La Gamelle

What a lovely restaurant! Great service, perfect atmosphere, and an excellent duck confit. I will be sure to come back again.

Its a french bistro nuff said!!! Come here if you want a traditional good french comfort food. If you want a pretty plate with fancy décor go somewhere else. Hidden gem in my book! Come here before it gets discovered and packed!

I love their interior because you feel like you’re in Paris until you look outside since this is in a very weird location. Food is very pricey. The crowd here are pretentious and annoying and the servers are so fake.

Definitely yummy French cuisine. As appetizers: grilled octopus (perfectly cooked and tender), escargots (delicious juicy, not to garlicy). Entrees: foie grais, duck confit salad with duck heart, egg benedicts– absolutely yummy! Price was fair.

The steak tartar is the best !! Great service, nice place and the food is soo good. You need to try it for sure perfect for come after the new museum to recover some energy

So I will explain why I gave four stars as opposed to five stars to La Gamelle…
I made a reservation for 10 people back in the beginning of November for a dinner reservation in the second week of December, I spoke to the hostess over several occasions because I wanted to make sure the surprise birthday party would be perfect.
The dinner reservation was reserved for 7pm and all of my guests arrived by 7pm because I was bringing my boyfriend to the restaurant at 715pm AFTER everyone should of been seated in the table that is located in the back for the restaurant for the sole reason of my boyfriend not being able to see everyone when he walked in. Several of my friends who were standing there waiting told the hostess that I was arriving any minute with the birthday boy and to please seat them, instead of following the specific directions I have given over the course of several phone calls prior to that night, she still proceeds to keep them at the bar and by time I arrived the surprise was of course ruined. To make matters worse she came up to me and said «oh so are we still waiting for the birthday boy?», needless to say at that point I did not want to deal with her anymore since the surprise was already ruined due to her inability of following simple requests that were noted on my reservation.
The only reason why I am still giving four stars is because between my waiter, the bus boy and the bartender– they made the experience a lot better towards the middle into the end of the night. The waiter and bus boy was extremely attentive throughout the whole night and the bartender was able to make my favorite west coast cocktail perfect when most bars in NYC have never even heard of it. Plus the food was amazing and all of my guests really enjoyed it so aside from the experience I had with the hostess, I would say La Gamelle is definitely worth a try purely based off of the servers and food quality.
Just don’t plan any surprise parties there with the hostess…

Awful
Service was terrible, food was decent, but service was so slow, poor and rude what should’ve been a pleasant 2 hour dinner dragged into an annoying 3.5 hour nuisance. Please save yourself the aggravation.

Food was good but the service was disappointing.
The staff kept forgetting our orders. It was not even full house.

Companion and I spent a week in NYC and went to the New Museum. After leaving the museum we walked around the area for a few minutes and saw a lot of restaurant supply stores but no restaurants. However, I remembered seeing one next to the museum but ignored at the time because it did not look very attractive. We were surprised to find a traditional French bistro in an unlikely area.
Our lunch was of two specials for the day — a burger and a croque monsieur. Both were very good and the prices were reasonable. Accompanying frisee salads were nicely prepared but the dressing was too salty. The croque was also salty but it was probably from the cheese and ham. French fries were great — as good as any I had in France or Belgium.
Since we were there for lunch only one other table was occupied. So service was prompt and efficient.
If this restaurant was in Seattle we would be regular customers.

This place has the ambience of a pretty good take on a french bistro. I like the atmosphere a lot. And, the food is pretty good. I liked everything I ate, but nothing I ate really blew me away. The octopus is pretty good, but has nothing special about it. The scallops were fine, though a bit overdone. other dishes were lacking in flavor, and the wine and digestif lists could use some work.

Excellent Food!
Great service! And they speak French: D
Very reactive staff
When the owner is the chef you know it can’t go wrong!
Thank you «La gamelle» for this diner

Traditional French food was excellent. The service from our waiter was excellent and his recommendations was great. The octopus was the best we have. Also my mom and brother loved the duck confit and duck breast.

Came here on a Wednesday night with some girlfriends and had a lovely time.
— Service: Great! Maitre D was welcoming, opened the door for us. Our server was very lively, friendly, adorable. He also let us try three different wines before we finally picked one.
— Food: We all shared — foie gras (⁵⁄₅), duck liver mousse (⁴⁄₅), steak tartare (⁵⁄₅), octopus (⁵⁄₅), duck breast (⁵⁄₅). Obviously we are fans of duck. They also had duck confit on the menu that I wanted to try… next time!
— Ambiance: Felt like I was in Paris in some random delicious brasserie.
— Bonus! Bartender sent us an after dinner drink. So sweet of him! And everyone cheers-​ed!
Will definitely return!

