Friday, October 25, 2013

L'Entrecote- Midtown East

 
I believe this is a very well known four star restaurant..

Let us see what Yelper's say..they usually have a lot to say..."All they do are steak and fries," I have found out...like the place in Paris, with which of course people compare it to

People seem to agree they do steak very well here but some sour apples too

Le Relais De Venise L'Entrecôte

3.5 star rating
264 reviews Rating Details
590 Lexington Ave
(between 51st St & 52nd St)
New York, NY 10022
Neighborhood: Midtown East
(212) 758-3989

Sam Sifton of The NY Times calls us "Terrific!"

View Now
Nearest Transit Station:
51 St. (4, 6, 6X)
Lexington Ave./53 St. (E, M)
5 Ave./53 St. (E, M)
Hours:
Mon-Fri 12 pm - 2:30 pm
Mon-Sun 5:30 pm - 10:30 pm
Sat-Sun 12:30 pm - 3 pm
Attire:
Casual
Accepts Credit Cards:
Yes
Parking:
Garage, Street
Price Range:
$$
Good for Groups:
Yes
Good for Kids:
No
Takes Reservations:
No
Delivery:
No
Take-out:
No
Waiter Service:
Yes
Outdoor Seating:
Yes
Wi-Fi:
No
Good For:
Dinner
Alcohol:
Full Bar
Noise Level:
Average
Ambience:
Casual
Has TV:
No
Caters:
No
Wheelchair Accessible:
Yes

Review Highlights   What's this?

  • "The secret sauce on the steak is to die for." In 42 reviews
  • "Will definitely be back when I'm want steak frites, French style." In 79 reviews
  • "Profiteroles are amazing - definitely get them." In 26 reviews
Rating Distribution | Trend
Sort by: Yelp Sort | Date | Rating | Elites' | Facebook Friends'

263 reviews in English

  • Review from

    • 7 friends
    • 16 reviews
    Stamford, CT
    10/19/2013 1 check-in here
    In spirit of the restaurant style, will keep this short and simple. No frills steak and fries at a reasonable price ($26.75).

    Small things you wouldn't know unless you are there:
    - they cut the steak for you and add sauce themselves... a minus for steak lovers
    - two rounds of steak, first round has about 75 percent of the food. Don't overload on the fries initially if you think it's not filling enough
  • Review from

    Manhattan, NY
    9/14/2013
    Before you come here you should be aware this is a popular well known spot from Paris which only serves ONE item on the menu: Steak & Frites.
    They only ask you how you want your steak cooked and that's it. First, they bring out the walnut salad which was really good, then comes the steak & fries. The sauce was really unique & savory. Not what a typical American would pour over meat. They do not have ketchup for the fries here so don't even think about asking for it or they will give you dirty looks! When I did ask for ketchup, they told me they could bring me more steak sauce for an extra $1.50 which wasn't bad I suppose. I just couldn't handle eating fries with nothing on them. Great sauce I will reiterate! Especially since I was willing to pour it all over my fries. I'm curious to try this spot in Paris one day since everyone on yelp keeps comparing this place to the o.g location.
    Great ambience and beautiful artwork although I was confused why a French restaurant had paintings of the Venice canals all over the walls? Clearly I was missing something. Great concept though! Friendly service too.
  • Review from

    • 14 friends
    • 51 reviews
    New York, NY
    9/3/2013
    Rude service.
    Heavy, greasy, overflavored, overall unpleasant food.
    Take your worse enemy here to make them suffer.
  • Review from

    • 0 friends
    • 4 reviews
    West Village, Manhattan, NY
    10/19/2013
    It's not the same as Paris!!!!  The sauce is too bland. And you only get one serving!!!
  • Review from

    • 2 friends
    • 10 reviews
    New York, NY
    10/14/2013
    It is was it is: steak frites, bread and wine. On the negative side, they don't offer ketchup for the fries or butter with the bread. I may be unsophisticated, but I really like butter and ketchup.

    Anyway, the bread and fries are both delicious, even without ketchup and butter.  The fries are those delicious and perfectly cooked shoestring fries.

    The steak itself is nice as well.  Cooked to a nice medium rare with some sort of secret sauce on top that bleeds over onto the fries, lessening the need for ketchup. And at the end they do the trick of giving you more steak and fries, which is all kinds of awesome.

    Atmosphere feels like a business-man lunch spot trying to look Parisienne, and that is what it is so I'm willing to cut the place some slack.

