Le Âme — Restaurant in Phoenix

Overall a decent French bistro, but underwhelming in terms of the execution. This is a French restaurant that desperately needs a French chef. We had high hopes for Le Âme and we went last night with a group of four people for my wife’s birthday. The Phoenix area really needed another French bistro, and we felt that Sam Fox, with his gorgeous & stunning new hotel would deliver the goods. It was our first time dining at the restaurant. Le Âme still feels like a bit of a work in progress and mixes French and Italian courses, even though it advertises itself as a French bistro. Honestly there was no reason to do this as Sam Fox knows his way around great food concepts better than just about anyone in this town.

The restaurant itself is impressive, taking up a good portion of the first floor, with a modern feeling and opening up to the outside which gives it a very nice vibe. There is a nice mixture of old world, wood, and even a real flame candle in the middle of the table, which is a nice touch.

We were seated, and I was handed a wine list as I intended to order a bottle. When I opened the leather folio, nearly all the pages fell out as someone had forgotten to check it before giving it to me. The wine list pages had come out of the binder almost entirely. Our waiter Cory (who had a great demeanor) took a look at it and tried his best to put it back together, but ultimately decided to get me another wine list. No problem except he knocked my fork to the floor (not a big deal) yet 15 minutes later he had still forgotten to bring me a new fork when our appetizers were served.

The wine sommelier was cheery when she greeted the table. She was trying to nudge us towards a few wines, but we decided on the Grgich Hills Cabernet. When we asked her about the wine, she was apparently unaware that Mike Grgich crafted the Chateau Montelena 1973 chardonnay that won in the historic Paris Wine Tasting of 1976. We ordered that bottle and it was fantastic - however we asked her to put it into a decanter since it was a little tight on the tasting (which she offered) but after she put it in the decanter she immediately poured the wine into all four of our glasses (nearly full) without asking if we wanted to keep the $140 wine in the decanter for a few minutes which is standard practice.

We tried the brussel sprouts, which were excellent and very tasty. They had a bit of sweetness with what tasted like a balsamic reduction, and some cheese sprinkled on the top. Solid.

We also had the $8 baguette (bread and butter), which we all agreed was a bit disappointing. This was not a great baguette - it was tasteless and a little bit dry even with the butter. They could do better.

A number of us ordered steak frites. This was basically skirt steak pre-sliced on the diagonal served with fries. The small skirt steak itself was tasty and perfectly cooked to medium with a pink interior - seasoned only with butter, salt, pepper. The fries were hot & tasty. But there was really no sauce to sop up with the fries. We did order a side of chimichurri ($4) which was oily but tasteless, so that didn’t really help. Overall this was a solid steak for $40 but pre-slicing traditional steak frites was odd.

My daughter got the $58 filet mignon and she liked it - but it was nothing special.

For dessert we had the traditional profiteroles- a semi Fredo dessert with some type of hazelnut, and an apple tart tatin with vanilla ice cream which I was quite excited about because it’s my all-time favorite dessert.

The apple tart was a disappointment - a staple of any French bistro. This was not a good dessert. Instead of using a traditional flaky Pâte Brisée crust with caramel sauce underneath - for some odd reason the pastry chef is using a bland & neutral shortbread crust. We all agreed it was tasteless and nothing like a traditional tatin. There was no caramel sauce.

Overall, we would give the restaurant about a 7 1/2 half out of 10. Certainly a good restaurant, great atmosphere - but definitely not yet world-class. Our bill with wine...

This has taken me some time to write as things have been a whirlwind since my Birthday dinner at Le Ame. My reservation was at 8:15pm for my party of 6 on 10/26. I'm just painting a bit of a picture for you so you understand why my review is so low- I am wearing a dress that weighs roughly 15 pounds with a bit a of a train. We arrived on time for our table- we were then asked to wait about 10 minutes while our table was cleaned off. We were not sat until 8:50. I found this to be incredibly unreasonable for the circumstances. By the time we were sat I was kind of embarrassed from having stood around so long I was exhausted from standing in those heels with such a heavy dress and frankly embarrassed. People walking past us were stepping on my train. I had flown in family members from out of state to make sure they could be here with me at this nice establishment for dinner only to have them stand around for half an hour past our reservation. No one apologized for the wait either. When we finally were sat it was at the table closest to the kitchen- so much nosier- mind you there were 2 open tables to our right and it made me wonder how long had those been open and why did they choose to seat us here? Is it because we were people of color? I hope not. In the end the food was mostly okay. With our entrees, I ordered my favorite side- roasted Brussel sprouts and they were burned beyond belief. In the dim lighting they looked BLACK and upon eating them it tasted how it looked. We sent that back and they did apologize for that and replace it with asparagus for us. The asparagus were much better! the only other lackluster dish was the salmon. It was very bland and also overcooked from what I could see. My cousin was quite disappointed which meant a lot to me because once again she came all the way from out of state. Aside from that everything just took so long. we were sat at 8:45 pm we didn't leave till 11:40 pm. there was a good 30 minutes or so in between each course. I did bring my own cake and when we asked to have it brought out- we then proceeded to wait 20 minutes for the cake. It was would have been a 30 dollar upcharge for the kitchen to cut it for us so we declined that- so what was the long wait for? Also a complimentary dessert was mentioned at the start of our meal as a gift, but that was never brought. I am not saying they ruined my birthday with this experience but I am saying I was disappointed because I expected so much better from the Le Ame staff than how...

UPDATE: I was called shortly after I left this review. I was asked about my feedback and then invited back to the restaurant for a meal with a guest on the house, in hopes of a better experience and review. I was told to call back with my availability and they’d add me to the night. I did so and was acknowledged. But then, I never got a call back to confirm if that worked for them. Reached out again and was told the girl who offered this is no longer works there, but she’d pass on the message along. She also said I should have been contacted by the AGM and was surprised no one followed up. Again, I’ve waited after being told by her that the AGM Ty should be reaching out. Again, no one reached out or followed up. For spending as much as we did and being willing to come again to give a second chance and better review, I’m confused.

Original review: August 24, 2025. I go between a 2 or 3, because ultimately it should be about the food. I came on a Friday night with a group of 11 of us for my bachelorette. We are in our early 30’s. The ambiance of the global ambassador and Le Ame is wonderful. It’s lively, the decor is fantastic. Serving a group of 11 is a task, but our waiter (I think Francis) was really kind and personable. He gave me a dessert on the house for my bachelorette.

We loved our time but the food is soooo mid. That’s just the truth. We ordered a variety of items: the Paris baguette, escargot, a couple different salads, steak frites, wagyu bolognese, lobster pasta, the twice baked truffle potato.

The food took quite a while to come out and when it did- it was cold. Specifically the two orders of wagyu bolognese. It needed multiple interruptions to add additional salt. It was overcooked in the pasta making it mushy. I was so disappointed! Bolognese isn’t hard to mess up and this just didn’t hit the mark.

Steak frites were great and tasty- done to request.

Twice baked potato delicious and HOT. We ordered two, but only one came to the table. And then shortly after, the waiter came and said “the chef just isn’t feeling the second potato and isn’t in the mood to remake it. Can we offer broccoli or asparagus?” I was shocked to hear this. I have never heard of that.

Crème Brûlée was insanely good. I can’t recommend it enough and the portion is enough to share around 3-5 people.

Overall, I don’t think I’d come back due to the food and the price. Which makes me sad, because the restaurant and ambiance...