La Mangeoire

Excellent lunch today at La Mangeoire — artichoke soup, rigatoni with ratatouille, and pommes frites. I have always enjoyed this restaurant, which has consistently served delicious French country fare for years. The décor is very nice and takes you immediately out of midtown Manhattan and into a cozy and hospitable environment. The service is excellent.

We had Christmas dinner here, based on several online recommendations, and it was excellent!

Very much enjoyed La Mangeoire. My family did their prix-​fixe Thanksgiving dinner. The pâté was great and a large serving for just one person, and they didn’t skimp on the cornichons. I also had the pork medallions which we cooked perfectly and full of flavor. The complimentary anchovy paste that comes with the breadbasket is stellar. And on top of everything, the service was wonderful. Very friendly and perfectly timed.

Just had the Thanksgiving specials. The food was very good. The waiters friendly. All ok.
But please don’t recycle the bread from the bread baskets. We sat at the table where you can see the waiters prep — they just threw the left over bread from the bread baskets back in the warmer, that is not ok

Just left having dinner here with my husband. Their dishes are traditional French Country– filling, tasty, incredible. He had the coq a vin and I had a special entrée with soup for an appetizer. We spent our honeymoon touring the French wine regions and this made me feel nostalgic– authentic and delicious. A bit pricy– but it’s NYC. Excellent service and will definitely be back again. A romantic and QUIET and delicious dinner in NYC– it’s rare to find a great combo of all three.

There are many restaurants that serve excellent food but very inconsistently. This restaurant over many years has consistently served fine French
food, outstanding service, pleasant atmosphere and a welcoming owner. For many years they had the same chef who recently retired and I’m happy to report that the new chef continues this excellent tradition. Over the years we have recommended and introduced this restaurant to many friends all of whom have become regular customers. The noise level permits you to engage in conversations.
The menu is large enough so everyone can have a choice and the specials are excellent. At our recent dinner the appetizer of baby calamari was great as was the salad. It is difficult to find excellent calves liver today but they have done so –excellently prepared. The monthly special of veal stew was fabulous. Finally– was one of our favorite deserts Profiteroles aux Noisettes with a cappuccino.
We will be back soon.

La Mangeoire is one of the rare restaurant in New York, where you can appreciate traditional french country cooking at a high level.
It has kept consistent quality for a few decades. In an era of nitrogen, macro molecular bandwagon that many chefs seem to have jumped on .This place is a breath of fresh air and transcends that sometimes «less is better» and is the testimony of why classic french cooking is the base for all aspiring chefs.
Foie Gras, Home made Pates, Classic Coq au Vin, Calves Liver, Rabbit or Roasted Chicken are featured on their menu. Luscious sauces, and earthy soups are all perfectly prepared with the same precise touch that young michelin apprentices would execute their Escoffier training to the letter.
If you are in a mood to enjoy a good French red wine, before devouring an excellent Coq au Vin, with the mandatory Assiette de Fromage at the end of a meal, and it is all you need. That restaurant would be a show stopper.
Christian Delouvrier when he left L“Espinasse was at the reins of their kitchen for many years and brought his culinary skills in this restaurant. You can tell that he has handed his talent to his successor, and left his undeniable legacy in the quality and execution of the food.
Service staff is mature and professional and mostly french, they have a very courteous demeanor and are elegantly friendly, and politely yield with grace, not trying to push when you correctly order a meal and a bottle of wine.
The décor and atmosphere are warm and convivial, and make you feel that you are in an country side Auberge in France. Prices are in the midrange, so you don’t actually put a dent in your wallet and could see yourself returning several times in a month…

The place has a cute design, the atmosphere is quite pleasant. However, the food menu is the resemblance of a transatlantic flight snack menu and the wine list is a rival to the unbridged Oxford dictionary. Be prepared to spend some bucks.

