Sophie’s Bistro

My husband and my favorite restaurant! We have been going here for many years and have never had anything but a great meal.
We always start with the mussels!
As for entrees the Beef Bourguignon is my favorite. Also love the Salmon and Scallop dishes!
We came for brunch for Father’s Day this past weekend and couldn’t decide between the Spinach Florentine or the French Toast. I order both which proved to be a very good decision!
Highly recommend to anyone in the area and make sure to end the night with a Chocolate Sophie!

Delightfully charming staff and menu. Welcoming bar. French fare at its best. Menu features French mainstays — escargot, pâté, cheese plate, etc. to start, and a broad menu with something for everyone, from croque Monsieur or Madame to cassoulet and everything in between. Bön Apetit!

Our favorite date night restaurant. My parents live near by so this is our go-​to place while they watch our kids. We usually get the escargot (sweet and garlicy) to start. I love the scallops Saint Jacques, but every entrée I’ve tried has been delicious. We always have profiterals for dessert.
The service is always excellent and the prices are reasonable for food that is always delicious.

A favorite, good bistro food without pretense. The owner is not French but loves France and cares a lot about bringing the best of the country over here.

My wife and I chose this restaurant after we couldn’t get a reservation at another restaurant in town. What a fortuitous happening! This turned out to be an excellent choice! My steak frites were great, and my wife said the duck was delicious. The ambiance was suburb, a small private dining room with French music wafting in from the next room – a very intimate dining experience. Obviously, the staff at Sophie’s Bistro know how to please their clients!

Don’t let the outside of the place deter you!
VERY quaint and nicely decorated french bistro.
Staff was amazingly friendly and accommodating.
Great place to go with friends as there are many good apps to share.
We started with the cheese board and it was awesome! 3 diff kinds of cheese, crackers, fruit, nuts and assorted dried fruit. Went amazingly well with our bottle of red.
At the end of the night we were one of the last tables there and instead of giving us death stares like many other places do when you sit to enjoy your last sips of wine the owner came up to our table to give us shots of a dessert liquor he said he makes in house. it was delish! and he couldn’t have been more friendly.
Will DEF be back!

One of our favorites places. The food is great and the owner is amazing. All the employees are long term as the owner takes care of them. It shows in the service and the quality of the food.

I picked this place based on a recommendation from a friend, but I had no idea what to expect when I pulled up outside. Hidden away from the center of New Brunswick the ease of parking was a plus, and I realized what a perfect spot it was as soon as we walked into the cozy dining room. What an ideal, intimate place for a date, girls night, or special occasion! The service was excellent and we were even treated to a house-​made liquor apéritif. We started with the cheese plate which had generous portions and was well chosen. For dinner I had the trout and others in my party enjoyed steak and shellfish specials. Everyone gave their meal 5 stars. I will certainly come back soon, this place is an absolute gem.

Another amazing lunch here today. Duck, potato gratin, brussel sprouts… Took half home for next day, skipped dinner was so full.
Service here is always excellent, food delicious and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
Go for dinner, go for lunch plenty of parking you will not be disappointed.

This is my second time at Sophie’s. My boyfriend and I went for the Valentine’s Day Prix Fixe menu. I can’t even begin to describe how delicious my food was last night. & Service is always amazing!
I look forward to coming back and trying other dishes.

My boyfriend and I wanted to go to a special place to celebrate our anniversary, and were told to check out Sophie’s, I’m so happy we did! The atmosphere was so quaint and romantic. The staff were all so friendly and accommodating. The bar had such a nice selection of wines and drinks, all of which were reasonably priced.
Our dinner was perfect! Even the bread tasted extra good (maybe because it was served HOT). The escargot were delicious, salad was so tasty and our entrees were prepared perfectly! The lamb was perfectly cooked and seasoned, and my boyfriend loved his cassoulet (I am not a bean fan). We wish we had room for dessert but binged too much on everything else.
I was especially impressed by the service. Out waitress (cant remember her name!) was straight and to the point! She knew how to open a bottle of wine the correct way, and knew when to come back and when to leave us alone. As a server myself, I am so critical of others (because they should know what they’re doing!) and would give out waitress A++!!

This place is a true gem! I went here last night with my boyfriend, the food was absolutely delicious, and the service was great! We started with the escargots and onion soup as appetizers and had lamb shank and trout for dinner. The fish tasted so fresh, and the lamb shank was superb. I highly recommend!

We’ve been coming to Sophie’s for years, and it never fails to impress. Truly recommend anything on the menu. Some favorites are the duck, lamb and steak. Delicious.

My dear friend had her daughter’s bridal shower at this lovely Bistro. They couldn’t have been more helpful and accommodating from set up to clean up. The food was really great, everyone enjoyed everything. They were so nice to me and made me a special gluten free meal, which they didn’t have to b/​c there was so much on the buffet that I was able to eat. This place has so many fans so I would love to eat here again from there regular menu. The place is so adorable and very roomy for a shower or any festive event. Staff was so very nice and couldn’t do enough to help us. Anyone thinking of having a special event should consider having it here.

