Le Café Des Fédérations

It didn’t work out for us for several reasons. We had high hopes for the places as it came highly recommended and made reservations for our first dinner in Lyon. The places did look extremely busy on a Saturday night, and patronized by both tourists and locals. We are by no means familiar with Lyon cuisine but every single dish was underwhelming and lacking in both flavor, dept and execution, as if operating on autopilot once they decided to sleep on their laurel. The course menu with option for entree and appetizer was limited ,and I would call it lazy. Many dished felt repetitive as in offering the same flavor profile, using the very same sauce with just a few tweaks. Looking from other reviewers pictures, seems like they've been serving the very same, albeit traditional local cuisine, dishes for ages.

BEST experience of authentic Lyonnaise food. Our food tour guide recommend it so we knew it would be good but we thought it was excellent. They serve you so much good food-- see pics! The atmosphere is cozy and you feel transported back in time in a way, very old World vibes. Service was terrific. Each course well timed but not rushed. It's a preset menu but you make an entree and dessert choice from a selection. My husband and I spent a week in Lyon and this was one of our favorite meals. Definitely recommend, especially if you're from outside of France. Bouchons are unique to Lyon and this is a perfect place to taste the unique cuisine.

It is very hard for me to rate this place. If you want to try a lot of classic dishes from Lyon, I feel like this is the perfect place, but it is not for everybody. The starters with sausage and the lentils are exceptional. The main dishes are dificult to enjoy. Desserts were ok. Wine was great. Overall a great place to try.

Very vintage restaurant with authentic Lyon style dishes. Very great place as its value for money, the proportion of the food they offer can definitely satisfy you without doubt. Reminder to make a reservation!

We ate lunch here and thought this place was wonderful. I see other reviews nitpicking minutiae and missing the big picture. If you want authentic local cuisine in an authentic local restaurant come here to eat. They have been serving food here for over a hundred years. The menu is local Lyonnaise. It is a small restaurant with a ton of atmosphere. If you want haute cuisine then go somewhere else. I loved this place.

Wanted to try traditional Lyonnais food and we found the perfect spot for it! We went for all the traditional dishes (tripe, tete de veau, quenelle, brioche saucisse) and loved everything! Space was real nice too and service was excellent. Meal price was very reasonable too!

Classy, traditional establishment heroing classic Lyonnaise dishes. Be prepared to go on an empty stomach as each course is like a full meal in itself, and very rich. But what a glorious sequence of dishes and flavours, especially the Saucisson Lyonnais sausage. Not appropriate for vegetarians as almost all meals have pork (or other meat type).

We walked in without reservation. Had the lunch menu and it was great! It is a classic old establishment that’s worth visiting!

The service was very friendly and the food was abundant. Both my friend and I left very full and very happy with the experience. The food was simple but done very well. If you're in Lyon, I recommend you go for dinner!

Great food, excellent service for lunch. 4 of us each had a different dish, all well prepared.

What a disappointment!!! I am in Lyon the gastronomic capital of the France in the one of the best places recommended by the Yelp, TripAdvisor and such... Unfortunately even myself who would eat almost anything ( herring, tongue, liver, and many other foods ) would not stand food from this place. It is discussting and I mean it. For $30 of tasting menu there is no choise of entry that would have a simple meat except of a chicken leg, which is not any different from one I can get in any other place at home. I am sure that even McDonald is a better choice than this. Please check the menu for the food this place offers as there may be nothing for you...

This restaurant is specialized for typical cuisine Lyonnais - bourbon lyonnais. Very delicious. the quality is more than the price. I like this place for lunch and dinner also. It is situated in the centre of Lyon .

