French Louie — Restaurant in New York

We came here for brunch on a cold winter Saturday. We were seated quickly but, thankfully we had reservations. The heated garden was filled when we arrived. Upon entry, they took our temperature and provided hand sanitizer for us to use. We had to scan a barcode before sitting down to bring up the menu. I wasn't crazy over this especially if there are people waiting behind you.

We ordered a "pot" of tea which was $6 but, it really had enough for a decent size mug. My friends ordered a drip coffee ($3.50) and a hot chocolate ($4). Charsu had ordered the hot chocolate before ordering her main course but, ended up getting her hot chocolate when she was almost finished with her meal. The server had come by a few times and had said that the hot chocolate was on its way but, I think they kinda forgot or maybe they got overwhelmed?

Charsu ordered the Croque Madame ($16) and they enjoyed it. Selphie and I both ordered the Egg Louie ($17). The meal was tasty but, the execution was poor. The salad had giant pieces of lettuce leaves/greens. I felt like this should have been chopped and mixed together. I thought the eggs Benedict would have been served like an open faced sandwich. Instead, they placed the eggs on top of croissant. The croissant was hard and this layout made it hard to get eggs on top of every bite. Perhaps, they should have used a Portuguese muffin or served it open faced. They gave a very meager portion of crab that it was more of an after note than a main attraction. I would say half of a teaspoon (not a heaping teaspoon either) was all the crab I got. Also, our poached eggs were overcooked. One of my eggs was cooked too long but, both of Selphie's eggs were almost hard boiled eggs. Again, I am assuming they were "busy" in the kitchen which caused the overcooked eggs.

When I went to use the restroom to wash my hands and my Invisalign, I heard them playing Nelly "It's Getting Hot Here" song. I had a feeling that either they were watching the memes or trying to make one themselves because there was a loud uproar of laughter. I am curious how they had time to do that but, not cook our eggs properly?

However, I must say that the staff was generally nice. When we left, everyone thanked us and wished us a good day. Perhaps, I might return later in the year but, I am still a bit salty...

I was recommended this restaurant by a friend who had multiple great experiences here, so I was super excited to try, but my own experience was disappointing. My reservation was for an outdoor table, but when we arrived at 6, the whole restaurant was empty except for one party, so I asked if we could be seated inside instead. The host firmly said no and that there would be no indoor availability until 8, so we were seated outside. About ten minutes after we sat down, the host lead another party of 2 outside who had outdoor reservations (said so by the host himself), but they expressed that they did not want to sit outside. Then, to my shock, the host promptly seated them inside instead when he told us there was absolutely no availability. I do not understand why they were treated differently than us and I felt discriminated against. It might be because we were POC and the other party was two white women. Oh another thing that I want to mention is that the bench had a decent amount of ants crawling on it. The appetizers we ordered, steak tartare and escargot, both tasted fine, although not very flavorful, so no real complaints there. The leaves in the salad that came with the steak were not fresh and had yellow spots on them. We brought this up to the server, who took it to the manager, which I appreciated him doing and they gifted us a free blackberry sorbet. The price point of this place is too high to not be using fresh ingredients in my opinion. Additionally, when we finished our meal at 6:50, half of the restaurant was empty still, so we could have 100% sat inside and left before the table had to be given to...

The poached eggs were refrigerator cold

The staff gets 6 stars, but this cannot overcome the food. No place with an average of 4.5 stars should have even one dish that was as bad as my Crab Louie. Twice.

Our order came quickly, but when I took my first bite the poached eggs and hollandaise sauce were cold. Not tepid, not cooling, cold like out of a refrigerator. The super fabulous wait staff took back the offending plate and brought another. This time the eggs were warmer and the hollandaise sauce was tepid. The croissant pieces upon which they rested where similar to shale in hardness and the hollandaise sauce was meh. The salad was drenched. I ate it because it wasn't completely disgusting, I had no anticipation of the third time being a charm, I was hungry, and nothing ruins a good time with a friend more than complaining.

I had a decaf cappuccino which was also only okay.

The restaurant is charming, the food is not exorbitantly priced, however the coffee was perhaps on the overpriced side. The food was $15 and with the coffee my total was $23. You do the math.

I had a wonderful time with my friend in a charming atmosphere, however order the food at...