Le Pistol Bar & Cafe — Restaurant in New York

Two frenchies walk into a French brunch bistro in Brooklyn, and oh la la what could possibly go wrong?!

Le Pistol brunch in Brooklyn is a delightful mix of culinary excellence and cultural confusion. The food? Magnifique. The ambiance? Well, let's just say, they got some distinct French things wrong and some things very right.

Firstly, the servers were way too friendly. In a true French restaurant, you expect a healthy dose of disdain with your meal. Secondly, the size of the orange juices was laughable. In France, you would get a size able OJ, but here, it was more like a shot glass.

Paying $5 for half an orange seems excessive even for Brooklyn, especially as these oranges come from Orange County, they’re not even Champagne import (like us).

The breakfast toasts were a curious affair. Served deconstructed, we were essentially tasked with sandwich assembly. Perhaps the kitchen staff were channeling their inner French by making us work for our meal.

Halfway through our ‘petit’ toasts, we caved and ordered pancakes, hoping they'd arrive before dinner. To our relief, they were American-sized fluffy pancakes, a stark contrast to the expected deconstructed crepes.

Overall, Le Pistol gets an A+ for food and an F for French authenticity—maybe minus the long wait for the food to arrive and being included in the labor of making brunch happen. So in that sense, a little taste of home. All blagues aside, Pistolet is a solid brunch option and who needs Paris when you've...

I’ve tried either dining or drinking at Le Pistol four times and it missed the mark each time—

I went opening week. The place was buzzing with new, fun energy. On that visit I had drinks and tried their Pork Belly bites and another small plate. The Pork Belly bites were extremely overcooked and the portion was simply too small for the price point. Staff was attentive and the music and vibe were great.

Came for brunch one Sunday afternoon and left incredibly hungry. I ordered the classic breakfast that came with ONE sliced strawberry, two pork bites, quarter avocado, dried, bitter blueberries, eggs and toast. Eh.

Went for drinks this year and saw a tiny mouse running amok between tables and behind the bar. I pulled a staff member aside to tell him. Not phased and didn’t say anything. I kid you not he simply walked away.

Despite my previous experiences, I came here again for the last time. Received no service, though I was sat at a table. I had to go to the bar to try to order my drink and food to try to get serviced. No napkins, cups, or drinking water. I felt people staring at my table and realized that the band was trying to set up. That was my queue to go and...

We were excited to see LP open and we were looking forward to their take on simple classics like a smash burger or grilled cheese and tomato soup. Unfortunately, we were disappointed.

Could have been an off night, but service missed the mark from the moment we sat down. The food arrived cold, with the previously-melted cheese congealed on our two mains. When we sent it back, the waiter seemed confused, and then brought it back much later, warmed but still not melted. On a number of occasions our food was accidentally placed on the table next to us.

Our waiter did appear to acknowledge that things weren’t going well by bringing free fries, but then we realized other tables were getting them as well. The fries were sadly burnt.

Finally, one of our mains never came out the kitchen. We left hungry, disappointed, and out $80. The worst part was that no one really noticed or acknowledged that the experience wasn’t going well, despite us sending food back and not getting...