French Roast Downtown

This is an Israeli-owned business. Israel is practicing apartheid against its indigenous Palestinian population. Boycott and divestment succeeded in bringing genuine democracy to South Africa and it will work in the Holy Land. Boycott French Roast and the other Tour de France restaurants.

Posted 11/10/09

i visited the downtown French Roast several weeks ago and was treated to a terrible experience of problem computer systems, cold and slow food, and food delivery out of order. mussels never came, entrees first, mussels last, mussels sauce was watered down and flavorless (mucho salt and butter manually added in order to consume), and duck breast special overcooked. sadly it was a poor performance all around - and i am/was a HUGE fan of the UWS store on 86thish St. LASTLY, I emailed the restaurant 3 different ways to tell them of my dissatisfaction to give them an opportunity to make things right and I never received a response. so here is this true story, and hopefully they can get things fixed so i and others can patronize them again with confidence in their food and service.

Pros: food can be excellent

Cons: unreliable, incosistent, and unresponsive management

Posted 09/09/09

always a great experience and great food. this is my go -o restaurant for lunches, dinners, and late nights! the atmosphere is always great, service is ok and food is always amazing. cheers!

Pros: always polite and quick seating

Posted 10/26/08

I am a HK actress having a holiday in NYC.
As one the world leading city on earth I expect a lot of great magical moment in NY.
However I had a terrible experience today as me and my boyfriend finished church in the West Village area, we hop into French Roast on 11th Street and Sixth Avenue.

We ordered 2 sets of the brunch specials and saw 3 choices of dessert that LOOKS like they come with the
special. now let me ask you this question: what is a menu for? it's to tell you what kind of food they offer and also the price that come with it right?
there's $ after the dish
but no $ after the dessert
so that's where the confusion comes in!
a lot of people would think the dessert is included with the special.
but lot's of people would only find out when they have the check.

As I hate restaurant do confusing pricing on their food. I couldn't help but ask for an explanation from the manager and GOT A REALLY RUDE REPLY.
"oh" yeah but we have to charge it.

come on' "OH"????? she can do better than this right?

we left the restaurant with great disappointment and will never visit the place again

business shall be done in a sincere and honest way.
not confusing people.

Pros: great coffee

Cons: bitchy manager

Posted 10/25/08

We often go to French Roast on W. 11th for brunch and love it BUT this last time we had terrible service. Our waiter was rude and tried to hurry us out though we were still finishing our brunch (and had been there for less than an hour) and there were many open tables. He came to our table three times within 20 minutes to ask us if we had paid the bill yet. When we replied that we were not quite ready, he then asked the hostess to come over and ask if we were done. He was unprofessional and unapologetic for rushing us -- if brunch now has time limit at French Roast, we'd like to know before we sit down.

Posted 08/09/08

We arrived for a late breakfast on a very slow Tuesday morning. The hostess was no where to be found, so we had to ask a server if we could be seated. The server seemed to be annoyed that we asked her to seat us. Once we where seated at our table, the server came over. While the sever was attentive, he was a freaking snob, and he did not have a personality what so ever. It is shocking to me that a server could be so rude and snotty. He was a rude when my father asked the server to hold the onions in his omelet. When the food did arrive, my father?s omelet still had the onions; however my father just ate it anyway. The food however was very good, as was the coffee, and cappuccino. I was a sever for many years of my life, so I was very shocked at the level of rudeness exhibited from the staff. None the less, I decided to leave a 50% tip as I usually due when dinning out, because of my previous serving experience, and the server never once thanked us for our business or for the generous tip that we left him. The owners need to take note of all of the negative server reviews, and take action.

Pros: great coffee

Cons: service

Posted 08/09/08

I have been to this place two times, and have had mixed experiences... neither 'bad' persay but not enough that I would recommend this restaurant over so many others in NYC.

The first time was for lunch where I had a croque and coffee. Said croque was dry and somewhat over done, and I would not have come back but that I noted they had affordable gratins for dinner...

That was the second time. The gratin, containing gruyere cheese, braised endive, and ham, was quite tasty I'll admit, and since every meal is served with a small basket of bread, filling enough. I also did enjoy the expensive but tasty chocolate cake with hazlenuts (indeed, I understand that many go to this restaurant solely for dessert.)

The atmosphere is... alright. Mismatched chairs, French posters on the dark walls, some outdoor seating... It is very tight in there, and can get noisy. At night though, when they bring out candles and unscrew lightbulbs to darken the place, it is fairly attractive.

