Central Bistro

It was meh and I have definitely experienced better. Short version: overpriced for a tiny portion of ok food.
I was here for lunch and got the mesclun salad ($ 8) added goat cheese ($ 4) and shrimp ($ 9). The waitress came out with only the salad and goat cheese and the portion size was tiny! Definitely a side salad portion than a full size salad and for $ 12, you can definitely get something better elsewhere nearby. When the shrimp came out, they were decent sized and good (one star). My companion had the fig and prosciutto flatbread and wouldn’t recommend it.
Now that I think of it, I don’t know where the second star came from but unless you get full from a pea sized portion and have a fat wallet, there are better options elsewhere in the area.

Went there for lunch with my nephew. We walked through the streets looking for somewhere that was reasonable and not jam packed with hungry patrons. We came across this place and what a gem! It was peaceful and the food was inexpensive and most importantly we did not have to wait in line or deal with the crowds. We actually took pretty long to order because everything on the menu sounded so good! Food was quick to arrive and it seemed fresh and made from scratch. He got the Reuben and it looked amazing! I had the fried chicken which was a good sized portion and the salad that accompanied it was tasty! Service was great we will be back soon!

Love this place for dinner in Boston before going to an event at the Opera House. Just had entrée and dessert, but both were stellar. Lamb loin was cooked to my exact preference, rare side of medium, and was served with a delicious carrot sauce, light as air polenta cakes and grilled asparagus. Our other dish was cod loin served over spaetzles and topped with alpha sprouts. Both dishes were hearty portions and delicious. The Giant Profiterole is in fact huge – with ice cream as a filler instead of crème anglais. Wonderful. Service is brisk and attentive. A super place for a delicious special-​occasion meal.

Dined on 3÷9÷16. Service excellent. The food was a cut above the best j have had in boston. I was expecting great food but the chefs at Central Bistro blew my mind at how good each dish that I had was. The deviled egg and oyster app was flavorful and well constructed. The pork chop entrée was probably the best pork chop I have had in years! The churro dessert took me back to my childhood working at six flags in D.C. I will definitely be back to this restaurant in the near future!!! Thank you to everyone there from the host to the servers to the chefs to the food runners. Great job!!!

This is my go-​to place for a drink and an app after work downtown. They know how to mix a drink, are always friendly and attentive, and the food is great. The onion soup keeps me coming back, and their scallops are always interesting and tasty. It is *slightly* pricey, but the ambiance and staff definitely make it worth your while.

I don’t generally write reviews, but this place has gone so far down hill that I had to comment. It has been a while since my last visit, but it used to be a reliably good upscale lunch spot in DTX. No more! I ordered a blackened cod sandwich, which was without question frozen — the fish had the telltale texture of frozen fish and was SQUARE!!! Also not «blackened» at all, just damply coated with bland red spices. Absolutely shocking level of quality for $ 17. They should be ashamed to serve a frozen fish filet sandwich in Boston (outside of a fast food place, I guess, but there at least you know what you’re in for and the price reflects it).
My lunch companion ordered the veggie burger, which was less a burger than a large fried croquet of dry quinoa and vegetables which disintegrated at the touch of the fork. It was impossible to eat as a sandwich and appeared very unappetizing.
It’s still a lovely spot and feels very gracious, but that’s all that was worthy of even one star.

Valentine’s Day
We were seated right away. The waiter came over with water and explained the specials and the special menu for the night. We ordered drinks and were off to a great start.
Drinks were slow to come out, I had a mojito and he had a beer. Apparently they had to rummage in the kitchen for mint, didn’t mind, it tasted wonderful.
Dinner– They messed up his order (brought two of mine) so we had to wait an extra 15 min for them to cook the other meal.
At this point my meal was cold, our waters were empty, and they hadn’t asked if we’d like another drink. (Very Disappointing)
We couldn’t get the waiters attention to order more water or another drink, but we were able to when they cleared our dinner plates! No one stopped by to ask how our dinners were or ask if we needed other drink.
When they cleared the plates i asked for another mojito and some water. Once again it took about 15min to make the drink. it arrived with dessert.
There was a hair in the dessert, and i didn’t notice it until i was about ¾ finished. I didn’t say anything, since i had eaten almost all of it.
When the bill came we were ready to go. I noticed all of the other women receiving a rose when they were paying, however, I didn’t not receive one. The tables around us had flowers on them at checkout as we left.
Started out wonderful, ended with a bad taste and we aren’t likely to return.