    Prices are good too.
  • Review from

    • 0 friends
    • 31 reviews
    Purchase, NY
    10/10/2013
    Came at 1 p.m. on Thursday 10/10 with work colleagues. Place was buzzing almost full.

    Waitress was pleasant with a French accent couldn't say if it was Lyon or Quebec. Walnut salad was delicious, bread so-so. Steak was warm, tender and marvelously sauced. Seemed more like slices of strip steak than a sliced rib steak, but who's complaining. No it's not Sparks or Smith and Wollensky, and it doesn't cost that much. Forty dollars for a decent Medoc in the East Side in 2013.

    Frites were crisp and hot. Add your own salt and pepper from the mill at your table. No need for ketchup. More fries with the last 1/3 or so of the steak, steak kept warm over a candle. yes, please.

    Skip dessert-have a double espresso. Well made rich, crema. Leave full. Colleagues happy.

    Don't come if you don't want steak frites that's all she wrote!
  • Review from

    • 1 friend
    • 55 reviews
    Brooklyn, NY
    8/30/2013
    We went there for dinner last night. Sarah's mother recommended this restaurant and we had high hopes.

    Started off well enough. No reservation policy was frightening at first. We expected a long wait, but arriving ahead of Sarah, I was seated almost right away. Ordered a half bottle of their house wine ( made by their parent company) which was pleasant and relatively inexpensive.  So far so good.

    When Sarah was seated, thats when things went south and fast. As you all must know, the only entree is steak frites and a green salad and for their part it was good. Once we finally got it. We sat and waited a full 1/2 hour before I was so hungry I had to ask the surprised waitress for bread. Maybe another 20 or more minutes for our salads which tasted fine but could taste like ass I would have devoured. Waited another 20 minutes or so (and another 1/2 bottle of wine) before our steak frites came out. We asked for the sauce on the side when ordering which was ignored of course. Luckily, the sauce was very tasty so it did not matter, but what happened to the customer is always right? Seconds quickly were offered and our dessert came within minutes of ordering and was very good.

    Now the checkout. I presented the waitress a Gilt prepaid voucher before ordering our meal and our check did not credit us for it. When I addressed the situation with her, she said she could not find it so I needed to locate the code on my iPhone in order to get credit which took some time but found it. What if I was "old school" and only had a cell phone?  What happens then? Do I lose my prepayment? Do I really need to argue with someone about this after a bottle of wine and dinner?

    Another frustrating part was the mandatory 18% tip on the entire check, before discount. I know that tips are their livelihood, but feel when service is this bad, that I should feel free to tip my usual 10-15%.  After my experience and the wine creeping up on me, I decided to just say F-it, and just never come back. Yeah. I was that annoyed.

    While the food itself was good especially for only $26.95 and rate it a solid 3 over all. However, this is a case where the service and a long wait really messed up our evening. I would have given it a 1 last night but after sleeping on it giving it a 2 over all is fair.
  • Review from

    New York, NY
    8/2/2013 1 check-in here
    The only things you need to know:
    1. There is only one thing to order - steak and fries ($26.95)
    2. Minimum per person is $26.95
    3. Once you finish your steak and fries, you are entitled to seconds

    I had bookmarked this restaurant based on the reviews and pictures. They only served one thing and they have multiple locations around the world so they must be great at what they so right?

    Fries - The only place I'll accept soggy fries from are McDonalds. If I order them from a sit down restaurant, they should be crispy and well seasoned. These had little to no salt. Disappointing!

    Steak - why do people cut your steak for you in the east coast?! Do people feel entitled or have I just been deprived of this service my whole life? There was nothing wrong with the steak, it was actually cooked quite nicely. The famous green sauce, however, was oily and short of excitement. From the pictures, I dreamed of the flavor tasting like chimichuri, or peppery, or minty. The only way to proceed was by drowning the steak and then washing it down with wine.

    Next time I crave steak, I think I'll stick to a steakhouse.
  • Review from

    • 15 friends
    • 19 reviews
    Brooklyn, NY
    8/8/2013 1 check-in here
    I do have an occasional craving for their buttery/oily drenched steak frites...will def go back when craving attackes.

