lots of dust on skirting boards. Nothing a good deep clean wouldn't sort out.

A bit disappointed this visit - whilst the service was good ( although it would have helpful to be told on arrival that certain 'menus' cannot be used with vouchers rather when ordering) - food was really salty - I mean almost to the point of sending back - I left most of my chips. I gave immediate feedback to our server - hopefully that was reported back to the kitchen. The Croque Monsieur - the bread used was very thick and toasted to a level that one could have built a house with it. In all not great - will think twice before returning and will from our experience no longer recommend.

Great place. Lovely food, lots of choice Fabulous friendly service Really nice atmosphere would recommend for both day and evening dining.

Really like the menu, know what to expect with this Cafe Rouge and the staff were very gracious whilst we were waiting for some of our group to arrive. Enjoyed the meal and drinks, was a great setting for friends catching up.

Been going here for years. Always great! Staff are under loads of pressure because there aren’t enough of them but they are always friendly!

Lovely breakfast 2 cumberland sausages 2 bacon 2 eggs tomato beans black pudding 4 pieces of toast £10.95 good service highly recommended

Unfortunately menu recently changed and not for the better while prices have increased

Staff were fantastic and very helpful. Felt a little understaffed. Had to send one dish back but was taken off the bill. Great value for money with a taste card.

First time back for several years. Last experience was very good indeed. BUT. Although the decore is still wonderful and the staff are first class - value for money is lacking. High prices and small portions. Beef Bourguignon, coming in at £19, was no more than a small portion of 'boil in the bag' carroty stew with a lump of mash. Our group had three B B's and all the dishes looked exactly the same! The sliver of 'Sea Bass' come in with a miserable amount of greenery and three small half potatoes. I've seen bigger meals in a Care Home. However, the food, for what there was, was indeed very tasty. Will we return - probably not.

Waiter was very rushed and brusk taking our order, didn't feel very welcome. Food was good though, if a little pricy.

First visit since new menu Prices up quality down The new version of the duck mains was duck over mictowaved miniscule amount of wilted spinach and absolutely tasteless boiled potatoes in a bowl with no presentation skill. Cherry sauce was nice. Partner had unremarkable sea bass with same tasteless potatoes. Have had so many nice meals in the past but will not now return

I had the sea bass while my wife had the camembert burger. A few issues were expertly handled by Danny our waiter whose attentiveness and help added at least a star to this review

We arrived on a busy Saturday lunchtime, pre-booked. We were welcomed and shown to our table quickly and there was a lively atmosphere. I think they were a bit short staffed as a few of the tables hadn't been cleared from departed diners. However our waiters were charming and helpful and made us feel welcomed. The food was okay but no more.

Love this place. Simple straight forward food at a good price. Staff are always welcoming and it's easy to get a table. Perfect when you can't be bothered to cook.

Service was excellent. Had minute steak, chips, apple pie, ice cream all were excellent.The recent menu changes has made it more difficult to choose what to eat if restricted by medical conditions, staff were most helpful about it. Many meals had mushrooms, leek, the soups...

Stop off for a had hoc pit stop coffee and cake but decided to have a meal as well as the food smelt great. We were not disappointed. We both went for the butter nut squash tarime followed by creme bula and lemon cheese cake both were lovely. Rounded off by a lovely coffee. we even had 25 % discount with a blue light card. Well done cafe rouge

Went for breakfast with my husband for a wee treat. All in all, disappointing. Nice service from the waiter. But, the food was substandard. I had pancakes which were rubbery and were not hot enough with a fruit compote that didn’t taste of anything. My husband had a full English - toast was stone cold . Not good value for the money.

Fabulous meal late Sunday lunch. Quick service and delightful food. My wife had a massive bowl of mussels and fries, the mussels flavoured with thyme which gave a particularly delicious taste. I hade the sea bass which also was a good sized portions and tested delicious with the lemon and Béarnaise sauce. Potatoes and greens also were great. Finished off with a chocolate fondant and creme brilliant both delicious!

Food reasonable. Very attentive female staff.

