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TLDR: Service 5 Food 4/5 Decor 5 Comfort 4.
You drink Pastis in a small run down cafe in Southeastern France with a gathering of older gents, pouring a bit of water into the milky white beverage. This version is a medium size boite hovering somewhere between the intimacy of a bistro and the bustle of a brasserie.We came on a Sunday to celebrate the Feinschmecker's birthday. We arrived a few minutes ahead of the reserved time, with one en retard and were nonetheless promptly seated. Kudos to the FOH staff. Our table was small -- two seats on the banquette, two bistro chairs. A bottle of mineral water arrived quickly. The Feninschmecker and Mr. D plumped for their usual dirty martinis, I had the Nouveau Carre, a bourbon cocktail with some actual Pastis. Cocktails were excellent, as was La Portena's glass of Sancerre. You still get bread and butter at Pastis.Apps were generally successful. Highest acclaim goes to the delicate tuna crudo beautifully plated. The pate de campagne was savory and well seasoned, might have used a bit more accompaniment, or perhaps a larger portion for the price. The artichokes were tender and there was enough to share. The farmed Island Creek oysters were on the small side, fresh and briny despite the season, but not all that flavorful. A glass of Muscadet hit the spot.Did anyone say steak frites - that is certainly what to order here. The Feinschmecker's hangar steak was juicy and about as tender as that cut can be. Mr. D's entrecote was steakhouse worthy. As I cook a lot of steak at home, I decided to plump for the tagine - it arrived in its proper conical lidded dish, but I did not get the big blast of Moroccan spice as the lid was lifted. The portion was on the smaller side, the lamb tender, the fruits and veggies all in order, but the couscous had absorbed all the juice and it was a bit dry. Usually tagine is served with the couscous on the side, the stew in enough jus to keep things moist. La Portena's branzino disappeared in a flash, but I did get a taste of the savory tapenade. She did not find the dish memorable. If you are dining in a group, do not order a side of fries, simply steal a few from your companions. I had ordered a side and came to the realization that I could have just stolen plenty from the steak eaters - this is where the house shows some generosity. The cauliflower gratin did not blow me away, but my companions had spirited away the crust before I got there.For dessert, we shared an excellent sticky toffee pudding, which matched (or perhaps surpassed) the one at Hawksmoor - but left me with a question -- why sticky toffee pudding at a restaurant named Pastis?A double espresso ran $8.50, and did not include a biscuit or chocolate. A bit of an ouch. Still a very nice experience that I would happily repeat on the basis of the vibe, the playlist, and above all the professional and thoughtful service.
One of the most solid restaurants in the meatpacking area. Always busy and good atmosphere. French brasserie style done the American way. Does what it says on the tin.
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This is a really fun spot for a special occasion like a
This is a really fun spot for a special occasion like a birthday - it's a lively, warm spot with a tailored menu that is strong across the board. For appetizers, we had some soups, salads, the Mac & cheese, and the ravioli, and they were all smash hits. I was a little surprised that the duck I ordered didn't come with any sides, considering the burger and steak both came with generous sides of delightfully crisp pomme frites. Our server, Jeremy, was a delight and made us feel super welcome. Only drawbacks I saw were small portion sizes & the prices for said portions, but if you're looking for a great place to share bites with friends, this is a wise choice.
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A place with good environment but mediocre food.
I came in for lunch, so I ordered something light, an onion soup, which seems like the thing that everyone is getting, and a lobster salad. Now, I confess that I never was a big fan of onion soup, but since it's a French restaurant, I was expecting that the "authentic" version of this soup would change my mind about it. Still, no. The soup itself was too salty but no flavor, the cheese when stirred into the soup became a chunky salty sticky chewing gum also with no flavor. The lobster salad was ok, but I don't get the whole leaf of lettuce thing, it's only for the presentation. I had to cut them into pieces for 5 minutes before I can dig in. The salad has endive, which I don't have a pallet for, it's bitter but also sweet, kinda weird, does pair well with the orange, but by itself it just tastes too bitter to me. The lobster was bland at best, not really adding too much to the flavor of the salad. Texture was firm, a bit too firm that almost lean towards rubbery. I didn't hate my food, it's just not very impressive for the price point. My friend had the omelet, she didn't like it, it was too salty and has a wired gamy taste. It's not cheap either, despite having no ingredients added to the egg other than some herb that I didn't recognize and maybe some cheese? We ordered the snail as appetizer, it was also salty as hell. A thing I noticed about the service is that you can sometimes find waiters and waitresses stand around in the dinning area chatting. I'm not against them doing so when they are not attending a table, but I just don't understand why they can't do it elsewhere anywhere but not in front of customers. Besides that the service was okay. Overall, come here if you like the show "Sex in the City" or wanted to dine in for the environment.
