chez fon fon

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 thisrestauranthas 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 favoriterestaurantin b'hm but for some reason, the hamburger tasted like fish last night. ?????

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 stittrestaurantand 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 therestaurantwith which the family can play while waiting on a table.
good and dependable restaurant.

greatrestaurantwith 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.

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

awesome. this is such an awesome place. get here early. i understand it is a frenchrestaurantbut 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 therestaurantfills up fast! great wine selection too and excellent service! hands down one of the best in birmingham!

my fav fine diningrestaurantin 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-friendlyrestaurantwhich 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 noisyrestauranti have been.

quite good. just not as good as usual.. last week i went to one of my top 15-20 restaurants in town, cf. it might possibly rank higher, except i have a hard time getting past the glorious hamburger! besides, it is next door to highlands, you know, and that's one of my top 3, without doubt. anyway, back to cf. for an appetizer we had the steak tartare, which is always delicious. thumbs up on that one. for entrées we chose the "glory burger", and the ham and cheese and egg sandwich for the madame. for the first time ever, the burger was a little overcooked and not perfect. funny thing, i just did not care, as even though it was not altogether right, it was still quite good. besides, the ham and egg and cheese sandwich, with fries, was rocking good! i suppose a $14 sandwich should be delicious, but man, that was one good kids meal... i mean, madame meal. one other imperfection was that the service was not quite as good as usual, and we had to ask for an initial basket of bread, which usually arrives while perusing the menu. if you've never had the cf bread, you should. although it's my understanding it is not made by the restaurant, nonetheless, they serve it, and the sourdough wheat is terrific. so, to summarize, a really greatrestaurantserves a pretty good meal, and makes a few imperfections seem not that important, as they have too much good to let a little bit of "pretty good" erase.

perfect dinner for two - split the charcuterie and hamburger fonfon. just do it, with a recommended glass of wine. plenty of food for two people. chez fonfon is one of birmingham's most well-executed restaurants.


-----01 sep, 2012-----

always impressive.... although it is difficult to pass on the hamburger fonfon or steak frites, you will never be disappointed when venturing out and ordering other dishes on the menu. the moules marinieres frites and scamp ratatouille are some other rock-star entrees to try, when they're available. as far as appetizers are concerned, definitely go with the steak tartar, as well as the snails... the escargot is cooked, in garlic butter, to perfection, and topped with a small crouton. the flavor and the texture resembles that of a perfectly cooked, extremely tender, mild, and delicate shrimp or scallop.

the sophisticated staff at chez fonfon is as polished and accommodating as they come, constantly paying close attention to the details of your experience and tweaking every tweak-able nuance, in order guarantee you an enjoyable and satisfying visit. consistency and execution are, obviously, the high-priority goals the staff strives to meet, here, daily.

to other restaurants out there, if you didn't already know, this is how you do it. at the time this review is submitted, 92% of 1038 people "like" this place... that should tell you something.

well done, chez fonfon

.


-----06 aug, 2011-----

get the burger, get the steak. my wife and i just ate at fonfon for the first time, after receiving numerous recommendations from people that share our tastes and appreciation for great food. i can't believe we waited so long to try it...

we started out with an appetizer and shared the baked mussels, which were perfectly cooked. i ordered the hamburger and she ordered the hanger steak... wow!!!

the hamburger comes out medium, if you order it to the chef's taste. it's simple, but incredibly delicious, setting the bar for other burgers. the hamburger fonfon is quite possibly the best hamburger i've ever ate.

the hanger steak was an excellent cut of beef and seasoned to perfection... definitely one of the best (if not the best) steaks in birmingham.

pommes frites were served with each dish... they were prepared correctly and were unbelievably tasty. we could have eaten the pom frites, only, and been 100% satisfied.

in summary, chez fonfon is one of our top, go-to restaurants. the price is very reasonable, compared to stitt's other establishments; so reasonable that would we would have happily paid more for our dinner. i feel comfortable recommending thisrestaurantto anyone. it's phenomenally well done, in my opinion.

hamburger fonfon. i cannot rave enough about this burger. i would say it rivals the burger at ollie irene (one of my absolute favorites).
the thing that makes the fonfon burger great is the great quality of meat and the sauces used when cooking the meat or preparing it. it has a great flavor.
the bread served before the meal was sub-par and i expected more variety with such a high-end trio of restaurants fonfon is involved in.
the fries had the perfect amount of salt and seasonings.
for desert i split the chocolate caramel nut tart. this desert was great and had the perfect combination of flavors, although it did not taste as fresh as i would have liked.
all in all the burger is great, the atmosphere reminds me of a french quarterrestaurantin new orleans or a french cafe.
well priced, with a decent variety.

the description above says romantic. thisrestaurantwas anything but romantic when the voices of so many people are so loud you nearly have to shout to be heard. i guess that means business is good. nice place; but please don't call it romantic.

bartender: best martinis i have had in a long while.

flounder special: very good.
grilled hanger steak with corn-tomato relish and pommes frites: this was okay. the fries were good. the salad was good. the steak was rather tough, but edible. the relish was fantastic!

ran out of buns !?#$%^. i was really looking forward to trying the highly touted "best burger in birmingham", but the night i went to try it they ran out of the brioche buns and i got a crappy store bought sesame seed bun ! seriously for what i paid, i expected a little bit more from a highly toutedrestaurantand so-called celebrity chef ! hopefully they will learn to get enough buns for the dinner service or post a sign outside for customers so they can come back when they have enough buns for everyone that wants a burger. burger was good,but fries were below average.

so so... i heard great things about thisrestaurantand my fiancee and i went on a lunch date here. and unfortunately, food was salty, yet bland. maybe we will give another try, however, for 45 dollars for lunch, therestaurantseemed to be overrated..