Menu is now very reduced and even then, some items were not available. Short staffed so long wait for drinks and even to place the order. When it did arrive the food was not of previous quality. All in all a very disappointing evening and...

Great food, and reasonably priced.

Service was good as always, been coming here for years so was shocked to see so many favourites leave the menu! Seems like they’re trying to be something they’re not. I had the burger which just had so much sauce I couldn’t even pick it...

Simply love this place!! The manager Franco and other staff are super friendly, especially Sylvia and the other young crazy polish lady D make it so entertaining to eat there!

In all my years attending I cannot believe walking in at 8:50pm on a Saturday night to a half filled restaurant that the kitchen was closed and couldn’t seat a table for 1 adult and a child. Absolutely mental

Visited last weekend with my daughter and have to say we were looked after very well from start to finish Dagmara We both chose the Sea Bass dish that was very well prepared and were v happy with deserts and drinks etc Have to say...

Went there with French person, and he claimed the 'french settings ' are alright. Not to busy in time of visit, but we was waiting to give the order. Food and beverages ordered come quickly. Fresh, and tasty. Coffee above British average.

Service very good. Not intrusive. Food arrived quickly. Set menue price excellent. Starter of mushrooms , plentiful and tasty. Minute steak,mine was awful,I gave it to my husband ,he said it was chewy. Cream brule ok. But obviously brought in, to cold and no crack on top layer. Disabled loo sink and wall needed a good scrub!

Went in for the afternoon tea, decided on the Rouge (whole baked camembert with a selection of meats, olives,chutney,sliced pear and bread for dipping in the cheese, and a selection of macarons to finish), plus a bottomless pot of tea. Apparently we were the first members of the public to taste the 'Rouge', lovely, must go back and try the other afternoon teas,the staff were very attentive, polite and friendly,

Very friendly staff and lovely environment. Took my mum for Mother’s Day which was £15pp. Mum was greeted with a complimentary glass of Prosecco. Food was just enough and very well presented. Was looked after throughout the visit and would definitely use again.

We went on Mothers Day. Restaurant was busy but the 5 staff front of house worked like stink to get everyone seated and served. Food was flying out so the kitchen team were on great form too. Our food was delicious and filling. Do try them if in town. They're well worth it!

Had afternoon tea here, highly recommend it was delicious! There were 3 of us, we all loved it! Thank you Cafe Rouge

Nice environment, friendly staff and some cool food, we like trundling back here because we feel comfortable and welcome! :) edit: we visited again last week and whilst the staff were great, the food was pretty rubbish, I know that many people are using vouchers but that is no excuse for under cooked chips, very bland and average flavours and dishes that simply are not balanced. The presentation was poor and we left feeling it was a shame to have had such an average experience... Spend your vouchers at prezzo instead.

A nice relaxed evening well looked after and good food

Always satisfied great staff and the food tasty like always. Definitely I will them customer for long term.

Great food. Great value. Very nice staff. Drinks a little expensive but after all it is a restaurant. :) thank you cafè rouge.

Sadly the service was poor, there were only a couple of other people in the cafe, so they weren't busy! Food was good but won't return due to cost and service.

Very nice food and the staff seem friendly it was busy and it took a little while to get my food

Didn't eat just had a tea. Staff were friendly and didn't ask us to leave when we were there with tea for 2 hours, they still treated us friendly

What a great evening! We met some friends. Food was delicious wine delightful and Sebastien's attention to detail and sense of humour were excellent. Couldn't wish for a more pleasant evening. Thank you.

We live in London was visiting family and booked afternoon tea really nice setting and people definitely recommend

A beautiful afternoon tea, so delicious and even better than one we had at a posh hotel in Bournemouth. Very friendly staff who made my mums birthday lunch really lovely.

Really good evening to celebrate Valentines ! Excellent value for money - as always at Cafe Rouge. Of particular note was our waiter Danny - chatty, pleasant and charming.

Fantastic service, great environment for a family

It was a special afternoon tea at a special price and it was presented very well and nothing was too much trouble if one had allergies etc.