What a disappointing dining experience. Cafe Allegre, formally Cafe Lafayette was once Madison's equivalent to the " Gris" in Essex. I had countless delicious meals over the years here with my parents and grandparents. While here in Connecticut Bruce and I decided to dine here this evening. We like to dine out often and love the variety of options here in Connecticut. We had high hopes for Cafe Allegre. What a miserable experience and a total rip off. We opted not to have any alcohol and instead had two hot teas. We ordered the artichokes for a starter. A scattering of over fried dry lumps, no sauce with a minuscule piece of parsley and a small piece of shaved carrot. Bruce and I ordered the Ceasar salad with a double portion of chicken. Although the waitress said the salad was entree size portions, the amount of salad, tasteless rubbery chicken all served on a small luncheon size plate was shameful. $12.99 for the salad and $8.99 for a half a bite of extra chicken! I had the waitress remove my meal and she took it off our tab. I was expecting her to bring something else out or give me a menu but she never bothered. Evidently she thought I said I didn't want anything else. By the time she returned, Bruce had finished his salad. Really? The waitress thought I was fine just sitting there with no dinner? Needless to say her tip was equivalent to the service. So for $66.51, with no alcohol and no dessert, just one luncheon size salad, this was a supreme rip off. When a dish is returned to the kitchen the manager should have gotten off his ass to come over and address the problem and to see how to rectify the experience. Nothing. I left hungry and angry. Rest assured a scathing review will be left on Yelp along with my phoning the owner to voice my displeasure. Now perhaps this post comes across as my being an arrogant demanding patron. Bruce and I have had some amazing dinners and also some less than wonderful. I always try to cut the restaurant some slack. Food services is not an easy job. But when you charge these prices it's important that they know when customers are displeased. read more

Cafe Allegre - Italian Near Me - Madison, Connecticut

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Lovely outdoor patio for dinner on a Saturday night. Accommodating for both a baby and food allergies. Helpful friendly staff. Food was delicious as well. Well cooked, well seasoned, came out quickly after ordering. Caesar salad was flavorful without being overwhelming dressing. Chicken parm was flawless - crispy edges and tender white meat. read more

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Johanna our waitress was awful. Had to ask twice for pepper and cheese on our Italian speciality meals. Never came to our table to ask how our meal was and also we needed more water and she never came over to the table. Food was mediocre and service was lacking. read more

The best restaurant on the shoreline. Excellent food at a fair price. The wine pour is the best I've seen in the area. Real silver and linen with a classy atmosphere. Rich the server is great. The hostess with the black hair is the best - takes good care of us. The fast jazz music has to go. Not conducive for a nice dinner out. Some Sinatra or Bennet or soft piano music would be much better. That aside - I HIGHLY RECCOMEND THIS RESTAURANT. read more

Cafe Allegre - Joe - Italian Near Me - Madison, Connecticut

I have a lot of conflicting feelings about this place. First, it was a beautiful space with an excellent location. Definitely a nice space for a dinner or drink at the bar. We ordered garlic bread, chicken parm, salmon, chocolate cake, cheesecake, and two drinks. As excited as we were to have the meal we weren't blown away. The garlic bread was good. The artichoke hearts didn't come as expected and were okay. The chicken parm was your typical chicken parm with sparse sauce on the pasta. My friend had the salmon and it had a sauce that was tasty (reminded us of lobster bisque). The chocolate cake was pretty, but they cheesecake was very good. My friend both drinks were delicious. We split everything except for our mains. My friend woke up this morning very sick and the only thing she ate that I didn't was the salmon. She did give the restaurant a call. The staff was nice and again it was a beautiful space. I don't think it lived up to what it was described. But each experience is different. read more

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I attended an event there on Sunday and must say, the food and service was extremely disappointing. The issues: 1. All of the hors d' ouerves were frozen/fried, not handmade. Calamari was worse than diner food. Same with Mozzarella sticks. Clams Casino had no clams, just breading and tiny bit of bacon on top. 2. NY Strips were inedible- old, tough, tasteless. Everyone complained. Mashed potatoes were not from scratch, tasted like boxed flakes. 3. Steak knives were not plated with food, came out 15 minutes after food served. 4. No grated cheese on tables for pasta course. Staff brought jars out in armloads, not on trays. Disgusting! 5. Only 2 staff for 50 people. Slow, disorganized, not prepared in advance for our party. 6. Specially made Anniversary cake was not presented. Shoved on a table behind s door then cut up before guests could see it. Should have been on display for viewing and picture. The dark haired "Banquet Manager" is out of her element. Had no clue how to prep or execute an event. Wasnt friendly, made every request feel as though we were inconveniencing her. Bottom line: i had my wedding reception there in '95 when it was Cafe Lafayette. it was exceptional! This place is a sad poor imitation. Whomever owns it should be humiliate. read more

