Le Florentin — Restaurant in Paris

TLDR : VERY GOOD, AFFORDABLE, GOOD SERVICE.

Stumbled upon this place by accident while looking for a place to eat around Saint-Honoré. Went in completely with no expectation but the quality really surprised me to no ends.

FOOD:

Escargot- I can’t really describe it but there is no trick or magic behind this dish. It is simply done right and it is outright delicious. Mind you we’ve had escargots almost everyday throughout our trip and this is one of the best. Sauce is great, escargot cooked perfectly.

Onion Soup- I can’t believe myself saying this. We’ve had several onion soups throughout in very expensive places but this. This restaurant manages to capture the essence of a great French onion soup: True comfort food style. The balance between the onion and beef stock created a great soothing harmony, the cheese wasn’t overpowering but rather elevated the flavour between sips of the soup. It is incredible.

Duck Confit- MUST HAVE. The duck was so tender and juicy while the outside is still crispy. This texture is incredibly hard to get but they’ve manage to nail it perfectly. The potato was also done quite decently.

SERVICE:

Although there wasn’t any English menu, the waiter was extremely patient to translate the menu word by word which is extremely rare in this fast paced Paris environment.

The place gets quite busy from 12pm onwards. In our experience In Paris, trying to get the waiter’s attention during the rush hour is impossible( but understandable). This restaurant however, is incredible in their near instantaneous response. Be it the bartender or owner or waiter, if someone spots you, you are in good hands.

Conclusion:

If you are looking for a place for quick French comfort food with the quality of a restaurant yet remain affordable, this is definitely the place. The ambiance was also fantastic. I regret not asking for the owner/manager’s name but he was incredible and humorous too.

I cannot recommend this...

Headline is this used to be my favourite restaurant in Paris for the Parisian classics, where the food quality and the atmosphere were something. It was always expensive, it's in a good location, it's Paris etc. but you always used to leave here with a full belly and a smile so it was worth the treat.

The owners/management seem to have made some deliberate choices in the past year that change all that. Now it is a sad little tourist trap with cheap interiors and even cheaper food, all being sold at premium prices. 38€ for steak frites is 😱 The the steak is 150g max (menu promises 300g), overcooked, and served with a few frites and even fewer leaves. This used to be a full meal, excellent steak, large basket of frites, a proper dressed salad with more than just a garnish of leaves.

There used to be plenty to make up for it if you ordered something that was a smaller portion, house made chips, baskets of bread à volonté, plenty of choice of slides and extras, starter courses at normal parisien prices (now 15€ for a small soupe à l'oignon, no chips, no bread 💀💀)

These are all deliberate choices to maximise profits and to management I'd say: yeah I understand the temptation but you ruined your nice restaurant. To anyone passing by let me be clear: AVOID. There are better places all over the city not deliberately...

This restaurant is in a prime tourist shopping area, open long hours, and checks all the boxes for French cuisine classics. It attracts a lot of visitors as you can see from the number of reviews. It is also cramped but luckily when we went, not all the tables were filled and they were accommodating enough to let me choose which table for 2 that I wanted.

Their beef bourguignon comes with pasta, interestingly enough. However, it was the opposite of hearty, very watery and the beef chunks were tough. They got my friend's order wrong at first. They gave her the duck confit when she ordered the steak. She had to remind them that they even asked how she wanted it cooked. She told them again she wanted it medium rare, just in case the mix up didn't include that information.

Even though they didn't acknowledge anything, there was only two people working the front so they were having a rather difficult time. They both spoke English and were friendly though. The food didn't take long to come out but I did elect to go to the front to pay in the end because they were really busy and we had to leave quickly.

The food is good enough for the price and the...