In our adventure to explore Smith St near the Cobble Hill area, we saw this restaurant several times as we walked by. I had mistaken this restaurant to be part of Levante in Long Island City, but this was completely different. We noticed it was Restaurant Week, and the menu consisted of many items already on their menu. We felt this would be a good opportunity to try the different things and see how it goes. We were able to make a reservation about 30 minutes before our arrival which I think is a great benefit to dining in this area.
Ambiance & Service
The interior is no frills, and the restaurant interior reminded me of typical Brooklyn places with exposed brick and decorations. The restaurant is not too small, so there’s space for parties and small gatherings. We were seated in the booths likely meant for 4 people, so there was additional room for us.
The service was very fast and prompt.
Food
We ended up going with the NYC Restaurant Week Prix Fix dinner menu for $60, which included an appetizer, entree, and dessert.
The Chateau Rastouillet Lescure ($16) came from Saint-Emilion, Bordeaux, France 2020. This classic red Bordeaux blend came with Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon. I thought this wine was just OK. It had aromas of red fruit, roses, and some earthiness. Structurally, I felt this wasn’t sophisticated, but it tasted decent with the burger.
The Carroll Gardens Mocktail ($15) was crafted with mango and peach puree, freshly squeezed lime juice, mint leaves, and soda water. Like most soda water mixes with fruit puree, this was pretty good.
The Shrimp Flambe came with a mini casserole with four jumbo shrimp, flambeed in Pastis, prepared Parisian brasserie-style with garlic and parsley. The shrimp was plump, and tasted exactly what it looks like. They give you some crostini to soak up the juice.
The Sesame Tuna Tartare came with sushi-grade yellow fin tuna with shallots, sesame, lime zest, ginger, coriander, fresh lime juice with a panko crumble. The tuna tasted pretty decent, and with the crostini, it offered a good balance of crunchy and zesty.
The Burger Le Gaulois came with Angus burger with Roquefort cheese, caramelized onions, arugula, tomato, and mustard mayo on a brioche bun, served with fries. The burger was cooked medium, and it was actually pretty good. I didn’t realize how strong the Roquefort cheese was, but it definitely overpowered the burger by a lot.
The Beef Bourguignon came with slow-cooked French beef stew in a rich red wine sauce with carrots, mushrooms, pearl onions, and bacon served over mashed potatoes. This was on the saltier side, but the flavors pretty much on point. My partner took some of this home, and it was still good a few days after.
The Almond Cake was a gluten-free almond cake with lemon zest, served with vanilla ice cream. Not knowing initially this was gluten-free, I felt this was definitely on the much drier side. Even with the vanilla ice cream, the cake was almost like eating sand. The almond flavors were not as prominent as other almond cakes I’ve had.
The Creme Brulee came with silky vanilla custard topped with a caramelized sugar crust. Thankfully, this turned out pretty good and not too sweet. It was classically prepared, so not much more to write about.
Overall Impression
Levant on Smith is another one of those neighborhood-y restaurant that has decent food. It won’t win accolades from Michelin inspectors, but the food overall was decent.
Yelp & Google Jabs
The staff asked us to quiet down at the request of others. We were not inappropriate in any way, just enjoying a milestone and laughing. It ruined our entire dinner.
This was an amusing review by this Yelper. They claimed they were not inappropriate, but they were asked to quiet down at the request of others. This is called naive realism. If other folks felt you were loud, then you were likely inappropriate.
Who would think French fries outside of Paris could be this good. Add a little salt and you have the perfect “fries”
Paris has good food, but it certainly has its misses. There are definitely plenty of places outside of Paris that has better fries. One that still keeps me thinking about are the fries at Lord’s. Even though they are British chips, they really are tasty.
Revisions
- Aug 15, 2026 - Initial revision.