French Rotisserie Cafe - Palm Desert

First visit, and after another French restaurant nearby which was disappointing, this place was very nice. Food and all the staff were great!

First class, love the ambience, excellent food, terrific service. Would definitely return...we had tagine and osso buco. Lemon tart melts in your mouth. Wonderful experience!

Excellent lemon drop cocktail, made it to my liking (not too sweet). Fantastic shareable pate'. The fennel chevard salad was so so good; nice and cold with a wonderful light dressing. The mussels are the best in the valley! Delicious broth! My husband had the boeuf bourguignon and it was very good as well. We both had French red and chardonnay with our meals wonderful additions. Great service and elegant setting!

Something has changed at the French Rotisserie Cafe. I was introduced to it by a friend a few years ago and had always loved it. My favorite dish there for lunch was the Vol au Vent; delicious sauce, succulent chicken, and a crisp pastry shell. However, I went there twice in two weeks recently, excited about introducing two out-of-town guests with it. It's completely changed. The first surprise was walking in and finding the dining room nearly empty. Each of the two times there was only one other table of diners. The second was finding such a limited menu. Perhaps it was that way before but it seemed as if there had been more choices. In fact, when looking at the Gallery at the restaurant's website, hardly any of the dishes seem to be on the menu, and certainly not looking as they do currently like anything in the photos. In fact, the menus shown on the site are not what you find in-person. When going the first time on Oct 28th, I had a delicious salad to start. My friend and I both had the Vol au Vent. She's from Switzerland, where Vol au Vent is ubiquitous. I had raved about FRC's version. But what we got was a plate with way too much sauce, and it was loaded with herbs of some kind and, strangely, lots of green mushy green beans. Neither of us finished ours. We shared a delightful creme brulee and passable coffee. The second time yesterday, I knew better than to order the Vol au Vent and, instead, ordered the half-rotisserie chicken, which came with a small salad and frites. The chicken was coated heavily with herbs (perhaps sage and/or oregano), something very bitter. I had a couple of bites of it, all my salad, and frites. I took the rest home where I was hoping that by taking off the skin the bitter taste of the herbs would go away. It didn't. My friend had a Caesar Salad with Chicken, which she said was okay, but loaded with dressing. We shared a creme brulee and even weaker coffee than the day before. I will not be going back. FRC is off my list, sadly.

My husband was celebrating his Birthday and our lunch was perfect! We felt like we were in Paris at a French restaurant ! Our server Mile was outstanding.