Lafayette

Great bartender, great bread, knowledgeable and friendly service, small main courses,

This is a decent place to sit out on the patio and have a glass — or two — of rosé. I’ve been here twice and both times I didn’t find it difficult to get a patio seat.
But they did once forget my order and bring out the wrong item, and one plate came out cold. I think their menu is pretty mediocre for French food. They obviously have the staples like croque madame but they don’t have anything adventurous or extraordinary.
If you’re just going for some wine on the patio with light snacks or desserts, Lafayette would be perfect.

Wow, best trout ever! The seafood royale was amazing. My party loved the oysters! Yum!

A large, splashy, loud establishment.
Not terribly impressed with check-​in for our reservation, Many hostesses, not much in the way of service or a greeting.
Our server was pretty good overall. We went with a bottle of champagne, pretty sure it was the Bereche Brut Reserve, which was quite nice. For starters, a tartare was excellent. The La Riviera, radishes with peppers was also tasty, but came without bread, we had to cadge some from the servers.
For a main course I went with a smoked salmon benedict which was not the greatest choice, as it was too much like a diner version, except smaller. My daughter’s brisket burger was a better idea, and the generous helping of pommes allumettes helped fill me up. The winning entrée was a special omelet with cauliflower and onion, of good size, well made.
Our dessert, a chocolate confection whose name I have forgotten, was excellent.
Like so many downtown places, a bit more generosity with portion size and bread would enhance the experience.

I like crunchy croissants
The almond croissant at Lafayette has a very crispy crunchy crust with a flaky buttery interior
Therefore I like the croissants at this place
One of the better ones I’ve had in the city

Came here for my sister’s graduation. We expected a great evening, but instead we had a very mediocre experience. The food itself was uniformly way too salty. I got the rigatoni with duck ragu and the pasta was overcooked and the sauce too salty. I tried my family’s pasta — the short rib ravioli (WAY too salty) and the macaroni which was also super salty. The restaurant is way too loud, hard to hear conversation even though we were in a booth. And on top of that, we waited about an hour between our appetizers and entrees with little more than an apology. For the price tag, I would expect way better service and food. Overall, a super mediocre restaurant, not really worth going to when there are so many good restaurants in NYC.

For such a fancy, expensive restaurant and coming on the day of my graduation — I felt like the service was a couple ticks below inattentive and rude. Nothing like any of the Danny Meyer restaurants or the Nomad. When my vegan sister asked for a plate of pasta with sauce the waiter looked at her like she had 2 heads and rolled his eyes. That is not accommodating service.
In terms of the food we ordered the avocado lettuce salad which was good and had some glasses of champagne to celebrate. For our main we had the trout and the halibut and my parents ordered salads with chicken and they just gave them a chicken breast on the side. My trout was excellent — the halibut was alright and my parents looked unexcited by their meals. They of course gave my sisters pasta no attention — it looked like a 3^rd grader tossed it together.
The highlights were the fresh bread and the side of brocollini. The trout was also phenomenal.
I wouldn’t go back for that though. I had heard disappointing things about their service and wanted to see for myself and I confirmed it needs work. That’s more than half of the restaurant experience in a high end place and what keeps people coming back.

Lafayette is a huge restaurant and therefore, bustling with noise and activity. Service was a touch slow when we were first seated but it picked up once we got our starters, and our server was very sweet. It didn’t take us long to figure out what we wanted after we saw the menus. For starters, we ordered the Green Asparagus Polonaise with trout roe and fine herbs and Beet Cured Salmon with horseradish and apple. The cheese, herbs, and trout roe added a nice, subtle range of flavors to the asparagus. The horseradish was a bit too overpowering for the salmon though.
For my main, I ordered the Grilled Local Trout with morels, ramps, and fava beans, and regret, I did not. It was wonderfully smoky, perfectly tender, and full of flavor. The morels, ramps, and beans added a nice contrast in texture to the trout. So incredible! I highly recommend this dish. I also had a bite of my boyfriend’s duck, which was perfectly cooked. We both shared a side of charred broccolini because we wanted some more greens and broccolini is delish. It was a simple side, and they didn’t mess it up. Unsurprisingly, we didn’t have a lot of a room for dessert with all our dishes AND the bread refills my boyfriend kept saying «yes» to.
I’m glad I didn’t let the 3-​star and lower ratings sway me. I can only speak for our dinner but the food was delicious, portions didn’t disappoint, and service was great. The prices weren’t out of line with the type of food and ambiance we knew we were in for and weren’t atypical for this city. My final words: Come on down, and treat yourself.