8 Rue Du Major Martin Tel: + 33 472 73 04 27 Nearest Metro: Hotel de Ville One of the best Lyonnais bouchons; has a Michelin star Have online reservation service; reservations are needed! A little difficult to find; on a narrow street; very close to the Musée Beaux Artes Owner is very gregarious; has a brother who is a chef at Spago's L.A. At least one food server speaks English; otherwise, the client is trés French Has separate seating for lunch and dinner; prix fixe The appetizers of cold cuts, pickles, potatoes w/fish Loved the lentils! Great house bread. Choice of entrees: calf's head, black pudding, quenelle (crayfish dumpling), pork cheeks, and other offal offerings including oinks and moos Delicious vinegar chicken Have a modest, but very good wine selection e.g., loved the Morgon Beajolais Fantastic desserts: mouthwatering pot de chocolate and house berry tart

Quite simple, traditional, tasty food. Better than some Michelin stars restaurants we've been to in France. Service is efficient and friendly. Door is not so easy to find! Look at the windows!

I heard of this through Samantha Browns' travel show and my family and I are a big fan! It is a bit hard to find but it is so worth it and we are lucky we went there early to beat the crowd who have reservations. First of all, this is such a cute and cozy restaurant that is not pretentious. It is also very reasonably priced. The set menu is $27 Euro but they also give you a lot of freebies in addition to your 3 courses. To start, they gave you this amazing lard bacon and egg salad, which is enough to feed a table of 4 and we got 3. Then, they gave you this individual serving of egg with pork stew soup. It is rich and delicious! After that, they also give you a meatball-like texture spread to go with your house bread. Finally, I got to try the famous Lyonnaise speciality dish, Quenelle, which is a lake fish paste made-into souffle-like dish. It is surprisingly good and fattening.... ;) My husband had their beef tripe stuffed with other mysterious insides. It is also delicious although quite scary at sight! After our entree, a huge cheese plate is also served. This is to be shared among tables, which is interesting and new to me. They are very good too. When I was about to raise a white flag and gave up eating, our desserts arrived! I tried the Lyonnaise famous Pralines pie. It is very red and sweet and addictive. Overall, I love my experience here! Everyone is friendly, accommodating and the food is superb. I would like to go back!

A typical Lyon 'bouchon', this informal and traditional bistro with red checked serviettes and relaxed surroundings is a must-visit! (Do reserve, as I'm not the only person to think so) The food includes lots of Lyon specialities, served in very generous quantities at a reasonable price. 'Grattons' (sort of pork scratchings) are served as an appetiser; then you get a starter of local charcuterie, salad and lentil salad. For the main course, there is a choice of traditional Lyonnais dishes, followed by local cheeses and dessert. All the food was excellent, and service was charming. The wine list is very short, and you get a 'pot' (the local, bottle-shaped carafe) rather than a fancy bottle. For a real Lyon experience, and a gastronomic treat, this restaurant is definitely recommended! However, there is a caveat: I very much doubt that a vegetarian option is available.

Nestled away in a tiny street, just walk right into any one of their 3 cafes (all in the same area) and they'll seat you accordingly. The staff are simply great - very enthusiastic, sharp, and helpful. Then there's the food... The menu is somewhat set (well, the starter is set) but you can choose your main and dessert from a limited selection. I went with the black pudding with grilled apples (I never thought such an odd combo could taste so good), my girlfriend went with the quenelle in a fish sauce and one crayfish (delicious but could use more crayfish), and my friend went with the pork cheek stew (simply great). As for dessert, I went with the praline tart, my girlfriend had something that I can't remember now, and my friend went with the chocolate mousse (all excellent). We all shared little bits of our dishes hence why I can comment on everyone's food. You'd be doing yourself a disservice if you decide to pass this place up. Make a reservation and go here the next time you're in Lyon. I'll be going back whenever I'm in Lyon again.

Came to here you need a booking beforehand. It is 2012-2013 Michelin recommend restaurant,2-3 star I think... I do like the egg soup as starter ,and then salad main course ,cheese and dessert.Very full,very friendly service.

