Serge

Thank God they’re closed.

Food was not good. The place also had a really old unappealing interior look. This place is a old school french place that will never change.

Great unassuming restaurant. The escargot was a great appetizer. So was the trout entrée. Service was really good.

I came here years ago when it was called Café Crème, food was fine but wasn’t memorable. Came here again today to take my friend out for her birthday because she likes French cuisine. Restaurant was about 80% full around 1pm, we got seated right away and food came pretty quick.
We’ve ordered the lunch prix fix, both with pumpkin ginger soup as starter, my friend had broiled Tilapia with capers and lemon sauce and I had the cheese burger with fries but I wish they have a 3^rd choice like chicken or shrimps. The pumpkin soup was quite nice and hot with a touch of ginger, very good for my leftover cold. Friend said the tilapia was good, my burger felt apart after one bite, the bun was soft and the minced beef patty was not holding up, it turned into crumbs, the taste is not bad and well done as I order it (how could you go wrong with a cheese burger!), french fries was good and we shared a mousse au chocolat for dessert, good also but wish it was colder.
The bill came with a total of $ 52.95, I put in a hundred dollar bill and got $ 7.05 change back. Yes, $ 7.05 change, I showed it to the waiter, at first he says «What?» then says «I put the $ 40 in the back» (back of the restaurant). I just feel funny about this because the cashier is in the front portion of the restaurant, shouldn’t all the change be inside the tab folder? Anyway, I got the correct change back and hope it was just an honest mistake.

i just had lunch here today for the first time. i have to say, i never really wanted to go to this place, as the décor and awning always looked a little forgettable. That said, a rep wanted to take me to lunch, and i always oblige when free food is involved.
I ordered the (well priced) lunch prefix — a mesculin salad and tilapia with capers. My friend ordered the hangar steak (yesss). The mesculin was delicious, but how can you go wrong with a simple salad? Next came my her steak. the waiter suggested medium rare but she has an aversion to blood so ordered it medium. It came out RARE. So she sent it back and it came back medium rare. tolerable but not ideal.
Then i dug into my delectable looking Tilapia. It was ATROCIOUS. I’ve never ever spit out my food at a restaurant in my life. Now, i shouldn’t complain about free food, BUT, i will always complain about not-​so-​fresh food. It was the fishiest, narliest, nastiest tasting thing i have ever eaten. ugh!
When i sent it back the waiter said nothing. He also did nothing. he didn’t bring me another menu, didn’t apologize, didn’t offer anything! i had to grab food off of my friend’s plate and awkwardly slice her leftover meat with a butter knife. When i finally saw him again i ordered some steamed veggies (which ended up being fantastic).
Now all of this could have been remedied quite simply. If i didn’t eat it, then don’t put it on the bill. If it’s bad fish, then don’t serve it to anyone the rest of the day! When we got the bill, it had everything on it, plus a $ 5 cappuccino that neither of us ordered. When i complained, we got blank stares.
he had the nerve to say «if you didn’t like it then that’s not my problem?»
seriously? UGH! they refused to take anything off the bill or even give us a free soda. They finally took my $ 5 veggies off after a bit of whining.
i will never recommend this place to anyone. terrible service, terrible food, terrible ambiance. there are so many amazing places in this city to ever go back.

Came here with a large group for dinner. The good news is that our group was able to be seated without waiting for the very last person to arrive.
The place is quite quaint and since there were two large groups dining (ours and another group) we pretty much took up 2/​3rds of the entire restaurant. If you’re looking for a quiet restaurant dining experience, this restaurant would not be one I’d suggest. With two large groups you’ll have lots of noise and it came to the point where my group was almost screaming to be able to hear each other with the other group seated right across the restaurant (their table was not even 3 feet away from ours). Even after complaining to the wait staff about their decibel levels, they really did nothing and only quieted down to eat.
Ridiculous noise levels aside, the service was mediocre at best. The waitress came around and took our orders, but for anyone not ordering an appetizer she questioned is that it and made those diners feel awkward and almost coerced into ordering a second item. It took her forever to come around and get our drink orders and get us bread to start. Maybe they were understaffed that night, but it was a Saturday evening so I’m not really quite sure. Also when my friend asked for a cocktail menu, we found out they had no cocktail menu but stocked a full-​bar, which was a bit surprising to me.
That aside, the food I will say was pretty decent. My friend got the pâté which I had a chance to sample and it was very good. I got escargot and they were prepared to perfection.
We also both ended up getting the mushroom ravioli (yes in a french restaurant) which I thought were ok, but my other friend enjoyed a lot (I like my pasta a bit more al dente).
While I skipped dessert, my friend had the orange crème brûlée and she enjoyed it though the sugar was a bit too thick on top. I had coffee though and it tasted great as if it was brewed more recently and not sitting around for hours.
The other great thing, had we known in advance is that they would do separate checks for us.
Given that the city is quite crowded and large group dining is a challenge, this place is an option for large-​group dining, but only if service levels were better and noise levels lower.

