Le Charm

Another wonderful birthday party success thanks to Le Charm. Everyone loved their food and we had several bottles of wine for the party and they were all excellent. We stayed quite a bit passed their closing time but the waiting staff was just so accommodating about it.

Now called Matilde bistro which is just as incredible! Search Matilde bistro on Unilocal

Food: ⁵⁄₅
Excellent flavor combinations, fresh ingredients, the best of the French selection!
The warm crotin goat cheese was delicious, the pork osso buco was perfectly cooked, and the tarte tatin was just wow. All this with a excellent Pinot noir!
Service: ⁵⁄₅
Simply perfect! The whole team, Lina, Mathilde and are delightful.
Setting: ⁵⁄₅
A great setting for a romantic dinner.
Value: ⁵⁄₅
Pricy but well worth it.
Highly recommend this place! (I very rarely give a 5 star)

The food and service here is amazing! My team and I had the Prix Fixe menu. I absolutely LOVED the snow crab salad, which had a crunchy layer on the top of the crab. For the main course, the salmon was cooked perfectly. If you want it fully cooked, I advise you to tell them because they automatically give it to you half-​cooked. For dessert I had their apple tart, and I loved it because it wasn’t too sweet and the crust was baked just right.
As for the atmosphere, the waiters were very kind. There was a band playing that day and they played good music but it was a little too loud and I couldn’t converse too well with others without really raising my voice. Other than that, this place is awesome! I would definitely come here again.

Overall: Perfect 2^nd or 3^rd date place.
5 stars for Ambiance. Came here Thursday night and they had a jazz like band playing music. The servers are very nice. Overall very charming.
I had the Mussels. Broth was delicious. Portions are just the right size. Dinner was the flat iron steak. Recommend both.
I didn’t have any wine but they have a wide variety of French wine (obviously) and I will have to come back one night for dessert. The Profiteroles looked delicious.

I will forever remember this restaurant. I have to say, I read most of the reviews here and afterwards I was left discouraged. I told my gf about this place and she said based on the photos, we should check it out. It was a big deal since this was for our first anniversary.
So we tried out this place last weekend. Luckily we made reservations so the check in process was painless. We sat outside and at the time there were no big parties so we had quite a bit of calmness and privacy. My gf ordered the prix-​fix three course with the snow crab salad for the appetizer, trout for the entrée, and the chocolate cream puffs with ice cream. I ordered the duck leg by itself, no prix-​fix for me.
The trout looked and tasted good; my duck on the other hand was a little salty. Fortunately the meat was soft so I was able to eat it since I had some tooth problems. I gotta say that the waiter recommended a good dish for me. My gf enjoyed the food very much so I expect to come back again soon.

A French restaurant where they actually speak French and know regional food. Service was excellent as well as the charcuterie, cheese tray, salad and onion soup with a rich, tasty broth. All the French bread we wanted and a delicious bottle of Bordeaux. Small and cozy for a romantic dinner or meal with friends or family. A delightful evening!

Pretty charming: glowing lights, high ceilings, and not a hipster in sight. The Onion Soup was delicious. The Beef Bourguignon was delicious, and the wine was decent. We’ll definitely be coming back.
We made reservations at Le Zinc but cancelled after reading the reviews — it reminded us of our bad experience and why we never went there even though its in the neighborhood.

I went here for a friend’s birthday dinner about a month ago. We had a large group and it was no problem for them which was great.
We started with the french onion soup which was actually pretty good. It was cheesy but not too salty which I find can be a problem with french onion soup. For my main dish, I had the beef. It was nothing to write home about and I felt like it lacked flavor. My partner had the chicken dish with the brussel sprouts. It was simple but nothing special. Others seemed to feel similarly about theirs. So two stars considering that there is better french food to be had in the city and that it is not cheap either.

Very good with large parties. I had a party of 8 and they managed to have a table to seat all of us on a Saturday night. This is not something easy to do in the city.
We came here for dine about town and the price fixe menu is very reasonable. The regular menu isn’t that far off either. The escargot is very good and the other dishes tend to be on a heavier side in terms of taste — but my palette is more sensitive to oily and salty foods.
Service is a bit slow but I have really come to grips on that with French restaurants and given our large party on a Saturday night it is not too much of a annoyance.
All in all, while I will not rank this as one of the top french restaurants it is still very good for those looking for an easy night out with friends.