Great ambiance, drinks and apps. Have been here for after work drinks, lunch and dinner. If you order a salad with chicken it can be a surprise when it came with actual ½ chicken on bone, but was delicious. Central burger also excellent. Drinks, apps and entrees– everything tastes as classy as this place looks. Have noticed that sangria recipes seem to change every time menus and management does! Service can be slower in the bar area if understaffed. They have a few app items for an after work special that is always a nice pairing with after work drinks!

Perfect evening. Beautiful ambience looking down on Summer Street, tasteful jazz planning in the background. Interesting but accessible drinks list. Delicious bread with softened butter. Gorgeous oysters. Crisp salad dressed just right. The roast chicken was moist and tasty, on a bed of mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts. Service was cheerful and not obtrusive. We will definitely be back!

Petit Robert Central for lunch last week with work peeps. Our server was a character. Kept us all on our toes and had a few jokes. I liked it.
Burger was over-​cooked but it had the potential to be really good with the bun, bacon and fried egg that came on top. Fries were good. Mixed green salad was overdressed. Tomatoes were on point.
I previously overlooked Petit Robert Central as a sit-​down work lunch spot in DTX. Glad I checked it out. A-​OK.

Nice spacious bistro and great food. Visited for first time this past new year’s eve. They served fantastic beef bourguignon, chorizo mussels, and salmon chowder. Will definitely visit again when around downtown crossing.

Went here with the boyfriend to grab a bite to eat for lunch on a weekday. It was around the holidays so it wasn’t as crowded during the lunch rush and we were able to be seated right away.
To start off, we had a piece of the French loaf they serve with butter. It’s a French staple and it was delicious – a perfect start to the meal.
We also ordered the onion soup. The soup was very good – hot and tasty cheese paired with onions and a bit of bread. I felt like the onions could have been a little more cooked though as they didn’t have as much flavor as other onion soups I have had in the past.
For the entrée part of the meal we decided to split the Cobb salad and the fried chicken sandwich.
The Cobb salad was decent and came with plenty of toppings – so much so that I found myself wanting a little more lettuce. The dressing itself was very flavorful and really pulled all the ingredients together.
The fried chicken sandwich was a decent size for the price – as it also came with fries and a side salad – but I felt that it missed the mark. Though the breading was very light, which I liked, the chicken itself was sort of dry and not very flavorful. In addition, I found the bun to be wayyyy too big and dry – which really didn’t work well with the chicken. The spread and slaw were both very good, but there wasn’t enough of either to compensate for the general dryness.
Overall, the service was friendly and attentive and the food came out quickly. The prices were very reasonable considering the portion sizes, but I felt that a couple of the dishes fell a bit short of expectations.

Came here for an impromtu lunch date yesterday. The hostess was extremely rude to us when we asked for a table for two because we didn’t have a reservation. It was a Tuesday lunch. In any case, we didn’t really need an attitude, a simple statement indicating the wait time would have done. So we took a couple of chairs at the counter in the bar and then noticed that two seats at the bar opened up so we took those. We told the guy at the host stand that we wouldn’t be needing our table as the hostess wasn’t around. The service was not good. The bar was full and there was one bartender who had little personality. He never even actually asked us if we wanted anything to drink so we drank water. We ordered the mushroom pizza (very greasy and sticky from the honey with a giant piece of fried gouda laid on top of it… the gouda was awesome but misplaced) and the blackened cod sandwich which was ok. The pizza and the fries desperately needed some seasoning and there was no salt and pepper on the bar so we had to wait until the bartender made his way back to us. As we were leaving the hostess asked if we had eaten because she had a table available. Good thing we didn’t wait cause I would have been peeved if I waited and it was 45 minutes to an hour as opposed to the 15 – 30 minutes she originally quoted us. We will not be back.

