Le French Diner

"An intimate and trendy walk-in restaurant with a seat bar around an open kitchen, offering delectable French bites like socca and hanger steak."

"If you’re like us, eating the buttery French food at Le French Diner in the LES is a therapeutic exercise not unlike walking around the block or doing a sun salutation. Thankfully, that doesn’t have to stop now since they’re offering pick-up at their restaurant. Go online or call 212-777-1577 to place your order." - hannah albertine

"What It Is: A tiny French restaurant serving bistro food and natural wine Perfect For: Date Night To the person who wrote us the following email: “Subject: Le French Diner, LES Orchard St Body: Run, don’t walk, it’s a gem. Sent from my iPhone” Thank you. We took your advice, and now we agree. This restaurant is a tiny little place on Orchard Street that looks like it could have been a taco stand in a past life, and serves really excellent French food while a French hip-hop soundtrack plays in the background. Most of the seats are at the counter, where you can watch cooks prepare fantastic octopus or steak, and over which there’s a short menu and wine list written on a chalkboard. Expect a full review on this restaurant sometime very soon. The Verdict: Come here with someone you really like and want to share a bottle of wine with." - hannah albertine, bryan kim, katherine lewin, hillary reinsberg, chris stang, matt tervooren

"The Waiting Room: Mary’s The Back-Up Plan: The Ten Bells If Le French Diner were a walk-in closet, it would be large. But it’s a restaurant, so it’s tiny. And unless you arrive at this Lower East Side spot just before 5pm, you can safely bet that you won’t get a seat anytime soon. Enter Mary’s. There’s a disco ball in the back, a weekday Happy Hour from 3pm-7pm and lots of seating, so drink a martini while you wait for your dinner phone call. Or—if it’s nice out—head to The Ten Bells, which has a daily oyster Happy Hour and $20 carafes of wine." - willa moore

"We don’t love Le French Diner just because their tender duck confit, garlicky escargots, and spicy grilled octopus are pretty close to perfect. We also love this Lower East Side restaurant because it feels like an underground dining club, and it doesn’t seem interested in being anything other than what it already is. Do they take reservations? Do they have a website? Can you find their current menu online? Could you fit an entire basketball team in their dining room? The answer to all of those questions is "no." Despite all these obstacles, this is still one of the first places we think of when we want a solo dinner at a bar or a late meal with a friend after a show at Bowery Ballroom. Similar to a sibling who you might not even be friends with if you two weren’t related, we love this place unconditionally." - bryan kim, neha talreja, willa moore, will hartman, sonal shah