C’est la Vie Bistro

Read about this place in the Gambit awhile ago and then went for a casual weekday lunch. It was pretty empty when we arrived, and there was only one or two other tables in the place. The décor was very nice, and very French. My date had the Croque Monsieur — ham, swiss, brioche sandwich. He didn’t like it at all and barely touched it. It was soggy and not flavorful. I had the Moules Mariniere — steamed mussels with white wine sauce, served with French fries. They were pretty good, but not phenomenal, and there wasn’t a ton of food for the $ 13 that they cost.
Overall, pretty meh experience. The service was average too — granted, we arrived shortly before they were closing, but with how few people were in the place our server should have been much more attentive to us. We had to flag her down for more water repeatedly, and she took forever to bring us the bill. I mean, forever.
It wasn’t terrible, but with all the other better lunch options in this city, I’d never choose to go back.

The décor is a bit strange, the service was okay but certainly nothing exceptional, the lighting was too dim to easily see the menu or food (which is of particular importance when eating Coq au Vin with an entire bone-​in chicken) but overall C’est la Vie Bistro delivered an excellent meal for an outstanding value and it’s even that much better when you consider that it’s currently BYOB. The bleu cheese mussels were a great appetizer (although as others have mentioned the fries were fine but not what you would hope from a true Bistro) and then both the Coq au Vin and Duck Breast entrees were very good. Not the best I’ve ever had but then I wouldn’t expect perfection for $ 17 a plate as opposed to many restaurants in NOLA (including La Petite Grocery down the street) which are outstanding but would also be $ 25 – 30 per plate.
As long as C’est la Vie Bistro remains BYOB we’ll be back quite a bit — it’s a great opportunity to bring out some of my nice Pinot Noir and drink it with well matched French food. It’s hard to beat that.

I ate a late lunch here for Good Friday and was one of two occupied tables in the establishment so I had very attentive and rapid service. They have a small menu and I decided to try the French onion soup and the fruits de mer crêpe as I still dream of the wondrous, spicy, delicious fruits de mer pastas I ate in the South of France. The server brought some excellent French bread and butter to snack on while I waited for my food. The soup was brought out very rapidly in a good portion sized bowl and was a tasty example of the classic. When my main course arrived it consisted of two large crepes with a drizzle of sauce and the seafood inside was supported by a cream sauce. While the dish was good and VERY filling I was a bit sad it gave me no memory of those marvelous seafood dishes I had back in France. This place is BYOB with no corkage fee and the interior is quite nice so it certainly appears to be a great place to bring a date of enjoy a night with a group of friends.

A spartan room belies the fast and charming service at this casual French spot. We stopped in for lunch at had:
Crouque Madame
Eggs Benedict w/​filet Mignon
side salads
I was hesitant to order the sandwich; so many times, there’s a dusting of sugar atop an otherwise delicious item. This, however was happily not the case. The Benedict dish was superb. The meat was fare more tender than the English muffin, and the lemony hollandaise more than held its own. If I return for dinner, I definitely plan on taking advantage of the BYOB policy.
Why three stars? There was a sunny-​side up egg on top of the Croque Madame. I love them that way, but the white wasn’t cooked all the way. It made me a little nervous about eating the dish. Secondly, the side salad was not in any way interesting — the dressing had no discernible taste, and the addition of corn makes it worse.

Went here with a group last night. I was pleased. Very nice décor and the wait staff was friendly and attentive. we started with soup, french onion for me and chicken vegetable for him. They were both fine, but not outstanding. I ordered the mussels with a blue cheese cream sauce, and my boyfriend had the casolette (which was on special) Mine was over the top good… a new and decadant twist on regular steamed mussles with white wine. And the portion was so large I have at least another meal or two in a to go box in my fridge. My boyfriend liked his cassolette (baked white beans with saussage and chicken in a rich tomato sauce) but was not in love with it. The BYOB idea is nice since it does save $ and let you tote in your favorite wine. I’m sure I will go again.

great new place, chef greeted us at the table and was very professional and courteous, food was amazing! and lets be honest, love that its BYOB!

This is a quiet French bistro, complete with a real French chef. The décor is very nice, tasteful and cozy and NOT loud and noisy like many area restaurants. While they have a cute bar in the back, it’s BYOB with no corkage fee (a plus). I don’t think they have a liquor permit. The food, however, was ok. French onion soup was flavored nice, good croûton, but skimpy on the cheese. We had the pork medallions with the Dijon sauce– good flavors but the pork was a little too rare. The potato cake was quite good. The vegetables (as described by the wait staff as «mixed vegetables» was more like an eggplant bouillabaisse. Interesting, but not what I was looking for. The wait staff tried really hard (and did fairly well) but was clearly inexperienced. Our son went straight for dessert, which was a chocolate mousse with raspberry coulis, which he loved. Overall not bad, but not outstanding either. On a plus note, the prices were very reasonable for the value.