Where to begin? Very disappointing. Stood at the door for five minutes before being acknowledged by the hostess. Reservations were at seven, had to sit at the bar until 715 to wait for a table to open. They only have 10 table tops in the entire restaurant. Once seated, we were informed that they were out of the Oso Buka. We ordered the French pot roast, which is not pot roast at all. It’s more like a thin pork chop over mashed potatoes with gravy.. Not good. My drink was not brought to the table until after I finished my dinner. Charged 20$ a piece for three mixed beverage. When we arrived at the restaurant, they had some nice jazz music playing, but after about 30 minutes, the music went away and the whole mood of the restaurant changed. Talk about killing the party. Just not a good vibe, wasn’t impressed. Again very disappointing.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 3
Patricia Higley
Our first time ordering from Caffe Rel. We saw the family meal advertised on FB. It sounded like an economic meal for 4. Our order was ready when we walked in the door, and the food did not disappoint.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Carlton Ramsey
We came herw for dinner tbis evening 12/9 for my partners birthday and we were not disappointed at all. Feom.the minute we ealked in the door we knew we were in for a treat. The service was amazing KiKi was incredible, attentive, positive, and answered all of our questions. From the cocktails to the mains to the desert to the desert cocktails. Everything was absolutely wonderful and we will be back!!!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Ryan Orlosky
A confused French restaurant on Main Street in Hendersonville - with an original location in Franklin, NC. Walking in at 5pm on a Thursday evening with a near empty restaurant was not a good sign of things to come. The space was large, industrial and cold, with a concrete floor and wide spacing between tables.
Although the restaurant bills itself as a French restaurant, the menu was a variety of French, Italian, and American cuisine with a large amount of pastas and risottos - and a Greek salad. 🤷🏻♂️ Our server was kind, but was quiet and lacked confidence. When asking about the “locally sourced mushrooms”, our server checked with the kitchen and confirmed that the mushrooms were in fact from Ecuador. We were thrown off that the server had left bottles of wine on the table before we had looked at the menu or ordered anything - I’m unsure if this was an attempt to upsell a more expensive bottle? We chose instead to get drinks by the glass.
The meal started with bread service, which consisted of a stodgy take-and-bake type sliced roll and an odd cold salsa for dipping. We began with the mussel appetizer which had a good flavor, but 1/3 of the mussels were still closed. The jury is out on food safety of eating closed mussels, but I didn’t want to take the chance of ruining my evening and tomorrow.
For entrees, we had the salmon and osso bucco. The osso bucco was served with pork shank and risotto, not with the typical veal. The risotto was claggy, lacking a smooth consistency and likely indicating it was premade ahead of service, not made fresh to order. The risotto and pork were both cold, further exacerbating the textural issues of the dish. The salmon was extremely salty, bordering on inedible.
I understand that the Franklin location is better regarded, but in a competitive Hendersonville market at this price point, I am doubtful that this location will survive when better choices are right around the corner. The restaurant owner or management responds to reviews with 😋 emojis, so there may be a general lack of accountability and confusion.
Food: 1
Rita Roykovich
My husband and I went to Cafe Rei for dinner last night. We had an 8 pm reservation. We both had a cocktail. I had an Autumn Spritz and my husband had a fig Manhattan. The AS was good but light on the alcohol. My husband enjoyed his Manhattan. I had the salmon and he had a pork dish special. I also had crab bisque and we split a Caesar salad. I’m really sorry to say everything was meh. My salmon was cooked well but the sauce was uninteresting. They should have left it off. The bisque was congealed and flavorless. The Caesar was decent. My husband’s pork was also decent but nothing was worth spending $100 per person and we didn’t have a bottle of wine. The bill was about $200 plus. We asked for bread and our server told us that all the bread had been put away ( it was 8:30 ) except for white sandwich bread. In their defense a lovely young lady came to our table to tell us they were heating up a baguette for us. The baguette was good, tasted fresh. Our server told us they’d be serving it like bruschetta and gave us, what tasted like a small bowl of salsa. First, how do you make a French baguette into Italian bruschetta with Latino salsa?
As we finished up our entrees the server gave us our bill without asking if we wanted dessert or coffee. I had to get up and ask the woman behind the bar if we could have coffee and the dessert menu. We were served a healthy cup of good coffee but the server took several minutes to get us cream and sugar. I think he forgot. (Mind you we were now the only people in the restaurant. Most of the staff were hanging around the end of the bar.)
Cafe Rei also has to decide what it is. It’s not really a French restaurant. My impression was that it serves an American cuisine with a twist.
The atmosphere inside was nice. Beautiful bar, tablecloths etc. They do need some sort of live music in my opinion. I’m sure some will disagree. A nice piano or guitar player would be lovely.