Our waiter Justin was very nice and sociable. Fried calamari and lemon butter barrumundi and rice pudding all of them were fabulous. I liked the paintings and all of the award plaques on the wall. very nice will be coming back again read more

Cafe Allegre - Lemon Butter, barrimundi - Italian Near Me - Madison, Connecticut

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I here for a seminar that provided a meal. I got a salad, entree and dessert. First of all they served a nice hard crusted bread that comes from New York. It was so very good. I then got a salad that was fresh and crisp. My meal was chicken marsala, which was good. The waitress name was Karen and I can't say enough about how good the service was. The restaurant is conveniently located in the center of the town. I didn't see a parking lot so I had to park on the street. read more

Cafe Allegre - Chicken marsala - Italian Near Me - Madison, Connecticut

Our waiter Robert was beyond amazing. Very respectful, totally in tune with everything. I really appreciate him. Food was delicious read more

Amazing place, beautiful setting and authentic Italian! Linda is great! Gave us great concert recommendations as well read more

Cafe Allegre - Italian Near Me - Madison, Connecticut

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I am sorry I did not take any pictures of the food. My party and I were heading to a concert and pulled off the highway (I-95) using YELP and stopped here. FOOD was amazing, (worth the $$), SERVICE was incredible and the ambience was very nice. I wish I didn't live 90 minutes away, because I would certainly go back!! In the end, worth your time and your money! KEN read more

Good food... but some crazy prices. Ordered Surf and Turf special.. (they don't tell you the price). Figured $45 maybe.... Nope, $60. Small lobster tail and maybe a 6oz steak. I could have had a massive plate at a seafood restaurant... plus more read more

Cafe Allegre - Surf and turf... it was good, but not $60 good. I got the bill and almost fell over - Italian Near Me - Madison, Connecticut

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First, a shout out to Justin, our server. You're a consumate professional and made our experience a lot of fun! We were all amazed at all of the specials available. They all sounded so good All of our party of 4 were very pleased with our selections We were seated in the front room adjacent to the bar. I liked being there. The atmosphere had a nice vibe. Thanks for a great experience. read more

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A real gem in the heart of Madison that is a great place for an Italian meal. Place was really charming and a pleasure to be able to carry on a conversation without having to raise our voice in an almost full dining area. A nice drink menu to pick from. Drinks arrived quickly and hit the spot. We had the stuffed artichoke appetizer which was a special and it was very good and easily enough for two to share. Wife had the Sole Florentine and I had the Seafood Risotto. Both were prepared very well and were ample in size. We both took some home with us. We shared a rice pudding from an extensive dessert list and loved it. Service was excellent led by our waitress Christine. Answered all our questions and never felt rushed or neglected. This is a wonderful place to dine and will definitely be back read more

If you don't order from the specials of the day, and you order off the regular menu you will get barely any food I ordered the Sicilian chicken and it came out with three pieces of chicken medallions maybe 2 ounces of chicken in all and then the rest was homemade gnocchi. Definitely not worth 26 bucks. read more

Go see for Joe for HH! They have a good bar menu and cocktails at a discounted price! I wouldn't bother with the fried artichoke hearts or the calamari, unfortunately (as much as I wanted to live them both). The espresso martini was very good! I haven't been for lunch or dinner; but will update if that changes! read more

My family and I have been here a couple of times and have not been super impressed. The seafood risotto I had is nothing like any risotto I've ever had and was really disappointing. The whole thing was just weird(picture posted.) I ended up throwing most of it out. My family seemed to enjoy their chicken parm, but weren't overly impressed. read more

Cafe Allegre - Seafood risotto: Very disappointing. Most of it got thrown out - Italian Near Me - Madison, Connecticut

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Terrible food; avoid the tenderloin, just awful. The service was good. The decor was a little dated. Had the vibe of a 80s bar restaurant. I've never eaten there before but people in the neighborhood said that it has gone downhill. Maybe the manager should sample some of his food. read more

Great food, and kind service! We stopped in for a quick drink and a small bite before dinner time. Got the meatballs as a side they are huge and their Sunday sauce is delicious. The place was very clean and the bartender made us feel welcomed even just a our snack read more

Cafe Allegre - Side of Meatball - Italian Near Me - Madison, Connecticut

Great Italian food. We especially love thier zuppa de pesce. Great espresso martinis and wine list. Service is always friendly and prompt. We prefer the outdoor seating in the warmer months but the main dining room also reminds me of old school Italian restaurants and is enjoyable, if dated. read more

