Raoul’s Restaurant

First the host made us stand hovering over the bar for 15 minutes even though our table was clearly ready. We also watched the bartender eat dinner while tending the bar. Basically he would take a bite of his dinner, make a drink, take another bite, rinse repeat. Gross. You have to navigate up a spiral staircase to get to the bathroom. A burning hot heating pipe runs parallel to the bannister and I burned my hand. Great steak though so there’s your 3 stars.

It has been a while since we thought the time, the cost, the effort to trek downtown was worth it. We were not disappointed with one dish. The oysters … I’m a west coast oyster gal since a lot of the east coast version requires a knife and fork to eat but these were perfect. They were small, sweet and above all, FRESH. Their beef tartar was also good and the salad it came with worked well together but the true, true must have is their skate. I’m still dreaming about it. It was lightly battered with salad resting on top and i thought a hefty portion too. It was just perfect. I can not wait to go back but since I can’t go and not order the skate, i might end up ordering two entrees :).
The service was great as well. My scarf was stuck to a hook on my dress and our waitress came to the rescue!

Great date spot. You can’t go wrong here.

This small, intimate restaurant packs a huge mouthful of delicious fare. Their famous chicken is crispy, soft, savory. The artichoke with fennel and arugula asks was light but rich. And the soup? Lobster and squash with shiitake mushrooms was so good I almost licked the bowl.

I came here per a recommendation from SoHo Grand Hotel, and I’m glad I did. I was traveling alone and wanted to try a delicious steak in a less formal setting, and ended up getting the signature diah Steak au Poivre. Suffice to say it was delicious and prepared very well, and paired well with fries and small salad. The chocolate fondant was delicious as well, and the servers were very attentive. Overall this place was a bit pricey, but IMO worth it!

An institution — in a good way! This place has been around forever and continues to be one of the coolest and best restaurants in NY. When you walk in, it feels like you’ve found a secret little gem of a place… the quintessential French bistro.
The food is always outstanding but the burgers, which are made in limited quantities and only served at the bar, are the best in New York. They come with fries (which are also to die for) and with the same sauce that’s used on the steak au poivre. I’ve tried many, many burgers and Raoul’s has the best, hands down.
Hint: using the bathroom here involves going up the steepest circular staircase I’ve ever seen, so you may want to «go» before you get here!

If you want the ultimate NY place that stands the test of time, this is the place. All walks of life, models, creative types, business men and bums only hang at the bar (Tom Hanks). It is the best. This is NY. If you don’t like it, go back home.

I came the other night to sit at the bar for a burger with my family for a small birthday dinner. If you ever go for the burger or sit at a bar, I hope Douglas is the bartender. He is so incredibly friendly and we all thoroughly enjoyed talking to him! We’re all looking forward to visiting Raoul’s very soon!

The service is great, food not so great. Super hyped and over priced. I ordered medium steak and it came out as a car tire. I don’t even remember what else we had because it was so blah and tasteless.
Save your time and your appetite and try elsewhere.

Nice place for brunch. Service was great, coffee outstanding. I had a salmon omelette which was outstanding.

The one restaurant I make sure to visit every time I’m in NYC. The food is amazing, the service is excellent and the atmosphere is perfect.
My favourite dish is the steak au poivre. It’s tender and flavourful and the frites are delicious.
They also have an amazing wine list and the staff are extremely knowledgeable when it comes to both food and wine recommendations. The atmosphere to me can only be described as «sophisticated rock and roll» the paintings and photographs on the walls are a great mix of cool and classic.

Best burger I’ve had in my life. Order it medium rare, cut it in half, dip it in the sauce, and strap in – melt it your mouth delicious.

Outstanding burger. Worth coming just for this.
We arrived as a group of five on a Saturday for brunch right when it opened, and my mind was set on trying this famous burger. It did not disappoint – the meat very tender and juicy, the cheese melted on it to add additional kick, and the au poivre sauce to dip it into really made the dish. The burger itself is really good without the sauce, but adding it is a necessity for the experience. We also had the crab beignets, which were decent but obviously paled in comparison to the burger.
It’s not a terribly large space, and our service was average ish with the appetizer put in a bit late, but none of it detracts from having a fantastic burger. Highly recommend it.