3 stars for their 2015 Valentine’s prix fixe dinner. Diners came in polo shirts, jeans, suit jackets, dress shirts, and dresses. I liked the mix.
Service is nothing special. While making the reservation, they did not inform us that they would be having a set menu for the evening. W was sorely dismayed, having been looking forward to having foie gras. The hostess tried to seat us at a terribly placed table in the center of their patio before we asked for a different table. We didn’t mind being close to another table, but we did not want to sit with knees up against the x-​legs of the table. We watched other couples decline the same table for a while afterwards.
Dishes were brought out in a timely manner and my water glass was attentively refilled. After our first course, a server spilled water on W, drenching his neck/​head and his suit jacket. I got a light mist that bounced off him. They offered him extra napkins immediately, and the server later apologized, offering us muscat wine with our dessert.
The food was hit or miss:
warm goat cheese salad — well complemented with syrupy peach slices, tart pomegranate seeds and juicy grape halves.
filet mignon — more rare that we asked, and slightly sinewy. Good peppercorn sauce, and the fries satisfyingly crunchy. These are what I wish In-​N-​Out fries were like!
confit de canard (duck confit) & pomme landaise and bacon– duck was tender, but very salty. Poached, not fried. Each potato slice was crisp on the outside, and tender on the inside. Scrumptious.
tarte tatin — a lot of cloyingly sweet apple. The caramel sauce was overkill. For some reason, the tart dough tasted like oil or shortening, not butter.
profiteroles — nothing special. Pass.
I’d recommend asking to be seated within the restaurant and not the back patio, as the patio is a bit colder and less romantic in ambience. There is a 2-​top table right by the window that allows for more privacy, if you’re looking for that sort of thing.
I’d come back to try their other mains, but will not bother saving room for dessert. The place and the staff here definitely give you the impression that you’ve escaped to a secret Parisian bistro for the night.

Very cute and charming place, matches the name of restaurant perfectly. I’ve always wanted to try this place after accidentally stumbling upon it walking down 5^th St. The host/​owner, Lina is an Asian women that speaks French (super hot). Staff members are super friendly and attentive. The lamb racks was cooked to perfection. Really nice ambiance with live music. It made my date night perfect. Thanks

This review is solely based on my experience with their Valentine’s Day service.
I was looking forward to their food and service based the positive reviews here. But I must say it was quite disappointing.
I ordered sautéed prawns for appetizer, which was full of flavor and well cooked. It was a good start and I was excited about more to come. But my excitement did not last long.
For my main dish, I had filet mignon. The meat was thin compared to what I usually see at other restaurants. It was also cut in a odd shape, which clearly showed that they had to chop the meat apart to get rid of the connective tissues probably because they got cheap cuts of filet with lots of tough tendons.
Along with the meat was nothing but In-​n-​Out french fries and tiny portion of Costco green salad. I ordered my filet at medium rare but came at medium well. My husband also asked medium rare but came at rare. The flavor of the sauce was good, but the meat cooked at wrong temperature and the cheap side/​garnish pretty much ruined the whole thing.
As to dessert, I have nothing much to say. We had chocolate mousse and profiteroles, which were no better than what you can get from the sweets section at Safeway.
This prefixed course was priced at $ 65, which is pretty expensive for what you can get and compared to what they have on their standard menu. Our waiter was almost like non-​existing. He never came to our table to check us in, not even once.
We felt we were rushed to eat our food and leave the restaurant. Tables were arranged way too close to one another. So we were practically sitting on the stranger’s lap. It was clear that they were trying to pack as many people as they could and get their turnover as high as possible. C’mon, it was a Valentine’s Day, people came to the restaurant to have romantic and intimate time. How about some personal spaces and bit of privacy.
They should have taken this special day as an opportunity to have their customers experience wonderful time so that they would come back for more rather than being greedy and making it all about their profits. Bad business practice.

