Le French Diner

When the wait at the restaurant we wanted to go was ridiculously we turned to Unilocal 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.

My absolute favorite place to chill out and eat well. Chef cooks with love; she’s quiet and cute. I’ve only frequented Le French a handful of time over the past 2 years, and the staff remembers me in detail every time. Only show this place to your inner circle. It’s that kinda special.

Adorable romantic small little restaurant — great food and friendly vibe.

Very small cozy space. Friendly staff. Excellent food and good wine options.

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.

My favorite French restaurant hands down. The food is delicious and the atmosphere is intimate, perfect for a date. My only complaint is that the space can feel a bit cramped. Great food, great atmosphere, great staff, I would totally recommend it, especially if you liked zucco’s.

Okay, this place gets 6 out of 5 stars for atmosphere. It’s just that awesome. Maybe 7 out of 5 because of the chef’s playlist.
But there are a couple of problems that actually make it unlikely we’ll be back. First, the food is only «pretty good.» That isn’t an insult by any means, but the steak was crazy salty (and I like salty). Second, while the chef (owner?) is obviously a cool guy, his friends sometimes hover over the bar – the main eating area, which: (A) crowds you while you’re eating; (B) is a bummer because they apparently smoke a lot. So you are smelling smoke from dudes crowding your space while you’re trying to eat.
Good food, great concept, great neighborhood. But not worth a return.

This is a little gem in the lower east side! The service and food were fantastic, our every need was looked after from start to finish. The food is French home cooking, and the portions are reasonably sized so you’ll walk away feeling satisfied but not overstuffed. Highly recommend for a date night!

After trying to do a walk in at Dirty French for table of 4 at 7:30PM failed us… We stumbled upon this cute little gem. The place is very small and can probably seat no more than 20 people. Luckily they had a table for us when we walked in. Menu was diverse and was a decent size considering how small the place was.
We ordered 3 apps, 3 entrees and one dessert to share and everything was delicious! The size of their kitchen is like a tiny NYC apartment one. But they are on top of their service and food execution.

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.

This is the third time I felt compelled to come to Unilocal after eating here, which if probably the most I have ever thought about loving a place so much I want to tell people about again and again. Amazing food, great wine and some of the friendliest staff possible. Everyone treats you like a regular.

If you’re looking for a really unique, French dining experience in a cool neighborhood — look no further! This place is tiny, cozy and has a fun, laid back environment. The waitstaff is knowledgeable and attentive. It does get crowded so if you want to eat dinner, get there early (before 7 p.m.). My husband and I went there for dinner with two friends the other night and had really great wine and food we’ve never seen on a menu before, like bone marrow — which we of course ordered (and it was delicious! but essentially, fat…). We split 3 entrees and appetizers between the 4 of us and we were satisfied (not stuffed). The steak was the best of the entrees we had — get it as the chef recommends. Everything was really flavorful and artfully put together, which was surprising given how tiny the kitchen is. You literally have to go into the kitchen and be back to back with the chef to get to the bathroom, it’s that small! We arrived during happy hour which gives you a cheese board with your first bottle of wine. My complaints of this place are the portions — they’re pretty small, but hey, you’re eating like a French person, so it’s certainly what they bill it as. It’s also pretty pricey, and CASH ONLY, which is always a bit of a bummer. The prices on the wines aren’t very clearly listed — at one point we thought we’d accidentally gotten a $ 70+ bottle of wine, but it ended up being just $ 46 (phew!). There are only a few tables so like I said, get their early if you want to sit and eat. I wouldn’t suggest this place for dinner with a group larger than 5. It’s in a fun area of the East Village, so after dinner there are lots of bars closeby to visit. I would recommend this place for a special date night when you’re willing to splurge a bit or a night out with a few close girl friends who want to try new types of food (not picky eaters) and get a cool, memorable dining experience.

Exceptional in every way.
Great food — freshly prepared in front of you.
Atmosphere — small cosy restaurant run by a French couple.
Wine — small selection but all 3 bottles we had was great.
Service — second to none.
Favourite restaurant in NYC to date!

Great little french kitchen in Orchard st. Ee had the steak. A no bullshit piece of meat. Perfectly grilled and seasoned. Served with a square af layered, ovenbaked creaminduced potatoes. Thumbs up.

Great food and atmosphere. My favorite is the grilled octopus, never had such tender ones before! Try the grilled daurade too. I’m not a fan of escargots but my friends lived them. And of course you must finish with the chocolate mousse!
They have a lot of regular customers that come every week or twice a week, you’ll become one too!
Great place for a date ;)

I’m confused because of all these 5 star reviews.
The food was nothing to write home about. The ingredients tasted fresh but not enough flavors for me to like. We ordered the duck rillettes (recommended by people sitting behind us), seared foie gras, the lamb and some fish (i forget). Everything pretty bland. Maybe I ordered the wrong items. But the restaurant is very cute and the server was nice.
It’s cash only!

