Bistro 61
“By the way, great surprise is the 70's and 80's album covers for the menus.”
“The owner opened a french market across the street called 'marche du sud', looks pretty good haven't tried anything there yet.”
“Next came our mussels, We received a small pot (1lb) each of a flavored mussel of our choice, I went with Les Moules á la Provençale and my friend went with Les Moules Marinières.”
Bistro 61
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Dogs Allowed: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
Rate and write a review Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
I went to Bistro 61 for Easter Brunch. I though the food was ok, but not great. I was excited for the crepe with canadian bacon, eggs, and gruyere cheese, but the presentation wasn't particularly appetizing, and I wish there would have been more of all the fillings inside of the crepe.
Three of us came here for brunch. 3.5 star for food, 3 star for service. The restaurant was not busy when we were there, but we just cannot seem to get an order of OJ no matter how many times we reminded them. Oh well…Brunch without OJ is like burger without fries…
A solid UES French bistro with reasonable prices and a pre-theater dinner prix-fixe the same price as Sel y Poivre, a similar but more geriatric neighborhood French bistro in the lower part of the UES. This is kinda funny as this is nowhere near the Theater District but I'll take it!
It's cute inside, more funky than elegant. To wit, the menu comes in LPs. We got Bruce Springsteen Born to Run and Julio Iglesias Mujer or something. I'm not a fan of Iglesias so snagged the Bruce before my friend arrived. Now I have "Thunder Road" stuck in my head.
GREAT French onion soup and the mussels have six choices of broth/sauce.
Bread and butter great.
I had a Riesling 9/glass from Alsace and I have discovered I like Riesling if it's from France and thus not too sweet. Delicious. My friend splurged on a French red whose name I didn't get for 16/glass and it was perfect, decanted and lovely.
Everything I saw come out of the kitchen looked scrumptious and they serve lunch till 4. A beautiful veggie and gruyere omelet for 12 or 13. The mussels are sold in three sizes, the cheapest at 12 for lunch and quite ample.
I hadn't heard of it but my friend wanted to try it and it's casual, in the Sel y Porivre neighborhood UES French bistro category rather than the fancier Bistro Chat Noir or Quatorze Bis.
I liked it a lot and would return.
Note: DO NOT sit in the banquettes. The seats are lumpy, as if there were baseballs or golf balls in the red leather from however many years ago. The chairs are perfectly comfortable with decent back support and a cushioned seat.
Solid experience. A solid 4 stars.
I came back as the owners were nice enough to contact me to make things right. They apologized for the rude worker and wanted to show us a good time.
Came on a sat evening and had a reservation through opentable. There were some open tables so we would have been seated either way but it was a nice way to be sure. We chose to dine outside. The tables are small but the area is cozy and nice enough.
Service was with Stefan and he was delightful. He was the wonderful server we had last time before the rude lady came back. He was great and had a professional maturity about him. The woman at the bar was nice too.
Everyone we came in to contact with was lovely including the bussers etc.
Wine was good and reasonably priced. Didn't have the bread since it was just dry bread-no butter or oil offered but we also didn't bother to ask since we knew there was more food coming.
I had mussels appetizer and grilled asparagus. The asparagus was definitely not a 8$ plate of asparagus but it sure was delicious. 4 spears only and thick and grilled very nicely. The mussels were ok. Half were good, half were rubbery and overcooked. My friend had the crab pasta. She really enjoyed it. The food of other patrons looked equally good. There was a fussy table next to us where they guy was sending food back and the server could not have been more accommodating and I think the party was happy.
Overall, we are glad we came. She loved her food and I think the food is solid. We both enjoyed the service and the ambience.
Thanks Bistro 61 for doing what you could to make it right!
We kind of stumbled onto this place after trying to stumble onto several other places following a race at the park. We were all in need of booze, and early (if I said 11 am, I'd be conservative). Luckily, Bistro 61 obliged and we were soon sitting outside sipping Bloody Marys.
After a couple of rounds of Bloodies, we got hungry, as folks are wont to do, and inquired of the brunch options. Our waiter, who was French and obliging, informed us that the Internet was down, which affected their credit card machines. We all only had cash, so this presented logistical issues.
We moved inside, opting for the creative but less than ideal suggestion to leave our cc numbers until the machine was up and running. I should have brought cash (if not for the race I would have), because the brunch specials were cash only. I settled for a pricey but tasty burger.
So 3.5 overall but I round down due to a mixed first impression. Cheers for the bloodies, though, right place-right time.
Stopped in here for lunch (you can reserve through Opentable).
Plenty of space inside, and weather was nice outside so most people were sitting there. Staff was very friendly to the kid my friends brought along, water cup was paper and highchair. Service was slower after the initial order, but consistent and friendly. As Geraldine K. noted, nice, but not memorably so. Menus were covered by former album covers, and the music mix in the background was a mix of the hits from the 80s-00s, lightly in the background.
They served us quickly with bread, olive oil on the table, and balsamic when we asked for it. Not bad start – the bread wasn't the French rock kind but the good Italian bread that sops up the right amount of olive oil (as much as possible).
The chicken & pesto sandwich was so-so, nothing exciting there, Cosi's version is probably what the order was meant to be like. The fries, though, were good, seasoned just enough to be tasty on everyone's plate. Not bad combination with the wraps (the Panini Vegetariano and Merguez Sandwich were the two choices). The Smoked Salmon Florentine was just perfectly made eggs with a heap of sauce, a salad and onion-grilled potatoes to the side. Side of bacon was normal, nothing special here – not burnt, not too crisp, and not too juicy. Eating here leisurely seemed to be the key.
Not a bad spot since we are often close to this location, will come here to try more options later, including that burger that looked like a good description.
Note, the brunch specials for some reason do not allow you to use a credit card. Other orders can, no issues. And they also deliver/take-out much of the menu.
Very accommodating. We had a party of 9 for Sunday brunch, and they greeted us with speedy but not pushy service.
The menus are old music records. Very nice decor and feel to the place.
When you take a look at the menu, don't worry, $12 for 3 eggs doesn't mean you are paying $4 per egg. The plates come with toasts and either fruit or salad, depending on your order. I ordered an omelet and it was not bad at all.
Very homey.
Attentive service, and enormous mussels with no grit or fishiness. Wonderful marinara flavor with lots of heat! Also nicely priced for UES.