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    Café Vivant

    4.2 (40 reviews)

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    The steak, a winner!
    Dave K.

    Good, not blow-away, but good. I came after reading an article about it and for the passion about the birds and wasn't disappointed. The interior is lovely as is the location on Santa Cruz Ave. The service was warm and friendly. Let's cut to the food. After mentally processing $19 for a single chicken nugget (with caviar on top), I was able to order. We had a few "bites" (nugget, egg salad, beet tarte), then some starters (salads, duck pate), and then one whole bird and one steak. Overall the food was very good. The presentations beautiful. Through some ~$20 bites on top of a regular heathily-priced meal, along with some good wines by the glass, and I think we spent $550-something for three people. Nugget: good, not worth $19. Egg salad: surprisingly good but the egg salad is hidden inside the brioche and they need more egg salad per unit brioche. Beet tarte: very good Pate: home run Salads: good Whole bird: very good but wasn't blown away like I was hoping to be. Hint: use the jus and sea salt. Puree: (mashed potatoes) stunningly good Steak: really good, maybe the star of the evening

    Jamie K.

    Chicken and pork belly were amazing - both dishes had a few unique touches and were pretty well-portioned. I'd skip the appetizers or just try them once. Service was great, and the interior is pristine.

    Tarte tatin
    Kamy T.

    Came here with a few friends for a birthday dinner. This place specializes in chicken, which I undoubtedly enjoy! The interior is very aesthetic and modern. Service was friendly and we enjoyed our dinner here! We started off with their mocktails which were very nice. As a starter, we had the heritage chicken nuggets (the fanciest chicken nuggets I've had) which were good (undeniably as they are topped with caviar!). We went straight for their whole chickens for our entrees as that's what they are known for (we were a party of 4, and that's a lot of meat!). We went with the California golden and the French bresse (the least amount of dark meat, and medium amount of dark meat). I liked the California golden a bit more as the meat was a bit less "gamey" but was definitely a tad salty. The salad, fries, and Mac n' porcinis were good (the latter two were on the saltier side as well). We ended with their desserts which were all quite complex. We wanted to try the baked Alaska, but they told us they don't make that anymore and they didn't update the menu yet. The tarte tatin was my favorite! They also gave a small complementary dessert for my birthday. Service was good overall.

    Christina W.

    Wow, it's not often that a brand new spot blows it out of the water. But Cafe Vivant has done it. Every dish was thoughtful, beautiful, and delicious, and the service was excellent. We had the crab cannoli, rabbit pate, pear salad, octopus, duck, and guinea hen. Everything. Was. Excellent. EVERYTHING! Also the 200 page wine list is something to be applauded. To top it all off, loved eating it all with the hip hop instrumentals of our favorite throwbacks in the background. Perfect vibe soundtrack for our feast.

    My experience at Cafe Vivant was a huge disappointment. Previous reviews noted that the food was too salty and I have to agree. I'm someone who prefers well salted food and tend to find food under seasoned at times. And because of that, I don't think I've ever eaten at a restaurant where the food was so salty that it ruined the rest of the meal. My husband and I ordered the white asparagus tempura, which came out super salty and fibrous - I even had to spit one back out. Then the little gem salad came out next, and honestly I was wowed at first. Amazing flavor and probably the best salad I've ever eaten. Then I took another bite and it just wasn't as enjoyable. I realized that slowly, the salt level is building up the more bites I took. The dressing combined with the dried yeast also drove the salt levels through the roof. Then finally, the chicken arrived. This was the dish I was looking forward to the most. When I grabbed the first piece, my heart sank a little. It felt tough. I bit into it hoping to prove myself wrong here. But no, it was just tough, dry, salty chicken., I tried eating more to see if it'll somehow, improve, but I couldn't even finish one piece. The funniest part was that the chicken came with extra salt on the side in case I needed more salt! Maybe the chicken would've been ok at salt levels if I haven't eaten the extra salted appetizer and salad beforehand, but all together it was too much. At the end, our drinks were comped after we complained. The manager spoke to us, gave us his business card and asked us to email him and give them another chance. I sent him an email a week back and never got a reply, so needless to say, I'm definitely not returning to torture my tastebuds and wallet again.

