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A spread of dishes sit on a table at Pastis, including golden roast chicken, buttered lobster, snails, and crimson raw tuna — A spread of dishes at Pastis.

The Best French Bistros and Brasseries in NYC

Where to go for steak frites, onion soup, chocolate souffle, and more

by Eater Staff Updated Jan 26, 2024, 12:05pm EST

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A spread of dishes at Pastis.

| Alex Staniloff

by Eater Staff Updated Jan 26, 2024, 12:05pm EST

There’s something immensely satisfying about a great French bistro meal, from luxuriously buttery snails to an excellently seasoned steak tartare. It’s often filling fare that doesn’t skimp on robust flavors and offers plenty of richness — and is meant to be paired with wine. Luckily, New York City has a strong range of bistros and brasseries around the city.

Some are more suited for special occasions, like Le Rock, but most are venerable family-run spots committed to timeless classics, easy to walk into without a reservation. Ahead, excellent options for French onion soup, steak frites, and more.

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Orsay

A steak au poivre done right features beef encrusted in black peppercorns, still pink inside, and easy to dissect with a knife and fork. All that’s left is to douse or dunk the steak in a sauce made from heavy cream and meat juices. Orsay, a French restaurant on the Upper East Side, has perfected the form over the last 20 years. It’ll cost you a pretty penny, but there’s no price you can put on New York classics.

1057 Lexington Ave (at E 75th St), New York, NY 10021

Visit Website

A flash photograph of a steak with char marks besides a pile of fries and a side of au poivre sauce. — Steak au poivre at Orsay.

La Bonne Soupe

This Midtown staple that’s been open for 50 years, is now in the hands of a new owner (who also operates Huda, a Williamsburg restaurant). Though some tweaks have been made to the restaurant, its old-school spirit remains.

48 W 55th St (btwn 5th & 6th Ave), New York, NY 10019

Visit Website

Le Rock

This restaurant from the team behind Frenchette (also an excellent bistro) is one of several new hospitality projects to arrive at Rockefeller Center, and it’s perhaps the only new spot in the plaza that New Yorkers from all over have flocked to. In a grand Art Deco dining room, Le Rock is impossibly chic, suited more for special occasion dining than some of the more neighborhood-y bistros on this list. The food, like a bison au poivre, seafood towers, with petit fours dessert, strikes the right note for a worthy Midtown splurge.

45 Rockefeller Plz (btwn 5th & 6th Ave), New York, NY 10111

Visit Website

Bison au poivre sits on a plate, slathered in orange cream peppercorn sauce; a plate of fries sit on the side. — Le Rock’s bison au poivre.

Also featured in:

Pastis

Stephen Starr’s reboot of this Keith McNally classic fires on all cylinders as a great restaurant for food, vibe, and people watching. Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, serving pate, Parisian ham, escargot, salad Lyonnaise, steak frites, and other classics. This is one bistro you’ll want to make a reservation for in advance.

52 Gansevoort St, New York, NY 10014

Visit Website

Pastis interiors. — Inside Pastis.

La Ripaille

A pint-sized bistro in the West Village, La Ripaille — which translates to “the feast” — is a quaint, candlelit space, complete with a fireplace and rustic, farm-themed antiques. The unexpected signature starter is a deeply flavorful broccoli mousse served with butter lemon sauce; other standouts include steak frites doused in a three-peppercorn sauce.

605 Hudson St, New York, NY 10014

Visit Website

A slab of steak doused in a mustard color sauce with a side of french fries. — Steak frites in a three-peppercorn sauce.

Also featured in:

15 Sizzling Steak Frites in NYC

Libertine

In a wave of new French restaurants, Libertine is the bistro we’ve been waiting for. The restaurant serves simple-sounding dishes — sausage with mashed potatoes, scallops with seaweed — that “are a joy to eat,” writes Eater’s critic, Robert Sietsema. The jambon persille is a slice of pork and bright green jelly, and the oeufs mayo consists of boiled eggs in a bowl of fresh, foamy mayonnaise. The corner restaurant has a short bar with red stools and many, well-spaced small tables. It’s no wonder it was a winner on our Eater Awards list for 2023.

684 Greenwich St (ar Christopher St), New York, NY 10014

Visit Website

A headless man in a blue apron holds a bottle of wine with a boy in a cap on it. — Wine from Libertine.

Also featured in:

Buvette

This all-day cafe from chef Jody Williams (Via Carota) has delicious offerings for any mealtime that include but aren’t confined to bistro standbys. A morning (and Instagram) standout is the delicately steamed eggs, served with prosciutto and Parmesan or smoked salmon and creme fraiche. Lunchtime and dinner bring a range of salads, steak tartare, and a trio of croque sandwiches. The snug space can feel cramped during really busy times, but outdoor seating that seems to have doubled the amount of seating. Daytime diners shouldn’t miss the warm croissants.

