Petit Louis Bistro

Was really impressed with this restaurant! After frantically (and last minute) trying to find a nice cozy romantic place to celebrate New Years, this one popped up numerous times. At first glance I wanted to try the Baltimore location but having just moved to Severn, I was excited there was another location nearby in Columbia.
This is a review only on the pre-​fixe dinner for New Years but I will definitely be back to try some other items!
The place is a little tricky to find, lots of parking garages/​other buildings so you have to park and walk a little. I can imagine this place would be GREAT in the summer time, there are a few other restaurants nearby all overlooking a lake so I’m sure it’s great atmosphere on a Summer night.
We were greeted immediately, and brought to our table, which was a cozy booth in the back corner. The place was decorated beautifully lots of nice holiday cheer. Our server was fantastic I wish I had remembered his name. Very attentive and very sweet.
The menu while not extensive was very interesting. This was my first real «French» experience in the area so I was excited! We asked our server for recommendations and they were very accomidating to the fact I am gluten-​free.
For dinner I had a halibut dish, and my fiancé had venison which was awesome! Neither of us had tried venison before and I definitely will try it again.
For appetizers, he had the lobster crêpe, which looked amazing (snuck a piece of lobster — yum), and I had the salmon tar tar which was very tastey.
Looking forward to trying this place again in the coming months.

The review is on the Le Comptoir menu, service & food. Over the hill WOW on multiple levels. You can still splurge without breaking your wallet, if you indulge on the Le Comptoir menu. Went this morning and it was super quiet at around 1100ish. Lots of pretty flowers outside, makes you almost forget we’re nearing Winter. The French bakery café adjoins Petit Louis Bistro. Imagine covered domes containing homemade treats: cookies, slices of cake, muffins and a large display case laden with pastries filled with creams, pies, candies — add to that, two chalkboards — one with lists of beverages: hot chocolate, coffees, teas & Italian sodas and the other, quiches, salads, soup, crepes, sandwiches. Petit Louis Bistro (PLB) brings this to you, plus a uniquely entertaining host/​waiter/​menu aficionado — delivered to you in a whimsical French manner. A little hard to understand at times, he was, though a delight — heightening our experience at PLB.
At $ 10, for the portion served, the soup was a tad too expensive (the most expensive item on this particular menu). Price aside, the soup was heavenly. Arrived in a somewhat deep crock, with that lovely melted cheese on top. Lots of caramelized onions and the broth was seasoned to perfection, left my palate wanting to try something else and I did and did and did again! The desserts, you absolutely MUST try them. They’re looks are deceiving, but your taste buds don’t lie. The cinnamon iced rolls, coffee cake with marzipan and macaroon were all wonderfully fresh, flavorful and made with extremely skilled and loving hands. Moist, addicting — give me something new. Why oh why, but we also indulged in pommes frites. Shoestring, super crisp, salted — arrived in a large bowl. I mumbled to another waiter «thought this was a French restaurant and that portion size was supposed to be small.» I mean, I feel as if I were eating everything in sight. He responded, «not here at Petit Louis Bistro.» My kid and I about tumbled over from being so full and yet, I ordered something else; this is madness on my part. Fried eggplant slices stacked with tomatoes, chevre, between layers of olive tapenade, sitting on some gloriously green, cheesy flavorful pesto — Yum! Though the eggplant was fried a tad too hard, we both didn’t seem to have too much trouble cleaning our plate.
A word about the waiter. Upon arriving into PLB he welcomed us — his mannerisms & speech were quirky and fun.
This experience has spoiled us and to PLB — Thank You.

The new Petit Louis looks like it might be able to drag this location out of its dismal history of failed restaurants. Similar to but different enough from its Roland Park sibling to be interesting, it feels more intimate in some ways because of the deep space that provides for darker quieter corners. That, plus the heavier use of dark woods and materials makes for a different experience than the airy country bistro of its northern companion.
The service is still fantastic — a calling card of Wolf-​Foreman properties. Even in bar seating (many times the only thing available for walk-​ins), the wait staff are pleasant and attentive.
I’m also happy to note that the food remains seasonal and very well done. There’s a good variety of dishes from smaller and lighter plates right on up to the French culinary bombastic classics loaded with wine, butter, fois gras and mushrooms. I had an omelet with duck breast bacon as a light dinner that was just about perfect.
They’ve also wisely set aside a part of this admittedly oversized space (one of the reasons previous occupants have failed) as a café and patisserie called Le Comptoir («the counter»). So, even if dinner’s not in the cards a cup of coffee, a pastry, or a light snack might be right up your alley.

Invited to a dinner for 34 family and friends on Saturday evening… It was a terrific dinner with top-​flight attentive service. We had a set menu with three choices for each course — owing to the group size — so couldn’t explore the full menu. However, everyone enjoyed everything served. And the server accommodated one guest who requested chicken entrée. After delicious starter, entrée, and cheese course, the desserts were delish! Thanks Petit Louis!