UNBELIEVABLE DINNER. A hidden gem with amazing food and staff.
Bluefish Tartine — out of this world
Duck Confit — amazing, cooked perfectly
Lamb Neck — tender and delicious
Can’t wait to go back!

What an incredible dinner. I stumbled upon this little spot while perusing the Lower East Side. I made a note that I had to come back here for dinner. I’m SO glad I did. The food, the service, the ambience was incredible. The razor clam appetizer was to die for. The hangar steak was delicious but the lamb was the true star. The entire meal was cozy and perfect and felt like I was in the middle of Paris. The servers helped us pick delicious wine to accompany our meal and the panna cotta at the end was the perfect finish.
I just can’t say enough good stuff about this little spot. Perfection.
Note: cash only and it’s a tiny little spot — take a date here, not a giant party.

My first time back since the days of Zucco and the food, wines, staff and atmosphere remain charming and above average! The menu is notably different (sad to see no more frites though the healthier options mean regular visits here will be less indulgent). Mainly French bistro classics mixed in with some fresher Mediterranean twists (explained by the Turkish chef), all at super reasonable prices. Highly recommend the escargot (super generous portion!), octopus, and dorade.
Setup is still the same — one bar and only a handful of tables — but my date and I had no trouble sitting on a Friday night around 8:30pm. Love that this place still seems under the radar; my husband and I will definitely make it our new go-​to! We’ve only been a couple times which is why I’m still keeping the review at 4 stars.

They changed owners in 2011, I had an amazing steak and decided to go back but the guy said that dish is not from them and promised that his was better, haha. The steak there was good but since the other steak was so long ago; I can’t really compare the two. We had a party of 7, luckily on a Saturday night we were able to do a walk in. The owner (?) was nice enough to ask two people to move to a different table in order for us all to fit at the bar.
Drinks, they have mostly wine and beer, nothing else but coke, I stuck with water since I don’t really like wine w my food. We had a flat bread that was quite small, it was decent for an appetizer but not something I care to have again. Friends had escargot and it was decent too but a bit better than the flat bread. The hanger steak was really good but what I loved most was the creamy potato that came on the side on the dish. We wanted to share between 3 of us and got the hanger steak and rabbit dish but the rabbit portion was small between the 3 of us that even with the steak it wasn’t enough. I recommend getting your own entrée plus 1 or 2 appetizers to share but start with 1 to be safe! The owner (?) highly recommended the squid next but it’s a bit spicy he said and as I can’t handle anything spicy, we just got another hanger steak. It’s his favorite dish so if you’re in for a bit spicy, do try… Even though I didn’t have it to recommend it: P.

I came here and sat at the 3 empty bar seats with friends. The bartender smiled as we got situated. The bar manager whispered to him and then he said we couldn’t sit there since those seats had been reserved. He offered to move us to the lounge we said no since we only wanted one quick drink. He said sorry then winked at me like I should be happy about being turned away from an empty bar. There was no one waiting for seats.
This was my first time here and I will never go back.

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 entrée. 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.

I am sorry, but this place is not Zucco and I didn’t realize this wasn’t Zucco anymore.
I have eaten here several times before when it was still Zucco and now it Le French Diner.
If I would have known this before I decided, I wouldn’t haven chose to come here for dinner with W and F.
I got escargot and F and W never tried it and this place is the second time I had really bad escargot. It was super bitter and had a weird aftertaste. I was disappointed, because this made F and W wary about trying escargot ever again.
Grilled Octopus — Are you freaking kidding me, the price of this was like $ 20 bucks I believe and they gave you two tiny little tentacles and it wasn’t good.
Grilled Mussels — they were served cold, this was actually decent.
The hanger steak was better than the other stuff, but that’s not even saying much and W ordered Medium and got rare.
The only thing that I really couldn’t stop eating were the potatoes that came with hanger steak, which I believe were potato au gratin.
Really disappointed that this place is no longer Zucco, didn’t know this until Unilocaling this right now.
But I knew something was different after trying their food, but now it has been confirmed.

Been here twice and it is fantastic!!! Small and intimate, love watching the chef at her craft! Menu changes but never disappoints. Nice but limited wine selection and affordable ! Vive la France

The restaurant recently re opened. The food was incredible!!!
The super tiny place is smaller than your living room, and still fits up to 15 or 20 people. We sat down at the bar and spent a marvelous time here. Arthur, the owner, was really nice and welcoming. The menu choices are limited but all sound delicious ! We had the sired foie gras ($ 22), duck rillette ($ 12) and shared a steak and fries ($ 26). The food was delicious and tasty, and give you a great tour of French specialties. The wine was also really good!
The only ‘negative’ point was the smell on our clothes as the place is tiny with an open kitchen. But really a detail and worth it for the amazing food that is served here. Cash only.