Cepae L’Experience Paris - Bellevue

Ambience was good. Wine was great. Food was so so. Duck burger was seriously undercooked.
Will probably go back, but for drinks and dessert after dinner somewhere else.

Finding this hidden gem was such a happy surprise! Everything was perfect…from the food (risotto and rabbit gnocchi) to the ambience to the service. Can’t wait to go back!

Good food, good service. I always love this place.

Overall nice experience - food was excellent as was the service. Check was slow to come but asked a person in French and it came immediately…. C’est la vie!

Very nice wine bar with the perfectly limited menu. We had the black truffle pasta, (could of had a little more truffle flavor), which was well prepared and perfect portion. Great place for a date.
Reservations are very important.

What a remarkable find. Authentic French, right here in Bellevue. The proprietor is French and so are many of the staff. We enjoyed every course. Our evening brought us back to memories of our trips to Paris. May28 - 2021. Yes - they are open again !

So delicious! Excellent service. Food is as delicious as it is pretty. Staff is French with a gastronomy culinary background. Magnifique! Great wine selection from France.

A few missteps - since this was only their second night post Covid shut down, is understandable.

Staff, beyond the owner, needs training on dishes (ingredients, preparation) and proper service.

But all in all very good and we will be back.

Fantastic wine bar with terrific food. The steak (while not the best cut) was seasoned beautifully. The scallops were light (just a tad undercooked) but cleaned properly and of good quality. Wine was excellent and very reasonable prices. Great view too, specially in a sunny coronavirusing day (low traffic).

The Valentine's Day dinner was wonderful. We arrived on the early side for a pre-dinner glass of wine and then our waiter Dragous (sp?) did a very nice job of guiding us through dinner and the wine pairings. Dinner was wonderful and the red wines were fabulous. It was a little chilly when we first got there but it warmed up soon enough. Have recommended it to friends and are already planning on going back.

No-- we were served a few wines that had gone bad. They replaced it, which was nice. But overall, concerns about wine storage.

Also, was nearly empty on a Saturday evening-- felt very sad.

Nice place, decorations are nice and the food was good but not excellent. The french onion soup was outstanding though. Service left a little to be desired as our waiter left for a long period while we were waiting for our check.

Cépaé is so inviting, so pleasant, 2 of us spend 4+ hours, sitting at the bar, tasting wine and having great conversations with 2 very knowledgeable sommeliers working that night.

We each had 8 wines by the glass, starting with 2 outstanding cab franc from the Loire Vallée, a Brut de Franc Rosé and a Chinon Clos de l’Echo.

Our ‘intermezzo’ was a little Rosso Bruno.

Then came heavyweights from Southern Rhône, a Gigondas and a Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée Empire, both very well structured and delicious.

A first-class Oregon Solomon Hills Estate Pinot Noir followed.

To round out the evening we enjoyed 2 Bernard Magrez wines, a classical Herencia del Padri (carinena/garnacha) from Priorat, and a most-interesting Domaine Excelsio (grenache/syrah) from Morocco.

Those wines - and many more to choose from - are from small producers, hand-picked by the owner and his associate.

Order La Mixe before 6 pm (happy hour). You will get a huge, magnificent charcuterie & fromage board that matches very well and lasts throughout the tasting.

Amazing food, wine and staff! I highly recommend this place to everyone!

Nice to have a proper French restaurant in Bellevue.

Enjoyed the evening. Great to meet the wine maker. Wine pairing was well aligned with the meal. Service was exceptional. The main reason I did not give 5 stars overall is the cost relative to the meal. I would have expected higher quality food ingredients and more complex preparation. For $120/person, I expected higher quality plates.

Wonderful special wine tasting event!

The staff there are in capable of handling the most simple of tasks there. It was just a terrible experience in terms of service, and I will never go back. I can’t be bothered to get into specifics because I don’t wanna spend the energy, but I do want to warn others. Avoid.

The food was good. The Duck Burger was amazing (with Fois Gras). The Salmon is actually Salmon 3 ways, two of which are excellent. The main problem with this restaurant was the very uncomfortable chairs. Neither my wife nor I found them comfortable. I had much trouble trying to figure out how to sit on one (we were at a high table). I eventually turned the chair around with the chair back at my stomach. Otherwise, I didn't fit (6' 2" 200lbs - so I'm not THAT big).

The other issue we had was that I had gone to the trouble of making a reservation - it was my wife's birthday. When we arrived at the restaurant, our mention of a reservation was dismissed by the initial wait staff. I had hoped to have a more special event and that was definitely not delivered. The food was good, but not enough to justify going again. Lynn's in Kirkland is better and a better value.

