This place is horrendous! Their 50% offer is a scam to attract customers. They can offer such a discount because they inflate the prices in the first instance, so people feel they are getting a good deal.

The service is appalling and the members of staff are rude. The atmosphere is cheap and the food is disgusting. Please do not go there. You are better going anywhere else in Covent Garden.

Went for the set lunch, which was mediocre to say the least. A beetroot and goat cheese salad starter was bland & boring, but at least edible,which was more than could be said for the main course of haddock. To avoid embarrassing my companion I did my best with it, but in the end the leathery edges and rubbery middle won and I had to leave it. No comment from the waitress until I pointed out that it was less than appetising, which got an apology and a reduction on the bill. The second time the Cafe des Amis has been a disappointment recently - won't be going again. It used to be really good.

Nice tables and settings but the food was just awful! 'Black chicken' was greasy and not very hot. Salad with rocket quite limp. Poor service but mostly because she was busy with other diners complaining. Sorry but this won't do....

Great Wine Bar for a post work drink - great cocktails!! and after a few rounds the food in the restaurant is very good - not quite classical french cuisine but definitely the kind of fare that people who enjoy good food would eat happily!

We've just eaten a lovely meal in this restaurant, and at the end we saw a mouse scurry from the kitchen to behind the bar. We reported this to the maitre de who asked what we would like her to do about this. On arriving home, we then phoned the manager, and got much the same reaction. Don't eat here if you want mouse infested food, and the ambience ruined by roaming mice, and almost worse than this staff who don't seem to see a problem with this.

Dreadful. Poor service and there wasn't much food, and it was really quite bad.

I was wondering if it had been cooked properly..

I ate at Cafe des Amis last week with four friends. We met in the basement bar which was cosy although I was put off the barman putting my change from the purchase of three drinks onto a saucer so that I would leave him a tip.

This is an American custom that has sadly spread to the UK in the last few years. Maybe I am old fashioned, but I do not believe one should tip for buying drinks at the bar especially - as in my case - it was only once and I am standing at the bar and then carrying them to the table. No tip was left.

The food was reasonable (although not excellent) and the service I would rate as about six out of ten although they added 12½% to the bill.

It was sometimes an effort to attract the waiter's attention and it took several minutes to get the bill.

Frankly, the food was overpriced (this was the evening menu after 7pm) with the main courses priced without the vegetables or other extras. These extras were charged at £3 to £4 each.

This meant a main course was likely to be around £22 to £25 if one had two vegetables or one vegetable and chips.

The bill for five came to £192 (£38.40 each) including service. This included one bottle of white wine, four starters, five mains, and two puddings, plus three coffees and one tea.

We ordered jugs of tap water for which we were not charged. I doubt if I would eat here again in the evening although I understand their lunch menu and early dinner menu are reasonably priced.

As regular diners at Café des Amis we expected a glorious evening of food and atmosphere, alas our party had the worst experience ever for our Christmas celebration on 12th December 2008! What an embarrassment to the organiser and our colleagues who expected top quality service and cuisine.

Having arrived punctually at 9pm, it took 45mins to be served with an aperitif. The starters came after 1 hour and others had to wait a further 15 minutes to be served - some told that the crab was no longer on the menu despite pre-ordering on the set menu! A stray French onion soup eventually found it's way to our table at some point. The main course came after 1 hour 50 minutes. There was a terrible confusion serving the wine as well. A Christmas celebration it was not - friends eating at different times to ensure the food remained warm! As members of our party had to leave to catch the last trains home, we agreed leave the dessert course. The maitre d’ agreed for the bill to be substantially reduced for the drinks only and settled as discussed. Imagine our surprise when the outstanding amount was taken without consultation and agreement from our booking credit card some 10 days later. A definite sign of reneging on an agreement!

Sadly the days of visiting Café des Amis will be avoided - observations of an ill-managed establishment and that nothing good lasts forever!

Having booked here 2 years running we were looking forward to our Christmas get together this year.However Cafe Des Amis fell over itself to disapoint.The aperitifs took 20 min to arrive and were 1 short. We have to ask 3 times for someone to come and take our wine order.

All 4 steaks ordered were TERRIBLY overcooked, I asked for rare and got well done (and at £22 a pop just for the steak I would espect MUCH better)They forgot to bring one of our deserts and 2 of the ones on time were overcooked - it was supposed to be chocolate soup a dn it was chocolate stodge!

We complained to the manager and he talked over us, argued some of the issues and then said by taking off the DISCRETIONARY service charge at our request he had done us a favour!Save your money and go anywhere else and I would hate them to ruin your evening like they did ours!

I was surprised how poor the food was. The starters were OK although salty, but the quality of the mains was the worst I have ever had - we immediately smelled the fish was unfresh as soon as it came to the table. Waste of money and will never return. Avoid at all costs.

Really enjoyed cafe des amis. Fantastic location, beautiful decor. Very girlie and very pleasant place to sit with friends and eat lovely food for a few hours!

I came here on Saturday after researching various restaurants online to take my husband somewhere romantic for his birthday. As you aproach the entrance it looks very quaint and pretty, down a cobbled street. Inside was not what I expected, it was quite small and we were unfortunately seated right next to the kitchen so there were a constant stream of staff going backwards and forwards and you could hear non-stop clashing and banging of saucepans! I have to say the food was good -not fantastic but good. I have to say it is not somewhere I will go again, and I wished I had of picked somewhere different to go. They also add a 12.5% service charge to your bill. I would not recommend this restaurant for a special Saturday night dinner. Probably an OK pre-theatre restaurant, or for lunch.

We had a very pleasant pre-theatre dinner at Cafe des Amis yesterday evening. We had a drink in the downstairs bar before dinner followed by the £16.50 fixed price menu. With a bottle of wine, extra vegetables and coffees the bill was just under £70.00 including service. The food was hot and delicious. I had the chicken kiev followed by duck, then a very tasty cheese and chutney. If you are feeling hungry, I suggest you order extra vegetables.


The service was attentive, well paced and discreet. There was a lively atmosphere and the bar was very busy when we left at around 7.10pm. I would go here again. Cafe des Amis is an ideal place pre-theatre or to meet friends after work.

Bar des Amis has friendly service, great atmosphere and makes for a fantastic pre or post theatre / dinner venue. Check out the cheese menu if you find yourself at Bar des Amis - to die for!