After a difficult weekend of memorializing our Uncle; my sister, our fav cousin and I decided to have an evening out together and not really care about: calories, alcohol, etc.
And so we decided upon Café Serge… And a very HAPPY decision it was.
The place is «cute». Long and slightly narrow, earthy toned with shades of tan wood trimmings and warm mustardy yellow/​orange walls. Very FUN and LOCAL artists paying homage to the joint.
Very efficient TEAM service. I’m in the restaurant biz in Chicago and saw that everyone were stepping in where appropriate and the service really was TOP NOTCH, considering that one can really «go nutz» at about $ 100 a head but I think the usual tab here hovers more around $ 40 per person.
The menu is very reasonably priced, the big BARGAIN certainly is the Prix-​Fix menu and I was very tempted… But they also had Thumper on the specials. I loves me some rabbit, especially in a mustard braise, but I digress.
Spending a weekend for a funeral in NYC ain’t my idea of a good time. This was a «decompression night» and the staff kinda figured that 1. We’re here to eat and 2. We sorta want to be left to our devices.
Got a bottle of a very tasty Rose with an order of the Frogs Legs Entrée to share and as an app.
REALLY GOOD. Perfectly cooked with a lightly breaded exterior. It’s like eating chicken wings, but not.
Followed up with Beef Carpaccio and their Beet Salad with Fried Coins of Goat Chesse. Beef, very good. Generous shavings of Parmesan (and of good quality) with a lightly dressed mesclun salad.
OK, so maybe the whole Beet and Goat Cheese thing is entirely over done… But it is still a good salad/​flavor combo and this is a good example of WHY you keep ordering the damned thing. Peppery Arugula, coins of breaded and fried goat cheese and lovely roasted beets.
It’s a good salad, so get over it while you are eating your tuna (or variation therof) tartare!
At this point, we ordered a very delicious ’07 Haut Medoc for about $ 45. The wine list is very well chosen and certainly reasonable.
A second bottle is ordered of the red… Calories, alcoholism and diabetes be damned! The poor waitress broke the cork and I gave a lesson on how to extract the cork. These things DO happen and on a sub-​$ 50 btl… I’m not concerned and happy to show others how to recover. The waitstaff is cool and I was appreciative that all three of them wanted to see how I recover a busted cork.
oh c’mon… Like you don’t enjoy «holding court» and getting your ego stroked! Please! Besides, I’m a surgeon with a corkscrew.
Cod (on special) for my sister, Chicken breast for my cousin and Thumper (on special) for me.
Rabbit was excellent. Whole leg and a GOOD SIZED portion of the saddle, braised in wine and mustard with perfectly cooked vegetables. Yes, one DOES have to pick through bones. Welcome to how people USED to eat before it came chopped and formed.
Cod was pan roasted on the skin to a very crisp/​carmelized skin and barely cooked on the flesh… White and not raw, but really just perfectly done. A red wine bordolaise style sauce and buere blanc with market vegetables. Very tasty.
Grilled chicken beast was very good. Frites, caper sauce. Not the most exciting, but perfect and competently cooked.
Desserts: Mousse au Chocolate, Crème Brulée à l’Orange, Coupe «Colonel».
Mousse was very good: Intensely chocolate and good texture. Lemon sorbet and vodka… pretty tough to screw up, unless you are using rubbing alcohol and some pretty craptasic sorbet. Neither was the case and it was very nice as a palate cleanser.
The crème brûlée was outstanding. Good «crack» on the sugary shell and the texture of the crème was sublime. Not too «eggy».
Slightly hammered, entirely stuffed and in bad need of Lipator, we left Café Serge extraordinarily satisfied and comparing the Bistro/​B level dining scene of Chicago vs NYC.
NYC has got us beat.
Café Serge is a VERY fine example of how one can have a very civilized and FUN meal, with very delicious food and it CAN be very reasonable.
Is this the most mind-​blowing, pushing the envelope cuisine? No… And it shouldn’t be. It is well executed and delicious comfort French. One can do it for well under $ 40a head if they choose to.
Considering the VALUE that one can find in NYC and get some really good food… Chicago has suddenly become sorta expensive to dine in.

Great food, but small portions. I went with my parents and it cost us over $ 150, not including tax/​tips…
My mom loves the escargot (app), and my dad enjoyed very much the liver (entrée).
Overall ambiance is great. Very quite and intimate.