Lafayette has a very «French» feel to its ambiance and menu. It’s located at the corner of Lafayette and Great Jones Street in NoHo. The French menu is a homage to cuisine of different French regions, from Provence to Normandy to neighboring Mediterranean coasts. I came here for brunch around 11AM, and was seated at the bar without any wait.
I got the Egg White Frittata ($ 19), while my friend had the Soft Scramble Eggs ($ 18). We decided to mix in some sweet flavors to our appetite and ordered the Lemon Pancakes ($ 18) to share.
The dishes came out really fast… almost too fast (took ~5 minutes). I guess the kitchen wasn’t too busy? My Egg White Frittata with field mushrooms was served with a side salad. The frittata was slightly overcooked and only had a few mushrooms in it… wished there was more! I think there was a thin layer of cheese on top but it blended so seamlessly with the egg white that I couldn’t really taste it.
My firiend’s soft scrambled eggs was not what I expected visually. The eggs were served inside puff pastry. Again, very French!
I really liked the Lemon Pancakes. It had the right consistency of fluffy inside and slightly crusty, crispy outside. The pancakes were topped with berries. I couldn’t really taste the lemon in the batter though.

Who doesn’t like Sunday brunch?! Our favorite meal of the week is weekend brunch! We love to have a great variety of food and flavors. One bite of sweetness. Another munch of savoriness. And a sip of citrus and bubbles. We spent our Sunday afternoon at Lafayette (between Great Jones & 4^th st.) in NoHo and had a delightful meal sitting outside in the warm, breezy weather.
Just looking at the colors of this masterpiece (Smoked Salmon Benedict On Brioche With Sauce Choron $ 21) got me salivating and wanting to demolish it! My first bite was actually the brioche! It was nicely toasted with a generous amount of butter making the texture light and fluffy with a crisp on the outside. The combination of the timely-​poached eggs, freshly-​cut salmon, and lightly-​simmered spinach were well-​proportioned in amount as well as in taste.
French Toast ‘Tropique’, Grilled Pineapple ($ 18): Here’s HEAVEN in my mouth! The thick, fluffy slice of toast was topped with a sweet, grilled pineapple, house-​made whipped cream, and toasted coconut flakes, and lastly, it was drizzled with warm, maple syrup to our liking. The mixture of different textures and flavors felt like a party in my mouth. I had absolutely NO CONTROL over my knife and fork until the toast disappeared… but my friend was swift enough to get a small stab out of it!
Usually, we like to stick with our favorite mimomas and bellinis for brunch, but we were in a mood for something NEW. Upon our waiter’s recommendation, we decided to try the Hyper C consisting of blood orange (Flora’s favorite), yuzu (which we haven’t had since Japan), and grapefruit (my favorite). And it sure did not disappoint us! What is something new that you tried this weekend?

Lafayette was not what I expected, and I mean that in the best way possible. The restaurant was chosen from a short list given to me by a friend, mostly because it was an easy distance from our final destination. A quick look at the menu had me primed for something pedestrian. French, with perhaps a few favorite North African-​influenced dishes thrown in. What I got was a meal that built off classic techniques in genuinely interesting ways.
My appetizer, the Beet Cured Salmon, was easily the best plate of the evening. I love beets and was anticipating that ingredient would be the star of the dish and contribute most of the flavor. But to my surprise, the salmon itself had been delicately infused with beet. It took on a truly unique taste that reminded me of beef carpaccio– hearty and meaty, but with the texture of good fish. My friend had a more sedate but still delicious bowl of soup, amazingly savory.
Our entrees weren’t quite as exciting, but they were no disappointment either. The spices sang in my Lamb Tagine and the lentils that accompanied the Grilled Trout, and both proteins were well cooked. Overall these dishes had a good mix of tried and true cooking techniques, executed with precision, and deep attention to flavor.
Desserts were merely satisfactory … but to be fair, they were also satisfying. We were also running low on time at that point in the evening, so big props to the waitstaff for being extremely efficient.

Fries!
Fries!
Fries!
Yes — the fries is THAT good. But a $ 27 lukewarm brisket burger? Eh –not so much
Sure, it’s got great raclette in it (aka the melted cheese — read: more «sophisticated» style cheese), and a nicely cooked patty (note: its cooked medium rare!) but I do not feel that this justifies the price. Also the patty is too lukewarm for my liking — wish it could be hotter.
Service is pretty good & prompt, but I won’t be returning here as promptly –perhaps if there is a different occasion I might come again.

