French Louie
“Service was great throughout, and while it's pricier than Buttermilk Channel, it's definitely worth the extra $$$.”
“Amazing food and great service by the staff — had the gnocchi and pan fried skate with profiteroles as the dessert.”
“The snap pea salad which is a seasonal delight was amazing and I had the Bavette steak which was cooked perfectly and tasted unbelievable!”
French Louie
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$$ Price range $31-60
8 reviews
Rate and write a review Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Such cute little spot, very date appropriate with its mood lighting 🙂 I went here with friends, and it's definitely also a great place for small groups. Went here for the restaurant week deal which is 3 courses for $38. I ordered the butternut squash/sweet potato soup for my appetizer which was lumpy and didn't have a very smooth, soupy texture as it should so thumbs down to that. For the entree course I ordered the steak and frites, which was really tasty and was cooked medium (a tad on the dry side but it was tasty enough not to need so much steak sauce). My friend ordered the trout which I tried a little of – that was delicious. To finish off, I ordered the chocolate ganache cake with hibiscus mousse. This was slightly underwhelming…my friend ordered the profiteroles with ice cream which was spot on. I think there was some type of salted caramel sauce added because it had a malty, salty but sweet flavor to it. Service was excellent but I do have to minus the one star as I was disappointed with the appetizer and dessert.
Lunch with a close friend –10 years and counting–plus an appetite for French anything (food, love, cities with food that make you fall in love, etc) equals a two-hour lunch at lovely French Louie.
Lots of seafood (those mussels at the next table smelled amazing after I ordered) but alas, I got the grilled trout po' boy. Poor me. It was actually really good. Fantastic pickle tanginess bursting all over the already flavorful, tender, juicy and so fresh fish, a nice sized portion, and a lightly dressed side salad with tasty herbs. While my friend had the awesome-looking vegetable socca–chickpea cake. Next time I'll try the salad niçoise socca (if I don't smell the mussels before I order).
We were both impressed with the decor: simple and modern with so much personality. And we agreed we'd like to come back during warmer weather for lunch/brunch in the outdoor space.
French Louie is the perfect casual brunch spot. The interior is quaint, white and clean with natural light coming in from the front window and back patio area. Not very large, but they don't over seat the place so it's not crowded.
The brunch menu has something for everyone with elevated staples like creme brûlée French toast and the cordon bleu which is a fried chicken and prosciutto concoction. Solid coffee for the cherry on top.
You definitely need to check it out if you are in the area- even worth a trek from Manhattan. You won't regret it!
I was pretty happy with my brunch selection of French Louie, as recommended by my Brooklyn buddy, Pete D. I made reservations a couple weeks out and a table was ready for us when we arrived. The restaurant is bright and airy and has a beautiful outdoor patio. Our server was fantastic and all of the serving staff seemed to be working together in harmony, filling waters, taking drink orders when needed, etc.
We started with the Everything Mary which was very solid. There were so many delicious-sounding options for brunch that my husband and I decided to just share a bunch of plates. To start, we went with the Frenchie salad and avocado toast. Both were delicious and a great, not-too-heavy start to the meal.
Then, we went on to share an order of the cordon bleu. Oh boy. We probably should have thought more about this decision as we had just spent the previous night sampling chicken wings all over Brooklyn. This plate is definitely best when shared as I can't imagine how anyone could eat an entire plate on one's own. It's super heavy and dare I say a little too rich. I love fried chicken but probably wouldn't order this again.
Overall, really enjoyed my experience at French Louie for brunch and would like to check out dinner sometime.
Perhaps you've heard of a popular eatery called Buttermilk Channel? No? Well, it's THE brunch place in the area, but some people like me were getting too lazy to walk all the way down there. Thankfully, it's like the owners heard my thoughts, and opened up a spot less than a somersault away from my apartment. Yay!
There's nothing to complain about here, expect the smidge of a wait on weekends for brunch. But otherwise, it's all gravy (and biscuits)! There's your typical heavy French options, with lighter fare as well, and A+ drinks to ease you into whatever kind of meal you wanna have. For example, I could chow down on some steak frites if I'm hungover, or have a fluffy scramble with sparkling water post-yoga.
Food is great and perfectly portioned. Servers are sweethearts. Also…the atmosphere is adorable. Great for a cozy winter night in.