I work one block away from this little hidden NYC gem and love coming here on the regular basis. The food is phenomenal. To me, some dishes taste even better than in France. The wine selection is outstanding. Of course, the best part is that you are always greeted by Serge himself who provides a welcoming atmosphere filled with laughter and joy for all.
The service is exceptional as well. The waiters are very polite and get to know your name if you come back for a second or third time.
If you want a little preview of the owner and the restaurant, watch this brief video:

Very pleasant surprise. I’m glad I stumbled upon this restaurant after suffering through an 8-​hour trip from Virginia to NYC (it was only supposed to be like 3 hours!!! WTF). My friend and I knew that the bus would drop us off at Penn Station, and of course the restaurants are usually super expensive and crowded (it was around 7:30pm). So we just wandered around, and saw Serge. Saw the menu — mmm Escargot. And good prices. Good enough for us!
So we walked in. No wait at all. But it’s such a cozy little place. The place was very homey. Just very comfortable. We sat down, got ourselves a nice bottle of wine (good bottle specials!!), escargot (which i always have to get whenever i see it on a menu), and we both got a pasta dish. I got the wild mushroom ravioli and he got the fettuccini with shrimp. Both dishes were perfect! The sauce wasn’t too heavy, and flavor was great.
I think the greatest part about the meal was the atmosphere. I felt so comfortable there and the food was great.

My husband and I dined at Serge last night. The drinks were delicious, if pricey– especially compared with the price of the meals. E.g., the cocktails were about $ 14 each, where the prix fixe meal I had was $ 30. I started with a Ceasar’s Salad — with anchovy, as it should be, thank you very much. Next was my large entrée of mussels in white wine with pomme frites. My husband ordered the mussels (not on the prix fixe menu) as a starter– and impressively, it was the same size as my entrée. For his entrée, my husband had the rib eye steak and was very pleased with the generous portion.
So, great (although pricey) drinks, great food… and the atmosphere was very quaint– I felt like I was in a French bistro. Serge is filled with neighborhood charm (in the Murray Hill area), and not at all trendy. I believe that we were the only tourists at the restaurant. Other diners were older than us, and it seemed as if this was «their spot.» It made me feel quite comfortable, like we had discovered a neighborhood treasure and were dining like the locals.
We were served by two charming and attentive waitresses. I would definitely return to this restaurant, and I’m sure that if I lived in NY, I would be dining here often.
Visited September 2011

Great little place!
Food is prepared to the top standards of any French bistro I’ve tried in NY. Service is attentive and friendly though can be with a little bit of weird French humor but it only adds to the experience. The owner as noted previously is always there and greets you in person. The prices are well reasonable for the location.
Visited twice this year and will be back! Merci!

This is a quaint, little French bistro that is worth the visit.
The food and wine selections are very good and the service is friendly and prompt. We ate so much food I don’t know where to begin with my review. ha! Everything we had was done well, so I will leave it at that.
The owner is a bit quirky, but fun in his own right. He makes it a more informal restaurant that you may expect, but that is a good thing.
bon appetit!

Went here for lunch with a friend recently. We got seated right away but the service was very slow, which I don’t mind for dinner but at lunchtime I have time constraints.
The food was pretty good. I wasn’t that hungry so I just had a onion soup which was delish and cheesy and a side of spinach. My friend had salmon tartare and pomme frites which he liked.

Serge deserves more of a 3.5 than a mere 3 stars.
This was my first time eating French food of any kind ever. I went to the restaurant armed with a kgbdeal, where I paid $ 12 for the prix fix menu. It was a great deal, and has provided a perfect introduction to french cuisine, as Serge is truly a welcoming and delightful restaurant to dine in. My friend and I entered the restaurant about a half hour earlier than our 5:30 reservation, which was perfect because the restaurant got much more busier at around 6:30.
Our waitress was a wonderful, bright and cheery person who made us feel welcome and gave us great recommendations throughout our stay. She started us off with showing the wine list, and my friend subsequently ordered a glass of merlot. We got delicious, warm french bread before we ordered our food. I started off with amazing french onion soup with a scrumptious layer of cheese on top and perfectly tasting dissolved bread inside. It definitely fills you up very fast!
We then moved onto the entrees. My friend got the wild mushroom ravioli. She was afraid that it would get too cheesy for her, but it proved to be perfectly balanced and the mushrooms were not at all overbearing. I got the hangar steak, with a heaping side of french fries and a little salad. Our waitress had suggested earlier that since the steak is thin, don’t get it well done, just medium. I could see why she said that, because the tips were extremely burnt and tasted like bitter charcoal, the insides were tender and juicy, a little too undercooked for me. I only had 2 or 3 bites of it, as it lacked the flavor I’m used to in an American, Argentine or Indian style steak. But I have a feeling that if I had wine on the side, the steak would taste delicious. The fries were pretty ok, tasting baked more than fried.
Being overly stuffed by the time dessert rolled around, my friend and I decided to split dessert. We randomly picked the floating island crème anglaise. One bite, and I could have died a happy girl. Despite a quite disappointing entrée, the dessert was heavenly. With almond slivers gracing the spongy meringue, caramel adorning both the meringue and the icecream it was floating on, and the subtle yet glorious sprig of mint, this was the best end to a meal ever.
Great service, amazing ambience, yummy appetizer, and to-​die for dessert make this a pretty good french spot.

