Lafayette
“Andrew Carmellini's newest venture is everything we hoped for and much, much more.”
“Stopped in once on a weekend morning and indulged on a croissant and cup of coffee while people watching from their cute window nook.”
“This place makes me think of what Balthazar must have been like before tourists.”
Lafayette
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Accepts Apple Pay: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$$ Price range $31-60
8 reviews
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Lafayette has a very "French" feel to its ambiance and menu. It's located at the corner of Lafayette and Great Jones Street in NoHo. The French menu is a homage to cuisine of different French regions, from Provence to Normandy to neighboring Mediterranean coasts. I came here for brunch around 11AM, and was seated at the bar without any wait.
I got the Egg White Frittata ($19), while my friend had the Soft Scramble Eggs ($18). We decided to mix in some sweet flavors to our appetite and ordered the Lemon Pancakes ($18) to share.
The dishes came out really fast…almost too fast (took ~5 minutes). I guess the kitchen wasn't too busy? My Egg White Frittata with field mushrooms was served with a side salad. The frittata was slightly overcooked and only had a few mushrooms in it…wished there was more! I think there was a thin layer of cheese on top but it blended so seamlessly with the egg white that I couldn't really taste it.
My firiend's soft scrambled eggs was not what I expected visually. The eggs were served inside puff pastry. Again, very French!
I really liked the Lemon Pancakes. It had the right consistency of fluffy inside and slightly crusty, crispy outside. The pancakes were topped with berries. I couldn't really taste the lemon in the batter though.
Cute brunch spot near NYU!
Apparently this place is carb-lovers heaven so I was well prepared to gain 5lbs from one meal.
They have cute outdoor area where you can suffer in heat along with other people who made same terrible choice as you did or enjoy your nice meal in cool air-conditioned space. It's up to you.
We started off with pastry basket ($16) which came with 5-6 different kinds of pastries and strawberry jam. I only liked a few of them only bc I don't like chocolate flavored pastries. However, if you love bread and chocolate, this is for you.
Entrees:
– Niçoise salad ($25): not gonna lie i wasn't too impressed with this dish. The portion is small for what you pay. They give you like 4 pieces of tuna and the rest is just regular salad. If we didn't get the bread basket, I'm sure we wouldn't have been full.
– scrambled eggs ($18): this was definitely more worth it than the salad. It looked and tasted great. What more can a girl ask for.
Overall I would come back to try other dishes but be prepared to spend some $$$.
Came here for brunch a couple weeks ago and completely fell in love with the atmosphere! It's open and a little art deco-y. The only problem with the space is that, as with most if not ALL places in New York, it's a little cramped. While my dinning companions were on the booth seat I felt a little bit out in the cold on the otherside of the table, constantly having to scoot in, or lean in for fear of being knocked in the head.
OTHER THAN THAT. so great.
Had maybe one of the best Croque Madame's I've ever had. EVER. Including the ones I had in France. SUCH A DELICIOUS TREAT…I'm thinking about it now and really wanting to go back…mmmmm. Delicious.
My friend got the pancakes which were HUGE and delicious and she couldn't finish them, same goes for my other friend who got the frittata so one could deduce that the portions are big and filling, though I devoured my meal without a second thought to if my stomach was able to do so. ALSO HOW have I not mentioned the FRIES by now? THEY ELEGANT, beautifully crafted and seasoned FRIES! GET THEM. THEY ARE DELICIOUS! They are skinny and wonderful and came in what seemed like a bottomless trough. Which is of course how I like to eat ALL my fries.
Definitely going back, the wait staff was IMPECCABLY dressed and very attractive and one of the hostesses was wearing the most incredible black dress which honestly has nothing to do with the restaurant other than that they clearly care about presentation. Which is good. Because so do I!
