Brasserie Le Bourbon — Restaurant in Paris

Excellent food and service, a hidden gem, recommended

A charming little brasseries on a plaza facing the National Assembly and the Obelisk of Place de la Concorde in 7th Arrondissement. The dining room was close and cozy as are many cafes but a classic wood bar and décor. An enclosed sun room or patio and café tables on the sidewalk were available as well. On a busy square but service was timely and attentive. Ate here several times, a hidden gem.

There is a prepared menu as well as daily specials for lunch and dinner. One special was a seared veal chop in a white wine, cream and veal stock reduction with fresh tagliatelle and mushrooms. Nice char and seasoning on the veal done to a medium rare, sauce was very good complementing the meat and the pasta. Another special was a tender sirloin grilled to a perfect rare as requested with a Bleu d Auvergne sauce. Both came with a small fresh, crisp side salad in Dijon vinaigrette, slices of warm baguette. While waiting on the meal, bread and a bowl of black and green olives with herbs de provence helped whet the appetite. Everything was very good. We ate in the sunroom where the tables were rather close.

For dinner we started with a gamay, Fleurie from Chateau de la Chaize. Smooth finish, nice body. The olives were on the table again. For starters, the Onion Soup was traditional, beefy, full of onions with a crown of gruyere. The escargot were large, tender and the butter full of herbs and garlic. Very nice.

The Free-Range Chicken in Tarragon Sauce was a little dry even with the sauce and the mixed vegetable side was overdone and soft. The staff was very accommodating and replaced the meal with a more tender plate of chicken and a side of fresh mashed potatoes that were very hearty, farmhouse style (well-seasoned, lots of butter). The Duck Confit was tender and ample with crisp frites and a side salad in vinaigrette. Simple but good.

Another meal started with different appetizers. The Asparagus Soup was rich, creamy full of pureed asparagus and pieces topped with crisp croutons. The Rabbit Terrine was a chunky, meaty, herb filled terrine with a sweet/sour onion compote. Both very good, worth ordering again. The entrée was two large slices of tender veal liver seared crisp with a juicy interior with a raspberry coulis , frites and a side salad. The sides good, the liver, excellent.

Staff was accommodating, efficient and friendly. Had a conversation with the owners who were seated next to us. Recommend making...

With that location you’d think it’s a good restaurant with good staffs. We went there the evening of the 14th of July.

3 different waiters with no clue what the other has done. One (short, heavy, older guy) was so disrespectful to all of us, throwing the plates on the table, judging our orders, not listening to anything we were saying, not attending when we were trying to get his attention.

The one taking our orders told us ordering appetizers would mess up everything so if we were sure we wanted them ?!?!? I couldn’t believe he said that. It took them 1 hour to bring an avocado/ shrimp salad and a slice of salmon pâté. The salmon slice was very small as there was more jelly on it than actual salmon.

We had to wait another 30 min for our dishes (the restaurant wasn’t even full)… had to tell many times we were missing a dishes of pasta bolognese, which was so plain, very dry and no taste to it, check the picture with a big chunk of parmesan cheese, you’d think they’d have better presentation for the price and location of the restaurant. Asked many times for water which we never got.

Even when we paid the very rude waiter (wish I remembered his name) made snarky and rude comments when it was his credit card machine that was not working.

Very bad experience for a very expensive and not...

Was very excited to try this restaurant but was let down. Upon entering I said table for one and the guy asked if I had reservations (I didn’t) and then he told me to wait. I waited and another guy sat me down but not without huffing and puffing. He took my order and I was served the food before receiving my drink. I did get my wine about five minutes after food. I was served tap water that had been “recycled” (I watched another waiter pour water from other containers into a new one) and it made me wonder if the same was done for my bread. I had to salt and pepper my salmon penne as it was luke-warm and not very flavorful. I witnessed my waiter attend other tables that came in after me without their prompting while he did not check in on me once (I don’t expect that in Paris but he did it for other tables and not me.) Lastly, a new table sat down and he grabbed the salt and pepper from my table and gave it to them without asking if I was done with it. I’ve eaten at other restaurants in Paris as a solo female and was treated miles better and had a much better experience. I would not return here again based on how I was treated alone, and honestly, I should’ve left after the waiter’s audible huffing...