Nice French menu and tons of personality at this cozy neighborhood bistro.
You’re greeted boldly and in French, which, I have to admit, was a little intimidating since I don’t speak a lick, but I warmed up to it very quickly. I have to think it’s the owner who may be seating, serving, ‘tending, and singing happy birthday, depending on the moment you walk in.
Passed warm bread, very nice house Bordeaux with a healthy pour, standard bistro menu with great prix fixe ($ 28); everything was good from calamari app, steak frites or mussels main, and the mousse or peach tart for dessert.
Would definitely come back… and probably remind myself before I go to say «bonjour, s’il vous plaît, merci, and au revoir.»

I couldn’t stop thinking about their fries… They were perfect with my mussels!
I loved how the owner was the center of attention as he greet each and every one of his guests with such warmth. Serge was a character and was one of the assets of having a very personable restaurant such as this one.

I can’t believe that I studied French for 7 years in high school and I never learned to say «I am full» until I came to this restaurant. Our waiter gave us quick French lessons while we reviewed the menu.
I tried the foie gras and it was splended… rich and creamy. The pâté was very good too, but it was alright. I had the lamb penne with goat cheese… very yummy. The wine was great as well.
Cute place :-)

Yes the service can be surly but it adds charm to this place. They dont rush you out. :-)
Food is good and make sure you get the Prix Fixe menu. Its worth it. I liked the ice cream French desert.
This is a very interesting place where the staff multi-​tasks — your waitress is also the bus girl is also the bartender and is also Greeter.
The owner is also the chef is also the reservation dude and is also the guy who screams and shouts when someone breaks a glass.

Nice neighborhood French restaurant with delicious authentic dishes, friendly service and relaxing ambiance.
For the last three years or so I probably walked by this place at least ten times a week but never thought about walking in to have a meal. Even I heard nice comments from neighbors, friends, etc about how nice this restaurant was, for some weird reason I never managed to walk in.
Well, all that changed few days ago when on the way back home my wife and decided to walk in to see what happens. We were greeted by the chef/​owner of the restaurant and we were quickly seated in the front dining room. Restaurant is split in to two distinct areas; front room which you walk in with a small bar area and about dozen tables and the back dining room if you prefer a bit more privacy and dimmer lighting. It did seem like there were few couples on a first-​date at the back dining area ;-) «wink».
As soon as we sat down our server offered us bread and butter along with the menus and the wine list. Wine list offers a good selection of, mainly French wines costing from $ 25 to $ 90 with most within the $ 40-​$ 50 range. Chef tends to hang out in the front dining room greeting customers, checking on the meals, serving dishes, pouring wine and every so often disappearing back in to the kitchen to bring out more food. I really like the way he makes sure everyone is happy and same goes for the servers, I thought they were polite, friendly and helpful.
When we looked at the menu we wanted to order half of the dishes, they all sounded amazingly delicious but we were good and started with the goat cheese salad with beets & frisee and the guacamole with grilled jumbo shrimp as starters. They also offer daily specials but there were already so many good things in the menu so we continued with the steak au poivre with pepper sauce and french fries and the coq au vin with red wine sauce, vegetables and penne pasta as the main courses. To finish our dinner we ordered the chocolate mousse and the profiterolles.
Everything was better than we expected and hoped for. We just sat there and wondered how come it took us so long to come here then we also thought how soon we can come back to eat the rest of the menu. Prices are not cheap but very reasonable to the quality of the dishes they serve. Also they offer dinner Prix-​Fix at $ 26.95 for three generous courses. I noticed the French onion soup, Mussels with fries and the herb crusted salmon dished were very popular among the fellow diners.
Chef/​Owner, who I did not get his name but I assume it is Serge, gave us a round of champagne on the house to welcome us and cheer to our first of many visits to come. It is my new favorite neighborhood restaurant and I can’t wait to go back…