01/21/09

Great Food! Great Ambiance!

by jedmiston

My family and I love going to Toulouse in Highland Park. The ambiance is charming and reminds us of our favorite Paris bistros. The food is traditional bistro fare that is always consistent and delicious. I love the roasted chicken, steak frite, mussels, chocolate mousses and souffles.

• Pros: Food and Ambiance

12/26/08

Good Restaurant Gone Bad

by theproudtexan

I think this was once a great restaurant. Maybe it was better when Colleen O'Hare was there. But because of its reputation, I took my mother there for lunch the day after Christmas.

The best thing we had? The bread and butter. Literally.

She had the chopped salad with grilled shrimp. I tasted her shrimp. It was horrible and undercooked. I had a house salad and a bowl of lobster bisque. Some of the lettuce on the salad was slimy, so I had to cut it away. The vinaigrette was nice, though, but not enough to save it. The lobster bisque was the worst. It was just horrible -- gritty and fishy tasting. I took two bites and put down my spoon. My mom thought I was exaggerating until she tasted it.

Although a server came by and asked how everything was, and I told him I didn't like the bisque, it wasn't removed from our tab.

It doesn't matter -- I won't be going back there again, ever. I've eaten at some of the best restaurants in Dallas -- The French Room, Craft, Charlie Palmer, Bolla, Hector's -- and if Lombardi expects to stay in business throughout this recession, he'd either better drastically reduce his prices or seriously hire a new chef. This was one of my worst eating experiences in Dallas in the three years I've been here.

• Pros: Good bread and butter
• Cons: Horrible food, fishy tasting seafood, poor service

09/11/08

Best Souffle

by FrenchLola

I went to have dinner, with some friends, I tried the Foie Gras it was good, but the souffle is amazing, best souffle I've ever tried. Nice patio.

04/08/08

So unique, what a place!

by dallasfoodsnob

My wife and I recently went to Toulouse on the advice of a friend who is always raving about it. The location is right in the mix of the Uptown action and has a really genuine Euro kind of feel. It did not feel like a fake attempt at creating atmosphere like one might find in a Tex-Mex place with sombreros and pinatas hanging from the walls. It felt legit and they even had satellite French TV playing the news at the bar!

However, we did not go here to listen to the Paris weather forecast. We came to eat and, uh, we ate. We started with an order of their hand cut fries, and sorry USA, their called French fries for a reason. They were so awesome. This cone of shoestrings was served with a touch of dijon mayo for dipping. I could have made that my meal all by itself!

For the entree, I had a nice Salmon special and my wife had the rare Tuna. Both were seasoned and prepared perfectly. After polishing off our bottle of wine, we split an order of beignets and went home to fall into a coma. Througout the entire meal, the service was professional and attentive, even though the place seemed very busy.

PROS: Cuisine, Service, and Atmosphere

CONS: Unless you use the valet service, free parking can be a challenge to find. It was worth the few bucks to valet for this meal!

03/13/08

Great Brunch & Lunch place

by CoryCountryman

I love this place & visit it usually for brunch about 5 times per year. The atmosphere is great & right in the center of the action off Knox. Cory Countryman

• Pros: Location & atmosphere.
• Cons: Parking

03/05/08

I loved the brunch

by calgal4u2

I felt compelled to write today because of the comments below. My boyfriend and I go here for brunch all the time. The service is fantastic and the bottomless mimosas and belinis aren?t bad either. It has a fantastic patio and great food. Don?t let these naysayer?s steer you from this place. The Lombardi Family hits the mark time and time again at this hot brunch spot.

• Pros: Love the patio and the food!
• Cons: none

10/22/07

awful experience, overpriced food, arrogant waiters, rude management.

by txrycetkb

The food is bad and severely overpriced, but most of all the waitstaff is slow and arrogant.

They are also unable to accomodate for special dietary requirements or food allergies. I asked the waiter if there was pork in my dish and was told no when there actually was. He was rude when I brought this to his attention. I complained to the manager, who was more interested in text messaging on his cell phone than accomodating his guests, and was told I did not understand the "Toulouse label" and that I was the one with the attitude problem. My friends who do not eat pork for religious reasons, also received pork in their dishes and were told that they should read the menu better because the Spanish word for pork was written in the description of the dish.

I will never eat there again and I would never recommend it to anyone.

• Pros: none
• Cons: overpriced, bad quality, terrible service

07/15/07

Sunday Brunch With an Attitude - Bad

by gregorylv

We wanted a restaurant with a mix of traditional brunch items plus some interesting items and decided to try Toulouse after our favorite brunch place closed. We were very disappointed. The chalkboard items were hard to read from our table and our waitress was at times snippy, rude, flighty and always less than informative. My wife ordered Belgian waffles which tasted stale (cooked yesterday - microwaved today) and the berries tasted like they were thawed from the freezer case. I ordered duck hash and was presented with a duck thigh on top of roast potatoes. It was o.k. but not the type of breakfast hash I expected. The room was too warm for July in Dallas - especially seated immediately in front of the door which was always open. We had to ask twice for additional butter for the baguette. They also forgot my wife's side order of sausage. The mimosas were average. This was not worth $50.00. We will not go back to this restaurant.

• Pros: This could be a very nice setting for a French bistro restaurant
• Cons: Everything else keep this from being a nice French bistro restaurant

04/09/07

Favorite place to eat on the patio with my puppy!

by hopester

I love coming here on the weekends when the weather is nice. You can sit on the patio, enjoy the weather and your pup can come along with you. The mussels and fries are great. I also love the quiche of the day. And the salads are great too. They do get crowded and service can be slow but it's European! What do you expect. Sit, relax and enjoy the wait.

• Pros: Dog friendly, great patio, good food
• Cons: Long waits, slow service

11/18/06

Poor service never makes up for average food (where is our waiter??)

by ragordondfw

Well, I have read several reviews on here about Cafe Toulouse and thought it would be a great place for dinner. Knowing (from the reviews) that the music may be a bit loud and there may be a wait ? they decided to give it a try.

We lucked out and were seated immediately ? that is were the luck ended. We sat for 10 min. before getting up to ask about having a waiter come to our table. I thought (Ok, honest mistake ? maybe the waiter traded a few tables with some other waiter). As he came to the table, he looked hung over. Never made eye contact with us and only came back to the table to tell us they were out of two of the items we had ordered; no ?may I recommend a substitution of?.? Or ?so sorry, let me suggest??

The food was at our table (covered in water by this time from the water boys poor aim) in less than 5 min. and after the first bite, we understood why. I think they microwaved the food and sent it out to the table ?toot-sweet?.

The food was average, at best. The hollandaise sauce tasted like it would go better on a chicken fried steak. The balance of the food was either bland, or just fair.

Before finishing our meal, the waiter slipped the check onto the table without a word ? while we were still eating!! No suggestion of coffee or desert.

The entire experience was poor. I would chalk it up to one bad waiter, had the food at least made up for the experience.

Several weeks later a friend wanted to try Cafe Toulouse for brunch and, after failing to convince them or other options, I found myself at a table in the Cafe again. This time the service was better, but still very amateur. The food this time was not rushed and was better ?prepared?, but still very bland and lifeless.

So sad that something so different from all the other offerings in the area had to miss the mark.

• Pros: something different for Uptown area
• Cons: poor service, loud, bland food.