I absolutely hate to give any place downtown a mediocre review. I know downtown is struggling and being a resident I always LOVE to talk up downtown. In this case I just couldn’t.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 3
kathybF5322LM
We have been to Caffe Rel in Franklin, NC many times and always have had wonderful food and service so we were excited to visit their location in Hendersonville. Apparently, either their business model or ownership has changed because the menu was different and not as extensive, no bread with bruschetta, and our food was nothing special. I do want to say that our service was very good, but we will not go back to the Hendersonville location.
Giavanna Angelo
Incredible. Large portion sizes but it doesn’t matter because you’ll finish it before you realize how much you’ve eaten. It’s that good. Impeccable service. Our server was so personable and sold us on a few specials offered when we went. Lovely atmosphere.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Calamari, French Pot Roast
Michael Casteel
It was okay. My wife got the snails and tails and it was like some kind of dark Vegemite mush for lack of a better description. Now if you've never had Vegemite it's like it's got 10 lb of salt in it. It tasted burnt and it was just not very appetizing at all but anyway. I had some kind of chicken dish and it was fair. we had some chocolate cake for dessert that tasted like it was frozen however they said it was not but it took a steak knife to cut it. Anyway, we had a party of five and we still had a great time regardless. Sometimes things happen but that snails and tails dish is God awful.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 4
Terence Schock
Wonderful meal, great service, and the place has character! We will be back!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
D D
This place is sooooo bad. Food is not well prepared and the level of service is so poor. Weird pre- bottled balsamic reduction squiggled over anything and everything looks ridiculous. Why are they still open? It’s not French and the bread starter is cheap. Menu is confused. French pot roast? Chicken caprese? Have you guys even looked up what the are the ingredients of these dishes? What is going on here?
Loved it here! The hostess, Hope was so sweet and Emma our waitress was very helpful with getting us gluten free options. The food was delicious as well!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Nancy Holloway
Caffe REL is the number one restaurant in Franklin, but the ambiance in Hendersonville far exceeds Franklin. The food is excellent here as in Franklin, and our server Emma was so personable.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Kathy Wilsey
Excellent meals at a good price. Our server Rai was very polite and informative. Great place to have a relaxing meal.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
debra dunn
Came for lunch and had the French Dip. It did not disappoint - cheesy, tender and the bread was delicious! Service by Rai was superb! Attentive, considerate and kind! Love the atmosphere, but the temps are in the mid to low 50s and it was cold inside. Wouldn't stop me from doing it again tomorrow though!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Nelda Sorrells
This was an amazing experience all the way around. The atmosphere was upscale and cozy. The food was amazing! We started with the bisque which was some of the best that I’ve ever had. The service was polite and friendly!! We will definitely be back!
Where to begin? Very disappointing. Stood at the door for five minutes before being acknowledged by the hostess. Reservations were at seven, had to sit at the bar until 715 to wait for a table to open. They only have 10 table tops in the entire restaurant. Once seated, we were informed that they were out of the Oso Buka. We ordered the French pot roast, which is not pot roast at all. It’s more like a thin pork chop over mashed potatoes with gravy.. Not good. My drink was not brought to the table until after I finished my dinner. Charged 20$ a piece for three mixed beverage. When we arrived at the restaurant, they had some nice jazz music playing, but after about 30 minutes, the music went away and the whole mood of the restaurant changed. Talk about killing the party. Just not a good vibe, wasn’t impressed. Again very disappointing.
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 3
Our first time ordering from Caffe Rel. We saw the family meal advertised on FB. It sounded like an economic meal for 4. Our order was ready when we walked in the door, and the food did not disappoint.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
We came herw for dinner tbis evening 12/9 for my partners birthday and we were not disappointed at all. Feom.the minute we ealked in the door we knew we were in for a treat. The service was amazing KiKi was incredible, attentive, positive, and answered all of our questions. From the cocktails to the mains to the desert to the desert cocktails. Everything was absolutely wonderful and we will be back!!!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
A confused French restaurant on Main Street in Hendersonville - with an original location in Franklin, NC. Walking in at 5pm on a Thursday evening with a near empty restaurant was not a good sign of things to come. The space was large, industrial and cold, with a concrete floor and wide spacing between tables.
Although the restaurant bills itself as a French restaurant, the menu was a variety of French, Italian, and American cuisine with a large amount of pastas and risottos - and a Greek salad. 🤷🏻♂️ Our server was kind, but was quiet and lacked confidence. When asking about the “locally sourced mushrooms”, our server checked with the kitchen and confirmed that the mushrooms were in fact from Ecuador. We were thrown off that the server had left bottles of wine on the table before we had looked at the menu or ordered anything - I’m unsure if this was an attempt to upsell a more expensive bottle? We chose instead to get drinks by the glass.
The meal started with bread service, which consisted of a stodgy take-and-bake type sliced roll and an odd cold salsa for dipping. We began with the mussel appetizer which had a good flavor, but 1/3 of the mussels were still closed. The jury is out on food safety of eating closed mussels, but I didn’t want to take the chance of ruining my evening and tomorrow.
