Absolute gem of a restaurant in the St. Cloud area! The food and the service is absolutely amazing.

Had dinner last night with my wife by accident. We've driven past many times and decided to try it. In a city where you pass a chain restaurant every five seconds, Cafe Renaissance is a breath of fresh air. Atmosphere was very nice- pianist playing, white table cloths, Mediterranean ambiance. Food was thoughtfully prepared- the detail put into the appetizer (spanikopita), soup (veg minestrone), and entrees (chicken curry dish and Greek salad) was apparent. Compliments to the chef. A bit overpriced but a good experience nonetheless. read more

Had another great dinner here again. The food is always top notch. I stopped looking at the menu and just get the special every time! The staff are always happy and helpful. There is never a time that the manager doesn't check on our table at least once. They actually care and understand customer service. read more

Wow! What ambience! Live piano music, tuscan decor, and made from scratch pina coladas. Does it get any more romanic than that? The food was excellent and they have great email club coupons! I particularly enjoyed the melon soup that had three distinct colors and was served chilled. I have not seen anything like it since. read more

Great food and great service. Very good quality food at a decent price. Would recommend for a fancy night out.

This is definitely the most fancy of fine dining in St Cloud. GIGANTIC menu, very hard to choose because it all sounds so good! I've been here twice, and will probably continue to go back at least once a year for my anniversary with my husband. Perfect place for a romantic date or special occasion. Prices are high but rightfully so, as the fare is about as fancy as it comes & worth it cuz it is delicious! I had both the crab cakes times I was there, so good! My husband had some sort of fish that was AMAZING. I had pasta, fabulous. i doubt there is anything on the menu that is bad. read more

This is one of my favorite restaurants in the whole world. I have never had a bad meal where it was made wrong or under/over cooked. The staff is always exceptional and work as a team. In fact my husband and I had our wedding reception there and our guests were very impressed and had a blast there! They took such good care of us that we make this the restaurant we go to for our special "date night" from now on. read more

There isn't a better place in St Cloud for a date. Warm atmosphere and great food. I can't enough of the Curry Beef!

I was pleasantly surprised to find out how beautiful this restaurant is. Their food is amazing! I like to try new places to eat and did not realize how pretty and romantic it is here. This is a wonderful place to go out to eat and enjoy company. I highly recommend going here to eat. read more

Unique place for the St. Cloud area. Good variety of food. I've only gone there once so never got to try the whole selection. The piano player is awesome (if he is still there). read more

Amazing food! I recommend getting the special, no matter what day it is! Bread is life changing, especially with the house soup

This is, hands down, the best restaurant in the St. Cloud area. Beautiful dining room, incredible food with very wide selection, and great service. The problem is that it appears locals aren't taking advantage of this rare find. Since we were there on a Saturday evening and it was practically empty, I'm concerned they won't make it. Come on, support this local gem! read more

While often overlooked due to the location, CR continues to offer an amazing global selection. Their French trained chef has managed to create what is really the finest menu in town. Truly a nice break from the bland chains and kitschy dining rooms. I dare you to experience better service, it will always exceed your expectations. The owners take time to say hello, which is meaningful to me. I always laugh when reading the "best of" rankings, simply because everyone else is just playing for second. Sure, you can spend less, but in the end you won't find better for your money. Four thumbs up! read more

This place seems to either be grossly over-reviewed, or lambasted for not living up to expectations. Go into this place thinking an elevated version of Cheesecake Factory or Grand Lux: Everything is good, nothing is great, the decor is a little over-the-top and everything is just a little overpriced. And I never quite got past the fact that we were in a Slumberland parking lot. While visiting family last week, we settled on Cafe Renaissance after a recommendation. After reading the mixed, though mostly positive reviews, we made a reservation and gave it a go. Apparently, reservations are highly recommended, but you wouldn't have known it on Saturday July 5th ... not sure if that's normal or not, but we were one of 3 tables while we were visiting. They may have seated a 4th shortly before we left - I can't recall. The wine list had some surprises in some higher end bottles I wouldn't have expected, but overall I was left wanting for better wines. Black Swan, Kenwood and other cheap, young reds dominated the menu at about $50 a bottle. Layer Cake turned out to be the best value, which is too common to be excited about. On to the food. The House Soup was very tasty, but we all agreed it seemed a little salty. I love Osso Bucco, and being that it's not often I find restaurants with this on the menu, I immediately went for that. Again, it was good, but it wasn't great. There was just something ... off ... about the dish. I'm not sure if it was the risotto, or the vegetable choices accompanying. It was just not great. The lamb was prepared perfectly, so I can't fault the quality of the meat. We added dessert mostly out of celebration of the holiday weekend. I had Baklava and my dad had a Triple Chocolate "custard". You can see where this is going. It was dessert. Good ... but not great. Overall, it was a nice dining experience. That said, the fact this is found "right here in Saint Cloud" isn't reason enough to elevate the ratings above comparable restaurants in the Twin Cities. If I lived in the area and wanted an upscale dining experience, I'd rather drive an hour to the city or even consider one of the MANY better restaurants in the Brainerd area. read more

