Papillon Bistro & Bar
“Make sure to see Aixa behind the bar she's the best!!!”
“The bartender Angel was friendly and accommodating.”
“Keep in mind Saturday is opera night upstairs so you wont really be able to go up there aside from using the ladies and men's room.”
Papillon Bistro & Bar
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Accepts Apple Pay: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Coat Check: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Dogs Allowed: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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I went here with mom and my kids for dinner one night during a recent visit. Not a bad choice but I am sure there are better choices for this particular area of town. There are things that I love and things that I hate.
The good: Super cool old school layout and vibe; fancy but not too stuffy. Big time singles scene crowded with young professionals doing happy after work. Good looking, upscale professional crowd along the bar upstairs and downstairs. Great service. Delicious food.
The bad: Very smallish and limited menu; very pricey. Prices are painfully high given that portions are decidedly small. Small enough that you will likely need to eat somewhere else immediately afterwards (if you are very hungry). Prices are more like $$$ or perhaps $$$$ range given the portioning (definitely not $$ range).
Commentary: We started off with splitting a calamari appetizer amongst the 4 of us; the calamari was perfectly flash fried but consisted of only fried rings (no tentacles). Served with remoulade sauce & came with two lemon wedges for sprinkling on some citrusy zest. Delicious! but pricy at $17.00.
My shrimp entree had 5 average size shrimp on top of disc shaped bed of mushroom risotto. The disc shaped bed of risotto was roughly the size of a chewing tobacco can (think Copenhagen or Skoal). The lemon butter sauce was exquisitely good though. The price tag was $26.00.
My son's scallop dish had exactly 4 average sized scallops on top of cheese / butter mashed potatoes. I did not taste his dish, but it did look good and he raved about it. The price tag was $29.00. My son and daughter LOVED the loud, top 40 tunes blaring from the invisible speakers; however, I felt like the music would be more suited for a teen dance club (not a old school style restaurant).
My mom and my daughter ordered salads. Each salad with no added extras were priced at / around $15.00 each. My daughter added grilled chicken to her salad – which upped the price considerably; however, the grilled chicken addition was perhaps the most generous portioning of the entire meal.
We also ordered fries and 2 desserts to split amongst the four of us; no complaints there. The price tag for the meal with tax and tip was around $175.00 (ouch!).
Bottom line: Service is good and very attentive. If you want delicious food that comes in small portions with big prices, then this place will fulfill your needs / desires. Great atmosphere & ambience. Solid 3 Stars.
I'm so sorry papillon but I was not impressed.
Ambiance-very loud, very rowdy. However, I did like the decor. The top level has a nice view of midtown east.
Food-the mussels frites was too salty and overpowering. The sea bass was very light and dare I say flavorless? What bothered me the most is the bread. Almost every French restaurant I have been to has had phenomenal bread. However, the "toast" served by papillon lacked dignity.
Service- the service was good.
Maybe I had heightened expectations, but this not a place to try again.
Overall this is a pretty average place I'd say, in terms of both food/drink quality and service.
Our team came here for a casual drink after work and we spent 30 minutes just to get our beers/cocktails. Understood that it was busy during after-work hours, but come on, does that really take that long to prepare those beers? We also shared truffle fries and nachos – fries were a bit soggy, really nothing special.
Would probably not return. Everything was mediocre.
A friend says of Papillon "it's great for what it is and what it trys to be." It's been a almost a decade since I first discovered Papillon and that's exactly how I would sum it up. As the surrounding midtown tourist mecca ebbs and bends to the whims of a fleeting trendy mass, Papillon has stuck to what it is and trys to be and that is a respectable pub with quality food, a few creative cocktails, consistent classic ones, and a good Guiness pour. The result is a reliable Sunday bar/restaurant escape amidst a hectic MoMA infused and Times Square spill over neighborhood. As a restaurant, it makes for a lovely dinner night. It's equally satisfying at the bar for heavy snacks or appetizers and a strong drink (or two). Personally, I prefer bar service here. The heart of Papillon are their bartenders. Saturday nights can be very busy and loud. So too can some weeknights, so choose your adventure wisely. For an early evening nosh or end of evening night cap to book end your nightly adventures, Paillon fits the bill.