Service though, especially this last trip...
Don't get me wrong- the servers are generally friendly and fairly polite for the most part. The problem is that there is a tendency for the servers to vanish after giving you your food. Want dessert? Refills? ...the cheque? If you're me, you'll have to harass the nearest busboy\manager for any of the above.

The other thing needing mentioning is that the coffee, though not bad, is certainly not worth $2.75...with a limit of 3 mugs. I was not informed of this when ordering the beverage, and, since I was waiting forever for any one to serve me in the first place, drank far more than 3 cups and thus got charged twice!!!! When I asked the server about it, she took on a very hostile tone as if daring me to argue with her. I didn't bother; $3 isn't worth a heart attack. However, I'm not planning to go back any time soon.

Pros: Food isn't bad.

Cons: Takes forever

Posted 06/19/08

I have been there twice and i can say that the place itself is nice.However,food quality and the service is something that you get from an average place.

Posted 04/29/08

My wife and I recently took a trip to the city for the day. We happended along the little french roast cafe quite my accident after exiting the subway. To our delight, we found the food to be of gourmet quality, the service exceptional, and the prices quite resonable. My personal favorite touch was the fresh sourdough bread served with breakfast. Our server told us that it is delivered fresh from a bakery in the village. The atmosphere is funky, but still dignified, and we both agreed that we would fly back to the city from southern california just to spend the morning in the french roast cafe.

Pros: outstanding service, gourmet quality, reasonable prices

Cons: it is 3,000 miles from where we live

Posted 02/07/08

I've been to French Roast for lunch and also for dessert in the evening. The sandwiches were very good, and the service prompt and courteous. I highly recommend the restaurant.

Pros: Customer service

Posted 12/06/07

The food here is good; not super great, but good, and I like the bistro feel to this. The service is only okay, and the servers can be slow. The management is very patronizing and I get the feel they don't really value my business.

Pros: Ambiance is good, food is good

Cons: Service/mgmt

Posted 08/20/07

Very arrogant management, not very apologetic with mistakes, which are frequent. Quite slow service and can be patronising.

Posted 01/18/07

FRENCH ROAST SAVED OUR SWEET TOOTH CRAVINGS!! My friends and I were in pursuit of a great postdinner fix-- dessert on Christmas Eve. By the time we were ready for dessert, the places we had in mind were all closed. Feeling defeated from the 'more than anticipated' long walk and the closed dessert venues, we gave up on the idea of having dessert until we ran into French Roast.

Not sure whether the dessert would be to our liking, we asked the hostess if we could take a look at the display. She graciously said, "No problem". When we were eyeing the dessert, the server asked if we had any questions. She was extremely cordial, pleasant and detailed in her description of the desserts. That was enough for us to stay and have dessert.

The three of us splitted two desserts- the fruit tart and the chocolate hazlenut mousse. Both of them were amazing, but hands down, all three of us agreed the fruit tart (recommended by the server) was absolutely superb. I've had fruit tarts in the past but they were all just typical in their goodness factor. Though I am no fruit tart connosieur, this one was perfect- the portion was generous, the crust was neither dry nor too buttery and the fruits were bountiful and fresh. Plus, the tea we ordered was not just a cup of tea with the tea bag, but we all had our own teapots with our teacup/bag and optional milk and honey offering.

Overall, we had excellent service from start to finish including quick service (--with only one exception, we had to grab the server's attention for change at the end.) I definitely plan to come back again and try the food and the other desserts.

Pros: Ambience (great interior decoration and French inspired trinkets), service, dessert

Posted 12/24/06

French roast is a charming cafe/ bistro. I love good coffee and I got tired of the lines, plastic cups and burned brews. French Roast was the solution to my problem, these guys take coffee seriously. The espresso is the right size, the lattes are beautiful and are served at the proper temperature and even the American coffee has the right strength. I was at first seduced by their coffee, now I?m also hooked by their food. I had lunch two times this week and it was excellent. Their croque monsieur is probably one of the best in the city and the endive gratin is awesome. I?m already a regular, but I definitely will be visiting them for dinner.

Pros: Coffee, good service

Posted 11/30/06

Amazing onion soup, delicious tomato and avocado salad (avo. out of season but was delish), great service, our server was very attentive asking if we needed anything even though we were the only couple seated outside, and simply a great afternoon spot!

Pros: Fab service!

Cons: none...