One of the best Greek/Mediterranean restaurants in Minnesota. The decor is so elegant and beautiful. And this place is spotless! But what tops all of this is the food and service. My husband and I had a late lunch/early dinner. Wow!! Everything was so fresh. The seafood is flown in daily and you could taste that. Our waiter was superb. This restaurant is a step above. Glad we found this jem. read more

Price for portion was fairly adequate, great atmosphere and wait staff, however I take off two stars due to the cheap addition of a Television. Leave the TV's in the sports bar, it doesn't belong in a place who's least expensive food is over 30$. read more

The very best restaurant in the St. Cloud area!! Incredibly romantic atmosphere, absolutely delicious food and their service is superb. I would highly recommend this place for a date night or any special occasion. read more

Love this place. Not much to say. Great food, great athomeshere and great service. More of a special occasion restaurant with great fresh seafood. Best fine dining restaurant in St. Cloud. read more

Sure it's gaudy, and sure it's not authentic. So what! This is Saint Cloud, Minnesota for gosh sakes! But it's as good as it gets in Saint Cloud, and it's delicious. If you like lamb, it's the only place to get great lamb in the area. And the pizzas are great. The owners take great care to provide the best in customer service and food quality at all times. My family and friends highly recommend The Cafe Renaissance! read more

My husband and I often venture out to Cafe Renaissance for a quiet relaxing evening out. It is one of a very few in St Cloud that offers unique chef quality entrees. I also would say you do not need to dress up to go there. My favorite dish is the Osso Bucco and th Paella. My husband always orders the chef's special and is never disappointed. All the appetizers are great and offer quite a variety. My favorites are the stuffed shrimp or the crab cakes. My husband loves getting the baklava for dessert if we have room. Service is always at a steady speed based on your communication with them. So if you want things to happen quicker just let them know. Their normal pace is a more relaxed let you food sit a bit before shoving the next dish in you face. Decor may be a bit overdone but at least it is clean and kept up in comparison to Anton's or other such place around this area. If you don't mind spending $60-$100 on a meal this is the place to go. This price range includes at least one drink each and an appetizer. read more

I have been here several times and have enjoyed each meal. The menu is eclectic and runs from pizza from a wood-fired oven to steak. There is a flaming appetizer with goat cheese, I think it is called Opo, which is great fun to see served. There is a large wine list and a bar, as well. It is not open Sundays, unfortunately. read more

This place is hit or miss. Sometimes they have really good food and sometimes they mess it up. Service is always good but they need to get their food quality consistent read more

Took my daughter there, she ordered the shrimp and lobster pasta. The lobster was inedible, disgusting actually. They were made aware of this at the beginning of the meal. No effort to rectify. They offered her a baklava. No wonder the place was empty at 7:00 on Saturday night. read more

I absolutely love this place. I don't get here often but I am never disappointed in the food or service! A great place to catch up with an old friend over a glass of wine and dinner. read more

The menu looks exiting, but when you get your food it seems like the chefs are not trying hard enough. Its sort of like one of those restaurants they show on Kitchen Nightmares when chef ramsey tells them they need to simplify the menu because they have too many items to cook them all well. I don't like seafood though, my fiance who does says his food has always been good. I can't think of a single food that I particularity enjoyed any of the several times I have been there. However the staff are always nice and not snooty to me like others have(I'm a college and sometimes I have wacky hair colors). We will probably still go there every once in awhile because my fiance likes the food and they have better customer service than the other "romatic date night" type restaurants in the city. read more

In enjoy the service, the piano music and the food was excellent. This quality of food in a larger city would cost a lot more, so this is a great value. read more

Bad experience .. horrible in fact. The atmosphere looked nice. But the service was extremely slow, the food did not taste good. The portions were really small for their price. I have had the same dishes , much tastier. The most disappointing fact was their service, they humiliated us by checking our ids more than 5 times .. seriously could they not read our date of births and figure out our age .. ? they acted as if we were carrying fake ids, took our ids for a long time to validate it before serving us and five different people had to give their judgements on it. The server did not have a smile on his face nor did the manager/ owner whoever that was. They were extremely impolite. When we asked about the caviar, the waiter was like .. just so you know it is priced so and so per ounce!.. RIDICULOUS HOW THEY MAKE JUDGEMENTS.....I WILL NEVER GO BACK !! People who like this place should try better places to eat at .. Not having variety/ foreign food and competition in st cloud has become their advantage. I have eaten in a lot of places in bigger cities and food from all around the world. This is nowhere near... some of their dishes are not authentic Mediterranean or Greek...I would pay high prices for food that deserves it. I even regret leaving them any tip. This restaurant is the worst experience so far... read more