Le Charm has this adorable back patio dimly lit with yellow Christmas lights — the perfect place to Charm a girl (or just to unwind).
A glass of red wine, an onion soup and escargot to share, and my favorite, the coq au vin (chicken braised with wine) and you’re in for a solid evening.
For two people, I think one pre fixe (3-​course, $ 35) + a main entrée would be perfect for sharing.
If anyone’s familiar with Bistro Jeanty in Yountville, Le Charm comes very close.

I came for restaurant week this week and ordered the restaurant week menu for $ 40. For first course, we got both the escargot and the pâté. The pâté was pretty good, but the escargot was AMAZING. Perfect with a glass of white and baguette. For the second course, we ordered both the salmon and filet mignon, both of which were incredible. The filet came with a bleu cheese sauce (I normally hate bleu cheese) but it tasted great. Finally, we had the profiteroles and the apple /​caramel tart (I don’t remember the name). Neither of those was particularly amazing, but both pretty good.
Also, we sat outside in the back outdoor area for dinner and it was wonderful. Lit with lights and very cozy. The servers were all incredibly nice as well — I will definitely be back!

My friend and I made reservations for dinner during SF Restaurant Week, but we ended up ordering off their normal menu instead. Their normal menu consists of a la carte items as well as a prix fixe menu for $ 35 that, in my opinion, had better options than the $ 40 Restaurant Week menu. You can also order dishes from the prix fixe menu at an a la carte price.
We ordered one 3-​course prix fixe meal and one entrée from the prix fixe menu.
FOOD: Overall, all the dishes were pretty good! Great flavors and great texture. Everything’s pretty rich and heavy, as is typical of French food, but the meal didn’t feel too heavy since the portion sizes were reasonable.
PRICE: The $ 35 prix fixe dinner only saves you $ 3, but it’s a pretty good price for a yummy 3-​course meal. Ordering a la carte isn’t too expensive either.
SERVICE: A little slow and inattentive. Food took a while to come out, which wasn’t a big deal, but no one brought us bread even though other tables were having their bread refilled. We had to flag a waiter down and ask for bread, but at least they were quick about refilling that and our water. One of the waiters was a little clumsy though while bringing water to another table nearby, bumped into something and spilled water all over.
ATMOSPHERE: There’s an indoor area and an outdoor heated patio area that’s lit by Christmas lights. Super cute and charming. Very dimly lit and pretty cozy.
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–SAUTEED CHICKEN LIVER SALAD (a la carte $ 9) — 4.5÷5
[Deglazed with sherry vinegar]
Our waitress recommended the chicken liver salad out of all the prix fixe appetizer options and we weren’t disappointed. The chicken liver was cooked really well. I’ve never had liver that was so melt-​in-​your-​mouth soft. I could’ve done with less dressing/​vinegar though.
–PAN SEARED TROUT (a la carte $ 21) — ⁴⁄₅
[Beurre blanc sauce, sauteed mushrooms, almonds and pommes dauphines]
If you’re looking for a lighter dish, this would probably be the best option. I asked for them to go light on the butter sauce as well. The trout was soft and flaky, though a little drier than I would’ve liked. The skin had a nice crisp to it and I liked the crunch/​texture from the slivered almonds. I was originally hesitant about the pommes dauphines because they looked like very heavy fried potato tots, but they were AMAZING. The outside was nicely fried but still delicate and not too crunchy, and the mashed potato inside was so creamy and smooth. I usually don’t really like fried things but these were so heavenly!
–RISOTTO WITH MIXED MUSHROOMS (a la carte $ 21) — ⁴⁄₅
[Parmesan cheese, truffle oil]
Creamy but surprisingly not incredibly heavy. I’m generally not really a risotto person because I tend to find them too rich and heavy, but this one’s an exception! I couldn’t really taste the truffle though so a little disappointed about that.
–FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE (a la carte $ 8) — 3.5÷5
[Chocolate sauce, vanilla ice cream and crème Anglaise]
Good but nothing particularly special.

