It is not always about fancy food, barbecue, fried chicken, or whatever new shiny restaurant everyone is chasing this week.

Sometimes, it is about a tiny French cafe tucked along one of the most historic stretches of Savannah. A place with good coffee, fresh pastries, handcrafted sandwiches, and maybe one of the more underrated places to sit outside and watch the city happen around you.

That place is Cafe M.

If you have walked along Bay Street near Factors Walk, you may have passed it without realizing what you missed. It sits in the shadow of City Hall, just steps from the Savannah River, in a space that is less than 900 usable square feet. Small? Absolutely. Charming? Even more so.

Cafe M has been around since late 2015, originally opened by a French couple who eventually moved on to Philadelphia. These days, the cafe is owned by Cristine Tindall, who took over in 2021 after a 21-year career in the military. Was owning a tiny French cafe in Savannah always the plan?

“In short, no and no,” she says. “This was probably not on the plan, but it is kind of an opportunity that presented itself.”

That opportunity came while she was deployed in Kuwait during COVID. With time to research, review the business, and figure out what came next, Cafe M eventually found its way onto her radar. Funny enough, she had never even been to Savannah until October of 2020.

“It was crazy, just sort of crazy,” she says.

Crazy or not, it worked.

Cristine did not come in and try to reinvent what already had a loyal following. In fact, she says the menu is “holistically almost the same” as it was before. There have been some additions, some specialty drinks, rotating quiches, and local artist items in the retail space, but the heart of Cafe M remains intact.

The draw? Specialty coffee, pastries, and light-but-satisfying food that will not knock you out for the rest of the day. Think croissants, pain au chocolat, quiche, breakfast sandwiches, and the popular Parisian sandwich. Cristine also points to the Normandiana croissant, with brie, pear, and ham, as a fan favorite.

“Our quiches are made in-house,” she says. “Pastries being the most popular.”

And then there is the view. Cafe M has only a handful of seats inside and out, but those outside seats give you a front-row look at one of Savannah’s most historic corridors. Factors Walk is all around you. City Hall is right there. The river is nearby. It is very much one of those “only in Savannah” experiences.

Yes, costs have gone up. Yes, small businesses like this are constantly juggling prices, value, and what customers are willing to pay. But Cafe M continues to be one of those places that feels personal, local, and worth slowing down for.

As Cristine says, when locals come out, “we’re so grateful.”

And honestly, that is reason enough to stop by. You can listen to our entire conversation with Cristine for our Eat It and Like It Podcast above.

Cafe M
128 East Bay Street
Savannah, GA
CafeMSavannah.com

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