We were on our way back from a business trip in Orange County… evening commute traffic… playing with the GPS trying to find a fun place to have nice meal. Drove to several.. but not interested in them when we saw them. We even walked a few blocks in downtown San Clemente… reading menus and pondering. We got back in the car and headed South on El Camino Real… giving up the idea of finding a new fun spot… and then we saw it. Antoine’s Cafe… exactly what we had hoped to find… cute… charming… Not expensive… and we didn’t know it when we chose it… but outstanding food. The first hint was that it was packed… no surprise after eating there… and it was so good… we’ll go back even though it’s 40 minutes from Bonsall.

We got lucky on the calendar too… they have 1/2 price on bottles of wine each Thursday night. Next time we go back… it will probably be a Thursday :-)

Spotless… nicely decorated… felt fun the minute we stepped in the door and met Rene our server. Great soft oldies … Patti Page etc.. music in the background… and TV’s overhead with Turner Classic Movies… muted… but fun.

We ordered our 1/2 price wine and started weeding through the menu… everything sounded good… so we asked Rene and she said the Meatloaf was excellent and their most popular entree. When is the last time you heard Meat Loaf was popular :-) Well it is… with good reason. She also recommended the “Boeuf Bourguignon” … a beef stew, marinated in a red wine sauce, with mushrooms and carrots, served with mashed potatoes and fresh vegetables. I think I’ll try that next time… but I went with the “Meat Loaf”… see the dish review… it was spectacular.

Rene also said the “Poulet a la Mourtarde” was very popular and excellent as well… but Terri went with “Pasta a la Antoine”… and it was great too. See the review of it as well.

The service was excellent and fun. The atmosphere… charming and friendly… we even met and visited with a neighboring diner.

Incredibly good Gourmet preparation of basic home style food… and very good prices… how can you beat that. We got lucky and found a new favorite.