Brasserie Montiel and Coffee House : Comments

This restaurant is inconsistent and can support no more than a cautionary recommendation.

Three of us had a fabulous experience there during Restaurant Week. Based on that we took an guest there on August 7, 2010.

It was disastrous evening. The service was indifferent, not just agonizingly slow (an hour from seating to service of the meal), but uninformative and unapologetic. Two of the three entrees were mediocre at best, one was good.

Brasserie Montiel is capable of serving a fine meal very well, but it does not always do so.

What a surprise, given its bland exterior! Four of us had great dinners. Fresh, well-prepared & inventive cuisine at prices well under the few Cville restaurants of equivalent quality. And fine service. Wine list is skimpy but prices are right.

The environment is nice and unique, it use a lot of mirrors to bring in a special feeling, you could easily tell they concentrate on details of decoration.

However, I think the food is over-rated. for a most things above $10 lunch menu, you would think they could do better than that.

The Pene (a pasta) I had was greasy. My husband had a open crab cake sandwich plus seafood gumbo. The soup was way too salty and heavy, they put a lot of sausage and bbq meat in the seafood gumbo soup, which makes it more like a read meat soup. The sandwich you coule barely taste the crab. The biggest problem is for both of our dishes, they put A LOT "Mediterranean vegetable", I mean a lot!! it fully cover the crab cake and was twice as thick as the crab cake. It is also every where in the pasta dish. The bitter favor of these Mediterranean vegetable are so strong and overwhelm.

Long story short, we paid about $30 for a lunch that neither of us enjoyed a lot.

Yummy food! Don't miss this place. Really excellent food. Wish the restaurant was on W. Main or downtown but it is worth driving to.

Excellent dining. 5 star at an inexpensive price! Catering is great too!