Delicious food ! Excellent service by Pierre ! Fun atmosphere! Good music Our favorite spot in nyc ! Celebrated our 20 th anniversary! We will be back
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This place has gone downhill.
Food is overly salty. Service is terrible with inattentive waiters. Our waiter today only came by to take our order and we never saw him again. Sorry but a service like that does not deserve any tip whatsoever. Such a shame because this was once a really good spot.
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I was late for my reservation on a busy Saturday night and
I was late for my reservation on a busy Saturday night and they were so accommodating and got an amazing table 5 min later. Ordered their cheeseburger of course and portion of fries never disappoints. Great customer service!
We stepped in for lunch with a group of six. The waiter was not friendly at all and was not hiding his dissatisfaction when we ordered what for him probably seemed not (expensive) enough. We're from Belgium and we're quite familiar with French cuisine. We must say, for us this was a disappointment.
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We went to Pastis for dinner and it was overall a great
We went to Pastis for dinner and it was overall a great experience. The restaurant was super busy with people but that didn't impact the service! We ordered the filet with potato crème and mussels with French fries. The food was absolutely superb, amazing flavors and sauces. 10/10 will definitely come back!
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One of my FAVORITE spots in meatpacking.
I wasn't sure if this was just a cute spot in Chelsea that people go to because it looks trendy. The food was amazing, as was the space itself and the cocktails. I plan on making this a regular spot. Every item on the dish was memorable for me and we ordered the the tuna crudo, lobster salad, Tagliatelle Vert, and the profiteroles. This place is definitely group friendly and a solid spot for after work drinks.
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This spot reminded me of Boucherie, which is a good thing.
I'd heard great things about Pastis for quite a while and somehow never had come here until last night for an early dinner. We started with the artichoke hearts and the ravioli, both were incredible. For my entre I had the cheeseburger and my girlfriend had the tuna niscoise salad. The burger was incredible, and although I didn't think the salad looked very good my gf seemed to love it. Btw I suck at French but if you point you don't have to try and pronounce the names
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Lunch after a visit to the Whitney
Delicious Lunch. Beet salad was perfect. Friday is Bouillabaisse day. Monkfish, red snapper, shrimp, Branzino and mussels in a delicious classic broth with rounds of crisp baguette with aioli. Couldn’t have been better. Profiteroles were excellent too. The house rose and Rhône wine by the glass were well chosen. Server was knowledgeable and congenial.
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This place was so bad it ruined my mood for the whole day.
I have no idea what happened to Pastis, or to Keith McNally. I remember having a very nice brunch here about a year ago, soon after restaurants came back, with personable service, and reasonable prices. Today, I didn't have a meal here, I had an experience in the meatpacking district At A Business That Needed To Pay Rent.Pastis is now stingy, joyless, and slightly mean.The prices mixed with the quality of the food and the service was just...baffling. The $26 calves liver special came with a few thin slices of semi-tough meat in a giant maroon pool of sweetened onion jus...and that was it. No vegetables, no fries, nothing on the side. The fries we ordered separately ($10, the actual nerve) were fine. I don't know why the nicoise martini (pink hued, lovely shade) was so terrible, but I'd avoid it. It was...puke-worthy. Their Bloody Marys were only slightly more expensive than you'd find literally anywhere else, but they weren't slightly better than you'd get anywhere else.My partner said his omelet was ok, so I'd stick to the omelets and sandwiches; anything further out on the price range, you won't get your money's worth, something's gone a little sour with the cooking here.They gave us a bread basket with three slightly stale pieces of tasteless bread and some whipped butter. At least they included the bread?Our server was strange, stiff, and slow. We had been seated *for quite a while* before anyone came over to give us water. It was getting to the "should we just leave?" stage of things. Water glasses were left empty. Water carafes were not replaced. Plates weren't cleared. Cocktails were replaced leaving the old empty dirty cocktail glasses just sitting there. Again, sure, no biggie, but with $26-36 entrees FOR LUNCH?!There was one moment I was returning to our table from the restroom, and a server was winding his way around the very cluttered layout, heading right towards me. Having been in so many nyc restaurants for so long, I expected him to fold a napkin over his arm and swoosh aside, gracefully. Instead, he barreled right past me, shoulder checking me as he went. This one small moment summed up the entire experience.