Very quiet on a Labor Day weekend Sat night. Sat at bar where I feel you can be a bit casual and take your time. We have been here several times and the bartenders are all fabulous. Warm bread with Evoo cheese and pepper flakes is a nice accompaniment. I always get the Salmon Sofia with lobster sauce. I sub angel hair for the potatoes and it was super delicious tonite. A generous portion!!! Hubby had the seafood risotto and he said it was fantastic . Prices are reasonable and quality is consistent. read more

Cafe Allegre - Salmon with lobster sauce - Italian Near Me - Madison, Connecticut

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This is the best Italian restaurant around! I went last night with a party of 11...a family reunion. Amazing. The food is incredible. The hospitality is exemplary. Every time I go it's even better than the last time. read more

Love that place, good food , professional staff, people are so nice in there, the place looks clean

We chose Allegre after getting into town a little later than we anticipated, starving from the road. We were lucky enough to find seats at the bar, and were greeted by both the bar tender and multiple locals. This place is like the red sauce version of Cheers. Full of locals, everyone knows each other, and they were welcoming and warm to us as outsiders. The locals next to us offered their recommendations, all of which were spot on. We started w the prosciutto and fig salad, which was a delicious intro course to share. We then shared the eggplant parm and a side order of meatball. The star of the show here is their Sunday sauce. Holy mama, I want to eat it by itself like tomato soup. So good. Both the eggplant and the meatball were great on their own, but honestly, I could eat a hat covered in that sauce. I didn't pay much attention to the drink menu, just ordering a Chianti and letting the bar tender do her thing. The wine was good, very well priced, and heavy pours. This place is a gem, and I only wish we could come back again during our stay. I'll be thinking of that red sauce for days. read more

Visited here last night for a private event with a prix fixe menu. We were pleased with the variety of options, and everything we had was delicious. The New York Style calamari was really flavorful and had just the right amount of spice, and the steak was cooked perfectly to everyone's liking. I thought that the deconstructed banana split was a really unique dessert, and I really enjoyed it! It features Doughwich's ice cream sandwich and is a great way to support a local business. I hope to come back here soon and try more items from their menu! read more

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We spent Easter in Madison CT and booked a reservation here for dinner. We are from Westchester County NY where great restaurants are plentiful. After reading the good reviews, and looking at their large menu of many different options; we decided to give it a try. The food was delicious! I had the eggplant rollotini, my husband had the liver and onions (which is a favorite), and son had the rigatoni bolognese. We all thought the meals were spot on. My husband cleaned his plate! Afterward we had the cheesecake, lemon sorbet, and homemade cannoli. All were excellent. Highly recommend. read more

Service was great, Michelle was top notch. Key lime martini was fantastic, needs more IPAs, nice wine selection. Garlic bread was delicious definitely recommend, so was the normal bread. Food was great, cooked well, chicken parmigiana was good, salmon sofia with lobster cream sauce was delicious sauce was very good. Halibut special was very good sauce was good. Very clean and well maintained restaurant, good environment. read more

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Fabulous service and atmosphere. Beets in salad were undercooked and salad was so-so. Salmon entree was delicious and very generous.

We love Cafe Allegre and eat here so much that it's borderline embarrassing. My son is obsessed. My husband and I don't typically seek out Italian food, but we realized that we love it as much as our son does, hence we are here all the time. The ambience and service are hard to beat. Everyone from front of house to servers to bartenders are so consistently classy, we can't get enough. The teens bussing tables are learning from the best! And the historic house smack in the center of town with tablecloths... can't be beat. Again, I'm not one to seek out Italian food but they really do it right! My son is a penne and Sunday sauce kind of guy, but I usually get whatever seafood entree is on special. The swordfish is especially good, as is the cod. The bartenders take great care of us here. Generous pours, I'm usually out after two. Long live Cafe Allegre!! read more

I really enjoyed my meal at Cafe Allegre in Madison. I came here based off a recommendation and was not disappointed. My boyfriend and I came here for dinner and ordered the fried artichoke special and off menu cacio e pepe. We also had an espresso martini and wine. The drinks were fine, but the food was great. The cacio e Pepe was amazing and some of the best I've had. The service was great as well. Madison is such a cute town and this is a great stop in the area. read more

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Outstanding food and service and dining experience. It was my birthday today and they treated me very special and the chef is outstanding

Very good service. Food was exceptional. One of the few restaurants where you could actually hear across the table and understand the person you were talking to. Price was a little high but would be in a range for a upscale restaurant. Plenty of parking and the location is right in the middle of Madison Connecticut. read more