42 Grove St, New York, NY 10014

Visit Website

Bartenders dressed in white pour glasses of wine for customers who are sitting on barstools. — Buvette, restaurateur Jody Williams’ first NYC restaurant.

Also featured in:

Raoul's

This Soho bistro has garnered a passionate following for its burger: The peppercorn-crusted Pat LaFrieda brisket blend is seared in butter, topped with creamy Saint-Andre cheese, watercress, onions and cornichons, and served on a challah bun from Amy’s Bread. Duck fat fries and a side of cream and cognac sauce for fry dunking accompany it. A dozen or so patties are available nightly at the bar, but it’s also available on the weekend brunch menu. Don’t miss the terrific range of bistro standards that comprise the rest of the menu, like pâté, frisee with lardons and a poached egg, or steak tartare.

180 Prince St, New York, NY 10012

Visit Website

A burger topped with melted Saint-Andre cheese, watercress, onions, and cornichons. — The legendary burger at Raoul’s.

Also featured in:

Lucien

It’s no secret that Lucien is seeing a revival, particularly among the downtown art scene. Highlights include the French onion soup, steak frites, lapin a la moutarde (rabbit in a dijon mustard sauce), and duck liver mousse served with pink peppercorns and cornichons. The narrow, warm space is filled with all sorts of paintings of France, and the crowd transitions from an older set of regulars in the early evening to a younger demographic later on. Though the food is good, it’s more of a spot with reliable people-watching.

14 1st Avenue #1, New York, NY 10009

Visit Website

The entrance to Lucien with a red awning. — Lucien has been open since 1998.

Also featured in:

17 Warming Winter Soups Around NYC

Balthazar

This Keith McNally institution opened in 1997 and has had a considerable impact on the city’s dining landscape. The sprawling space is filled with massive distressed mirrors, dark wood, and red banquettes. It’s a uniformly excellent menu, from expense-account power breakfasts to special-occasion dinners; don’t miss the Balthazar plateaux or chicken for two, and try something from the bakery regardless of the time of day.

80 Spring St, New York, NY 10012

Visit Website

The entrance to Balthazar with a red awning. — Balthazar is one of Soho’s busiest restaurants.

Also featured in:

Le French Diner

This tiny 270-foot restaurant with tons of heart is an industry favorite. Saddle up to its bar stools for a changing menu of classics like socca, beef tartare, or beef Bourguignon. Enjoy the French wine list, the convivial scene, and keep your cameras off.

188 Orchard St (Houston), New York, NY 10002

Visit Website

Le Crocodile

Le Crocodile is a destination brasserie that far exceeds just being a hotel lobby restaurant. From the team that brought North Brooklyn Chez Ma Tante. Le Crocodile at the Wythe serves items like escargots with fennel, not your run-of-the-mill Waldorf salad, burgundy duck with pear and pancetta, and a roast chicken with herb jus and frites. There’s daytime service as well.

80 Wythe Ave (at N 11th St), Brooklyn, NY 11249

Visit Website

A vast fancy dining room with tile floors and perfect lighting. — Inside Le Crocodile.

Also featured in:

The Odeon

The Odeon, co-founded by Keith McNally, now run by Lynn Wagenknecht, prevailed as a Tribeca hotspot throughout the ’90s, when dining options were slim in the area. The cool quotient mellowed out some over the years, but it’s also become popular again and is still a reliable classic decked out with recognizable red awnings and pitch-perfect brasserie interiors. The menu ranges from bistro stalwarts (steak tartare as an appetizer or entree; French onion soup; steak frites) to more less French offerings like an Impossible burger or a vegetarian purple sticky rice bowl.

145 W Broadway (at Thomas St), New York, NY 10013

Visit Website

A red neon sign of the Odeon. — Outside the Odeon.

Also featured in:

Le Gratin

Le Gratin is a “Wall Street hangout where charm still prevails,” writes Eater critic Robert Sietsema. Here, Daniel Boulud — one of the city’s most prolific providers of French restaurants — focuses on his roots in Lyon, France, in a space once home to Keith McNally’s Augustine. The menu features classics from French onion soup, escargot, and the glorious quenelle de brochet au gratin laced with Gruyere and mushrooms.

5 Beekman St, New York, NY 10038

Visit Website

A blue oval dish filled with one long quenelle with a burnt top, sitting in a creamy white sauce. — The quenelle de brochet au gratin.

Also featured in:

Bar Bête

Bar Bête feels like a cozy spot where regulars return again and again. The menu offers a silky chicken liver parfait, a crisp chickpea crepe topped with spiced swiss chard, and creme brulee with green cardamom — and compelling wines (pet-nats and orange wines play a prominent role on the menu).

