Caffè REL

Reviews

• JB

  Janice Baker

  Jan 3, 2026
  3.0
  The ugly, the bad, the good. The ugly: first off, this is supposed to be an intimate dining experience, which is hard to accomplish if you have two 50" screens on the walls with advertisements for cell phones, cars, best buy, St Judes Children's hospital, etc. interspersed with pictures of a fireplace. It was very distracting and downright depressing seeing pictures of kids with cancer during my dinner. The bad: my husband ordered the mussels, which were good. However, they failed to provide a large spoon, a small fork, and a bowl for the shells. Needless to say, a messy experience. My "warm bacon dressing" was cold and ruined the spinach salad experience. I waited 15 minutes for my drink from the bar as my ticket got "lost." There are only maybe 10-15 tables, plus 5 people seated at the bar. The good: our server was phenomenal both this time and last time. Both times, they were attentive and helpful. The missing drink was very good, the desserts (creme brulee and a carrot cake) were phenomenal. I had to change my time of my reservation and the staff was easy to work with and accommodating, and I appreciated that very much. Also note, they automatically add a 3% charge to your bill to pay with debit or credit. They do take cash and checks (which is a little weird anymore). I gave it two tries, but think I'll pass on a third.
• SI

  Sam Iam

  Dec 14, 2025
  1.0
  Where to begin? Very disappointing. Stood at the door for five minutes before being acknowledged by the hostess. Reservations were at seven, had to sit at the bar until 715 to wait for a table to open. They only have 10 table tops in the entire restaurant. Once seated, we were informed that they were out of the Oso Buka. We ordered the French pot roast, which is not pot roast at all. It’s more like a thin pork chop over mashed potatoes with gravy.. Not good. My drink was not brought to the table until after I finished my dinner. Charged 20$ a piece for three mixed beverage. When we arrived at the restaurant, they had some nice jazz music playing, but after about 30 minutes, the music went away and the whole mood of the restaurant changed. Talk about killing the party. Just not a good vibe, wasn’t impressed. Again very disappointing.
• PH

  Patricia Higley

  Dec 13, 2025
  5.0
  Our first time ordering from Caffe Rel. We saw the family meal advertised on FB. It sounded like an economic meal for 4. Our order was ready when we walked in the door, and the food did not disappoint.
• CR

  Carlton Ramsey

  Dec 9, 2025
  5.0
  We came herw for dinner tbis evening 12/9 for my partners birthday and we were not disappointed at all. Feom.the minute we ealked in the door we knew we were in for a treat. The service was amazing KiKi was incredible, attentive, positive, and answered all of our questions. From the cocktails to the mains to the desert to the desert cocktails. Everything was absolutely wonderful and we will be back!!!!
• RO

  Ryan Orlosky

  Dec 5, 2025
  1.0
  A confused French restaurant on Main Street in Hendersonville - with an original location in Franklin, NC. Walking in at 5pm on a Thursday evening with a near empty restaurant was not a good sign of things to come. The space was large, industrial and cold, with a concrete floor and wide spacing between tables. Although the restaurant bills itself as a French restaurant, the menu was a variety of French, Italian, and American cuisine with a large amount of pastas and risottos - and a Greek salad. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Our server was kind, but was quiet and lacked confidence. When asking about the “locally sourced mushrooms”, our server checked with the kitchen and confirmed that the mushrooms were in fact from Ecuador. We were thrown off that the server had left bottles of wine on the table before we had looked at the menu or ordered anything - I’m unsure if this was an attempt to upsell a more expensive bottle? We chose instead to get drinks by the glass. The meal started with bread service, which consisted of a stodgy take-and-bake type sliced roll and an odd cold salsa for dipping. We began with the mussel appetizer which had a good flavor, but 1/3 of the mussels were still closed. The jury is out on food safety of eating closed mussels, but I didn’t want to take the chance of ruining my evening and tomorrow. For entrees, we had the salmon and osso bucco. The osso bucco was served with pork shank and risotto, not with the typical veal. The risotto was claggy, lacking a smooth consistency and likely indicating it was premade ahead of service, not made fresh to order. The risotto and pork were both cold, further exacerbating the textural issues of the dish. The salmon was extremely salty, bordering on inedible. I understand that the Franklin location is better regarded, but in a competitive Hendersonville market at this price point, I am doubtful that this location will survive when better choices are right around the corner. The restaurant owner or management responds to reviews with 😋 emojis, so there may be a general lack of accountability and confusion.

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