Allô French Rotisserie opened in November in Vintage Park, the far Northwest Houston shopping center that’s pretty much a clone of Uptown Park on the West Loop. Vintage Park has taken a while to get on its feet. The wing of the center where Allô is located was nearly empty last fall; now those spaces are all filled with new businesses. I don’t know whether Allô’s opening had anything to do with that, but that spark of restaurant life in the center sure doesn’t hurt.

The casual French cafe has, from the onset, taken off like a business primed for growth. Once you get inside, you’ll see their striking red and white logo everywhere, even on the wrappers of the chocolate bars for sale at the counter and the salt and pepper grinders on the dining tables. It would not surprise me if a second location opened within a year, or if it becomes a franchise.

I’ve enjoyed my visits to Allô. It reminds me of La Madeleine, but I like Allô much more. There’s better service, for starters. You order at the counter, but once that’s done, all the rest happens at your table. That makes for a more graceful experience if you decide to order more drinks or a dessert. There’s no hopping up and getting back in line to accomplish such minor things. Servers who are both well-trained and friendly bring the food, refill your wine glasses and attend to the rest of your dining needs.

There’s a line of four branded wines on tap: house red blend, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. I don’t see wines on tap often, but it’s an environmentally friendly way to do it: no bottles, caps, labels or corks. I was impressed when our waiter was able to tell me which grapes made up the blend (Petit Syrah and Gamay). A different waiter, noticing my interest in wine, brought me a sample of a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc that he’s enthusiastic about. The tap wines are available by the half glass, glass, half carafe and carafe, and while the house blend won’t change your life, at $23 for a carafe it’s just fine for two people over a weekday meal.

The rotisserie program features a different meat every day. On our visit a week ago Sunday, roast pork was wonderfully tender with a browned, thin edge of fat and seasonings (photo above). We ordered ratatouille on the side. Allô’s rendition consists of neat, individual slices of eggplant, yellow squash, zucchini with some tomato and herbs thrown in. I liked it. I liked it even more with a little salt. More impressive was the other side dish, the Dauphinoise potatoes, a creamy, dense, au gratin preparation with enough garlic and sharp cheese to bring it completely to life. It was like a savory hunk of potato cake.

We also ordered the excellent shepherd’s pie (photo below). The meat was fascinating to me, for the shredded lamb and beef combination had not a whit of gristle and was seasoned with cinnamon and nutmeg. It would have been perfectly at home in a Moroccan b’stilla, even though those stuffed filo pies are traditionally made with poultry. The mashed potato topping was downright pretty. Areas here and there were browned and there were scatterings of cilantro, cheese and breadcrumbs that added color to the dish.

Not everything here is noteworthy. The trio of spreads that we ordered for an appetizer was edible but laughable. The presentation was awful; three glops on a plate with toasts. Why not use a compartmentalized dish to corral the dips or put each in a little ramekin? The dips weren’t much better than they looked. Salt cod brandade had a pasty consistency and refused to stick to a toast without some help from a utensil. The Niçoise olive dip was basically just that; olives that had been through a blender. With nothing to cut the brine, it was really salty, although we figured out that adding it to the brandade helped both. The red pepper hummus was unremarkable. I’ve had better from the grocery store.

The so-called blue cheese salad dressing, pureed and missing any tell-tale cheese chunks, was indistinguishable from ranch dressing.

An indulgent pear and almond tart made up for these little oversights (photo below). I had to laugh, though, at the big spoonful of whipped cream that had been dumped on top with no artistry at all. On the other hand, it’s real whipped cream, and that’s worth a lot. Allô’s branding program is so slick that I find it almost comforting to see a homespun touch here and there. It reminds me that I’m eating food that was hand-made by real people.

Those complaints, however, are the only ones I have. We’ve tried the mussels, rotisserie chicken, escargots and steak frites as well, and I would order every single one of them again. Prices are reasonable as well. A carafe of house wine, one appetizer, two entrées and a dessert put us back a little over $60, and we had enough shepherd’s pie leftover to take home.

Allô is trying to be a lot of things. In addition to all of the above, there’s a cocktail program, and the collection of products for sale at the ordering counter mystifies me a bit. (Cheese crackers from Salem, North Carolina, Belgian chocolates and Italian coffee?) But as long as they can pull off everything successfully and their customers appreciate them, who cares? I’m thrilled that there’s a new, casual French cafe in town. Hello, Allô!

Allô, 126 Vintage Park Blvd., 832-843-7422, eatatallo.com