Maybe I’m just not a fan of rustic french food. I really liked the feel of the restaurant — super cute and cozy with dim lighting but not too creepily romantic and not pretentious. I can’t say very many positive things about the food though. The best dish of the night was the steamed mussels. The creamy white wine sauce it came with was delicious, but the mussels themselves were extremely tiny, although plentiful… I was looking for the big guns! I had the La Marmite and flat iron steak with pommes frites. The La Marmite is basically a lobster pot pie, and the meat from the steak was too thick and covered with too much sauce. The fries tasted exactly like they were from In N Out.
Also the wine selection is very limited. Only about ¹⁄₁₀^th (or less) of the wines on the menu are sold by the glass, and everything else is by the bottle. Just something to keep in mind if you’re dining with a party of 2 and don’t want to finish a whole bottle! Even though I didn’t like the food, the bright side is that the meal was very affordable. Definitely one of the cheaper sit-​down dining places in SF that I’ve experienced. Entrees range from $ 20-​$ 35 and the prix fixe menu for $ 35 & 3 courses is a pretty good deal (even though we didn’t opt for this because the appetizers on it weren’t appealing).

Although this is not my first time here, it has been over 5 years since I’ve been. After reading the recent mixed reviews that it was not as good as it use to be, I was afraid my expectations would’ve been too high based on previous experiences.
We chose Le Charm for my mom’s birthday dinner this past weekend as I wanted a place that would have good escargots. Prix fixe 3 courses were $ 35 giving you a $ 3 discount on the dessert, but unfortunately they did not have the French Onion Soup or Escargot as part of it like they use to. Hopefully they will add it back on since it is the same price $ 9 as the other prix fixe apps. If they had, all of us would’ve gotten the prix fixe. Since they didn’t, 3 out of 4 of us ordered a la carte.
Apps:
Escargot — Since I had escargot twice in just the past 2 weeks, I did not try this one but my mom raved that it was perfectly cooked and tender. I do love sopping up the melted garlic parsley butter with the baguette that our table ended up going through more than 1 basket over the evening
French Onion Soup — They really do have one of the best French Onion Soups with just the right amount of cheese that I wish I had my own but only got a bite. This is a must have for the next time.
Crab Crousillant — The crab is wrapped in like a phyllo dough and fried with the outside reminding me of a light birds nest for the crab to nestle in. The greens with the pomegranate dressing was absolutely delicious and refreshing to offset the fried crab.
Entrees:
Pan Seared Trout — I am so use to pan seared meaning the middle is left undercooked or rare so was pleasantly surprised that pan seared here means they sear it to brown the outside but it is fully cooked on the inside. The almond slivers really makes this dish.
Seafood Risotto — This came with Dayboats so 2 very nicely sized scallop, 4 mussels, and a couple of shrimps over a small bed of risotto reminding me of a cross between a cioppino and risotto since it was not overwhelmed with just rice.
Pan Seared Petrale Sole Special of the Day — Nicely cooked leaving it still moist and delicious with the buttery mashed potatoes
Osso Bucco — I did not personally try this one but hubby said it was fork tender so no knife required.
Desserts:
Crème Brulee — Largest crème brulee I have ever seen even if it is shallower than others
Brioche Bread Pudding — Cold ice cream melting over warm bread pudding can just about put you in a food coma. With the warm heaters outside, I felt like taking a nap after all this good food.

I loved this! The pan seared black angus steak was great. Some parts of the steak you can really taste the truffle. Thought that the freshly sliced and fried potato chips (with bacon on top) was amazing. We ordered the fried pig feet and a fish (forgot the name) appetizer as well. The fried pig feet seemed like a fritter of bone marrow and soft pork, really delicious. The flourless chocolate cake was a good dessert to finish with. I just love little dark restaurants with French speaking waiters

Mince alors, quel dommage. Le charme a perdu son charme. Pour les prix affiches, la qualite n’est pas au rendez-​vous. Le cassoulet n’en est pas un. C’est un fond de bouillon avec quelques carottes, plein de flageolets, et essentiellement, 2 tranches de lard gras (du bacon quoi), avec des bouts de viande diverses. Leur tarte au fromage de chevre fait pietre impression au fromage, qui, par ailleurs, est essentiellement absent. Enfin, la tarte tatin est reduite a une croute avec une purée de pommes.
Incroyable … en plus, ma femme et moi avons royalement rote toute la soirée, et la digestion fut penible. Ca sent les legumes en conserve et la viande de basse qualite.
Bref … a eviter!

