Le French Diner

“For the main course i had the and the hanger steak with gratin dauphinois which was the perfect thing to have on this cold night.”

“theres just a few tables and some bar seating which makes for a very cozy and intimate experience, great date spot.”

“The grilled octopus was stellar – was expecting a rubbery consistency but was lightly crunchy on the outside but tender on the inside.”

Le French Diner

Take-out: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes

Price range.

$$ Price range $11-30

5 reviews

  1. 15 seats
    Spectacular food
    Spectacular wine
    Intimate
    Cozy

    This place is crazy good. I was totally blown away by the quality of my dish for dinner, an utterly perfectly crafted bowl of beef bourguignon accompanied by some high quality chewy bread seared just beyond toasted, a tiny bit of blackened goodness that paired perfectly with the rich beef broth, potatoes and carrots. And look, I'm no rookie. Three extended trips to Paris, a lifetime of eating fine food and trying to cook the same. So my question to one of the two people working this small eatery, "OK, what in the hell did you do to this beef to get it so perfectly moist, so tender, so succulent, so melt-in-the-mouth perfect?" His answer: "those are beef cheeks." Ahhhh. No wonder, but this is still not an easy task to bring to it that level.

    I asked for a wine to pair with my entree. He suggested a Domaine des 2-Deux Anes Corbieres which was simply spectacular. I looked it up online and the description can't be written any better: "Blue-black in the glass with a deep purple rounding the rim. Scents of red and black fruit intermingle with Blueberry ink, a warm note of garrigue, pine and pounded limestone. The palate is a delectable expression of juicy plum, blackberry, black cherry and deft flavors of sweet herbs. A buoyant note of minerality emerges near the finish and that is given a nice boost by the wines silken acidity."

    Next time I'm in NYC I'm making a bee-line here with my two girls and we're going to make an evening of it. There's genius going on here. Experience it before the crowds find out. Next time I'll start with the foie gras. Can't wait.

  2. i love this little gem of a place. theres just a few tables and some bar seating which makes for a very cozy and intimate experience, great date spot. We sat at the bar which is where i would recommend you choose to sit since you get a view of the kitchen and get to speak to the bartender about the different menu items.

    We tried the foie gras torchon, which was really good. I'm used to having foie gras as a hot fatty hunk, but this was made more in a solid pate form and it went perfectly with our fresh baked bread. we also tried the pork rillettes which was really good too, similar to the foie gras, its a fuzzy porky pate which, combined with a hunk of the foie gras on a piece of bread is pure decadence.

    for our main meal we shared the lamb, and i think we were just so full from the foie gras and pork rillettes we couldn't fully appreciate the dish. it did not impress us as much as the appetizers, and i think next time we might skip the entrees and stick to the appetizers. the entire crew is one chef, one bartender and one waiter and they work like a well oiled machine, we never felt like we were waiting for a drink or meal. i really enjoyed the food and atmosphere of this place and would definitely come back for more.

  3. A very small cozy intimate place which seats no more than 15 people. Bar seatings, 2 high tables and a table of 4 by the window. Great for a date spot, not fancy and not for large groups. One chef and one waiter. The chef cooks out in the open for every one to see. For starters, we shared the Escargot which came with 2 pieces of grilled bread. It was good but I wished it was seasoned more. It took awhile for our entrees, but given the fact that it was only 1 chef, i'll let that slide. I ordered the Duck Confit with duck fat potatoes. My only issue was the skin on the duck. I just wished it was a little bit more crispier because it was quite fatty. The duck fat potatoes were awesome and generous amount too! My husband ordered the Beouf Bourguignon (Beef Burgundy). This was so rich and flavorful that he cleaned the whole plate. Over all, we enjoyed our dinner. PS: cash only.

  4. The server was very knowledgeable and had a true passion for working there. He could explain each ingredient in detail. He was also very fast and friendly. The food was very good and they had an interesting and unique selection of times. I had a type of duck spread and my friend had a type of pork spread. They are most famous for their octopus. I will return for sure. there is bar seating, elevated table seating, and one or two small tables. This would be a good date place.

  5. When the wait at the restaurant we wanted to go was ridiculously we turned to yelp to find another restaurant that was in the area.  We saw that this restaurant got good reviews so we decided to come here.  The restaurant was located on a quiet street and wasn't too hard to find.  We were kind of shocked at how small this restaurant was but luckily there was no wait.  This restaurant only consisted of 2 small table, 1 big table and some bar seats.

    We were seated right away.  We were not given menus because they didn't have any.  They just pointed to the board on the wall where the top boards were small plates while the bottom board were the entrees.  We decided to try their grilled octopus and hangar steaks.  The grilled octopus was delicious but very small portion.  Only had two pieces of tentacles.  It was flavorful and chewy.  The hangar steaks were ok. Pricey for the portion size given.  The steak was a little salty.  The side of potato had a strong aroma of butter.  It was really buttery.

    Overall, the food quality was above average but a little on the pricey side.  Service was pretty good through out the evening up until when the server did not give me my correct change back.  I was supposed to receive 21 and some change back but our server did not give me the coins and did not mention anything about it.

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Orchard Street 188
New York 10002 NY US
Get directions
Monday, 5:30 pm - 12:00 am
Tuesday, 5:30 pm - 12:00 am
Wednesday, 5:30 pm - 12:00 am
Thursday, 5:30 pm - 12:00 am
Friday, 5:30 pm - 12:00 am
Saturday, 5:30 pm - 12:00 am
Sunday, 5:30 pm - 11:00 pm