Martina M.
Yelp
I was wandering around Commercial Drive with a friend of mine, and we stumbled on this jem of a restaurant. Carthage Cafe has the feel of an antiquated restaurant, complete with dark walls and really neat chandeliers. We arrived around 9 PM, and were given a cozy table at the back of the restaurant.
The food served here is french, with appetizers costing around $10, and entree's ranging anywhere from $20-32. Carthage Cafe has a whole section of their menu devoted to mussels, with a variety of different sauces and flavors, each for $15.
Since my friend and I were both guilty of snacking before our super late dinner date, we decided to opt for appetizers and a shared plate of mussels. We received a small french bread and butter starter, which was a nice touch.
For an appetizer, I opted for the classic french onion soup ($11), which was smaller than I expected, but pretty good. I've had better french onion soup, but it was still worthwhile. My friend had the salad special for the day, which looked great. For the mussels, we chose the Carthago mussels, which came in a spicy cumin sauce. The mussels were great, but not as spicy as we hoped. The mussels did come with a side of frites (aka fries), which were crispy and hot - try dipping them in the mussels sauce for an extra burst of flavor! Another tip: keep some bread around for dipping, we were very happy we had done so.
Our waiter was really friendly, and refilled our water glasses at least 5 or 6 times throughout the meal. He gave us the full spiel on all of the specials of the night, and was great at answering questions, such as "what is harissa?" (turns out it's a spicy sauce). He also didn't treat us any differently after we didn't order any alcohol or dessert. It took awhile for us to get the bill, but everything else came out in a timely fashion.
Overall, if you're looking for a nice hideaway restaurant to share a meal, Carthage Cafe is a great place to go.