Brasserie le Cardinal

Excellent service and food. I will visit this restaurant again when I visit Milwaulkee

The best overall higher end restaurant in Neuchatel. This is my first review, but my 4th overall visit at this restaurant. The lamb shank dish was simply marvelous, plenty, and fulfilling! I managed to start with their french onion soup which hit the spot in the cold weather , but it could have simply be my meal for the night!!! I have had really good experience here with their food quality, and great service. The sitting room is also unique and charming. See my pix. The price is higher than average but a few more francs are worth the quality. I have been to at least 10-12 other restaurants in Neuchatel over the past 3-4 years. Le Cardinal is on the top of all of them that I've tried!

Neuchatel restaurants are expensive.

Wait a minute - let me express that more accurately.

Neuchatel restaurants are !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!EXPENSIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And many are not all that great.

Paying a fortune for mediocre fare takes a lot of the fun out of travel.

So after having poisoned myself multiple times for unacceptably large numbers of swiss francs - I asked a good friend in Neuchatel where he/she eats.

The Brasserie le Cardinal was the place that was suggested to me that was reasonably priced.

You are still going to be paying 60-100 swiss francs for two for dinner.

However, the food is excellent and the room is a complete charmer.

First the room. All four walls are beautiful hand-painted tiles that depict wonderful scenes of alpine fields, swans swimming in lakes, birds flying through the trees etc.
You could go to the Cardinal and pretend you are in a museum.

I want my house decorated like the tilework in the Brasserie .

The menu contains a number of Swiss standards (fondue, simple steaks) plus a first rate vegetarian plate plus a number of more elaborate chef specialty dishes.

The fondue is first rate - made with an excellent wine and a complex mixture of cheeses.

It makes the stuff I get in the US look like Cheez-Whiz.

The veal cooked in lemon peel and rhubarb is one of the better veal dishes I have ever had. Fruit makes all meat dishes good - but it does not hurt that they use a first rate quality of veal.

(US veal is - if you are lucky - mediocre - and it goes downhill after that.)

The vegetarian plate is a real winner and makes eating your healthy vegetables a delight. It is a plate full of all the garnishes they put on the other plates plus some fine chickpeas.

And yes - this is not your macrobiotic tasteless good-for-you-semi-raw vegetables.

These are perfectly stir fried or braised little wonders.

Desserts are the standard items available in nearly every Swiss Romande restaurant (Tiramitsu, TarteTatin, Creme Brulee, Chocolate Mousse etc etc)

and are perfectly serviceable.

Between first rate food and a wonderful wonderful room -

we can at least say that if we are going to pay a gold brick for every Swiss meal - at least we get one that is fully worth the gold brick.

This place is amazing, fantastic, great! My favorite restaurant in Neuchatel for good food, good atmosphere and good service. We particularly like Laurent and Gabrielle who are very nice and knowledgeable waiters!! I can't wait to be back!

Very good food and service, but only if you have an appreciation for local cuisine. Mussels, clams, scallops, whole bass, and other options. Seems like a local favorite based on Monday night crowd. Will definitely come back on this trip or next.

The food is good albeit quite basic. The steak frittes is a must and the salad is nicely done. Service was spotty considering the place was not crowded.