263 Smith St, Brooklyn, NY 11231

Visit Website

a coup of chicken liver parfait with rhubarb and pistachio butter — Chicken liver parfait at Bar Bête.

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Orsay

1057 Lexington Ave (at E 75th St), New York, NY 10021

A steak au poivre done right features beef encrusted in black peppercorns, still pink inside, and easy to dissect with a knife and fork. All that’s left is to douse or dunk the steak in a sauce made from heavy cream and meat juices. Orsay, a French restaurant on the Upper East Side, has perfected the form over the last 20 years. It’ll cost you a pretty penny, but there’s no price you can put on New York classics.

1057 Lexington Ave (at E 75th St), New York, NY 10021

Visit Website

A flash photograph of a steak with char marks besides a pile of fries and a side of au poivre sauce. — Steak au poivre at Orsay.

La Bonne Soupe

48 W 55th St (btwn 5th & 6th Ave), New York, NY 10019

This Midtown staple that’s been open for 50 years, is now in the hands of a new owner (who also operates Huda, a Williamsburg restaurant). Though some tweaks have been made to the restaurant, its old-school spirit remains.

48 W 55th St (btwn 5th & 6th Ave), New York, NY 10019

Visit Website

Le Rock

45 Rockefeller Plz (btwn 5th & 6th Ave), New York, NY 10111

This restaurant from the team behind Frenchette (also an excellent bistro) is one of several new hospitality projects to arrive at Rockefeller Center, and it’s perhaps the only new spot in the plaza that New Yorkers from all over have flocked to. In a grand Art Deco dining room, Le Rock is impossibly chic, suited more for special occasion dining than some of the more neighborhood-y bistros on this list. The food, like a bison au poivre, seafood towers, with petit fours dessert, strikes the right note for a worthy Midtown splurge.

45 Rockefeller Plz (btwn 5th & 6th Ave), New York, NY 10111

Visit Website

Bison au poivre sits on a plate, slathered in orange cream peppercorn sauce; a plate of fries sit on the side. — Le Rock’s bison au poivre.

Pastis

52 Gansevoort St, New York, NY 10014

Stephen Starr’s reboot of this Keith McNally classic fires on all cylinders as a great restaurant for food, vibe, and people watching. Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, serving pate, Parisian ham, escargot, salad Lyonnaise, steak frites, and other classics. This is one bistro you’ll want to make a reservation for in advance.

52 Gansevoort St, New York, NY 10014

Visit Website

Pastis interiors. — Inside Pastis.

La Ripaille

605 Hudson St, New York, NY 10014

A pint-sized bistro in the West Village, La Ripaille — which translates to “the feast” — is a quaint, candlelit space, complete with a fireplace and rustic, farm-themed antiques. The unexpected signature starter is a deeply flavorful broccoli mousse served with butter lemon sauce; other standouts include steak frites doused in a three-peppercorn sauce.

605 Hudson St, New York, NY 10014

Visit Website

A slab of steak doused in a mustard color sauce with a side of french fries. — Steak frites in a three-peppercorn sauce.

Libertine

684 Greenwich St (ar Christopher St), New York, NY 10014

In a wave of new French restaurants, Libertine is the bistro we’ve been waiting for. The restaurant serves simple-sounding dishes — sausage with mashed potatoes, scallops with seaweed — that “are a joy to eat,” writes Eater’s critic, Robert Sietsema. The jambon persille is a slice of pork and bright green jelly, and the oeufs mayo consists of boiled eggs in a bowl of fresh, foamy mayonnaise. The corner restaurant has a short bar with red stools and many, well-spaced small tables. It’s no wonder it was a winner on our Eater Awards list for 2023.

684 Greenwich St (ar Christopher St), New York, NY 10014

Visit Website

A headless man in a blue apron holds a bottle of wine with a boy in a cap on it. — Wine from Libertine.

Buvette

42 Grove St, New York, NY 10014

This all-day cafe from chef Jody Williams (Via Carota) has delicious offerings for any mealtime that include but aren’t confined to bistro standbys. A morning (and Instagram) standout is the delicately steamed eggs, served with prosciutto and Parmesan or smoked salmon and creme fraiche. Lunchtime and dinner bring a range of salads, steak tartare, and a trio of croque sandwiches. The snug space can feel cramped during really busy times, but outdoor seating that seems to have doubled the amount of seating. Daytime diners shouldn’t miss the warm croissants.

42 Grove St, New York, NY 10014

Visit Website

Bartenders dressed in white pour glasses of wine for customers who are sitting on barstools. — Buvette, restaurateur Jody Williams’ first NYC restaurant.