We showed up on time per our brunch reservation, yet it took 4 incapable hostesses 20 minutes to get us a table. Pretentious service like that is such a turn off.
On to the food! Started with the boulangerie basket and it was great! Had a variety of baked goods and you can never go wrong with carbs. Coffee was bottomless which was much appreciated!
You can’t brunch here without having those delicious lemon pancakes with fresh berries and syrup. We shared so that it wouldn’t be overwhelming. We also shared the omelette with cauliflower & brie, croque madame, and beat root salad. Everything else was pretty standard brunch material, nothing to complain about!
Excited to check this place off my brunch list! Overall experience was good. Love the take away matchbooks!

Lafayette is a favorite of fashionistas and hip people alike. Lafayette is also a more relaxed, more authentic place than Balthazar although the concept is pretty identical. They do breakfast really good, which of course includes all the stars; pancakes, eggs, pastries, granola, oats and more. The oatmeal is pretty good. A large portion of perfectly cooked porridge served with crunchy almonds and stewed fruit. A perfect balance of different tastes. It needed salt though.
The service was very attentive, very friendly and smiling. Absolutely perfect.

Enjoyed dinner Al fresco here for summer restaurant week. The start with cocktails was refreshing. The bread basket and sweet butter was savoury. The food was all delicious. A great spot with friends or on a date.
They have a bakery in front which you could get fresh pastries, baked breads and desserts to go.

I would give 3.5 stars if I could. My husband and I came here for Restaurant Week and maybe we made the wrong the choices, but the food was fairly average. The service was great and the restaurant was nice, but the food was kind of meh. Dessert was our favorite course!
I had the mushroom soup to start, which was nice. It came in a tea cup, so I liked the presentation. Consistency was just right, not too thick, not too runny and there were mushrooms and croutons in the soup which I enjoyed. My hubby had the beet cured salmon, which he felt was a small portion. I was actually struggling to chose my appetizer and was going to go for the salad, which I wish I had when I saw diners on other tables with theirs, it looked huge! The pork croquette also looked good when I saw it going past!
For my main course I had the Moroccan lamb with couscous. My first impression was that it was quite a small portion, it seemed like it took no time at all to eat. The dish just wasn’t anything outstanding, the couscous didn’t taste much different to plain couscous. The lamb was tender, there just wasn’t much of it. My husband had a similar experience with his duck bolognese rigatoni and thought his was ‘ok’. It was also a small portion.
We both felt our desserts were the best course. We both had the dark chocolate mousse bar. It was well presented and delicious. I would definitely order that again! I saw they had something similar in their bakery near the entrance for $ 6.
We enjoyed our meal but just wasn’t blown away, but we have experienced some other excellent meals recently on Restaurant Week. I don’t know whether they reduced their portions due to RW, but I would probably have been disappointed had I paid full price. I wouldn’t have any objections to returning if for example, friends invited me to go, but I’m wondering whether brunch would be a better option. Sometimes places do one thing better than another. Maybe brunch is what this place does well?

I went to Lafayette for brunch on Martin Luther King Day with a group of friends. The space is gorgeous, very French and aesthetically pleasing, lots of light.
We started off with the bread basket which was 100% worth it’s price tag, it contained delicious pastries and breads with butter and jam on the side. The espresso drinks were also very well done. The meal is where I started to loose some of excitement. My frittata was overcooked and bland. Nothing to write home about. My friend got the scrambled eggs in puff pastry and it was good but small.
Overall I would probably give Lafayette a 3.5. The food is fine but ultimately it boils down to why am I paying 17 – 19 dollars for eggs and a small side salad the rationalist in me can’t understand it.

