We have not tried too many Brooklyn restaurants near the Barclays Center area for quite some time due to the pandemic. On this early brisk and semi-cold night, we had an interactive theater outing over at the One Hanson Place building in Brooklyn. After the event was over, a friend that we met at the event impromptly invited us to meet his friend at this restaurant. This was less than a mile away, and since we didn’t have other plans, we decided to try it out.

Ambiance

The restaurant is fairly large compared to other restaurants we’ve been at. There are 2 sides to it where the side with the bar had a private party in it. The decor felt very old school with the New York City rustic and chic with the exposed brick walls. They had some electric house music playing over the speakers, and all that ran thru my head was that this felt very French – which is a good thing!

The service was a little on the slow side, but being how this is a traditional French bistro style restaurant, that wasn’t overly surprising.

Food

The French onion soup came piping hot with the cheese melted on top. The broth was a too sweet to my taste, but overall the soup was pretty decent.

The Black Angus ribeye for 2 was ordered medium rare and came with a side of peppercorn sauce. The steak actually came out pretty rare though fortunately it was very tender. The char on the ribeye was pretty crispy, though there were areas of a lot of fat. Regardless, we took some of this home for leftovers, and I pan fried them on the pan again, and it was great.

Not pictured, we also ordered a side of mashed potatoes. The mashed potatoes were very buttery and creamy, but also overly salted.

The creme brulee came cold with the expected charred crust. This was nothing out of the ordinary. Like some other creme brulees, the top of this tasted burnt. The creme inside was very cold though.

Final Verdict

This French restaurant is pretty quaint in the Boerum Hill area. It seems mostly of locals, so you get a very neighborhood vibe out of it. The service was pretty hit and miss and sometimes very slow, and the food definitely was pretty decent with some areas of missed seasoning. Regardless, if you’re looking for a French bistro restaurant and don’t mind these things, this could be a decent restaurant to check out.

Yelp Jabs

Asians and other minorities go at you own risk. With plenty of restaurants to choose from, I don’t see why anyone would subject themselves to this.

I’m a minority, and I was welcomed. Granted, the main difference is I would grab the host/hostess and engage with them proactively. It’s easy for some like this Yelper to pull out the race card because that’s what fits their narrative. As mentioned before on this blog is that when you are dining in NYC, learn when to take action vs just waiting for things to happen.

Definitely a more treat yourself/special occasion establishment given the prices.

We found the prices to not be exorbitant and en par with the rest of NYC prices.