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What a pure joy Pastis was for us.
Our first restaurant night out in NYC. Located in a charming section of the Meat Packing District, it had all the charm of NYC and a Parisian bistro all in one! Service was impeccable. You must arrive early and try to score seats at the bar for pre-dinner cocktails - they make a nice Martini! Food was totally prepared to our satisfaction with each dish being sampled by my party with great glee. Be prepared for a loud room when filled - if you are looking for more quiet then book an outdoor table. Overall, a memorable experience and we cannot wait to return!
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Great vibe, great food, great night
Very atmospheric trendy restaurant, got a good vibe from when we walked in the door. Food was excellent, had the onion soup and fillet steak. Great experience, I’d highly recommend.
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Excellent food and even better service!
We dined for brunch on a very busy week-end. We thoroughly enjoyed the cocktails, salad nicoise, eggs Benedict, and chocolate mouse for dessert. The ambiance was upbeat and pleasant. I wish I remembered our male servers name. He was exceptional and made our experience even more enjoyable!
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Fun ambiance, good food, staff only ok
I went to a dinner here with colleagues and had a nice dinner. It was more expensive than I would have preferred on my own. The ambiance and decor were quite charming. The food was good. The staff was a mixed bag. I felt like they were mostly attentive, stopped by often enough. One of the servers genuinely put his thumb in our mashed potatoes and didn't apologize or acknowledge it. For our waiter, I was also disappointed when I asked for a description of a dessert, and the dessert was absolutely not as described.
Fabulous, Pastis is trendy, exceedingly busy, and yet your experience here does not suffer one bit. From the moment you arrive the hostess is welcoming, the ambiance and the staff are impeccable and attentive to every detail! I have had my share of regretful experiences in so called “trendy”restaurants in NY. Also the atmosphere is chill and cool but the staff knows what they’re doing and what they’re talking about, and you can tell that making the customers happy is their main priority. Food is very good, tried some French classics and was delightfully surprised and for their prices it’s 100% worth it…and despite being full capacity on the first sunny Spring NY day we had the most delectable experience! I shall cherish this Mother’s Day brunch! I can’t wait to return with my husband to dine here! Thank You!
Well known spot which we felt was well worth it. Sat outside which had a lovely atmosphere. The whole area is cool with a fun vibe. Our waiter Joey was SUPERB! The food was excellent, I would certainly return here next time I am in NYC.
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PINAR on 04/01/2022
The white wine sauce of mussel was good but because of the sand and small stones we could not eat them. I was disappointed also with the creme brulee and profiterol.There is too much noise in the Restaurant and service is poor.
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Pastis is the perfect setting for an outdoor New York meal.
Sitting on the sidewalk in the meatpacking district, enjoying a cocktail or a glass of wine. We were celebrating an anniversary and started with cocktails. Onion soup and Escargot. Sliced steak and frites and chicken paillard. Ending with crème Brulee, chocolate mousse, and cappuccinos. A nice leisurely meal and it just happened to be unseasonably warm in March which we were able to take advantage of. Food was very good ambiance was fun. Will definitely be back.Servers were attentive and kind.