Had dinner at the bar. The ambiance was nice and cozy. Wished they had more french wine options.
But good place for a quiet meet up.
I enjoyed the Duck Reuben. Not a typical combination but well done.

I’ve been here a few times and bar service is definitely better than table service. Overall the food is okay but nothing blew me away (like other french places in Boston).
Burger– good, not a «wow» burger. Cooked well and the flavor was good.
Escargot– pretty delicious. The snails are on the smaller side but the garlic butter sauce is good and there is a lot of cheese on top.
Lamb shank– pretty good but the lamb was on the fatty side. Fat is good but there was a little too much in this case.
Price and taste do not match up. I do like coming here for their happy hour + drinks but not the best spot to drop $$ on dinner.

I’ve been here a few times and bar service is definitely better than table service. Overall the food is okay but nothing blew me away (like other french places in Boston).
Burger– good, not a «wow» burger. Cooked well and the flavor was good.
Escargot– only okay… I’ve never had escargot that didn’t have enough garlic. Overall it was okay but the snails were on the smaller side and the garlic butter sauce wasn’t great :(
Lamb shank– pretty good but the lamb was on the fatty side. Fat is good but there was a little too much in this case.
Price and taste do not match up. I do like coming here for their happy hour + drinks but not the best spot to drop $$ on dinner.

The spinach salad with goat cheese and fried mussels was out of this world. The tuna tartare was not as delicious but still ok.

Meh. The experience and food were both ‘fine.’ I came here for lunch today with some coworkers and service was speedy with receiving drinks for our table and taking our orders. I had asked the waiter if he liked the burger or fried chicken sandwich better. (I was a little hungover… judge me…) Anyways, he swore the chicken sandwich was awesome so I went with it.
The portion itself is HUGE. For $ 12 you get the chicken sandwich, frites and a salad — a real steal for the Downtown Crossing/​Financial District area. The chicken itself was ‘fine.’ Blandly coated with a mild kick. The cilantro slaw on the sandwich steals the show, but it was a bit too mayo’y for my liking. Frites were awesome — how can you mess up a french fry? And the salad was a nice addition of a ‘green’ on a plate of fried, calorie-​loaded food.
Would I visit again? Meh. Maybe for a drink. The venue itself is beautiful, but I wasn’t blown away to start planning my next trip back.

This is a really nice bistro for a long lunch. The onion soup was delicious, it could have been hotter. The waiter was a bit absent and forgot to put in some of my party’s order. I had the chicken sandwich and it was just ok. The frites were amazing! I had my meal wrapped up and was disappointed to find out that my leftover frites were gone. I was really looking forward to those! If the stars align (and someone offers to take me to lunch here) I would go back. It is a really great space with a lovely view!