Yum! I came here with my sister while we were on holiday in France. We were seated promptly (we had a reservation). There are no menus here. You're brought out a variety of starters - we were given a frisee salad with lardons, croutons, and a delicious mustard vinaigrette, a lentil salad, charcuterie and cornichons, and a red wine soup with a poached egg. The salad was phenomenal, I mean who doesn't like lardons? The lentils were also super delicious. The red wine soup was incredibly savory and flavorful and the poached egg was delicate and yummy. For the main course, the waiter or waitress will come to your table and list the options. We opted for the seafood quenelle and the pork cheeks. The quenelle was very fluffy with a golden crust and the seafood bisque it was swimming in was super creamy and delicious. There was a little crayfish in there too, which was a sweet touch. The pork cheeks were falling apart they were so incredibly tender and they were served with delicious potatoes. We did not care for the cheese plate we were served. I like a good moldy, stinky cheese and I will devour the rind on brie and camembert. However, the cheese on our cheese plate had an overly moldy, almost mildewy taste that we did not like. The bleu cheese was probably the only yummy one. Oh, and the bowl of Lyon's famous cream cheese with shallots and chives was super yummy. We were too full for dessert, so despite it being included in the prix-fixe, we skipped it. I regret it ever so slightly now, but I know that at the time, we'd have just been miserable trying to force ourselves to shovel more food down our gullets. I loved the pig decorations everywhere, including the napkins and on the owner's tie. This is an authentic bouchon that deserves a visit if you're ever in Lyon.

Amazing. Absolutely amazing. My family went to Lyon on our trip around France just because of the rave reviews of this bouchon (we literally drove to Lyon, had dinner, and were off to our next destination), and it was absolutely worth it. I'm a complete newbie at French cuisine and don't know the names of the dishes, but everything tasted great and for a fairly good price. And just to assure everybody that this isn't just the opinion of my family, we met there a professional British restaurant reviewer who wrote for a magazine and who told us that yes, this bouchon really was excellent. The staff were very accomodating and friendly, and made a great effort to explain everything to us through their spotty English and my high-school French even though my family was French-challenged. When we showed the waitress our travel guide, which was in Chinese (yes, this place is good enough that there are rave reviews and mentions in 3 of the 5 Chinese language Taiwan-published travel guides my mom has), she laughed and got the chef, who looked very proud and asked if he could take a picture with it. Totally worth the visit, although this place is not for the faint of heart and vegetarians, as everything is calorie and cholesterol laden and meat based. *This review with pictures and descriptions is worth a look: http://tomostyle.wordpress.com/2009/11/01/cafe-des-federations-lyon-france/ - and yes, while it doesn't look too appetizing, everything is great - we had every single one of the things on this review except for the andouillette sauce moutarde .

Absolutely delicious French food. I long for the day when I can get back here. I had two meals at Cafe des Federations, one lunch and one dinner, both as a solo traveler. First it should be said that this place gives lie to the black legend of brusque French food service. The service here is warmer and friendlier than any restaurant I can think of on either side of the Atlantic. The meals were sprawling and epic affairs. Your first course is an assortment of salads and meaty treats that could, frankly be a meal in themselves either in their lunch or dinner portions. I found myself nearly filling myself up trying to sample everything. The shellfish quenelle that I had for lunch here is among the most delicious things I have ever tasted. The quenelle was light and fluffy and drenched in a creamy sauce that was absolutely redolent of that luxurious shellfish flavor. The other main course was I believe a braised pork dish which I didn't like quite as much but was also very good. These were all washed down by cheap pots of good Cote du Rhone in a handsome refillable bottle. At dinner the cheese course coming after two very hearty courses was almost comic. They give you multiple wheels of good french cheese and a bowl of creamy fresh cheese that, at that point, looked only slightly smaller than the sun. I think I donly got fruit salad for desert as I was thoroughly stuffed after dinner. My only regret is that I didn't get to share all that food with friends, but that's the peril of traveling alone, while discovering a place like this is one of its joys.

