Camille's Sidewalk Cafe Review

Once upon a time two girls walked into a sidewalk cafe on a quiet snowy Monday.

Hold on! A sidewalk cafe...in the snow??

When Christine and I walked into Camille's Sidewalk Cafe, the atmosphere was cozy and filled with Christmas music. Camille's definitely brings in the lunch break crowd, and the business was in full swing. Specializing in wraps, paninis, and sandwiches, Camille's mainly draws in females of all ages. So all you single guys, this is a chance to keep your eyes open for a quick conversation and hopefully make a big impact on a pretty gal.

Although we both have been to Camille's before, we took a moment and squinted at the printed menu behind the counter before placing our orders. I settled on the Napa Chicken Panini ($6.95) and added a cup of Gouda and Red Pepper Soup ($2.75). Christine attempted to order the Chicken California Wrap ($5.95) and a Jingle Java Latte ($3.50), a festive holiday feature.

We slid our coats and bags into a booth and went back up toward the front to wait for our numbers to be called.

When we sat down with our baskets the first thing Christine commented on was the functional presentation. It was a classic setup with a printed logo tissue sheet, the sandwich, tri-colored chips accompanied with a togo side of salsa, and the mini bowl of soup on my entree.

Our first bites were nothing more than ordinary. However, Christine's wrap was extra ordinary only because it was not the one she ordered. The California Wrap is a blend of romaine lettuce, grilled chicken, black olives, carrots, provolone, and honey-mustard dressing. What she got was the Chicken Caesar Wrap. Even though she verified her number at the counter and asked which plate was hers, her order was wrong. Being the easy-going and ceaser-loving type, she was happy with it.

My panini was much more bland than expected but was tolerable. The herb fococcia bread was crispy on the outside and the provolone was melted on the inside over grilled chicken, sundried tomato pesto paste, mushrooms, and a balsamic glaze. The original setup also calls for raw onions but I passed. Onions are bad enough when diced for cooking purposes and I certainly did not want them lingering on my tastebuds. The diced chicken was flavorless and prepared without any seasonings of any kind. The mushrooms had the texture of the type you buy in a tin can when you're too lazy to prep fresh ones, and the balsamic glaze was too sweet and soaked into the fresh bread like hot tar on a paved road.

Maybe my Aunt Lynda isn't as crazy as I once thought for carrying hot sauce in her purse.

The Gouda Red Pepper Soup was hearty and rich. Thankfully, I enjoy tomato soup, which served as the base, because the description didn't refer to any tomatoes whatsoever. Nevertheless, it made a good dip for my bread and tortilla chips. Even though the soup had a very misleading name, I still found it to be very "good-a."

In the future I will be returning to Camille's. Not because of the food, but because they offer a laid back and casual atmosphere that I find inviting and warm.


Camille's Sidewalk Cafe
1216 West 41st Street
Sioux Falls, SD 57105
(605) 333.9727

Hours:
Monday-Friday
7:30am-9pm
Saturday
8am-9pm
Sunday
9am-8pm