Le Bistro

Hate to do this, but we just had a really awful night at this place that we so wanted to like! Friday night at 9pm and we were the only people in the place… hey ho. …so we asked for 2 glasses of champagne which they didn’t have (in a French restaurant) food was average at best, hubby’s main was truly awful! He didnt eat it, but had a bit of mine! Wine list dull, worst of all, service abysmal, they just couldn’t be bothered! So disappointed!

This is a proper old school French restaurant. It doesn’t look like much from the outside, infact with lots more inviting looking places in the area, it’s understandable that this place gets overlooked. However, inside it’s charms are aplenty with a pretty garden courtyard out back and a traditional French menu which the chef takes pride sourcing and presenting (yes, l’escargot is on the menu). The wine list is pretty good and the whole place has an understated romantic feel. Great for dates when you want to impress.

AVOID at all costs! Having just moved to Hornsey we went looking for a good local restaurant and found Le Bistro yesterday to celebrate my girlfriends 29^th birthday. First impressions were good although on closer inspection you realise that ¾ of the restaurant is French and the rest, very English (down to the Coleman mustard poster). It tries very hard to be French just not there yet. Restaurant had about 25 people so not to busy. We were given menus and as we glanced through realised they are very, very unfrench! Out of around 15 dishes (starters from about £4/£5, mains £14-£20) only two were French, the snails and pâté. There was German, English and Indian influences but nothing really French! We started with scallops and blackpudding, and mousse/​pâté cross (served with no bread or melba toast). They were ok but nothing special, if anything the blackpudding was very undercooked.
The mains then took over an hour to arrive! We asked the waitress where they were after 35 mins to be told they were nearly ready (so had opportunity to speak to us before we complained), another 25 minutes we finally get served. I had asked for another beer and was given this on the house because of the wait. The kitchen despite having only ⁴⁄₅ tables to serve during that period seemed to stop dead, nothing was coming out and it was clear many tables were not happy. The roast duck I ordered was a DISASTER, over cooked and tough with vegtables I could not identify and deep fried potato fritters (I guess) with Indian spices and a filling that tasted of air. Everything was also cover in salt. The monk fish my girlfriend ordered was ok but came with a potato and shrimp mix side, so fish and fish… I spoke to the waitress yet again to complain and discovered at this point she was the owners wife, they also own a Japanese restaurant next door. I was told that the chef was going to be leaving (fired) shortly and perhaps we could try them again soon. Having only eaten about 4 mouthfuls of the Duck I stated I did not want to pay for it. We asked for the bill and when it came everything we ordered was listed to the tune of £67.50 (no wine). My blood was boiling and had it not been my girlfriends birthday would have hit the roof. This was the perfect opportunity to have comped the food or invited us back again at their expense but no, money was more important! They ruined our evening I will never, ever grace their door again. AVOID

My favourite in North London. Authentic French with a excellent wine selection. This place has never disappointed.