Cafe Provencal in Kirkwood 1-20-24

 I would give this restaurant a 4/5

We have been to Cafe Provencal in Kirkwood several times.  We seem to always enjoy ourselves here.  

The wine list isn't available online and they are heavy in French wines...so it always is difficult for me to pick a wine on the fly.  This time we did OK.  We found a french wine that was in our budget and our Vivino stars range.  

Mike wanted French onion soup as an appetizer, I was going to have the soup as my entree.  So, I ordered a salmon "pizza."  It had goat cheese, red onions and capers.  The salmon had been heavily smoked and it was so smokey it almost tasted like ham to me.  It was just too smokey and I didn't really enjoy it.  

The onion soup was good, but wasn't super hot.  Mike would have liked it hotter when it came out.  I'm sure they have dozens of these premade and in the frig.  Getting them hot without overly melting the cheese when reheating them is a trick, I'm sure.  The soup is always good.  

Mike had steak frites for dinner.  Good as usual and we split a creme brule for dessert.  

This place pulls off the whole "bistro" vibe.  It is not too big.  It is not super busy at 5 pm, but gets really busy by 6 or 6:30.  It is a solid French restaurant in STL.