I love Raoul’s. This is a classic New York establishment and it worries me when people don’t recognize how good it is.
The interior (depending on when you go will determine how much you see of it — nights are usually jam packed but their brunch is less so) is very old school. The fish tank is a cool addition.
I’ve been to Raoul’s twice, and this review is for my most recent visit — Sunday brunch. Raoul’s opened for brunch a couple of months ago and it’s one of the only times that you can score one of their precious burgers without elbowing others out of the way at the bar.
We split a burger and a duck tartiflette.
The burger was incredible. All of the toppings melded together perfectly, and the fries are fantastic. The au poivre dipping sauce was out of this world (as is the dinner entrée). Fantastic. Huge portion and zero complaints here.
The tartiflette was a very cool dish. It has bacon, cheese, cream, potatoes, and giant chunks of duck. The duck was on point. Even though I was surfed by the end of the meal it genuinely pained me to leave duck that perfect left on the plate.
Lastly, the service at Raoul’s is stellar. I’ve liked all of the hosts and servers I’ve interacted with. Especially when they aren’t insanely busy, they are more than happy to explain different things to you. On our last visit, they explained to us the reasons for the names of different French dishes.
Raoul’s is a great place for many different occasions and is a fantastic place staffed with fantastic people.

We went to Raoul’s for our 5 year anniversary dinner on Saturday evening. Had a reservation but arrived 15 minutes early. They sat us after about 3 minutes which was great, since the restaurant was super crowded near the bar area. Our waiter was super nice throughout the entire meal and was very attentive.
The food was AMAZING. We both agreed that this was our favorite restaurant we’ve been to since living in NYC for the past 1.5 years. Everything was amazing, but our favorites were:
Egg & ricotta ravioli: when I ordered it, I imaged it being egg pasta with ricotta in the middle. No — it literally had delicious egg yolk & ricotta in the middle of one giant ravioli (the size of a small plate). Oh and some delicious bacon /​pancetta type crunchies on top :)
Pork belly app: super crispy and fatty in all the right places, along with some creamy deliciousness underneath and some interesting mushroom I’ve never had before.
Foie gras app: amazing seared chunk of foie gras with some spinach like steamed greens and a sweet (plum maybe?) sauce and mushrooms. SO good.
Scallop main: SO good. All the different tastes just blended so well together. Scallops were seared perfectly. Definitely a unique dish and was our favorite plate of the night.
We also shared the steak au poivre, which was really really good. We just loved everything else so much that that dish was sort of outshined.
We were too stuffed for desert — but our waiter still brought us out 2 glasses of sparkling rose to celebrate out anniversary, on the house. Very nice touch and definitely ended the evening on a very positive note!
Can’t wait to go back to Raoul’s!!!

Incredibly slow service. Waiters didn’t even bring plates during appetizers. 1 hour and 15 minutes for a very simple lunch. Unacceptably slow.
Food was ok — omelette cooked well, but ingredient mix so so. Apple soufflé pancakes were on but far too doughy. Subpar service combined with mediocre food is not a great combination. Would only go if everything else around it is packed.

On the day I came in, I was one of 12 lucky souls to partake in the glory that is their Burger Au Povre. I may even be slightly luckier as my friend who was my date for the evening left me ¼ of hers to finish off. The accompanying sauce is divine as was the burger and fries. Franco, our server, was as cool as they come, and without a doubt Mads Mikkelsen’s doppelgänger. My old fashioned was solid. The only disappointment came in the espresso I finished with. Everything else was great. A truly classic New York restaurant seemingly untouched by time.
***How to get the burger — They only serve 12 a day, that’s it. I recommend coming here on a weekday night just before 5. Their doors open at 5pm and to get the burger you need to sit at the bar. They also do not take orders for food prior to 5:30pm so grab a drink and take the place in. Also, if you do not get the burger, they have other food items that look and smell delicious too. There is a lot to come for here without the burger. I don’t think you can go wrong with anything you get here. Getting the burger is fun for the novelty of it. It’s also a great burger. The chips they serve at the bar are great too. Their desserts sounded fantastic too, but unfortunately I had no room left. Next time.

