chez fon fon

i wish urban spoon had a "love it" button! atmosphere reminded me of being in paris last summer. food was wonderful and the waiter was fantastic! my only regret is that i'm visiting birmingham from virginia and can't easily come back to dine at chez fonfon.

french sophistication with country charm. with chez fon fon, chef stitt manages to succeed where so many others fail. he manages to create wonderfully complex french cuisine without coming off as pompous and frilly. the atmosphere is very lively and inviting and certainly does not feel like it sits in the middle of a major metropolitan area. from the décor, to the bocce ball court in the back this restaurant has the feel of a french countryside restaurant.
it is hard for me not order the trout dish when i visit, but when i manage to do so, everything is delicious and well prepared. all in all, chez fon fon is another hit for stitt, and is one of birmingham's finest culinary treasures.

this is my favorite restaurant in b'hm but for some reason, the hamburger tasted like fish last night. ?????

best lunch. if i had one lunch left on this earth, in birmingham, this would be where i spent it. don't go here to power down some sustenance, go for an hour or two, have a drink or three, and really enjoy yourself.

always good. the menu at fonfon changes little during the year, though they have nightly specials. the food is of the high quality that one would expect at a frank stitt restaurant and the wait staff is professional and experienced. they have a good, if not extensive wine list. it can be very loud so would not be considered intimate.
a family favourite. kids are treated with respect. there is a bocce court behind the restaurant with which the family can play while waiting on a table.
good and dependable restaurant.

great restaurant with french country flair. we ate lunch here for the first time. we both had the crab cake special and it was a complete lunch. what great food. what great service. what a great room with just the right french shade of yellow. the bill came to around $65.00 with tip. i would go here anytime. but do go on thursday for the crab cakes and you will have a great time.

good. i've only eaten here once, but it was successful. the service was great, the food was above average for a brasserie, and there was a nice selection or provincial french food on the menu.

this isn't a fine dining restaurant, nor does it try to be. it's a typical brasserie. a place where you stop by after work for a bite and a drink. you can't even make a reservation here, so that should tell you something.

it brings an element to birmingham that's missing and certainly welcome it to the list.

one of my favorite restaurants in birmingham. fabulous food with superb service.

safety in numbers. with so many reviews of chez fonfon available, i can only add that the reviews are collectively accurate. the categorization of the restaurant as a $$ romantic place is not. at best one can say it is either cheap, or romantic, but not both. while there are menu items for under $10, these are either petit menu items that are small even by appetizer standards, or grande menu items like a burger or a salad. if you wish to enjoy some of the more romantic-dinner-out selections from the grande menu you are looking at $20 for the highly touted trout with beurre braun. the grilled salmon, pork medallions, and two specials were $22-25. and then add sides and you are looking at $30 for an entree plate. it is unfair to welcome folks into your restaurant expecting applebee's prices only to be left with a choice of making a dinner out of 3 shrimp and a few shreds of lettuce, or breaking the bank. fonfon is a $$$-$$$$. the other less-than-romantic feature is the loudness that is addressed in previous reviews.

with that said, the food is superb. i made a meal of the fruits de mer from the petit menu and the fonfon frisee salad, also from the petit menu. the seafood salad was minuscule, but delicious. the shrimp was cooked to perfection, the mussels small, tender and tasty, and the crab preparation was respectful of the subtle taste on the crab. it was three medium shrimp, 5 dime-size mussels, and a tablespoon of crab, over shredded iceberg lettuce, all of which would have fit comfortably in a tea cup. the salad came dressed, which i usually don't like, but in this case it was perfectly dressed with the most delicious gorgonzola dressing i've ever eaten. the walnuts were lightly salted and perfectly roasted. except for the beets (which i hate, so that's on me) this was perhaps the most delicious salad i have ever enjoyed. my date had the shrimp remoulade salad from the grande menu. it too was delicious. it featured 5 good sized shrimp in a subtle (compared to arnaud's version) remoulade sauce, over iceberg lettuce. add two glasses of wine to the three salads and a cup of seafood and you are looking a $60 before the tip.

as for service, it was polite and attentive. was our guy rocking the "hey man this is an impressive french restaurant attitude" just a bit? sure. but i rocked the "i am not particularly impressed by french restaurants" attitude, and we got along just fine.

in the end we had a great time exploring a new restaurant, enjoying the wonderful tastes, and the lively atmosphere. if you want to bulk up, whisper sweet nothings into your date's ear, or feed a family on a budget, look elsewhere.

terrible service. the good food was over shadowed by the terrible service, which might have been the worst i've ever experienced. our waitress was point blank rude to the point i could feel my heart rate getting higher with every visit she made to our table. by the end of the night when we asked her to describe the desserts, she pointed to the menu we were looking at and said, "they are listed right there", then proceeded to list them verbatim from the menu. out of all of frank stitt's restaurants, this one is my least favorite. there is something off about paying a couple of hundred dollars for dinner alongside paper place mats. the food was good but so many other great restaurants in birmingham, i will make a point not to go back to chez fon fon.

awesome. this is such an awesome place. get here early. i understand it is a french restaurant but do try the hamburger. of all my travels i have yet to have a hamburger and fries that can beat this one.

if you're looking for the best burger you'll have in your life, here's the place to get it! frank stitt is one of the best chefs so it's a treat to go to this french inspired restaurant. get there early though as they don't take reservations and the restaurant fills up fast! great wine selection too and excellent service! hands down one of the best in birmingham!

my fav fine dining restaurant in bham so far! it doesn't feel too stuffy even though the main dining room is one room together with the bar, there is outdoor seating and usually minors in the mix so it feels like an upscale family-friendly restaurant which i think was the aim. you can play boules out back, sit at the bar or have a six course meal. definitely posh-nosh and vegetarians won't be disappointed.

a fifteen dollar hamburger? yep worth every penny of it. one of the best hamburger i have ever had. i will say it was one of the noisy restaurant i have been.

i really like this place. the only think that i do not like, is the fact that they do not take reservations. i have been there a couple of times and had to sit at the bar-still we enjoyed our croque monsieur, croque madame and drinks very much.