Mirabelle Café is a place I had never heard of before. I've driven by many times and didn't realize that it existed until last week. Some friends who were in town wanted to meet up here and catch up while we ate. Being the person I am I always check the Yelp reviews of a place I'm not familiar with first. The recent reviews for Mirabelle Café were rough. I probably wouldn't have came here on my own, but my friends insisted it was great.
The building itself is tucked away, and so patio dining is a lovely time. I wasn't a huge fan of the atmosphere inside the building however. We went inside, and were greeted by someone who I think is the owner. After telling him we wanted to dine outside he handed us some menus and said he'd be right out. He made his way outside a couple minutes later and took out order. We were the only ones there and it still took 30 minutes to get our food. It wasn't like we got anything crazy. I got a chicken breast sandwich, while one of my friends got a salad, and the other got pancakes. The food was simple, and passable, but nothing to really make it stand out from other restaurants. And 30 minutes is a long time to wait for that food when you're the only customers there.
The thing I didn't realize until pulling up and reading the sign however, is that it is a "European Pastry Café." Growing up with European family and friends, going out to eat is seen as an event. You go out and stay there for 2-3 hours sometimes while you talk, hangout, and eat. Going in with this mindset makes a lot more sense for this restaurant, as it wouldn't make sense for them to rush their cooking if they're expecting you to sit and make eating there a whole event.
So waiting for my food wasn't that bad once I realized I had to treat it like any other European restaurant, where it's more of an event. But shortly after our food arrived, a man came outside for his "Smoke break" which consisted of him watching us for 10 minutes until our server came out and dropped off the check and told us to come inside when we were ready. We were talking and enjoying ourselves and every time we'd look over, we'd see the server along with the guy who was smoking, standing at the window staring at us. It was fairly uncomfortable as if they wanted us to leave, or they were making sure we wouldn't dine and dash. Eventually as we were getting ready to pay and we were standing up, he rushed outside and told us to go inside to charge us out. It really did feel like he was trying to keep us from dining and dashing.
So now my theory that they took forever on the food because they wanted us to sit and enjoy ourselves with our little outing doesn't make any sense, because it seemed like they wanted us paid for and gone. Overall, a very confusing and uncomfortable time with average food, and bad service. It's not a horrible place though, I'd rate it a solid 3/10 based on our experience. read more