For the amount I paid for dinner here you would think soft drinks would be refilled gratis. I loved the restaurant but this refill experience turned us off so much we doubt we’ll be back. We all know that the cost of soda from a vending machine is pennies on the dollar.
To charge someone over, and over, for sodas is not typical of other restaurants I’ve gone to in the past. I know this is not a good analogy– but even cheap fast food restaurants allow refills! I think if the management took a field trip to other US restaurants they would see how absurd their thinking on soda refills is!
The owner replied to my review. He was right, the restaurant did not deserve 1 star. It deserves 5 for the food and 1 star for the beverage policy. So I’ll amend my review to reflect this averaging. 5+1 =6/​2 =3stars.
They really should change their beverage policy to be consistent with all other NJ competitors. I’ll won’t be back to Sophie’s Bistro until it’s changed. I didn’t enjoy paying an extra $ 10 for soda refills. As soon as the restaurant management posts on Unilocal that this policy has changed I’ll be back to give this restaurant another try! I think that’s fair, don’t you?

I had been here several years ago in a large group of about 50+ people when my friends mom rented out the restaurant for the afternoon. The food was amazing that day but for some reason we forgot to come back until now.
Having waited long enough, we made a reservation to come in for dinner on a Friday. It wasn’t very crowded so we were seated immediately, greeted by a server and offered a selection of tap, flat or sparkling water. After reviewing the menu, I determined that I was going to try the Hamburger Monsieur Jean, based on the recommendation from our waitress (who was very sweet). We also ordered the fried Brie as an app, which turned out to be exquisite, and met our expectations. I believe it was breaded with Panko, which gave it a little bit of an extra light crispness, separating it from the likes of a mozzarella stick. The fried Brie, however is fairly pricey and you only receive two medium pieces. I do have to defend the higher price point, though, since the cheese itself is a little on the expensive side. I just maybe would have liked to know there were only going to be two of them. When I received my burger, it was nicely plated and looked very appetizing. I placed the order for it to be cooked medium, so I was a bit surprised the outside looked a little dark. Still, I made the assumption they had seared it then finished it in the oven at a lower temp. It came served on a French baguette with a pretty generous serving of goat cheese on top. The shoestring fries were well cooked and well portioned. When I started eating my burger, I noticed it was definitely not cooked to the proper temp. The meat was completely dry and brown throughout and the outside had a significant char with some crunch, which I didn’t really care for. I didn’t see our server for a while and my fiancé was basically done with her meal by the time she came back around so I just decided to suck it up. I was only able to eat about half of the burger before giving up. I ate the rest of the baguette with the goat cheese, leaving the beef hockey puck on the plate. The waitress never came back for the standard «how is everything» check-​in, so I never spoke up. More than likely, they would have fixed it for me but I really didn’t feel like waiting to have a whole new meal cooked for me while my fiancé was already finished.
Also, they charge for soda refills. To me, this is a bit excessive given their food prices and the price of each soda, which is more than almost any other restaurant charges.
Given our previous experiences with Sophie’s, I will definitely give them another chance. It is a nice place and I want to be able to give them four or five stars.

Great dinner at Sophie’s tonight. We went really simple and had Croque-​monsieur and Croque-​Madame. Very tasty and on delicious bread! French fries were good too! We went for it and both had desert. Crème brûlée was super crunchy on top and velvety inside. Nutella banana crêpe was a treat and soooooo gooooooood!
Try and make it this week for spring crêpe week!

Update 2015: Peter please open for lunch on the weekend… so many times we’re craving both your cuisine and exceptional service that we find ourselves disappointed that it will have to wait till dinner time. We were off on a Friday and enjoyed an incredible lunch with some dishes that are not even offered at night, and as usual we were left wanting more.
Sophies remains our favorite restaurant as it has never once failed to offer exceptional food at modest prices, while consistently providing a night out with friends or newfound friends hosted by an owner who sets the bar quite high for his staff both in the kitchen and on the floor. Stop reading, pick up your phone and make a reservation… well…ok, if it’s an iPhone you can probably keep reading and make the call… so what are you waiting for?

Wow why have we not been here before? Excellent food and service. This is a top notch restaurant. The wine and liquor selection is extensive and the staff is knowledgeable about everything on the menu. The food is well above average and the prices are very reasonable. I suggest making a reservation. The restaurant itself is noisy and the spacing is tight. The ambiance and menu really are more that of an NYC or Philly restaurant.

What a treasure this place is! It’s so hard to find a real French Bistro in the United States and this restaurant really does a fantastic job of representing this classic concept. I had the onion tart and a trout amandine. Great. Everyone at our table was completely thrilled with their experience here and I would definitely come back if in the area. I don’t give 5 stars easily but I am a huge fan of this cuisine and everything I had here was perfection.