Met up with a friend for Sunday brunch. She had salmon eggs Benedict and I had Chevre quiche! We loved our brunch and best coffee also I might add.
I also got some pastries to go, and they were absolutely beautiful and yummy!
Such an enchanting place!
My husband and I will be going for wine tasting this Saturday and we are super excited! Their wine tasting menu looks amazing!

Beautiful place, very open and airy. Amazing wine selection and delicious deserts.

Outstanding food and service

Love this place!

Good place for small bites and excellent selection of wines

Friends and I enjoyed our first visit very much! A casual yet refined atmosphere set up for a nice couple hours of food, wine and chatting. We were happy with the choices of champagne and white wines, followed by reds, finished up with a sweet champagne - well done. The server explained the choices of wines very well, with a great knowledge of wine growing areas as well as how to pair a wine with a particular food. The lovely cut meats, cheeses and breads were a rustic and pallet-cleansing finger food. Merci beaucoup for a refined and easy, at the same time, evening!

We walked in and stood there for quite a while and no one acknowledged that we were there for a good while.
We had made a reservation and there were no tables to sit. So we told one of the people there that we were going to leave, which we did.

We were not greeted when we arrived and waited unattended for several minutes. Then our table was not ready even though we had reserved in advance so they knew we were coming. Very noisy and cold in restaurant, and waiter forgot part of our order. This was our first visit and we will not be back and we would not recommend to friends. Quel dommage.

Amazing place! Came here with a large work party and their service, wine and food are outstanding. Adam who served us was incredibly knowledgeable about the extensive wine menu and had great recommendations for everyone on the table. The food was out of this world delicious, I shared a truffled croque monsieur and a classic galette with a friend and everything was delicious!! Highly recommend this place!

I think the wines available for tasting are fantastic. Great opportunity to try different regions. I did not think service was very good. I appreciated the sommelier wine advice but they came to the table very infrequently. I was often without anything to drink waiting to order my next flight. The place was not busy on a week night. I ended up ordering glasses of wine instead of tasting more because I wanted to have wine to drink. This defeated the entire purpose of my visit to this restaurant.

Amazing food, did not expect the quality or ambiance. Our server was excellent both knowledgeable and attentive.

Food was good not great. Service was attentive but not overbearing. Real downer for the evening was the bottle of wine we ordered. Now mind you the wine was very good, it was the $30 “corking” fee!! This was charged in addition to the price of for the entire bottle. If you’re taking a group, take your wallet as well but honestly we would not recommend taking anyone here.

The food was delicious, but their wine list is incredible!

Awesome place. Really delicious wine with excellent recommendations by staff and stellar value for wine. Mellow yet sophisticated feel to ambiance. Highly recommend!

Outstanding service! They make really make you feel at home, fantastic wine recommendations.

The food was splendid. The service great and the wine list very well endowed. My only wish, given, the full kitchen why not have a plat of actual fish not lox. Other than that, fantastic.

The tasting pours are perfect for trying all sorts of new wines, and the food is insanely delicious. I've been here twice already and I can't wait to go back!

We initially sat at the bar and tried several wines. The only negative is that when he asked if we wanted a taste and i would indicate just a tiny sip, he didn't mention that each tiny sip was $3 or more. That should have been mentioned as it is unusual. The food was excellent and we loved the ambiance. Upon checkout there were several charges that were incorrect. We went over the bill and they acknowledged their mistake but given we had been drinking, if we had not been diligent, we would have been overcharged about $30 or so. That really is unacceptable. Nonetheless we will return but if those experiences are the same it will be the last time.

Dinner.
intimate quiet environment. Pleasant and helpful staff. Menu is simple yet well executed. One person thought his Croque Monsieur was tiny compared to what he had in the past. The other had no complaints. The duck burger one with seared fois gras the other without was a little slippery and messy, hard to hold and keep the contents within the roll but very tasty. The 5th had the champignon and ate it all without complaint. We also ordered the 7 cheeses with slices of baguette. Very tasty and we couldn't eat all of it because we were satisfied with the mains-- meant to take leftovers of that home but accidentally left behind. Called and the box held until I could pick it up the next day (early)

The wine list was extensive but we didn't read through it. We took recommendations for wine. Tasting portions were great to have for those who wanted to taste and make a further selection from that and for those who can't drink much without consequences.

Desserts were limited to what was left in the patisserie. Creme brûlée, Paris Washington (a variation of the Brest), and a flaky berry tart all great tasting and with appropriate texture.

Lovely staff!
Excellent food!
Outstanding wine!!!

Great new wine bar/ restaurant in Bellevue. Very knowledgeable about their extensive wine list. They focus on glass pours, which allows you to taste a lot of different wines. They also have tasting prices, to create a custom tasting flight. The food is very good, onion soup is great, the duck burger is tasty and the fromage plate is very generous. Check it out! Support this great new French restaurant!