Cafe Routier Bistro & Lounge

Me and my girlfriend haven't been headin out as much these days for good reason, so it was nice to stumble into this really energetic place, last Friday. We ended up sitting on a couch (yes, a couch at a restaurant that is on the shoreline!) and grabbing a few appetizers before heading to the movies. well, suffice it to say, we missed the movie! Soo much fun...it really felt good just to get out and enjoy a great beer and food without breaking our wallets and will gladly miss another movie when we can get there again soon. Highly recommend the house fries and hanger steak fajitas Pros: humble but knowledgable staff, food, energy, music, wine, beer, attention to detail Cons: tough to find a seat, parking can be nuts, not sure where to go when we walked in more

We stayed at a local inn and my wife and I are always on the lookout for small plates and a comfortable atmosphere. Use to the new york scene we never could have imagined what we found. The concierge at the local spa recommend that we try Cafe Routier and sit in their lounge. We loved the potstickers and fries but found ourselves eating BIG plates. The skate and duck were done to perfection. My wife actually tried the venison osso buco and she loved the jonah crab salad. Peartini's were just right and each night we finished gorging ourselves with the pumpkin spice cake. We will be back. Great weekend away. Incidentally, the outlets in westbrook and clinton kept us busy during the day. Pros: big booths in dining room. more

A few different worlds under one roof. A intimate lounge with tasty tapas menu and plush couches on one side of the building, fine dining and revolving three paneled menu on otherside of building. I love this place because their menu changes almost everytime i'm in there. They have a regional menu that changes, just this past year I've eaten their Brazil, Basque, Fruili (italy), New York Steakhouse menu, Pacific Northwest, Cape Cod and the Islands, and their current menu Savoie. Cool ambience and cozy seats make it a plus and their pastry chef consistently wows me. Love the profiteroles. Pros: Service, global cuisines, different seating nooks and crannys more