Where do I begin? The service can be taken as a bit abrasive to some but these women know what they're doing so they're unapologetic and know what they're talking about and serving you. The food was flawless and if you an explorer of favors and have few food inhibitions this place is for you. I honestly came for the lentils after reading a rave review, I kid you not and to be honest they were not the best lentils I've ever had (that would go to chez casimir's (Paris) lentil salad during their brunch buffet- omg) and I thought they could have been cooked a little longer because they were even slightly on the crunchy side. Never the less, they were decent a mustard based cold lentil salad. The frisée salad with a mustard and anchovy based sauce, eggs, croutons, and bacon bits was excellent. It's "just a salad" but it was perfect and well balanced. The egg poached in red wine sauce was also spectacular with little savory lardons In the sauce. If you appreciated the egg, you would enjoy the pork jowls as well- about 5-6 plump, succulent and rather large pork cheeks braised I'm a red wine sauce with juniper berries until tender. I also loved loved loved the cheese plate. It was a great way to explore lyonnaise cheeses for the first time- I still can't figure out what funky little cheese was in the little pot but it was amazing and had juniper berries in it. The goat cheese covered in grape must was phenomenal as well so I had to buy a wheel for myself (available at cheese mongers at les halles des Paul Boucuse). I wasn't crazy about the desserts but I typically do not like or order dessert (but if you want to know I had the chestnut fondant.) and I thought all the praline tarts look ghastly (looks like candy apple shells poured into a tart crust) so I refrain from allowing that to weigh in on my rating. You really can't find food like this state side- skip the stupid crepes, fries, kebab, gelato, and get stuffed on this!

Hi everyone! I would like to manifest my experience in this delightful and terrific bouchon. Couple of friends and I went there for lunch a month ago. Even though,four of us are really critical with restaurants we could not complain at all. The first think that pleased us was the fact that we did not have to choose starters. A delicious variety of salads, cure meats,appetizer and traditional bread introduced our meal. Obviously with an excellent house red wine. After that we were asked to order main courses from a huge and elaborate selection.On the whole the waitress are able to speak in English. What is more , the manager was comfortable telling the menu in Spanish to one of my friend who is spanish.That was funny! Four of us were completely satisfied with the food. Besides, the service was outstanding. All of them are really cheerful and they will take care of you like part of the family. Do order dessert even if you are so full, they are awesome!!! And do not forget your camera since the decoration of cafe De federation is really traditional and charming.

My boyfriend and I dined here in 2014 when I was living in Lyon and he flew over from the states to visit me. We were warned beforehand that this was going to be traditional lyonnais food (read: very rich, and not vegan friendly). Mon Dieu ! This resto had two Americans walking back to the metro dazed and fat-bellied. A "food coma" doesn't quite cut it; more like "food zombie". The food was super bon, very French, and extremely rich. My only recommendation is to go in the winter when it's cooler out and you're in need a good warm-up.

Wonderful, homey place with great service. You are given a few small dishes to start - the traditional lentil salad was delicious, as was the potato salad with sausage. There was one other, but I can't recall what it was - sliced sausage, I think. For my entree I had the pike quenelles in Sauce Nantua, and my husband had the chicken liver cake in a light tomato sauce. The chicken liver cake was good, but the quenelles were outstanding. Add some great white wine, and finish with a traditional Lyonnaise praline tart - tres merveilleux!

I've been here many times and always enjoy the very 'traditional' Lyonnais style food and really exceptional, lovely service. Working through all of the required reservation processes is more than worth it. I typically don't make reviews but had to set the record straight after reading the comments of John D from Fairfax, VA. Perhaps he should try it again on another trip ? ? ? This is a 'must do' for a very special Lyon, France treat, great regional fare and an exceptional dining experience.

Like anyone needs another opinion on this gem, but here we go. Made a reservation for seven for lunch. Greeted warmly by the owner who spoke pretty good English. One of our party speaks fluent French, so communication was not an issue. Everything you hear about this place is true, conviviality, great food, reasonable prices, and central location. Wine is cheap and very fresh. The best bit is the Lyonnais people's legendary friendliness. Every patron in the place seemed to want to chitchat with folks at the other tables, just casual conversation, very very pleasant. Try the Quenelle de Brochet, a huge dumpling made from local fish, poached, then broiled in a creamy crayfish sauce.

Heavy . Very heavy. Beware the quenelles. Mine lacked taste and was simply soggy and heavy. Not many choices on menu. Son't bother with this place.