For entrees, we had the salmon and osso bucco. The osso bucco was served with pork shank and risotto, not with the typical veal. The risotto was claggy, lacking a smooth consistency and likely indicating it was premade ahead of service, not made fresh to order. The risotto and pork were both cold, further exacerbating the textural issues of the dish. The salmon was extremely salty, bordering on inedible.
I understand that the Franklin location is better regarded, but in a competitive Hendersonville market at this price point, I am doubtful that this location will survive when better choices are right around the corner. The restaurant owner or management responds to reviews with 😋 emojis, so there may be a general lack of accountability and confusion.
Food: 1
My husband and I went to Cafe Rei for dinner last night. We had an 8 pm reservation. We both had a cocktail. I had an Autumn Spritz and my husband had a fig Manhattan. The AS was good but light on the alcohol. My husband enjoyed his Manhattan.
I had the salmon and he had a pork dish special. I also had crab bisque and we split a Caesar salad. I’m really sorry to say everything was meh. My salmon was cooked well but the sauce was uninteresting. They should have left it off. The bisque was congealed and flavorless. The Caesar was decent. My husband’s pork was also decent but nothing was worth spending $100 per person and we didn’t have a bottle of wine. The bill was about $200 plus.
We asked for bread and our server told us that all the bread had been put away ( it was 8:30 ) except for white sandwich bread. In their defense a lovely young lady came to our table to tell us they were heating up a baguette for us. The baguette was good, tasted fresh. Our server told us they’d be serving it like bruschetta and gave us, what tasted like a small bowl of salsa. First, how do you make a French baguette into Italian bruschetta with Latino salsa?
As we finished up our entrees the server gave us our bill without asking if we wanted dessert or coffee. I had to get up and ask the woman behind the bar if we could have coffee and the dessert menu. We were served a healthy cup of good coffee but the server took several minutes to get us cream and sugar. I think he forgot. (Mind you we were now the only people in the restaurant. Most of the staff were hanging around the end of the bar.)
Cafe Rei also has to decide what it is. It’s not really a French restaurant. My impression was that it serves an American cuisine with a twist.
The atmosphere inside was nice. Beautiful bar, tablecloths etc. They do need some sort of live music in my opinion. I’m sure some will disagree. A nice piano or guitar player would be lovely.
I absolutely hate to give any place downtown a mediocre review. I know downtown is struggling and being a resident I always LOVE to talk up downtown. In this case I just couldn’t.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 3
Service: 3
We have been to Caffe Rel in Franklin, NC many times and always have had wonderful food and service so we were excited to visit their location in Hendersonville. Apparently, either their business model or ownership has changed because the menu was different and not as extensive, no bread with bruschetta, and our food was nothing special. I do want to say that our service was very good, but we will not go back to the Hendersonville location.
Incredible. Large portion sizes but it doesn’t matter because you’ll finish it before you realize how much you’ve eaten. It’s that good. Impeccable service. Our server was so personable and sold us on a few specials offered when we went. Lovely atmosphere.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Calamari, French Pot Roast
It was okay. My wife got the snails and tails and it was like some kind of dark Vegemite mush for lack of a better description. Now if you've never had Vegemite it's like it's got 10 lb of salt in it. It tasted burnt and it was just not very appetizing at all but anyway.
I had some kind of chicken dish and it was fair.
we had some chocolate cake for dessert that tasted like it was frozen however they said it was not but it took a steak knife to cut it.
Anyway, we had a party of five and we still had a great time regardless. Sometimes things happen but that snails and tails dish is God awful.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 4
Wonderful meal, great service, and the place has character! We will be back!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
This place is sooooo bad. Food is not well prepared and the level of service is so poor. Weird pre- bottled balsamic reduction squiggled over anything and everything looks ridiculous. Why are they still open? It’s not French and the bread starter is cheap. Menu is confused. French pot roast? Chicken caprese? Have you guys even looked up what the are the ingredients of these dishes? What is going on here?
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 1
Restaurantji Recommends
Loved it here! The hostess, Hope was so sweet and Emma our waitress was very helpful with getting us gluten free options. The food was delicious as well!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Caffe REL is the number one restaurant in Franklin, but the ambiance in Hendersonville far exceeds Franklin. The food is excellent here as in Franklin, and our server Emma was so personable.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Excellent meals at a good price. Our server Rai was very polite and informative. Great place to have a relaxing meal.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Came for lunch and had the French Dip. It did not disappoint - cheesy, tender and the bread was delicious! Service by Rai was superb! Attentive, considerate and kind! Love the atmosphere, but the temps are in the mid to low 50s and it was cold inside. Wouldn't stop me from doing it again tomorrow though!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
This was an amazing experience all the way around. The atmosphere was upscale and cozy. The food was amazing! We started with the bisque which was some of the best that I’ve ever had. The service was polite and friendly!! We will definitely be back!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
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