    Christmas goose
    Akiko I.

    Wow!!! It was so much more than I expected! We sat at the lovely bar. Initially booked for the communal table, but decided to switch to the bar, which was in the front dining area. Communal tables are on the back side. The regular dining area is nicer and recommended unless you have more than four in the group. Every dish was beautifully presented and delicious. The sauce was not overpowering but had a lot of delicate flavors. The service was excellent, and I love how they transformed the original Boulanger cafe into a beautiful space. I think the price was just right.

    Chicken nuggets with caviar
    Tiffany D.

    Wow what a beautiful restaurant! I loved being surrounded by all the wine bottles and even didn't mind the communal seating as we were seated just apart enough to feel we had some privacy. The glassware and even utensils are all so light and delicate and were a pleasure to use. The food was outstanding with each dish, even non chicken ones, tasting delicious and unique. I would love to come back and try more of the wines from the very extensive wine list! I just wish they had more wines by the glass available as ordering a whole bottle can be daunting.

    The duck was amazing!
    Michelle A.

    I really wanted to love Cafe Viviant. The idea of heritage chicken and extensive offering of French wines really speaks to me. Sadly, it is so very close and yet so very far from being worth your time and money at this point. Honestly, wait a few more months to see if they can figure out the problems with the food, the service, and the ambiance. I suspect they can. For now, I feel like a total chump for giving them $500+ for three people to dine. Three people who didn't even order a bottle of wine... If you go, sit at the communal table in the retail side of the restaurant. It is the farthest away from the kitchen and the horrendous, persistent, incredibly disturbing low roar of their industrial dishwasher. Service was inattentive and required excessive effort on our part. It took 20 minutes to order a glass of wine! We ordered a single mocktail and despite delivering two, they never did manage to get the one we actually ordered. The wine menu is essentially an inventory list making it a boring read. They offer a "seasonal shortlist", but we were informed that the shortlist was not seasonal at all. Rather it was a list for people who don't like to read. The wine service was a huge miss for a wine focused establishment. The culture is not (yet?!) set up for wine hospitality. The food is good, but not yet great. The chicken nuggets with caviar just did not work. The chicken was minced and the breading was tempura. The celeriac rollitini is a single noodle with loads of foam and delicious chanterelles. The pear salad was lovely with the dressing and frisee working well together. The root down duck was amazing and the confit divine. The California golden chicken was presented beautifully with lots of flair, taken back to be carved and it emerged beautifully tossed with delicious root vegetables. The sauce they served was way too salty but we love roasted chicken. We had the side salad and french fries, both of which were quite nice. We skipped dessert as we could not bear anymore of the sound torture and were tired of fighting for decent service.

    Sunchoke Agnolotti
    Michael H.

    We were looking for a new place to try out and Cafe Vivant caught our eye. We ended up getting there a little early and the host was kind enough to get us a spot at the bar. The bartender/server was amazing with recommendations and letting us know that the burger was exclusive to the bar. The decor and vibes were great, it felt cozy and romantic. We got the chicken nugget with caviar, sunchoke agnolotti, burger, and the half chicken. Everything was so good and extremely flavorful. The nugget was definitely the best bite of the night. We ended the meal with their "experimental" cheesecake which was a play on caviar. We had no idea what we were eating but it was really well balanced once you had all the components together. . For the two of us, the bill came out to ~$200. We're doing dry January or else it probably come out to much higher. Definitely recommend!

    Jeff H.

    Great farm-to-table food, super fresh & high-quality ingredients, and manages to combine sophisticated flavor with nice-but-not-fussy presentation. Wine list is by-far the best in the Bay Area, and rivals the very best of New York and Los Angeles -- which obviously leverages the connected wine shop next door (Somm Cellars). Have done a couple of events in the semi-private room, which works really well for up to ~20 people.

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    6 months ago

    Nice dinner. Ate at the bar. All the Staff went out of their way to be friendly and talk with us. Massive wine selection.

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    Ask the Community - Café Vivant

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    Café Vivant - tradamerican - Updated July 2026

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