A visiting friend from Florida selected this place for a Sunday brunch get together. Nothing particularly French-y to the interior or restaurant design. However, I love the feel and over all vibe of this place especially the back patio dining area and it's a stone's throw away from where we live.
The brunch menu seems intentionally small and Cordon Bleu immediately caught my eye; it's fried chicken served layered with benton's ham and mornay sauce. I was impressed by the presentation and the portion is unexpectedly filling, but unfortunately, it did not blow me away. I thought that the fried chicken coating was slightly hard when it was served to me and had to scrape some off to enjoy the chicken itself.
While the customer service is awesome, with their price point, I'll probably scout around for a better brunch place in my neighborhood.
I came here with my cousin for Jan/Feb 2016 Restaurant Week (lunch)- I ordered the Steak Tartare (egg yolk, chile oil, and pickled mustard seed), salad niçoise socca (chickpea flatbread, rare tuna, olive aioli, soft boiled egg, and salad greens), and the profiteroles (vanilla ice cream and cardamom caramel). My cousin ordered the snug harbor greens (banyuls vinaigrette and torn herbs), grilled trout po'boy (remoulade, red cabbage and fennel slaw on a sourdough baguette), and the profiteroles (vanilla ice cream and cardamom caramel).
After studying through the RW menu, reading countless Yelp reviews, and sifting through delicious photos of food, I was thoroughly convinced that I would have to try this place. Everything on their RW menu looked very appetizing and I had a difficult time choosing what I wanted for my first and second course. The third course however was going to be an easy one. You have a choice between the profiteroles or something called "Nancy's Camembert" (rye ficelle, huckleberry jam and endive), which hands-down I was definitely going to choose the profiteroles.
As for the first and second course, I thought the best thing to do would be to just order whatever would normally come out to be the most expensive, as I would maximize on my savings. Honestly, had I gone with that strategy then I would've ordered the steak tartare and the moules frites. However, for some reason, I decided to get the salad niçoise socca which turned out to be the worst mistake. At the time that I arrived at the restaurant, I skimmed around the dining room to see what the other patrons were ordering. Two women sitting next to me had ordered the salad niçoise socca. It looked appetizing, and on the normal lunch menu the salad would've been a pricey $16.
I started off with the steak tartare, and it was good. I wish; however, that they served the plate with a few more pieces of toast. As other people started on their second courses, I saw how delicious the po'boy trout looked as it was coming out of the kitchen. The moules frites looked even better. At that point, the salad niçoise socca looked like rabbit food, and I was becoming regretful. It was too late to change my order. The second course arrives at our table and I immediately made a sad face. Thankfully, my cousin gave me a piece of her trout po'boy because the salad niçoise socca was not good. I didn't even take a photo of the salad because I was so disappointed with the dish. There were 3 small pieces of rare tuna. Most of the mixed greens were rotten (on that note: my cousin ordered the snug harbor greens for her first course and most of the mixed greens in that dish were also rotten). The chickpea flatbread as it was placed under the salad had been soggy. This is possibly the worst dish a person could order. They should not include this on their RW menu if they really want to showcase their best dishes and have people come back (because isn't that really the purpose of participating in RW)? Had I not been able to taste the trout po'boy, I probably wouldn't have rated this restaurant has high as I did, and I probably wouldn't have come back. The trout po'boy really saved it. I would definitely still come back for the trout po'boy or for some of the other dishes that I didn't get to try.
~*~Happy 500th Review To Me~*~
Come here for a birthday celebration and we both loved it! Being a huge fan of Buttermilk Channel, I was so excited to visit the higher end sister restaurant. Charlotte, our waitress, gave us excellent recommendations throughout the night. We both ordered French 75 (blend of champagne, lemon and cognac) to start off the night. For entrees, we ordered the Bavette Steak and the Duck Au Poivre. I know they are very well known for their steak, but I personally loved the duck. The blood orange marmalade was an excellent touch to the dish. As for dessert, I was able to pull Charlotte aside earlier that night and tell her to add a birthday candle to our dessert. I was originally really disappointed when I heard that their famous orange caramel & pistachio profiterole was replaced by their gram cracker s'mores profiteroles. However, Charlotte made it work for us. Instead of using the pine ice cream (which is supposed to have a more woody campfire taste), we were able to swap it out with pistachio ice cream…and it came out fantastic! Thanks for making the night special for us!