We had our wedding here May 30, 2015. I cannot say enough how great it turned out, thanks to the amazing venue and the accommodating staff.
I had never considered a wedding in a restaurant, but compared to the other options I found, this seemed to be the most no-​fuss option. They already have tables, chairs, place settings, décor, etc., and all you have to do is visit the restaurant to get a feel for the place — not try to envision how things will look together in your head.
After visiting the spot for the first time, we fell in love with it. 3 days later we booked the venue — we bought out the restaurant for the night of the wedding — and I am so happy that we did!
A few months before the wedding we scheduled our tasting. It was SO delicious! And fun! They even brought wine to pair with the dishes. We got to try 3 of each of the salad and entrée options. It was difficult to narrow this down for our menu, everything was so tasty!
Mike, the Director of Events, was fantastic. He was an absolute godsend in the weeks leading up to the wedding and the actual day of.
We met with Mike a couple of times in the last weeks leading up to the big day and finalized all of the details — our timeline of events, vendor set up times, finalized our menu choices, reviewed our seating chart, etc. Mike also allowed us to drop off some items (signs, programs, placecards, menus, card box, guestbook, etc.) a couple of days before the wedding so that we didn’t have to worry about bringing these items to the venue on the day of. We told Mike where/​how we wanted each of these items placed, and when we arrived at the venue on the day of, everything was exactly as we had requested!
Mike set up the Petit Bistro as our «bridal suite» for the day of the wedding. This was a perfect spot for my husband and me to escape to to get some private time on the big day. Mike brought in chairs and a small loveseat along with a coffee table for us to relax at. I had requested champagne, water, and Coca-​Cola in the room as refreshments, and Mike even went out to CVS before the wedding when he realized I had requested Coca-​Cola and they only have Pepsi products in house (I would’ve been fine with Pepsi, by the way, but how nice of him to do so)!
We were concerned that the Paris Café that we were using as our ceremony room would not be big enough for all of our 55 guests to be seated, but Mike figured out a way using both regular height chairs and high top bar chairs to set up the room so that not only could everyone be seated, but given the different heights of the chairs, people in the back could still see!
Also, Mike was fantastic with my young flower girl and ring bearer. For the processional, Mike helped to keep the kids back so that they went at the correct time right before me. He also kept the flower girl in check when she was obsessed with getting at the cake and blowing out any candles in the venue!
Another thoughtful thing that Mike did was he asked us a few days before the wedding what we liked to drink. I requested a blueberry beer, which they didn’t have on their beer list at the time, but on the big day, there at the bar, I saw Seadog Blueberry! My husband mentioned that he and his friend were big fans of Tank 7, which they had on tap, but they also brought in bottles for the big day to make it easier to drink on the dance floor! Also, Winston behind the bar was great. There was never a long wait for drinks, and judging by the itemized receipt at the end of the night, there were a lot of drinks had by all!
I can’t believe I’ve gotten this far without mentioning the food. The food was delicious. After the ceremony my husband and I escaped to the Petit Bistro for some private time where we could celebrate that we just GOT MARRIED! Mike brought in a platter with two of each of our hors d’oeuvres, and they were AMAZING. We also thoroughly enjoyed our seated dinner. Everything was absolutely perfect. And we have gotten so many compliments since about how delicious everything was!
We finished off the night in The Lounge which acted as our dance floor. I was worried that we wouldn’t have enough space, but the size of the dance floor ended up being perfect. Not too crowded, but crowded enough to keep the party going.
All in all, I couldn’t have asked for a better wedding day. I am so appreciative for all that Mike and his team at Central Bistro did for us. I would highly recommend other couples check this place out if you are looking for a venue with a great downtown location and fun vibe.
Thank you Central Bistro for making my wedding day better than I ever could have dreamed!

I have to say the service here is much much much better than its food. Good ambience yet with unexpected bad French food.
At first you might be deceived by kind of full tables and crowded persons. But if you look more into that, obviously they take here as an alternative for other so crowded restaurants around downtown crossing since majority of them look like the employees and just eat salad for quick lunch, not traditional appetizer, entry or dessert what you apparently will choose when paying a visit to a FRENCH restaurant!!!
The «famous» mussels appetizer gave me a very bad impression at first as many of them stink!!! Then another «recommended» entry, beef bourguignon, was awful as the texture of beef stew is bad and more importantly, that beef tasted super sour! How could that happen even you use red wine to stew beef, let alone for this classic French dish! Given the impression about former dish, I strongly doubt that the beef was not fresh!
Anyway, the dessert, Baked Alaska, is good finally! I like the different layers of ice cream along with Italian genoise at the bottom. In light of super good service from waitress, I quite reluctantly decided to give a 2-​star for this flashy restaurant.

Loved going there for the Gay Professional Mens social. The food was incredible and so was the ambience. Definitely plan on going back.

Grand marnier soufflé, need I say more? Their sorbets are also delicious. I haven’t had anything on their dinner menu in a while but would def come back for dessert.