We have patroned Cafe Allegre for many years. I am very much disappointed that I have just had one of the worst meals this evening here that I have ever had. The veal special tasted like cube steak with a tomato and cheese thrown on it and the seafood risotto lacked seafood with the exception of fishy tasting calamari rings. Someone needs to taste what is going out of the kitchen. Saving grace for our dining experience was the service. This was my go-to restaurant in the area. I will be rethinking that moving forward. read more

This came recommended by someone and we were disappointed. Everyone raves about the Sunday sauce and we cannot agree as our 2 orders of veal parmigiana with penne had very little sauce. In fact a large portion of penne had no sauce. It was dry and the veal was also very thick. read more

Cafe Allegre - This is their veal parm with hardly any sauce. - Italian Near Me - Madison, Connecticut

Cafe Allegra was excellent. The stuffed artichoke was the best I ever had. The salmon with the beet salad was tasty. Billy our server was a highly professional. I'm always amazed when someone can recite specials without reading them off. Always made sure our water glasses were full and we were satisfied. Outstanding service. read more

Phenomenal doesn't even describe Cafe Allegre! I went on Saturday, 12/11/2021 with a reservation for 5 people. First off, I live in Shelton, CT and it was a rainy night with lots of traffic and was running 30-minutes late for my reservation (which I despise doing to any restaurant) but I called them, and they said to me "no worries, drive safe." Wow, that was a really nice way to start off my visit to them. I have been here before, it was always great, but have not been back in several years. Well, that will change, I assure you. Let's face it, a lot of restaurants during these pandemic days frankly, are not doing that well. Service is lacking (I know it's tough to find help) and the quality of the food has gone downhill at so many places as well. Fear not, at Cafe Allegre. The restaurant at 6:00 pm was comfortably full and the waiter came right up to me, maybe he could sense we needed to eat and have check in my hand in 1-hour as we were heading to East Haddam, to the Goodspeed Opera House afterwards. He took the drink orders, the appetizers and all of our dinner selections promptly and before we all knew it everything was coming out in nice order, but not rushed. Alright, the food, oh my, there were numerous dinner specials one of them being a swordfish in a nicely done sauce of fresh tomatoes, Kalamata olives and olive oil. It comes with linguini but I asked for a vegetables instead and found a delicious bed of garlic sautéed spinach underneath the fish. It was a huge piece of perfectly cooked swordfish and I have to tell you, it was the best I have ever had. I don't know what they did to bring out so much flavor, but it was just unbelievable. My guest had another special with was Atlantic halibut and simply prepared broiled with olive oil and lemon and garnished with capers. Again, cooked to perfection, and with such simple preparation, it was delicious! Did I mention my Cesar salad I had with extra anchovies or how great the cocktails were prepared? Was so good!! The rest of the guests ordered a variety of menu choices and they were raving about their meals (all of them their first visit to Cafe Allegre). I cannot wait to go back here, you probably guess by now that I highly recommend this restaurant. What a gem of a restaurant in Madison, Connecticut that gets my vote as a "must-do" delightful Connecticut shoreline food experience! read more

The salmon Sofia was super delicious. The service was great and it was in a cute building!

Very lovely space, with lots of light and space, very tastefully decorated with beige walls and Man Ray-style B&W, framed photographs of Italian cityscapes, very friendly staff, terrific food, and reasonable prices. We were seated immediately and given the table of our choice by the very sweet hostess, our busboy Ryan was prompt and courteous, and our waiter Bill was superb--personable, fun, fast, and accommodating. The fried calamari was as light as a feather, accompanied by delicious marinara, and both my (very generous) swordfish steak on linguine with lemon and garlic and my date's cid in penne with a similar sauce were both very good. The side of broccoli we ordered was not overcooked nor overpowered with garlic, and was a nice complement to dinner. No room left for dessert! read more

A favorite with not only my husband but entire family! We had our rehearsal dinner here, we have done family Easter's here- this past December my husband set up a work Christmas party. We love celebrating all of our life moments here and sometimes just a drink at the bar or dessert! Best food around the shoreline! read more

Be sure to check hours at restaurant since actual times they are open is different than what they are showing on yelp. This was my first visit here and the food was fabulous. We shared eggplant rollatini appetizer- great. One of my friends ordered the salmon with lobster and lobster sauce and it was incredibly delicious. I had the veal Compania and it was also great. Another friend had the rigatoni with Bolognese and it was the best i've ever tasted. I would've given this five stars except that the side order of pasta that we ordered was extremely over cooked and mushy.couldn't find waiter to mention it so we just didn't eat it. Making mental note to order pasta here al dente next time. Otherwise service was very friendly and attentive. Desserts: a nice selection but a tad overpriced. Looking forward to returning soon. read more