Le Rivage — Restaurant in New York

New York City’s timeless French Bistro! The delightful confident, old world charming service combined with delicious food makes for a winning combination at Le Rivage. From the low arched entranceway into the main dining room to its cozy paneled walls with fine paintings, soft lights, and the petite green lamps on each table there is a dedicated ambiance of laid back comfort akin to visiting your favorite, understated, rich uncle who happens to be a masterful chef!

We dined after seeing a musical (Sunset Blvd), arriving early for our 7p reservation. Our host welcomed us to the bar to wait and then surprised us, when, not even halfway through our cocktails, he had us seated at a corner table where we had a magnificent view of the entire room and the full house of contented patrons.

Our waiter Sunny was impeccable. His quiet attentiveness and friendly manner made the evening all the more delightful. Helping him was the kindly and gentle Aristoe.

Roasted Chestnut Soup. What bliss. It is hard to place the taste of chestnut for it is not a common nut and rarely makes a showcase of its own as a soup. Yet the flavor is there: distinct and finely nuanced: earth and wood and the slightest hint of smoke from the roaring pan. The cream and butter adding such a perfect foil to the tongue. There is a surprising garnish of minutely diced fresh apple, tart and sweet and the salty… almost caperesque flavor of crispy lentils….the olive oil tasted infused with some herb… was it basil, perhaps? You just want to eat it slowly. Savoring every bite. You tell yourself that is what you are going to do. You mean well, but it is just too damn delicious and you find your bowl empty and stare at it forlornly and wonder, quite bereft, if perhaps, just this once, you could lick the bowl. Note to self: you can’t.

Le Rivage cocktail. Just the right amount of pucker. It acted as the perfect sorbet between courses.

The fries. (side to the French Soup Burger) These are, without a doubt, the most perfect French Fries I have ever eaten, which sounds ridiculous, but it’s true. Chef, the fries outshone your delightful, award-winning French Soup Burger. That was an expected luxury: those perfect fries. Fries that tasted sublime when served hot and still held up as delicious once they had cooled down. Who makes fries like that? Chef Danamiel and his cheerful kitchen staff do.

Crème Brûlée. Firm crack of right-on-the-edge of burnt caramelized sugar… just the right hint of bitter molasses to make your tongue giddy. Custard: smooth and not overly sweet.. a steady, stable pairing, reminiscent of a good kiss.

Le Rivage Apertif. Dark rum, orange peel, ginger, allspice… other parts magic. A truly fine finish to an excellent meal.

The room was full of bright conviviality. If you live in NYC, this is a cozy spot where they will welcome you and remember your name. If you are a traveler and want something not to be found: this is a treasure.

My only suggestion for improvement would be to update the bathrooms. They are clean and serviceable. They simply do not match the ambiance of the rest of this lovely dining establishment. It is the mildest of critiques indeed. Thank you, Chef and Staff, for a lovely experience...

7-10-21 update:

Went back to Le Rivage for another great dinner. This time we didn’t have any deals but we knew we had to return. They do have an excellent prix fixe menu which we did. Several great choices and with the entree I chose it was just a few dollars more to get the appetizer and dessert. For an extra $3 you can substitute French Onion Soup as an appetizer. We did that for one and the potato leek soup for the other. Both were completely eaten up since they were so flavorful. This time we had the Chicken Cordon Bleu and the Beef Bourguignon (absolutely delicious as it was last time). The chicken was cooked so perfectly, nice crisp crust then covered in ham and oodles of cheese all on a bed of mushrooms. We had the chocolate mousse (again, so dark and chocolatey) and the creme caramel. The creme caramel had so much caramel sauce and it was so, so good. We left feeling very full but also very happy. Everything leaves such a clean taste and when everything is such high quality it is so satisfying. In addition to the excellent food and fair prices, there is the staff. The lovely woman who greets everyone really makes this an experience. She is so welcoming. She constantly checks to be sure everyone is ok and see if anything is needed but not in an obtrusive way. She is there to help but also allows you space. I am just mad at myself for not getting her name (next time!). The waiter and all the staff did an excellent job. I also noticed a few tables where people lingered after finishing but the restaurant doesn’t hurry you out. They allow you time to savor the experience if you want to. We will certainly be going there again, soon I hope!

June 2021: Perfection, start to finish. Went here with a Pulsd deal so had everything from apps, drinks, to dessert. The french onion soup was all you could want-flavorful and lots of gooey cheese. We both ended up getting the Beef Bourguignon. I did all but lick the dish. The meat was pull apart tender. At some restaurants I find this dish is a little dry but definitely not here. There was plenty of delicious sauce. We both finished almost all of it despite the generous portions because it was that good! We finished off with chocolate mousse which had flecks of real chocolate. There was not one thing we didn't love. Great service and welcoming people too. We already have our next dinner...

This restaurant was amazing and had the best steak and fries I have ever had.

Amazing food Amazing service Great atmosphere

Story Time: Me and my fiance have been together for around 20 years now. We love being together, but have never cared about marriage. In addition my fiance hates weddings. Over some time I have come to the realize some of the benefits to being married. Now, even though my fiance didn't care about marriage, I knew that she would marry me if I asked, I just had to pop the question.

I made a plan to fly out to New York and have my fiance go on a scavenger hunt through NYC that would eventually lead to Le Rivage where I would propose. I called the restaurant acouple weeks ahead of time and made a plan with them. The day to propose finally comes and me and my fiance are having a nice time exploring NYC, but I loose track of time while we explore Central Park.

Suddenly I realize we are behind on time, me and my fiance rush to get back to the hotel so that we can get ready and make the reservation. I originally planned on going to the restaurant early and give the restaurant the ring and talk to them. There was also supposed to be a 3 course meal, but we had a Broadway show to get to immediately following dinner, so we couldn't push the time anymore.

In the hurry to get back to get back to our hotel, I had to call the restaurant 3 separate time to push the reservation forward, then finally tell them I could not meet ahead of time and had to change plans a little.

Here is where the Amazing service really shows. First of all, they got a tray top for me that they don't normally use to present the ring for me. They kept my reservation and worked with my shifting schedule. Then when we arrived at the restaurant, the GM Jeremy met with me to go over everything. At this point we were out of time. They switched the 3 course meal for single entrees and got out our entrees incredibly fast.

Finally They brought out the ring as a dessert and I proposed as they recorded the whole thing for me. My fiance accepted my proposal and because of this restaurant had a great experience that she will keep with her for years.

Big thanks to Jeremy and the servers who helped me with this...