Lafayette is a huge restaurant and therefore, bustling with noise and activity. Service was a touch slow when we were first seated but it picked up once we got our starters, and our server was very sweet. It didn't take us long to figure out what we wanted after we saw the menus. For starters, we ordered the Green Asparagus Polonaise with trout roe and fine herbs and Beet Cured Salmon with horseradish and apple. The cheese, herbs, and trout roe added a nice, subtle range of flavors to the asparagus. The horseradish was a bit too overpowering for the salmon though.
For my main, I ordered the Grilled Local Trout with morels, ramps, and fava beans, and regret, I did not. It was wonderfully smoky, perfectly tender, and full of flavor. The morels, ramps, and beans added a nice contrast in texture to the trout. So incredible! I highly recommend this dish. I also had a bite of my boyfriend's duck, which was perfectly cooked. We both shared a side of charred broccolini because we wanted some more greens and broccolini is delish. It was a simple side, and they didn't mess it up. Unsurprisingly, we didn't have a lot of a room for dessert with all our dishes AND the bread refills my boyfriend kept saying "yes" to.
I'm glad I didn't let the 3-star and lower ratings sway me. I can only speak for our dinner but the food was delicious, portions didn't disappoint, and service was great. The prices weren't out of line with the type of food and ambiance we knew we were in for and weren't atypical for this city. My final words: Come on down, and treat yourself.
Came here for my sister's graduation. We expected a great evening, but instead we had a very mediocre experience. The food itself was uniformly way too salty. I got the rigatoni with duck ragu and the pasta was overcooked and the sauce too salty. I tried my family's pasta — the short rib ravioli (WAY too salty) and the macaroni which was also super salty. The restaurant is way too loud, hard to hear conversation even though we were in a booth. And on top of that, we waited about an hour between our appetizers and entrees with little more than an apology. For the price tag, I would expect way better service and food. Overall, a super mediocre restaurant, not really worth going to when there are so many good restaurants in NYC.
Good quality food. In line with price.
Appetizers
First bread great
Green olives warm and cooked with citrus rind
Escargot delicious but toasted bread accompanying burnt
Short rib pasta tasty
Grilled trout and Morels with Fava beans good.
Still Con : super slow service.
Uses Apple Pay
Okay, the last three reviews were text-walls, so I'll try to keep this one shorter. Yes, it's a lovely space, which was originally for manufacturing (see the historical marker sign hidden/forgotten out front). Despite such careful arrangement, however, the column capitals are hidden in strange wooden enclosures, that look permanent (not temp construction). Seems like a strange complaint, but they were a note-worthy distraction from the otherwise beautiful restaurant. As the previous reviews state, there's a decent boulangerie. Better than average, but I'm not sure I would go out of my way to come here for baked goods.
The hostesses (they need three?) were chilly, but our waitress was a pleasure. We spent more time with her, so the reception girls can keep their attitudes.
My friend had the rotisserie chicken, which was passable, but not remarkable. I had the lamb chops, which were done in a Moroccan style, and then murdered by salt. I like salt – this was too much. A big fail for a restaurant at this level.
We finished with … a cherry dessert the name of which I forget, but the dessert itself was memorable. Probably the best thing we ate, save the bread. That's not to say the entrees were disgusting, but rather that the bread and the dessert were excellent. Maybe next time we'll come and order a bread-basket and dessert!
My friend is a picky eater, and she liked her food, so I would come back here with her, but would I take my wife here? Eh, there are better choices. Like Locanda Verde for example – I guess Carmellini does Italian better than French.
Three stars overall, plus one for our lovely waitress.
This is a decent place to sit out on the patio and have a glass – or two – of rosé. I've been here twice and both times I didn't find it difficult to get a patio seat.
But they did once forget my order and bring out the wrong item, and one plate came out cold. I think their menu is pretty mediocre for French food. They obviously have the staples like croque madame but they don't have anything adventurous or extraordinary.
If you're just going for some wine on the patio with light snacks or desserts, Lafayette would be perfect.