Maybe this place is hit or miss, but this was our first time here, and it was definitely a hit! We sat on the patio on a beautiful Sunday evening, after going for a bike ride and run, so we were a little sweaty and under-​dressed, but nobody seemed to mind. The service was superb with close attention to filling our wine and water. The two dishes we ordered were amazing. Truly some of the best food we have ever had. The scallops were perfectly cooked and the flavor was great. The most incredible dish was the striped bass in truffle sauce. Absolutely fantastic. Neither of us could believe how good it was. They also served olives, tapenade and oil with the bread, which added a nice touch. The restaurant is very expensive, but you have to get used to that in NYC, especially this area. I hope if you go, you are as lucky as we were.

Very mixed feelings about this place. I got the pâté platter, scallops entrée and berry panna cotta.
Pâté — really really good. There are two types and also a lot of pickles and salami on the side. Bread could be a little crispier but it was already really good for the price!
Scallops — very very salty. So salty that I left half of the dish untouched. Not sure what happened here.
Panna cotta — quite good, right level of sweetness and consistency.
Overall I enjoyed the meal (ignoring the scallops I guess).

The Quick: Very average French restaurant with under-​seasoned food and a cute atmosphere. 2.5 stars. Overpriced.
The Details: Everything at this restaurant was good; not bad, not great, just good. There’s definitely potential to be great, but the food was so under seasoned that I had to add a heavy hand of salt and pepper.
The escargot had a good sauce but this also needed more salt and was too chewy (never a great texture for snails). The sea bass also had potential with truffle mushrooms, but was uninspiring. My friends enjoyed the scallops which were extremely large and came in a creamy pink sauce.
The only real winner here was the Apple crêpe toppedwith gelato for dessert. It was spectacular. It was also nice that their entrées came and half portions which were great size if you had an appetizer.
The Damage: $ 145 + tip for 3 people with no drinks, 3 half portion entrees and 2 appetizers. I was unimpressed and spent a good amount of money; I do not plan to return.

It had been a decade since we were last here, but the only thing that has changed, in appearance and quality is, … well, me…: (
It was so nice to be back to this charming restaurant, surrounded by its plastered treatments over wheat, giving the walls an organic texture and where the art was the same as was the flower arrangement –larger than life and something I had always looked forward to seeing.
But lets cut to he chase – YES! They still had Casiss White wine (not to be confused with crème de casiss) on the menu, albeit up in price over a decade ($ 75), but my guess is you will not find this delicious white wine anywhere outside of Cassis, France. and it is well worth the price for a piece of this Cote d’Dzur experience.
I had the escargot for a starter (c’est magnifique!). My wife had the coq au vin (quite delicious) and I had the Grouper over a bed of vegetables – everything cooked to perfection and the tastes beyond the adjectives I could describe.
As always, the service was perfection. The timing is perfection and the overall experience of never feeling rushed and given all the time to luxuriate over fine dining, well, to get all that you would need to be in France.
For dessert, we shared the Tart au Citron (Lemon) on a glaze of red berry and assorted cheeses. Oh God, I want more.

Service — great, no complaints. They took our coat on this rainy and cold Monday.
Food, okay… Not great I was expecting more from the «Michelin guide restaurants that are worth visiting» sign out front. My tuna Tartar was very unseasoned although the tuna was very good quality, I found the dish to be very bland. My husbands French onion soup was delicious on the other hand. Entrees, I had the red snapper special over powered by the sauce that tasted like bacon– it didn’t compliment the dish at all and it would of been better without it. My husbands steak was cooked perfectly– good portion size, fries were delicious but I felt like I got cheated on with my choices.
Overall we had a bottle of wine 2 apps and 2 entrees for $ 200. Be prepared to spend.
Overall a 3 star average because it was not the worst but certainly not the best.