This place is top notch, and it’s all about the vibe. It is not a carefully curated act, trying to recreate a genre of times gone by. This is the real thing and always has been.
The ambience is warm, inviting and oozes with charm. The service is top notch and the food is very good. It is authentic French food, with a menu that is pretty spot on with places we dined at in France. Yet at the same time, it is very much an NYC restaurant, and isn’t trying to be French beyond serving French food.
The wine list is good, with a nice range of price points on French wines. My one gripe is that the food was a bit saltier than it needed to be. Yet in a city with so much of its original character being replaced by faux versions of itself, Raoul’s stands out above the rest.

Place ain’t cheap but it’s worth it. Love it for the old NY feel and yummy food. Make sure you get reservations beforehand!
My favorite was the seared foie gras… I’m usually not a foie gras lover but having it seared and warm… it was SO delicious! Highly recommend that starter!
I had the seared scallops with squid for the entrée. It was cooked perfectly and tasted phenomenal! Scallops were juicy and sweet and the sauce had a bit of a kick to it.
The French also can do wonders with chicken. I only had a bite of my friend’s but damn it was so juicy and tender and delicious!
They really should add a duck entrée to their menu so they’ll have the holy trinity of meats the French do magic with!

This review is based solely on the burger alone, and not any of the other food and aspects of the restaurant, nor the absurdity you need to go through to acquire said burger.
All it takes these days in NY to generate a frenzy over a food item and an accompanying line is the praise of one food pundit and co-​signing by either Grubstreet and/​or Eater.
Such is the case with Raoul’s, a nice little French restaurant that has been around for a long time but is now just getting heaps of attention because of an article in Esquire in which Josh Ozersky said he had this year’s «Best New Burger in America» here (
).
Due to my self-​diagnosed case of frustrating and miserable Fear Of Missing Out, I decided I must try this burger. As detailed in the above article, they only make 12 per night and you can only order it at the bar. Knowing the silliness of lines that accompany this kind of hype lately, I already thought my chances were slim getting there at 5:15, even though they open at 5:30. Still, when I arrived 15 minutes before the listed opening time, every one of the 8 or 9 seats at the bar was already filled. I was frustrated, but at least I knew I would still be able to try the burger, unless there were some animals at the bar ordering multiple burgers.
Instead of waiting, we acted like beasts ourselves and requested the burger to be served at the side of the bar, where there was space to eat, but no seats. They happily obliged, and I was perfectly fine with it since we were just getting the burger and not a full-​on meal.
At last, the $ 19 beauty arrived with a basket of fries. And it was worth the hype, wait and the price. The patty is topped with cheese, au poivre sauce, little cornichons and some greens. The bartender told us they serve it medium-​rare, so I was surprised that it was actually much closer to almost well done, which is a shock for a fancy pants burger. Still though, it managed to be so deliciously soft and packed with flavor. The challah bun it was on was perfect too, making for what really is one of the best burgers this year. I don’t think it quite measures up to the one at Cherche Midi, but it is excellent.
The fries were amazing too — extremely crispy and on the thin side and beyond addictive. My only beef with the burger was that it was a little overdone and more importantly, some bites were riddled with black pepper, to the point that my mouth started to tingle. The seasoning was very pleasant and delicious for the most part, but it was a bit heavy on that pepper.
As we waited for the burger, I noted how comical the scene was. There were 12 or so of us crowded around this tiny bar, while the rest of the restaurant was completely empty. Literally, not one other person in the whole place other than us few fools itching to eat that burger. Given how good the burger is, I think I would like to return for the normal food. That looks like a much easier and more pleasant experience, with no crowds, so I probably won’t be going any time soon.

always fun, excellent steak au poivre

Great Food!!! Rich taste.
Recommended Appetizers:
Steak Tartare
Foie Gras
Entrees:
Seared Sea Scallops
Snake River Wagyu Bavette
Steak au Poivre
Desserts:
Profiteroles
Warm Valrhona Bundt Cake
White Chocolate Marquise Parfait
Goat Cheesecake
The portions are small, prepare to spend more than $ 150 for 2 to be stuffed.
Nice fortune teller Lady on the second floor.