Carousel French Cuisine - Yakima

I know John has been working hard on this restaurant for the last year plus however yesterday's brunch experience was not pleasant overall. Our server was good friendly more than anything but overall the best part of the meal. We had made a reservation for a large group of 13 including children a few days before. We did have a table set for us but it seemed like they either forgot or didn't plan for us at all other than the table setting. We ordered pancakes right away for the kids they came out burned. Drinks were slow to get to us, and the meal came out one item at a time about an hour after we placed it. I'm pretty sure several of the dishes were cold or cool my crepes were for sure and lacked much flavor. About a third of the group had to leave early and had to take their meal to go. We may have been a little louder than most patrons at times but it was one of the most incredibly painful dining experiences I've had in Yakima.

We had our anniversary dinner here recently after years of meaning to go never getting around to it. Since we had made reservations, the staff knew we were there to celebrate and they made us feel very welcome. Our server scattered rose petals on the table for us and had a chat with us about our special day. We started with an appetizer of escargot in garlic butter. I had never eaten snails, so was I interested to find out what they would be like. It turns out they are heavenly when prepared properly, practically melt in your mouth. I had bacon wrapped scallops. There were only three scallops, but they were huge. They were lightly seared and absolutely luscious. So rich I could hardly finish. I finished with sorbet, a spoonful each of three different flavors strawberry, coconut, and tamarind. Each flavor was absolutely intense, capturing the essence of each food. This is a special place. I definitely recommend it.

What a hidden gem! Didn't have my hopes up about food when I first came to Yakima but this place definitely blew my mind! Now I can't wait to go back just to have dinner at This place!

When in Yakima, definitely make a trek to this charming quaint French restaurant. The dining room is classy but not snobby. Walls are adorned with paintings from local artists that are available for purchase. The women's washroom is worth a trip it has an elegant sitting area for lounging around in case you need to wait for your turn. Service was attentive and our water never got depleted. Both dishes we ordered were spot on. This is one of the few restaurants where they managed to cook steak perfectly medium rare. Also, each component of the dish was executed perfectly. With the Yelp promotion for $15 for $30 worth of food, the value cannot be beat.

We came to carousel for a long overdue date night on a random Thursday. We weren't expecting to be blown away given that we find French food is very hit or miss. After our experience here, rethinking that many of our date nights will be held here! Upon entering, it feels like you're going down in to an old wine cellar. We found the Decor to be inviting, unique and classy. The bar is just to your left and has plenty of seating and in front of you and back a ways are a number of rooms. The lighting and art in each room differ a little bit and made for places that felt a little bit more intimate as well as ones that seemed more open. It was a dichotomy that you really don't see it very many places and one we're excited about exploring further. Now to the good stuff! We decided to havsies on everything so we could try more everything except the cocktails. My best half had a St. Germaine Champagne and it was lovely! I had an orange and beer cocktail, and it may have been the best drink I've ever had. We have really gotten into beer and wine cocktails over the past few years, and it's been hard to find a good one in the area. This was definitely a good one. The Orange and beer included Bacardi, orange Lacore, bitters and a red ale out of Portland. It was just perfect! It was also pretty dangerous as it would've been easy to take down two or three. For an appetizer we split the pate. It was phenomenal! A couple of lovely patties, compote and some pickles along with toasted Crostini it was magic. We also decided to split a spinach salad, mostly because it included the word flambé! It was a simple spinach salad with a lovely bacon and Sherry infused dressing I was prepared tableside and flambéed to perfection. The salad was good, the show made it totally worth it! For dinner we split a duck breast, and they were nice enough to put it on a couple of plates and prepare it the same for both of us. It made for a really nice experience by preserving the presentation on both plates. Very small detail, but in the overall experience it definitely heightened it at a place where it would've been very neutral. Nice work! The duct was beautifully prepared, skin could've been just a slight bit crispier but it preserved a lot of the flavor nicely. This asparagus was done perfectly and the mushroom risotto was divine! For dessert we decided on and cherries Jubilee, again because they would let it on fire at our table side! Neither of us had had it before, but we will likely be enjoying it again. The ice cream is homemade and was fabulous, the cherries done perfectly and the sauce was good enough that I started using my finger to make sure I got all of it out of the bowl! It was good enough to make sure that I got all of it. We both left pleasantly full and for around $100 for the two of us, we felt it was well worth the price for the trifecta of ambience, service and food quality. To boot, they run a Yelp deal of $25 for a $50 coupon and had a 10% off coupon. We had both ready to use, but ironically the food was so good and we found ourselves talking about it for so long that I forgot to use both coupons. Luckily we will be back soon! The more people we talk to about our experience, the more people we are finding have had similar experiences where their expectations were blown away. I heard that they have recently changed owners and if that's the case, they're doing a great job with the place!