Le charm was le dark. I don’t know if French people eat in the dark or what but all the ones I’ve been to have this kind of ambience, very romantic/​most suitable for date night.
It was very quiet and empty for a Saturday evening. Parking was not horrendous as we were able to find street parking about 3 streets down.
Continuing with my prix fixe crusade, my party optioned for the course meal, $ 35.
Start off: Croustillant of snow crab — fried snow crab in an exquisite entrapment of warm goodness (shell texture– imagine ordering fried taro balls at dim sum) served over an assortment of greens. The hot and colds of this dish was very complementary of each other.
Entrée: Pan seared trout — topped with a white wine and citrus infused sauce, almonds, and schrooms. Upon the first few bites, I easily fell in love with this dish. Unfortunately, midway through, the heavy dish started to takes it toll on me and I felt really heavy and as you’d say, stuffed (literally). I think the sauce was just a tad too heavy on the butter side and was in dire need of more citrus.
Oh yes, but I must go/​eat on.
Desserts: tarte tatin — aka apple tarte. This dish was raved about in the reviews so I was pretty excited to try it but, it was too sweet and soft and didn’t really live up to my expectations. Nothing special.

I would say this is 3.5 stars. The stars are more for the good service rather than the food. I came here because i saw they have $ 35 for 3 courses pre fix menu and it’s a good deal. But the pre fix menu wasn’t very interesting so I ended up ordering separately, it’s still very cheap and good value compared to other French food. I ordered the followings:
Escargot — no garlic at all. When I was in France, they baked this with a lot of garlic and tasted a lot better.
Con au vin — the red wine flavor was strong and the chicken was tender. But it gets boring because there really is just chicken for the whole dish.
La Marmite seafood — this is more of Italian dish to me than French. Nice presentation though. The pastry on top, eating together with the soup, it feels like onion soup.
Proliferole — chocolate puff with ice cream inside. I feel it’s okay.

Oh la la. En route to another place around the corner we stumbled upon this little bundle of goodness. Papa wanted French, as soon as we caught a glance of Le Charm’s sign. Who was I to argue? I just followed happily behind! :0
Le Charm Bistro sets two stages in their restaurant; one being an indoor/​outdoor patio area (covered by a tent), yet containing two cement walls on opposite ends, candles lit in square holes along the walls and outside area covered with vines and various greenery. The other scene being the lovely, charming and very cozy dining area that gives the appearance and feel like you could be sitting in someone’s very large dining room of their house, with lovely knick knacks and candles along the walls and very large plaid curtains draped across their two large windows in the front. Very dimly lit, with ity bity tables crammed into the small space, yet still feeling spacious with the extra high ceilings.
We got lucky, walked right in around 9pm on a Friday night and were seated immediately! Our waiter was borderline charming and annoying all at the same time. He kept up with his heavy French accent all throughout our entire dining experience, yet when my counterpart asked where he was from, he responded…“a little bit of Oregon, a little bit of California, but spent two months in France.” Papa was very amused. Me? I wanted to barf. Yet he still did a superb job, with the timing and serving so really, there is no valid complaint.
We ordered their Roquefort Cheese and Fig Salad special to split and it was very petite! We could have ordered two easily. Next, came along our exquisite main dishes:
mine: Pan seared Loch Duart salmon– with beurre blanc sauce, spinach and pommes dauphines. If you’re wondering what pomme dauphines are… they’re crisp potato puffs made by mixing mashed potatoes with savoury choux pastry, forming the mixture into dumpling shapes, then deep-​fried. They were marvelous, but almost too much for a lady attempting to watch her figure! Salmon was cooked medium, as suggested by the chef. Small proportions (traditional French style), left me feeling satisfied and not too full. I loved this dish!
his: «La Marmite» of seafood baked in puff pastry filled with Lobster, mussels, salmon, prawns, in a creamy lobster sauce. He mentioned there was way too much sauce and potatoes, and not enough meat, nor flavor! He still ate it up, the pastry puff looked decadent (similar to layers of a croissant, yet shaped like a soup bowl.) Papa gave this dish 3.5 stars.
Can’t even remember if we ordered dessert, oops no, we passed, but I’m sure it would have been divine! We had places to go and people to see! Maybe next time…