    Atmosphere is ok...noise level is ok....seating is too nestled together
  • Review from

    • 2 friends
    • 64 reviews
    Upper West Side, Manhattan, NY
    9/29/2013 1 check-in here
    I was about to give this place 4 stars but it totally reminded me of being in france so I gave it 1 more. The steak is awesome, the sauce is perfect and the fries the bomb. The profiteroles for dessert were to die for. If you want a heavy, greasy meal this is your place. And for $36 per person its not that bad for a steak place in midtown! I would go back for sure, the whole concept is cool. I like that they dont have a menu; its a fun restaurant. Heavy on the touristy side thats the only downfall but thats expected and not the restaurants fault.
  • Review from

    • 2 friends
    • 4 reviews
    New York, NY
    6/7/2013
    The food is absolutely delicious!! The sauce on top of the fries and steak is to die for!

    However, I do have a comment about their service. I went with my parents, who don't speak English, and when I told the waitress that only my dad and I were going to eat because my mom wasn't hungry, she said it was a minimum charge of $27 per person. Not really fair! Also, maybe because we spoke to each other in a different language, she assumed we weren't going to tip, so she added an automatic 20% "service charge" to our bill while still circling on the bottom of the bill that gratuity wasn't included! Confused by the service charge, we left a tip on top of it. So she got a huge tip even though she was kinda rude and very sneaky!
  • Review from

    East Village, Manhattan, NY
    6/19/2013
    This place is a tad ridiculous. Only serves:

    1) Steak
    2) Frites

    But if you're in the hankerin for a steak and frites then it really fits the bill. (And if you aren't, then what the hell are you doing here?)

    The bernaise is solid. Ask for it on the side so you can get it all up in yo fries.
  • Review from

    • 37 friends
    • 145 reviews
    Brooklyn, NY
    5/14/2013 2 check-ins here
    Before you complain that this restaurant doesn't serve anything other than steak and fries, would you complain that a burger joint doesn't sell fish? Or that a sandwich place doesn't sell pizza? Once you get over the fact that this is only steak and fries place, you'll be able to appreciate the quality of their food and the prices.

    This place is amazing for what they do serve. The steak with the secret sauce is like nothing else, and the fries perfectly crispy. Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys good meat! They have a lot of cheap, good wine as well. Make sure you specify how you want your steak done because their default temperature is rare.
    Prices are also really cheap, you get a decent sized steak with a side of fries for about $26. Service is attentive and fast.
  • Review from

    • 0 friends
    • 6 reviews
    Shelter Island Heights, NY
    10/2/2013
    good formula but serving portions are too small even for moderate eater
  • Review from

    • 0 friends
    • 111 reviews
    Upper East Side, Manhattan, NY
    9/2/2013
    Concept is pretty unusual: only one entree (steak fries). The waiter only asks you the way you want it cooked. The appetizer is a green salad, nothing special. The meat is really good but it's the sauce who makes the whole thing. Service is good and friendly as well. Overall good experience for lunch I would say.
  • Review from

    • 0 friends
    • 27 reviews
    New York, NY
    10/3/2013
    MEh, don't know what the buzz is about. The steak was so so and the sauce was okay..
  • Review from

    New York, NY
    8/7/2013
    Definitely enjoyed my experience at L'Entrecote. It's a casual place to have a nice piece of steak. At first I thought, how does this restaurant stay in business only serving one thing? However, I realized later on that if a restaurant is that good at cooking one thing, then why change? The meal started out with the walnut salad, which was decent. Loved the unlimited steak and fries. I had one portion of fries and two portions of steak and left feeling full but not grossly full. I also liked that they cut up the steak for you. I got their signature steak sauce on the side. My boyfriend and I shared this meringue ice cream dessert called Le Vacherin du Relais that I would skip. The chocolate sauce on top tasted like Hershey syrup. Yuck! All in all, I would come back if I was in the area.
  • Review from

    • 7 friends
    • 2 reviews
    Allston-Brighton, MA
    8/3/2013
    I wouldn't mind the 4hr drive from Boston just for lunch here.
  • Review from

    • 133 friends
    • 29 reviews
    New York, NY
    4/20/2013
    There are only 3 things I need in this life - steak, love, and the 49ers.

    Coming here with the hubb after watching the 49ers become the NFC champs was one of the best days of 2013 .

    They serve 3 things here salad, fries, steak covered in béarnaise sauce. The steak here has always been consistently cooked just the way I want it - medium.

    It may not be the healthiest, but whatev, cry me a river and go to the gym.


No comments:

Post a Comment

Please leave a comment-- or suggestions, particularly of topics and places you'd like to see covered