We recently went to a private party which was on the first level in the rear of the restaurant. There have been many other occasions where we had business networking events that I have sponsored on the second level bar area which worked out fine. This is a French brasserie restaurant that has an active vibrant bar scene during the busy working day or evening. I have always enjoyed the bar bites that I have order here but never sat down for the traditional lunch or dinner. One of these days I will.
Great spot for an office happy hour!
Space – Dimmed lighting, rustic decor, and perfect temperature settings.
Bartender – Friendly and fast, with a few tricks up his sleeve.
Appetizers – Sampled the mozzarella sticks, fried calamari, quesadillas, chicken skewers, and spring rolls. Mozzarella sticks were a big hit with the team.
Will be back again soon.
Papillon has a lovely, stately red and yellow exterior and is 2 levels. I came here for brunch with a large group and we had the 2nd floor to ourselves. The room quite nice, with many windows, giving the room an airy and comfortable ambiance.
For our group, we were given a brunch special of $22, which included a brunch entree, drink, as well as tax and tip.
Since I don't drink alcohol, I asked for a mix of orange juice, pineapple juice and cranberry juice. It came in a nice big mason jar, beautifully pink and tasted delicious! They got the blend of fruit juices just right.
It was tough to decide what to get, but I finally decided on the brioche French Toast, served with apples and caramelized syrup. When I got my dish, it smelled amazing but didn't look like much. Instead of big, fluffy, thick pieces of French Toast, it was triangle-cut pieces of toast with very little egg breading on them. It certainly was NOT brioche or French Toast by any stretch of the imagination and on top of that, the toast was dry and lacked flavor. It was pretty much inedible; I could only have a couple bites.
I returned the French Toast and chose the omelette instead, since the person next to me had ordered that and it looked pretty good. For the omelette, you are able to select 3 fillings and I chose cheddar cheese, bacon and onion. It took quite awhile for the omelette to come out and when it finally did, it looked quite different from my friend's. The home fries which should be cut pieces of potato with peppers were actually french fries mixed with peppers. I believe that consistency is key at a restaurant establishment so I found it to be very strange that they made the potatoes differently. Also, the french fries were a bit on the soggy side.
The actual omelette was pretty tasty and it was quite large so that was good. I enjoyed the cheesiness with the bacon, though the onion and egg itself could have been used more seasoning.
The service was decent and I really appreciated that they allowed me to order another entree after the French Toast. Also, we were each given separate checks which is always wonderful.
However, since the food was mediocre and prices look to be a bit on the higher side, I would not come back.
I'll start with the good. The food items we ordered came out as described on the menu (though not on time or together). Unfortunately, the bad was everything else.
We arrived at around 3 pm, 5 of us. The place was empty downstairs, with 3 total tables seated. The host proceeds to start seating us next to a two-top top in the corner that was really only a four-top, and so she started bringing a chair over. The whole place is empty, why seat us there? Finally someone in my party asks if we can be seated somewhere else, like any of the open tables in the restaurant, several of which could accommodate a party of five without moving any chairs, and she agreed to bus another table for us.
After a sub-half-assed bussing job (see photo), we were seated with 3 menus for 5 people, and no drinks menus. Our table was filthy and a fork from the previous table was left there for the duration of our visit. After about 10 minutes, our server showed up and I had to ask for menus and have him return again to take our drink orders. We were only having drinks and apps, and we ordered everything together.
When our apps arrived (with no plates for anyone), the food runners just stood there with the plate, gesturing to me to move my silverware, as if I was in their way. On top of that, we were missing one dish, a shrimp cocktail. Our server said he would double check, and then came back and said it would be right out. The shrimp cocktail, which consisted of cold shrimp, and 2 sides of sauces, came out about a half hour later when we were almost finished with our other apps.
Throughout this entire performance, a manager walked by our table several times without assisting or doing anything which tells me they either don't know or don't care what kind of service is given at this place. Not to mention no explanation or mention of why a cold dish that takes 30 seconds to prepare came out 30 minutes late.
For what they charge in this place…man…I'm in the wrong business.
Go elsewhere.