Liana L.
Yelp
I came to Café du Commerce twice - once almost half a year ago, and another time very, very recently (less than two weeks ago).
The first time I came, I was here with a class; the decor was suitably impressive as one of our class excursions and the food was pretty good. However, we waited almost TWO hours for our set menus, which we had ordered ahead of time. Our teacher kind of blew up at the waiter, who was pretty rude about the whole thing. I remember really liking the prune/fig on my terrine de lapereau, but I barely remember what food I got. So I guess it wasn't that impressionable.
The second time I came, I brought some friends here because it happened to be right between UNESCO and the Eiffel Tower. This time, we had really good service; food got served promptly, and the server was pretty nice to my English-speaking friends. Depending on what you get, this could be 4 stars, but it could also be 2 stars :x A friend across from me got a pig body part (not sure what it was) that smelled rather foul (and tasted pretty strong and inedible to me), but she liked it a lot. She's from the South, so she said she's eaten pig in all forms. That would've definitely ruined my experience.
I got the magret de canette with a berry sauce, but I felt that the sauce tasted too strongly of red wine. Although I asked for my meat rosé, it was poorly cooked. Although it was VERY cooked on the outside, I was disgusted to find that it was still completely raw on the inside. Although I understand the French love for raw beef, I don't think poultry should ever be raw at all. I finally asked the waiter if it could be cooked a bit more, and he graciously took it back. They even added more fries. +1 for the service :) It was much better this time around, but eventually, I reached another point where the meat was again, still very raw. I guess the duck was not cooked evenly, and I didn't want to ask for it to be cooked again.
One of my friends got the pastilla du canard au miel, and it was actually really, really delicious. If you get this, you'll have a 5 star experience (: Excellent food, good service, lovely art-deco surroundings (3 floors!) - what more could you want? It's less than 15€, too. Unfortunately, my magret de canette (which I thought would be worth paying for) was significantly more expensive, and nowhere as good.
We got the mi-cuit au chocolat with the fleur d'oranger ice cream. The chocolate cake wasn't very spectacular, but the ice cream was wonderful. :D
Overall, I'd recommend Café du commerce if you're careful about what you get. No reservations needed because it's really THAT big.
