Jacquie's Cafe

Jacquie’s is a place I have driven by several times and wondered about, so when my friend Suzanne mentioned it, I was game. The menu looked like it had some nice lunch options—and they also serve breakfast and apparently do catering.

I had a hard time choosing what to get so I ended up going with a combo—a cup of soup and a half sandwich ($9.25). I had the broccoli cheese soup (sounded so good on a really frigid day). The soup had a decent flavor—lots of hunks of broccoli, and didn’t taste like it was just full of processed cheese like sometimes this kind of soup can, but sadly, it wasn’t warm enough. When you order soup on a cold day, you want it piping hot. This was just a bit more than lukewarm. I liked the herby focaccia slice they served alongside it-it was soft and tasted like it had maybe thyme and a bit of rosemary in it. It could have benefited from being warmed as well, but was ok at room temp.

My ½ tuna salad sandwich came out awhile later and was interesting. I ordered it because I liked the sound of the flavors in it—lime and capers and fresh dill. It did have a nice tangy flavor to it—and there were even little bits of egg mixed in which I thought were interesting and varied the texture slightly—not a ton of dill though. I was bummed that it only came with chips instead of the side salad option that the menu suggested, because I liked the Champagne vinaigrette and mixed greens that Suzanne got with her meal (she gave me some bites).

Speaking of, her lunch was a special—chicken pot pie ($10.50). Again, sounded great on a cold day. Again, not hot enough. Just a little above lukewarm as well. I liked the puff pastry top (I’m a sucker for puff pastry). The inside was mostly a sort of creamed chicken mix—not a lot of veggies in there—a bit of carrots and corn perhaps? I only had a little.

We also had an order of the fries ($3.75), which came with basil aioli and red pepper aioli (well, you’re supposed to get one, but we asked for both. The fries were just ok—your standard thin foodservice fries without any real seasoning on them. They were hot though. The aiolis were good and made the fries. I preferred the basil one, but they were both good—Both had a lemony flavor as well as the basil/red pepper.

The food was a little hit or miss and needed some tweaks (mainly heat), but the biggest problem of the lunch was the service. It was very scattered and disorganized. We asked for the extra aioli with the fries that came out first (we actually asked when we ordered) and didn’t get it until late in the meal after we asked several more times. Same with my hot tea that came when we were nearly done. Other things came out of the kitchen somewhat haphazardly. 

It’s a cute place though doing a fairly brisk business (mostly women I noticed). Have any of you guys been there? Also, I was recently asked on twitter about other good places in this area. Got any suggestions?

Jacquie’s Cafe 

9840 N. Michigan Road

Carmel  46032

317/283-2776

www.jacquies.net