Posted 10/18/06

the brunch is so wonderful at this place...the waiters are friendly, and willing to assist in anyway that they can. i loved the food full of flavor! YUMMY!

Pros: location, atmosphere, food

Cons: little too busy

Posted 04/02/06

On the way home from the bar/club/whatever, this is an essential stop for me. I'm not a native, so take this review with whatever grains of salt you think are necessary. I'll just tell you this: The first time I ate here, my partner and I had just finished off a night of club-hopping and were looking for a "night cap" at 2:00 a.m. I had a glass of wine and escargots, and the entire experience was great. The server was friendly, the escargots were delicious, and the atmosphere was just what I was looking for. Bad reviews are either caused by a) the unlucky, or b) the highly sensitive.

Pros: Escargots!, 24 hours, Great atmosphere

Cons: None.

Posted 01/07/06

I loved this place because of its food and ambience. I always had a wonderful evening with friends in this place. But the staff has changed since I had last been there and that made tonight a horrible night. I was not able to enjoy myself because of the horrible service. It was disgusting...I had to speak to the manager, something I never have the guts to do. If you're expecting good service along with your good food beware of this place. The food is excellent...the service can be improved a lot.

Pros: 24/7, Food, Ambience

Cons: Service

Posted 01/05/06

The Eggs Benedict were horrifc and the service is ALWAYS bad. Otherwise the food is decent and the 24/7 is a plus. I went the last time today because I am sick of bad service - it hasn't changed in 8 years!!!

Pros: 24 hours

Cons: service

Posted 08/13/05

French Roast has a great atmosphere, nice decor. There isn't much space between you and the next table, but the food and service make up for that. The prices are reasonable, and the service is helpful but not exceptionally friendly. For dessert I recommend the Brownie Coupe, it's delicious, and it's the biggest dessert they serve. Everything else is tiny and not too great. The Mango Chutney pork chop is delicious, as is the Escargot. They have a great selection of wines, and the mixed drinks don't dissapoint. This place is perfect for a night late night out with friends. Don't sit by the door in the winter, you'll freeze.

Pros: Great food, Great atmosphere, Great drinks

Posted 12/29/04

This is one of my absolute favorite restaurants! Everything I've ever ordered here (and I go here a lot) is absolutely delicious and very reasonably priced. Entrees range from 10-20 dollars and I feel the food is comparable to what I've paid 25-30 for elsewhere. There is one snippy waiter (which may be who the other reviewer referrs to) but all the other waiters/waitresses are attentive. They also have an excellant weekend brunch.

Pros: inexpensive, great food

Posted 04/15/04

i was excited to try this place for dinner, as it had been highly rated, and because i knew i liked the ambience. unfortunately, i was disappointed on all counts. we paid high prices for mediocre food (salad was not fresh, steak undercooked, questionable mussels) and unsatisfactory service. the place was not busy when we were there, but it was very difficult to get our waiter to the table. whenever we did, he didn't find it necessary to look at us while we ordered. we weren't very needy, just the usual--order, deliver food, deliver check. and as a side note, for a place that draws a rather small crowd, i wouldn't have expected their drinks to be so expensive ($8 for all mixed). you could do better elsewhere.

Pros: , ambience

Cons: , prices, quality

Posted 03/06/04

One of my favorite NYC dessert and coffee spots. Its open 24/7 which makes it perfect for late nite 'battery recharging'. I absolutely *love* their warm chocolate cake and all their mocha varieties are great. Its not badly priced either. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves Europe and its style of coffee and dessert get-a-ways.

Pros: great desserts, open 24/7

Cons: decent parking, a bit crowded

Posted 09/24/03

Good consistent food a few notches above diner food with diner food prices, the ambience tends towards the dark even during the day.

The waitstaff is friendly, can be crowded on weekends. Good place to go by oneself or with a group of friends.

Pros: Price, Food, Staff

Cons: Crowded sometimes, Dark

Posted 09/09/03

I came here with a date on Saturday night for some after dinner dessert and really enjoyed it. The soft lighting and quiet setting made it ideal for conversation. Thumbs up for me.

Pros: romantic

Posted 09/07/03

The place has several different atmospheres depending on when you go. Brunch is very hectic but the hostesses do a good job of trying to keep things in order. Needs more space to wait in though. At during weeknights, the place is pretty laidback and romantic and on weekends, it is jumping the whole night even at 4 am after clubbing! The bartenders are great and all of the wait staff that I've seen are added bonuses. :-)

Posted 01/26/03