Le Bistro

Avoid the steak, billed as ribeye but what appears on the plate is a tired bit of rump that tasted of burnt fish. Really terrible and a shame as it could be a lovely place.

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 29th birthday. First impressions were good although on closer inspection you realise that 3/4 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 pate. There was German, English and Indian influences but nothing really French! We started with scallops and blackpudding, and mousse/pate 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

wonderful meal, warm atmosphere and lovely staff. highly recommend it.