Came here for our anniversary (after having gone on our honeymoon to France), and it did not disappoint. My husband got the duck special and I got the sea bream. Both were delicious, and the desserts were the real stand out. Port, chocolate mousse, and a lemon tart. Delicious. The best part was the service we got. It was a busy Saturday night and we had to wait for our food a bit, but it was understandable (in France it’s the norm). The waiter kept us informed and kept our wine glasses full and comped our port even though we would have been happy anyway. I would recommend it to anyone! Not far from major tourist areas, but doesn’t feel touristy.

My friend and I went here Sunday night for dinner. The atmosphere is old school cheesy French. The food is very expensive but it didn’t taste as good as the price. We got the pâté and grilled calamari salad and neither were that good. The steak was our main and it wasn’t good. We sat outside and the other patrons and waiter were all smoking near by. I had to ask the other patrons to please move away from us as the waiter was smoking near by as well. I wouldn’t go back.

It was Saturday brunch, everything was full in Midtown. We were walking in 2^nd avenue so we gave it a chance. We sat and ordered a crock madame with the mimosa included in the brunch menu. One second later, there was huge cockroach in the table full of people in from of us. Horrible big cockroach in the mirror next to a lady that was about to throw up. Three waiters took to exterminate the insect. One second later I started eating my crock madame. Horrible experience. Why when we see a cockroach or a rat in restaurant we get so upset? Because it is really nasty to see those animals in the same place that you are eating. They say lots of kitchens in restaurants everywhere has rats.

A hidden gem!
I’ll admit that I don’t make it to this neighborhood very often, but when I do, I insist on at least a glass of wine at La Mangeoire.
Stepping into this place is like stepping into another world– everyone is speaking French and seems to go way back with each other. The energy is totally infectious!
Their food is old-​school French country in the best possible way. Order whatever they have on special (I recently had spring lamb and an awesome, AWESOME foie gras dish) and be sure to trust your server’s wine recommendations. Chat up the owner, Gerard, if you have a chance!
La Mangeoire accepts Cover, which makes it easy to pay and go when you’re ready after all of that delicious and rich French food!

Rounding out a birthday week of iconic culinary institutions we decided to patronize this classic French country restaurant in New York sans Christian Delouvrier. Had the evening’s 2 specials, beef bourguignon and pork belly after a starter of escargot. Finished with profiteroles. Can’t get any more country comfort than this on a gloomy sleet-​ridden night. Merci beaucoup Monsieur Gerard for your hospitality. Felt like you and your staff were innkeepers and we were hungry weary travelers who were warmed and nourished by your stove.

I have been here a number of times here over the years. I can’t swear to it, but the authenticity quotient felt higher on the most recent visit for a Tuesday lunch with a group from work.
There is a prix fixe which includes the soup of the day, and entrée — your choice of a croque madame, mussels, or one other choice, plus coffee for $ 25.
The peasant style bread is warm, and accompanied by some provencal olives, tapenade and a bit of olive oil, it will keep you busy until the starters come.
I went for the soup of the day, which was a potato leek purée, but skipped the prix fixe for a lovely aioli platter with cod and assorted vegetables. The aioli itself could have used a bit more garlic.
I washed it down with a nice white from the Roussillon.
A double espresso was on point.
Service was quite attentive, but the meal took longer than expected. Some of the items seemed a bit pricey.

The 3 star review is, obviously, for my own experience. While I really did enjoy the rustic, French countryside ambiance of the restaurant. which was the main reason I chose to take my girlfriend there for her birthday. where we actually sat wasn’t the best spot. Even after I told them it was for her birthday when I made the reservation, they sat us right by the open door/​window by the street, on a cold rainy night. It just wasn’t pleasant. And when I asked about moving, they said they were all booked.
The food was just okay, nothing to rave about. She got the mussels and I got the coq au vin. She did really enjoy their version of the escargot with the tomato confit.
As for service, while the waiters were nice enough, they didn’t really have much to say for suggestions or help with menu items. Just kind of took our orders and would check on us every now & again.
I really wanted this place to be great, but this first experience for us unfortunately wasn’t. I think I’d be alright to give them another shot though.