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Perfect for Birthday lunch
Took my wife here on visit to New York last week and had an excellent meal. Wait staff was attentive and knowledgeable. The Onion soup was delicious as was the omlette. The tuna appetizer was one of the best i have has in a long time. Trout Almandine was thick and moist with delicious fresh green beans. Excellent desserts as well. In Meat packing district and similar to Le Diplomat in DC and Balthazar in NYC.
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Pastis has the perfect setting for a New York meal.
You're sitting right on the sidewalk in meatpacking district, enjoying a coffee or glass of wine, spending a few lazy hours with good food and good company (or just people watching!). It's got quite a history, but I'm happy to report that this restaurant is not just leaning on its reputation. The food and service have been excellent every time. During the pandemic, I was hooked on their burger and steak sandwich. When outdoor dining became more comfortable, I went for brunch a few times and it was always a great experience. You can absolutely go for the luxuries here, or just have something more simple. Eggs Benedict: 3.5/5 no surprises here, it is what it is. Honestly there are better things on the menu unless you're dying to have poached eggs with hollandaise. Escargot: 5/5 drown your sorrows and your bread in buttery escargot. One of those things that feels so luxurious! Steak Tartare: 5/5 that lil quail egg gets me! I'm picky about tartare, and this was one of the better ones I've tasted. No gaminess, no unpleasant tendons/chewiness, a good amount of pickle for a little crunch and tartness. Steak sandwich: 5/5 it's what other steak sandwiches wish they could be. This hefty sandwich is so delicious, definitely on the heavier side but all that gruyere and onion just soaks right into the bread. Cheeseburger: 4/5 classic, well composed cheeseburger with high-quality beef, good "big mac" sauce, perfect frites on the side. Grilled branzino: 5/5 I was super impressed - they don't have to do fish well especially at brunch, but this branzino was perfect. A beautiful fillet with a bit of char from the grill, a delightful bean salad, and olives for punch. Lobster Frites: 5/5 the true star at any table, with a hefty price tag, but I gotta say.... I think it's worth it?! You're paying a premium but you get a whole lobster, cooked to perfection, butterflied with the meat already sliced for you and put back into the shell for presentation. On top of the biggest mountain of frites. Very luxurious, very good. I'm a big fan of Stephen Starr restaurants: Upland, Buddakan, La Mercerie, and now Pastis is high up on that list. It is the perfect place for a relaxed outdoor meal with a bit of New York sightseeing built in - impress your out-of-town visitors, go with your date, go with friends, go with anyone. The outdoor is definitely a nicer vibe than inside, so pick a nice day to dine al fresco.
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Pastis is one of my favorite restaurants in New York City.
It's a beautiful French bistro in one of the best areas in the city. I bring all out of town visitors here and everyone loves it! It's great for brunch, lunch or dinner! Favorite dishes are : the French onion soup, the filet au poivre (ask for a side of bernaise), burger also great! Save room for the sticky toffee pudding.
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Lobster frites is to die for.
Expensive dish, but all things considered, get a huge portion and worth the splurge
Came here last weekend with a group for a friends birthday and the food and drinks were amazing! Highly recommend!
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We stopped by here for lunch.
We kept seeing the burger on Instagram and have been dying to try it. It was the. most. delicious. burger. The fries were just perfect, too; they reminded me of the fries you eat in France. The fry mayo was a wonderful surprise. I ordered a coffee to go and it was one of the best I've had in the city. An absolutely wonderful experience and truly worth it. We'll be back!!
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The food is good and the brunch menu is excellent.
The pancakes are a must have. The service is good too. Definitely try to get inside as their outside tables don't have great heating.
8Finally visited this classic.Escargot - very good! As expected in any French Bistro.Artichoke - kinda meh. Nothing special.Duck Confit (Tuesday special) - not bad but a bit overcooked and not tender.Beef Bourgeone - good flavor but the beef was not tender but little tough.Cocktail menu are quite delicious!
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Okay, Pastis is back on the list.
Had a really weird experience a few months back but all was redeemed this past visit. French Onion soup - perfection. Martini - perfection. Moules Frites were just like always. Phew.
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Good Hamburger in Meatpacking
I've been in this restaurant many times. The Hamburger is one of the best. The place is a bit touristic in a beautiful place (Meatpacking District).
