Bonjour, mes amis! We are headed to the City of Lights, and taking you along with us. We’ve been anxiously awaiting the reopening of Chefs de France and OUR TIME HAS FINALLY COME!

Chefs de France is located in the France Pavilion at EPCOT and has consistently served up pretty great food. You know we were one of the FIRST people in the door when this spot reopened on October 8th. Let’s see if the food is just as good since reopening!

Atmosphere

When it comes to atmosphere, this quaint restaurant has always been one of our favorites.

It’s a classic French bistro dining scene, and you really feel as if you’ve been transported to Paris before you even step into the dining room.

Even if you HAVE been to Paris, this looks and feels quite authentic. Everything about this restaurant is ON POINT — from the dark-colored woods to the beige and gold color scheme.

The vibe here is very romantic and warm. This is, not surprisingly, a fantastic spot for a date night in EPCOT!

The front of the restaurant feels more like a windowed patio area or a sunroom with plenty of natural light pouring in and gorgeous hand-laid tilework on the floor.

There’s something charming about this spot with its old French touches like the paper placemats and the dainty folded napkins. Prior to the reopening, the tables would be set with wine glasses and bread plates.

Every other table is currently socially distanced with a sign stating it was unavailable, along with a bottle of champagne as decor (nice touch!).

We were seated in the front dining area (the sunroom), one of our favorite spots! When we were seated we noticed there was a QR code menu placard on our table (although paper folded menus were also available).

Let’s see what’s on the menu!

Eats

The food here has always been amazing, and (spoilers) we can report this is still true, though there have been some menu changes. You can still expect the well-known classics that make French cuisine so popular.

A wine and cocktail menu is also available along with non-alcoholic options.

We decided on the Prix Fixe menu for lunch, which includes three courses as well as a glass of wine.

Speaking of wine, we got a special “welcome back” treat. The reopening day was VERY exciting, and the Cast Members were so happy to be back. They were welcoming guests as they entered with a round of applause AND a glass of champagne for the first few tables that were seated. Don’t mind if we do!

French bread with butter was brought to us after we ordered our Prix Fixe Meals. It was warm and had a crispy crust but was super soft on the inside. It’s delicious, but be careful not to fill up on the bread! This bread, by the way, is the GOOD stuff. It’s made fresh by the bakers daily at Les Halles next door. Our server offered more bread throughout our meal but we needed room for the appetizer, entrée, and desserts coming!

After our champagne, we received our glass of wine included with our Prix Fixe meal. The choice was Chardonnay or Cabernet Sauvignon, both being the house wine, which is Georges Duboeuf Selection, Pays d”Oc ($7.50 per glass a la carte).

First up was the apps!

We ordered the Plateau de forages et charcuteries, which is an assortment of imported cheeses and charcuteries with house-made bread. It’s $15.99 on the a la carte menu. We’ve had various forms of cheese and meat plates here in the past and all have been quite good, including this one. This was a gorgeous plate of cheese, meats, fruits, and nuts.

It included garlic sausage, prosciutto, brie, gruyere, walnuts, grapes, and cocktail pickles. This was a great plate. Everything was fresh and mixed well together.

You know how we often say charcuteries around Disney World is lacking? Not enough cheese. Not enough meat. Just kinda meh at many locations? Not here, friends. Honestly, this could be a small meal for one when you include the house-made bread. Just take a second to admire this glorious pile of prosciutto:

The bread served with it (if your complimentary bread wasn’t enough!) was slightly sweet with walnuts and raisins. So good! We even dunked it in our other appetizer (more on that next!).

When in a French restaurant one must try the Soupe a l’oignon gratinée, or French onion soup topped with Gruyere cheese, right?? Umm, soup + tons of melty gooey cheese? Yea, not a shocker that we get big heart eyes for this ;).

A bowl is $9.99 on the a la carte menu, and just so you know, this is just about our favorite soup ever! It’s seriously SO GOOD here. The soup is rich without being heavy and the bread hiding underneath all that cheese is basically a giant cheese covered soup sponge for you to scoop up and eat. Remember that charcuterie bread? It was sacrificed to the onion soup. We regret nothing.

Bring on the entrees! First up, we chose the Boeuf Bourguignon, which is basically about as quintessentially “French” as entrees can get.

This hearty plate of food is Beef braised in Cabernet wine with baby onions and carrots, served with linguine pasta ($29.99 on the a la carte menu).

What’s amazing about a truly great Beef Bourguignon is that after HOURS and hours of cooking, the meat is SO tender it practically melts apart.  This was cooked perfectly. The meat was so tender it fell apart with the slightest touch.

The carrots and onions were delicious and paired perfectly with the braised beef. The rich Cabernet braising sauce was SO flavorful and really complimented everything on the plate. The linguine was heavily buttered and a nice counterpart to the rich meat. This is like your mom’s pot roast if your mom was Julia Child and was a straight-up BOSS in the kitchen. We can’t recommend this filling meal enough!