My motivation for making a visit to La Gamelle was for one thing and one thing only: the Roast Chicken. Back when Chef Mathieu Palombino was operating Chez Jef as a pop-​up restaurant, his signature roast chicken was awarded the honor of being one of Robert Sietsema’s best dishes of 2014 [1]. I regretted not making a visit at that time, but once confirmation that La Gamelle was officially open in its new home in the LES, I was quick to gather a group of friends to make a visit to the latest of the French bistros.
On a warm summer evening, La Gamelle was quite the welcome respite. The area is essentially split into two rooms, the first consisting mostly of the bar and a few tables and the second acting as the main dining room. It reminded me immediately of the décor at Balthazar and Cherche Midi with the pared-​down furniture, the yellow-​hued lighting, and the numerous mirrors on the walls; perhaps it was an unintentional coincidence, given the similarities in cuisines between the restaurants. Once our full party was present, we were quickly seated and given menus and waters, and our waiter was more than happy to clarify some of the dishes and offer suggestions.
Let’s just jump straight into the star of the show: the acclaimed Demi Poulet Rôti. The half-​portion of chicken was served with a side of french fries, and was promising at first glance with a gleaming skin and a generous spoonful of jus. Perhaps I shouldn’t have gone in with such high expectations (especially if comparing it to the execution of the roast chicken at other top-​tier retaurants), but I wasn’t impressed, to say the least. The skin didn’t have the crisp-​crackle that I was hoping for, and the white meat underneath veered far too closely to the «dry» spectrum. There was a substantial croûton on the side of the plate that was lost on me as well as it seemed to have little purpose other than an attempt at providing textural contrast.
I sound a little too critical, I know — it wasn’t a bad dish, by any means, but certainly made me question if Sietsema and I had had the same roast chicken served to us. Regardless, I will give a nod to the excellent service we received, as well as the many times our shared basket of bread and butter was refilled without asking, in true Parisian fashion. If, however, you’re looking for a life-​changing roast chicken… my vote still lies with The NoMad’s [2].
–
[1]
[2]

Pros:
— Octopus appetizer was good.
— Fries were good.
— Beet salad was good.
— Hangar streak was okay.
— Flank steak was okay.

Food wise, the night I was in 3.5÷5
Services, ⁵⁄₅
Bowery has become the French Quarter of NYC — within 0.5 miles radius from the intersection of Houston and Bowery, you got old timer like Lucien and Café Giante and new comers like Cher Che Medi and Lafayette. I skip Rebelle since it is not really a bistro but more a wine bar. Now you got La Gamelle in the mix.
I swung by on a quite sunnday evening and instantly drawn by the friendly old-​wold charm. You could not possibly ask for more Frenchy than this — it just like many of the neighborhood bistro you would walk into in Paris. Don’t get me wrong, I like fine dinning by heart and practice. But I also like neighborhood gem like this where I could walk in with no make-​up and high heels and just enjoy the good food and services.
First thing first, champagne. My bar tender/​waiter tonight was friendly and efficient. Service was the best part of this evening.
Onto the food. Don’t anticipate a creative menu, whatever that means. You come here for the classic, e.g. beef tartare, duck breast, steak frities ect. Hipsters, don’t show your face here. I happen to be one don’t like fusion (especially Asian fusion) or anything new wave, so I like it here. I got the roasted octopus for apps and the moules frites for main. Both were good thought nothing too special to write about, though I do want to give a shoutout for the skinny fries. Crispy, pipping hot and well seasoned, possibly the best I have had in years.
There is only one small complaint — everything was a tad too salty to my liking. I do really hope they will have better «salt control». Will def come back and try the brunch.

Thoroughly impressed by La Gamelle. I have not been to a restaurant in so long where every dish was consistently amazing.
Earlier in the day, someone from the restaurant with a French accent called to confirm my reservation. Bonus points for authenticity!
I arrived before the rest of my party and just sat by the bar. I didn’t get a drink but the bartender was very friendly.
When my friends arrived we were seated immediately. I ordered a dirty martini and we were served soft, delicious French breads. The server also brought over complimentary pork sausage slices.
I wanted to try almost everything on the menu. Luckily, my friend was willing to share a few things. We split:
Foie Gras-​It was served as a whole piece but it spread like butta. Served with a tomato jam. Like adult PB&J!
Duck confit-​So juicy.
Steak Tartar-​It came with a poached egg yolk which added a nice creaminess but it didn’t even need it, it was THAT good. Fries were the quintessential French fry.
Crepes Suzette-​The perfect ending.
I am salivating thinking about this meal. It truly reminded me of my time in Paris. I don’t repeat restaurant very often, but I will be returning here very soon.