So close to 4 or 5 stars.
Quite hidden in Downtown Crossing, Petit Robert Central offers French cuisine in a beautiful atmosphere. Accessible by all T-​lines, the venue has all the makings of a destination restaurant — save for the somewhat mediocre food.
The space is quite large. It gets quite busy at lunch. There is a nice bar for those looking to imbibe, and a plethora of booths and tables for couples an groups alike. Large windows overlook Macy’s and allow plenty of natural light.
Service is great. Staff are friendly and knowledgeable, and food is prepared quickly. I looked into this venue as an option for a large event, and the Director of Events was very helpful and flexible. Don’t worry if you cannot speak or read French; the menu item descriptions are all in English.
Classic French fare such as Beef Bourguignon is readily available. The items I have been able to try are the escargots, central burger, beef bourguignon, roasted half chicken, and baked alaska. All dishes are prepared quite quickly, presented excellently, and come in large portions. For the entrées, both the central burger and beef bourguignon were acceptable but disappointing, and needed some vigorous shaking of salt and pepper. The roasted half chicken was a good dish and a safe choice for any patron. The baked alaska served as a nice dessert option that can be easily shared with 1 – 2 other diners.
Aside from the presentation and portion sizes, the prices of the dishes are better than expected, given the atmosphere. Average price of entrées is in the low-​mid $ 20s.
Overall, a nice venue whether it is for a date or a group setting. Food is good at best, but do not expect to win over any foodies.
(^_​^) Atmosphere
(^_​^) Service
(^_​^) Presentation
(-_​-​) Taste
(^_​-​) Bang for buck
[3.5 stars rounded down]
Glad I came. I really want to like this place, so I will give it another try sometime.

On December 23, 2014, I took my team to lunch at Petit Robert Bistro’s location in Downtown Crossing to celebrate the holidays. Despite booking the reservation on line weeks in advance and getting the reminder of said reservation the day before, when we arrived at our scheduled time they were not ready for us. While I do not consider a party of 6 to be large, it seems that they were unprepared for a group of that size as the hostess sat us at a small round table that was set for 5, but would have been more comfortable with 4. They scrambled to get a 6^th place setting from an adjoining table as we were handed menus. Needless to say, we were packed in pretty good especially when the lunch plates arrived.
Lunch was ordered and delivered with mixed results. The roasted half chicken was well prepared and certainly more then enough food to fill the hungriest of patrons. Similarly the pork chop with red hot apple sauce was skillfully prepared and delicious. However, the chicken schnitzel, central burger, and Central BLT sandwiches were dry and accompanies by buns that seemed less than fresh.
All in all I would recommend going with a group of 4 or less or even sitting at the bar, and enjoy an entrée or a salad instead of a sandwich.

The menu offers a good variety of food, without being too overwhelming. I came here with a large group of people and we ordered virtually all the appetizers and desserts on the menu. All of them were fantastic, especially the House Charcuterie Board. I was also pleased with my main dish (the Pork Chop and Applesauce), but wished I had ordered the Grilled Scallops and Crab (which is what my boyfriend got). The scallops were honestly to die for.
Overall, the service was great and the food was absolutely excellent!

Food, ambiance, location were all excellent, looking forward to my next trip to
Petit Robert Central!

I love their weekday after work specials!
I came here for their $ 5 rendevous specials and I got their wings, frites, mussels, and flatbread. I personally thought the mussels and wings were really good. For the mussels, you can really taste the garlic butter and the cream enhances the sweetness of the mussels. They also put ham in there I could have done without the fries. It was a little too oily for me.
I liked the ambiance of the restaurant, it is a nice place to go on a date with someone. I didn’t order any drinks there because I was not in the mood to drink that night, which is rare! I will come back again for their happy hour and I want to try their lunch!

It was a Friday night.
Traffic sucked on the Mass Pike.
I started to think…
That I needed a drink,
And this place sounded just oh, so right.
The beef bourguignon was a delght,
And so was the profiterole.
My husband was happy with his tasty salad that night,
And then the strong vodka cocktails started to take it’s toll.
Packed up my leftovers, and paid the check.
Twas quite the yummy Friday night,
And went home to bed.
:)
Nan