Raoul's

180 Prince St, New York, NY 10012

This Soho bistro has garnered a passionate following for its burger: The peppercorn-crusted Pat LaFrieda brisket blend is seared in butter, topped with creamy Saint-Andre cheese, watercress, onions and cornichons, and served on a challah bun from Amy’s Bread. Duck fat fries and a side of cream and cognac sauce for fry dunking accompany it. A dozen or so patties are available nightly at the bar, but it’s also available on the weekend brunch menu. Don’t miss the terrific range of bistro standards that comprise the rest of the menu, like pâté, frisee with lardons and a poached egg, or steak tartare.

180 Prince St, New York, NY 10012

Visit Website

A burger topped with melted Saint-Andre cheese, watercress, onions, and cornichons. — The legendary burger at Raoul’s.

Lucien

14 1st Avenue #1, New York, NY 10009

It’s no secret that Lucien is seeing a revival, particularly among the downtown art scene. Highlights include the French onion soup, steak frites, lapin a la moutarde (rabbit in a dijon mustard sauce), and duck liver mousse served with pink peppercorns and cornichons. The narrow, warm space is filled with all sorts of paintings of France, and the crowd transitions from an older set of regulars in the early evening to a younger demographic later on. Though the food is good, it’s more of a spot with reliable people-watching.

14 1st Avenue #1, New York, NY 10009

Visit Website

The entrance to Lucien with a red awning. — Lucien has been open since 1998.

Balthazar

80 Spring St, New York, NY 10012

This Keith McNally institution opened in 1997 and has had a considerable impact on the city’s dining landscape. The sprawling space is filled with massive distressed mirrors, dark wood, and red banquettes. It’s a uniformly excellent menu, from expense-account power breakfasts to special-occasion dinners; don’t miss the Balthazar plateaux or chicken for two, and try something from the bakery regardless of the time of day.

80 Spring St, New York, NY 10012

Visit Website

The entrance to Balthazar with a red awning. — Balthazar is one of Soho’s busiest restaurants.

Le French Diner

188 Orchard St (Houston), New York, NY 10002

This tiny 270-foot restaurant with tons of heart is an industry favorite. Saddle up to its bar stools for a changing menu of classics like socca, beef tartare, or beef Bourguignon. Enjoy the French wine list, the convivial scene, and keep your cameras off.

188 Orchard St (Houston), New York, NY 10002

Visit Website

Le Crocodile

80 Wythe Ave (at N 11th St), Brooklyn, NY 11249

Le Crocodile is a destination brasserie that far exceeds just being a hotel lobby restaurant. From the team that brought North Brooklyn Chez Ma Tante. Le Crocodile at the Wythe serves items like escargots with fennel, not your run-of-the-mill Waldorf salad, burgundy duck with pear and pancetta, and a roast chicken with herb jus and frites. There’s daytime service as well.

80 Wythe Ave (at N 11th St), Brooklyn, NY 11249

Visit Website

A vast fancy dining room with tile floors and perfect lighting. — Inside Le Crocodile.

The Odeon

145 W Broadway (at Thomas St), New York, NY 10013

The Odeon, co-founded by Keith McNally, now run by Lynn Wagenknecht, prevailed as a Tribeca hotspot throughout the ’90s, when dining options were slim in the area. The cool quotient mellowed out some over the years, but it’s also become popular again and is still a reliable classic decked out with recognizable red awnings and pitch-perfect brasserie interiors. The menu ranges from bistro stalwarts (steak tartare as an appetizer or entree; French onion soup; steak frites) to more less French offerings like an Impossible burger or a vegetarian purple sticky rice bowl.

145 W Broadway (at Thomas St), New York, NY 10013

Visit Website

A red neon sign of the Odeon. — Outside the Odeon.

Le Gratin

5 Beekman St, New York, NY 10038

Le Gratin is a “Wall Street hangout where charm still prevails,” writes Eater critic Robert Sietsema. Here, Daniel Boulud — one of the city’s most prolific providers of French restaurants — focuses on his roots in Lyon, France, in a space once home to Keith McNally’s Augustine. The menu features classics from French onion soup, escargot, and the glorious quenelle de brochet au gratin laced with Gruyere and mushrooms.

5 Beekman St, New York, NY 10038

Visit Website

A blue oval dish filled with one long quenelle with a burnt top, sitting in a creamy white sauce. — The quenelle de brochet au gratin.

Bar Bête

263 Smith St, Brooklyn, NY 11231

Bar Bête feels like a cozy spot where regulars return again and again. The menu offers a silky chicken liver parfait, a crisp chickpea crepe topped with spiced swiss chard, and creme brulee with green cardamom — and compelling wines (pet-nats and orange wines play a prominent role on the menu).

263 Smith St, Brooklyn, NY 11231

Visit Website

a coup of chicken liver parfait with rhubarb and pistachio butter — Chicken liver parfait at Bar Bête.

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