Food is authentic french as if you’re in Paris, one star for that. Service is prompt and competent, another star for that.
So why just the two stars? Just came here during late brunch hours and the place was ¾ empty and the hostess seated us allllll the wayyyy in the back of the restaurant. I guess she still live in the ‘60s when the likes of Rosa Parks had to sit in the back of the bus. Anyway, asked for a table by the front and window and snooty hostess told us that they were reserved. Mind you this is late brunch around 3pm. But we were hungry and was resigned to argue for the coveted table in the front so we took our seats.
After our meal — mind you, this place does not offer unlimited boozy and eggs only brunch (which why we came here in the first place) and had to order from their regular french menu, meaning we had to spend $$$ plus a bottle of wine — those «reserved» tables in the front were still empty and the holier-​than-​thou hostess just looked down when we were leaving, not thank you or goodbye and just completely ignored us. I guess this place only wants to have «beautiful» people who would only order a bloody mary and nurse it all day long by the window. Newsflash, that’s not how you attract clientele and buzz in a restaurant and stay long, esp. in the Bowery.
If the business model for this joint is to only attract pretentious models or model wannabes, which the hostess is pretentious but far from looking like a model (she’s more of a Lavette, Boudin and Andouille) and acted like this was her chez., then La Game for La Gamelle will be FIN soon, much like its predecessors Bowery Diner and Chez Jef. People who attach themselves to (or who think they are) the beautiful are ugly. Looking at them is not a reflection of you, Ms. hostess. Your attitude and demeanour are reflections of you, i.e.hideous, offensive, and reprehensible. They should name this place instead La Garce or La Grognasse.

We had a lovely dinner at La Gamelle last night and we’ll go back for sure. It was delicious.
We started with the Foie Gras ($ 18) and the Pâté en Croute (Pork, Rabbit, Prune and Pistachio, $ 12). The Foie Gras came with a port and shallot jam that was excellent and complimented the foie gras very nicely. Similarly, we thought that the layer of prune in the Croute made the dish and separated it from a more typical country pâté you can find anywhere. We also had the warm Spring Leeks with walnut vinaigrette ($ 10) that was awesome. The walnuts added an earthy dimension to the leeks that really worked for us. It sort of felt like summer so we accompanied all of this with the Provenal rosé Aime Roquesante, which at $ 38 was just what the doctor ordered.
For the mains we had the Steak Tartare with Frites ($ 24) and Steak Frites with Béarnaise ($ 24). Both were very good. The steak came rare as ordered and the frites were crispy on the outside and not over salted. Delicious. I ate too many of them!
We closed with a fabulous pear brandy (I can’t remember the name, but it’s the one with the pear in the bottle) which sealed the deal on a really nice night for us.
The service was very accommodating, knowledgeable and unrushed — although I should mention that it was not a busy night. I imagine that won’t last though. These guys know what they’re doing and we felt they did it really well.
Tip: The Manager told me they’re having a «Friends & Family» brunch on Mother’s Day and expect to be rolling out full brunch soon after that. I foresee a visit to the New Museum next door followed by brunch this summer!

Walking into this restaurant reminded me a lot of balthazar and cherche midi. The style of the restaurant was very similar and the décor was very classic which fits the scene. We arrived for our 530 reservations and was seated right away. There didn’t seem to have many people in the restaurant but i guess cause it was still early. Our server came up to us and explained the menu and a few specials to us. They bought over some bread and butter before we ordered, i think i prefer balthazar’s bread basket over La Gamelle’s.
So for the food, we ordered the charcuterie plate to share which included everything in the section of the menu. The best thing was definitely the foie gras! YUMMMYY! all the different pâté were decent but to be honest i was not able to tell which was which… but meat and carbs are always good. For entrees we got the steak frites, the steak tartare, and the duck. I really enjoyed my steak frites cause i love bernaise sauce. The fries were crispy on the outside and had a nice crunch to every bite. My friend loved the steak tartare which was presented beautifully and had amazing flavor. The duck was a bit gamey for me but my friend really like the flavor and the mashed potato. For dessert we shared the profiteroles, honestly it was nothing special but if you want something sweet after a heavy meal then get it.
overall i would recommended this restaurant because i really enjoyed the meal and the location is very convenient. Also, the prices are very affordable for a nice french bistro.