Reviewing as a dinner restaurant with a note to self to return for brunch.
Lafayette gets five stars for the French country rustic décor and vibe it seemlessly executes. Tile floors and backsplashes, wainscoting, and warm gold/​brown/​white tones soften the metal hardware of the light fixtures, rails and handles peppered throughout the space. The outdoor seating is ample and spacious, though the interior was something we were pleased to experience.
Drinks and food are both excellent in portion (almost surprisingly so since it’s upscale French) and execution. Cocktails run about $ 13 – 15, but quality spirits, a generous pour, and service with a single large cube made it seem fair. I savored the Vermouth Amelie with a soft, mildly sweet taste of dark liquor and citrus. The lamb tangine left me awestruck from service (presented in a covered Moroccan patterned dish) through each savory bite. Pieces of lamb simmered slowly in eastern flavors with chunks of carrot and other veggies (seemed like a cousin of zucchini but I couldn’t place it) left it soft as butter. The couscous was flavorful, and served with toasted, slivered almonds, and a midly salt and garlicked yogurt.
My mom had the wood grilled trout. While my dish was heartier and fit for a chilly day or to serve a hearty appetite, the trout was reminiscent of light Spring flavors. It was the type of meal you’d truly enjoy eating, but then feel good inside and out for good clean nourishment.
Of course there was dessert to the tune of a salted caramel mille feiulle. The pastry was impossibly thin and flaky, and the caramel was fantastically real — not some melted high fructose corn syrup junk melted just long enough to serve. We shared it and loved every second of it. The only culinary downside for the evening was the bitterness of the coffee.
So much good but only 3 stars. Service was obviously figuring out its operation while we were there. Our first waiter dropped off menus, but was quite slow to return for drink or food orders. We had to ask for bread once our meals were served (we had bread plates, so knew it existed), and also for our water glasses to be refilled. Once they got the memo, they were more attentive. Four different waiters helped at some point or other, but they didn’t communicate with each other making us have to repeat requests for things a few times. They were wonderfully friendly and patient, but at a restaurant of this caliber I expect service on point.
Prices are around $ 15 for appetizers, $ 10 for sides, $ 22 – 25 for pastas $ 33 – 36 for meats & fish, and $ 15 for dessert.
I’ll certainly visit again!

Order the bacon. Order the bacon. ORDER THE BACON. Okay, now that I have that off my chest, I’ll tell you what else I think of Lafayette. While it’s a very large restaurant by NoHo standards, you really do need a reservation here — especially for brunch. Aside from the size of the place, I do feel like I’ve stepped into a little French café with its charming décor. Add in the hustle and bustle of New York’s trend-​setters and you will forever bring all your house guests here for the lower Manhattan experience.
Some of my favorites include the pancakes (light, lemony and moist), the pastry basket (because they know pastries and well, sometimes you want to carb load for no reason), the cheese plate (again, they know bread and cheese), and did I mention the BACON?! Also, if you’re a food blogger/​Instagrammer, you probably already know about it but if you don’t or you’re visiting — go here. I feel like the owner is catering to bloggers because even the iced coffee has a cute striped paper straw placed in it. Between the plating and décor… you’ll love taking food photos here!

This is a fairly large restaurant with both indoor and outdoor seating. The setting is very traditional with wood paneling. The service was quite good.
1. French toast: A single piece of brick toast topped with a slice of pineapple and cream. It was good, but still wasn’t convinced that the pineapple slice worked well with the toast. My brother decided to soak the french toast in the entire vat of maple syrup they gave us, so I couldn’t really comment on the true flavor of the toast.
2. Egg white frittata: I liked this dish a lot. There definitely was a lot of egg white used to make this frittata. Large slices of mushroom were also used, which made this dish multi-​leveled. A light salad was sprinkled on top. I think this dish could have done with slightly more salt, but overall I like my dishes to be under than over-​salted.
3. Pancake (lemon and berry): Pretty decent, although nothing truly unique about this dish. For what it was, it was pricy.
4. Salmon dish (sorry, forgot the full name): I didn’t personally get to try this, but my friend really liked it. It looked delicious.
Coffee is all you can drink.

Went there for brunch and was not disappointed, did not get a chance to try the pastries though. The cocktails are very good and the food is tasty!

Comment dire à part c’est génial, c’est génial et c’est beaucoup trop génial ?
J’ai testé cette adresse un peu par hasard quand je cherchais un endroit où prendre le petit dejeuner… et jee n’ai aps été déçue ! Vraiment un bon souvenir.
Dans l’apparence un «bistrot» à la française, un peu chic tout de même, dans la tradition new yorkaise de la nourriture française, on y trouve (en tout cas pour le petit dejeuner) un mix de ces deux cultures culinaires. Des toasts de pain de campagne absolument délicieux en passant par les bon pancakes à la new yorkaise, la carte est bien remplie ! On a le choix de toute et les portions sont plutôt copieuses.
Les prix né sont pas donnés, pas non plus excessifs (par exemple si on né prend que des toasts de pain et un thé ça passé très bien).
Le personnel très aimable (la plupart français), on est servis assez vite et tout ça avec le sourire, ça fait du bien et ça change de nos restaurants parisiens!
J’ai aussi testé leur boulangerie, et je suis ressortie avec un pain de campagne (le même qu’ils servent en toast), 8 $ le pain, ça m’a fait un peu mal, certes il était vraiment très bon, mais consommant beaucoup de pain (française un jour, française toujours), j’ai quand même décidé de passer mon tour sur le pain de luxe le matin.
A part ça une très très bonne adresse que je recommande à tous les touristes (ou pas d’ailleurs) qui veulent se faire un petit déjeuner plaisir.