One note, though, if you’re considering this entree: the braised beef is a little fatty — we didn’t mind (cuts of meat used in slow braises are typically on the fattier side. That’s what makes them so flavorful when cooked properly!), but that’s something to keep in mind when ordering!

The other entree we tried was the Filet de boeuf grille, sauce au poivre vert pommes puree et haricot verts or Grilled Tenderloin of Beef, with green peppercorn sauce, mashed potatoes, and green beans. This goes for $36.99 on the a la carte menu.

The tenderloin was cooked perfectly to our request of medium rare and was a wonderful piece of beef, but if we HAD to pick, we still think we prefer the braised beef better. The green peppercorn sauce was wonderful with the steak. It’s not spicy, so don’t let the peppercorn in the name throw you. The sauce is perfectly salty, slightly creamy, and you best bet we swirled all those creamy mashed potatoes in it!

Speaking of, the mashed potatoes were the star of this dish. They were delicious!! The potatoes are basically just a vehicle for as much butter as they could whip into them before they’d have to be technically called “potato flavored butter.” They were incredibly light and fluffy! We know we shouldn’t fall in love so hard with something as simple as mashed potatoes, but there it is. It was fantastic and we want to eat it every day from a giant bowl with a big spoon.

There were a LOT of green beans, and they were nice and crunchy — exactly like we like them (we’re not fans of those cooked-to-death lumps of green beans!). Also, there was no salt or pepper on the table, but we didn’t need it — they were perfectly seasoned.

Sufficiently stuffed with meat and carbs, it was time for dessert! You can’t go wrong with a classic like Creme Brûlée, and the one at Chefs de France is classic vanilla. Yes, creme brûlée is on the menu seemingly everywhere but THIS is where you want to order it (when in France, right?). It’s $11 on the a la carte menu and is absolutely the perfect way to end a meal! We could taste every component of this creamy dessert — the heavy cream, the vanilla, the generous crust of torched sugar on top.

The caramelized sugar was gorgeous to look at, and as always, so much fun to crack into! BTW, can we talk about the paper doily? SUCH an old-fashioned touch and it seems so small and silly but we thought it was precious. This is also definitely a shareable size for two!

We also tried the Tarte au chocolat, a chocolate tart made with Valrhona chocolate with chocolate sauce. It’s $11 on the a la carte menu and is DELISH! The chocolate tart had a dry (in a good way) chocolate cookie crust and wasn’t very sweet, but served as a delicious base for dessert!

It was topped with a Valrhona chocolate ganache, with a layer of white chocolate mousse on top, and sprinkled with crispy pearls. The pearls added a fun texture to the otherwise creamy dessert. It was served on top of a chocolate sauce and was dusted with cocoa powder.

At the end of dessert, we couldn’t decide which we liked better, the crème brûlée or the chocolate tart, so we’re just going to advise that you order both!

You can never have too much dessert, can you?

Nosh or Not?

You might want to say “Oui, oui!” if:

• You enjoy classic French cuisine.
• You want a romantic location for a date night while in EPCOT
• You enjoy restaurants with a Prix Fixe option

You might want to say “Non.” if:

• You’re looking for more casual theme park fare like burgers or pizza. If so, we recommend you keep strolling around World Showcase to Regal Eagle in the American Adventure or Via Napoli in Italy.
• You’re in a hurry. This spot is best for those with a bit of time for their meal.
• You’re just not that into French food.

Overall

We have always loved this place, and we STILL love this place! It’s the perfect place to sit, relax, and eat a slow lunch in the closest thing to France this side of the Atlantic. The tables are spread out and socially distanced, which is quite different from before when the tables and seating were QUITE closer together (this was definitely a “get to know your neighbor” type location, the tables were so close!). This is something we’ve actually started to really like about social distancing!

Everything was fantastic, and the Cast Members were so incredibly nice and welcoming. We highly recommend that you give yourself enough time to enjoy a leisurely meal here — you won’t regret it! You can find classic French foods prepared with care in a warm, inviting setting. This place is a treat.

The Prix Fixe menu is also a good deal, and if you’re hungry, this is a GREAT the way to go, especially with a glass of wine included. The three-course prix fixe menu is $49.50 plus tax and gratuity. By our count, our meal was about 70 bucks per person, so that’s a pretty solid deal if you’re hungry. We also asked about discounts, but at the moment, the restaurant is only offering a Tables in Wonderland discount.

Review: Yorkshire County Fish Shop Changed Up Their Fish in EPCOT! Is It Still Crave-Worthy?

Join the DFB Newsletter to get all the breaking news right in your inbox! Click here to Subscribe!

Have you been to Chefs de France since its reopening? Let us know in the comments!

The post Review! EVERYTHING We Ate at This Reopened Disney World Restaurant Was a Slam Dunk! first appeared on the disney food blog.