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Well, the energy is back! I always thought this place
Well, the energy is back! I always thought this place would be a party. Now, with Covid on the wane, I can attest that it's true. Where else does a Wednesday night feel like a Saturday? There wasn't an empty seat at the bar and the well heeled crowd packed the room to capacity. It was like Balthazar, but more flamboyant - and with the same excellent lighting that makes everyone look like a model or a movie star. Great soundtrack - loud enough so that you can actually hear the music, but not so loud to drown out conversation completely. Service was truly excellent here. The host and hostess were, at one point, surrounded by a ring of glaring people waiting for a table (we were part of that ring), but they handled it with grace and care - reminding us that they hadn't forgotten about us, and that our table was forthcoming. That goes such a long way, as opposed to ignoring waiting patrons, which seems to be the norm (or chasing them away - Shukette, I am looking at you). Waitstaff, bus people, bartender and person who opened our wine (sommelier?) were all so genuinely friendly and efficient. Food was great too - succulent snails, very good steak tartare (though not the best I've had) with a generous, deliciously dressed salad as a counterpoint, the BEST frites and mayo along with a very juicy and flavorful steak, ravioli that somehow tasted French instead of Italian, and a very indulgent and satisfying sticky toffee pudding with ice cream. We will be back - and we won't wait for the weekend!
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Came here because I kept seeing it pop up on @DeuxMoi on
Came here because I kept seeing it pop up on @DeuxMoi on instagram, and my friend was dying to try the place for her birthday. IT DID NOT DISAPPOINT! The hanger steak was PHENOMENAL. Cooked to a perfect medium. Arguably the best French fries I have ever had, I literally ate each and every one on the plate. I couldn't decide what to eat for dessert, so I asked the waiter. He recommended sticky toffee pudding, and oh my god, it was insane. Again, I literally ate all of it. The hot chocolate was OK, nothing to scream over like the other menu items, but the heart designs were cute. To top it all off Brooke Shields was there for her evening meal, so that was a nice surprise. If my wallet permits, I'll definitely be back!
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Amazing food and service - mussels & fries were delicious.
We also had great service and it's such a nice atmosphere you feel like you're in Paris
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Came here for dinner with a friend while out and about in
Came here for dinner with a friend while out and about in the city during the holidays. Very friendly staff and service. Food was good as well. Full bar - can be seated at the bar or table. Variety of selection to choose from.Lighting is a bit dim but ok. Best to make reservations. Complimentary bread to get started... Had glass of wine with mussels with pomme frites...it was delicious.Restrooms are downstairs. Too full to have dessert... will have to come back another time.
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Steven Star does it again.
Celebrated a birthday here last night and had a great time. Waiter was terrific - knowledgeable, friendly and efficient. He took our birthday cake (which we brought with us) to the pastry fridge while we ate. The manager came by to help serve it. Really great work. Why four stars and not five? We'll, like all NYC restaurants post pandemic, the podium out front is staffed terribly. Inefficient, crabby, and they let us stand in front of them for 25 minutes (after our reservation) until WE asked what was going on. Like that, they noticed us! Despite being super unhappy when we were seated, our waiter's attention and attitude turned everything around and made our night! To all the pompous, bad attitudes at podiums in NYC restaurants - shape up! You're making waiters' jobs impossible! If you find us annoying and inconvenient, maybe consider another job?
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My excitement to come to this world renowned establishment
My excitement to come to this world renowned establishment for my good friends birthday was met with such an abhorrent food quality, that could have landed myself in the emergency room. As if that wasn't bad enough, our entrees took 50 minutes to arrive at the table. When I finally received the Salmon entree, and it was barely cooked! The fish was so raw that I could barely cut through it. I had such high hopes for this restaurant, but was beyond let down.
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food and service was fantastic, had the hanger steak frites
food and service was fantastic, had the hanger steak frites and it was amazing. Artichoke appetizer was good too, totally recommend the ricotta ravioli - entire table loved it. as for drinks; the presse royal was so good - tastes like juice if you want something yummy. 100/10 would go again