Best French in Manhattan
Our honest ranking of the best French restaurants in Manhattan, from Tribeca neo-bistros to grand SoHo brasseries and a revived 1937 bistro.
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- 1Tribeca · $$$ · Franklin St (1) · 241 W Broadway
Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson's neo-bistro from the team that shaped Balthazar and Minetta Tavern. It won the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant and has been a critics' and industry favorite since 2018.
It is the rare place where the natural-wine crowd and the classicists both leave happy, because the cooking is genuinely that good.
Bar seats are walk-in friendly and get you the full menu without the reservation scramble.
Photo: Wil540 art, CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo: Wil540 art, CC BY-SA 4.0 - 2Nolita · $$$ · Canal St (6 J N Q R W Z) · 138 Lafayette St
Daniel Rose's ornate, Michelin-starred love letter to refined French cooking. It is the dressiest, most serious room on this list without ever feeling stuffy.
Few dishes in the city feel as quietly extravagant as the whole Dover sole deboned tableside in a pool of brown butter.
Book the earliest or latest seating on Resy for the calmest version of the dining room.
Photo: Transpoman, CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo: Transpoman, CC BY-SA 4.0 - 3Midtown · $$$ · 47-50 Sts-Rockefeller Ctr (B D F M) · 45 Rockefeller Plaza
The Nasr and Hanson brasserie tucked into a historic Art Deco corner of Rockefeller Center, open since 2023. It brings Frenchette-level cooking to a grander, more polished setting.
It proves a Midtown brasserie can be a destination rather than a convenience, which is no small feat in that zip code.
It is a strong pre- or post-Radio City stop, but reserve ahead because the room fills fast on event nights.
From @lerocknyc on Instagram, shown through Instagram's own embed player.
- 4SoHo · $$$ · Spring St (6) · 80 Spring St
Also No. 6 on Best Brunch in Manhattan →
Map ↗verified 12w agoKeith McNally's 1997 flagship and the template every grand Parisian brasserie in New York has chased since. It runs all day, every day, with the practiced ease of an institution.
Push through the morning tourist crowd and the seafood tower still glitters like the room was built for exactly this.
Go for a weekday late lunch to get the full brasserie theater without the two-hour weekend wait.
Photo: Ralph Daily, CC BY 2.0 Photo: Ralph Daily, CC BY 2.0 - 5SoHo · $$$ · Spring St (C E) · 180 Prince St
Opened in 1975 by two Alsatian brothers, this is one of downtown's original French bistros and still one of its most atmospheric. The back garden and narrow bar carry decades of SoHo history.
The steak au poivre here is not a nostalgia act, it is simply one of the best in the city.
The bar-only burger is a cult favorite and a great low-key way in when the dining room is booked.
From @raoulsrestaurantnyc on Instagram, shown through Instagram's own embed player.
- 6Upper East Side · $$$ · 59 St (4 5 6 N R W) · 129 E 60th St
New York's oldest French bistro, opened in 1937 and revived by Nasr and Hanson, who reopened it in July 2024 with the vintage interior intact. It is a piece of living history given a serious kitchen.
The vol-au-vent alone justifies the trip, a puff-pastry showpiece that feels beamed in from another era.
Reservations release on OpenTable 14 days out and vanish quickly, so set a reminder.
Photo: Transpoman, CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo: Transpoman, CC BY-SA 4.0 - 7West Village · $$$ · 8 Av (A C E L) · 52 Gansevoort St
Also No. 9 on Best Brunch in Manhattan →
Map ↗verified 12w agoKeith McNally's revived Meatpacking flagship, relaunched in 2019 as a full all-day brasserie. It is louder and more scene-driven than Balthazar but delivers the same reliable classics.
Order the moules and a carafe of rose and the cobblestone-Paris fantasy clicks fully into place.
It does a serious brunch, but dinner is the calmer, more food-focused meal here.
@pastisnyc ↗Pastis
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- 8West Village · $$$ · Christopher St-Stonewall (1) · 42 Grove St
Also No. 2 on Best Brunch in Manhattan → · No. 3 on Best of the West Village →
Map ↗verified 12w agoA tiny, deeply charming gastrotheque that has packed the West Village since 2011. It serves all day, from morning coffee to a full evening menu, in a space that barely fits a crowd yet always does.
Squeezed onto a marble counter with a coq au vin and a small glass of wine, you will forget you are in New York at all.
No reservations, so arrive right at opening or well off-peak to skip the sidewalk wait.
@buvettenyc ↗Buvette
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- 9Midtown · $$$ · 7 Av (B D E) · 145 W 53rd St
A sprawling, theatrical brasserie from the Boucherie group, built to evoke a fin-de-siecle Parisian dining hall. It is as much a spectacle as a meal, set in a glass-roofed arcade.
The room is pure Belle Epoque drama, and the kitchen is more capable than a space this photogenic has any right to be.
The covered outdoor arcade seating is the best in the house, so ask for it when you book.
@boucherie_us ↗La Grande Boucherie
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- 10Midtown · $$$ · 57 St-7 Av (N Q R W) · 120 W 55th St
A modern, playful brasserie from the Quality Branded team behind Quality Meats and Quality Italian. Think French-inspired rather than heritage throwback, closer in spirit to La Grande Boucherie than to Raoul's.
The tableside onion soup and a genuinely excellent steak frites make it a smart Midtown pick that punches above its concept.
It is a strong pre-theater option given the location, and the bar takes walk-ins.
@qualitybistro ↗Quality Bistro
From @qualitybistro on Instagram, shown through Instagram's own embed player.