Practical information
Address: 5 Rue du Nil, 75002
Nearest transport: Sentier (3)
Hours: Closed Saturday and Sunday
Reservations: Book many weeks in advance.
Telephone: 01 40 39 96 19
Website
View larger map View a map of all of our restaurants here.
Average price for dinner: 45€
Style of cuisine: Modern French
Special attributes: prix-fixe, market-based cooking, prestige ingredients, renowned chef
Type of crowd: foodies, tourists
Interior: bare bones & minimal
Atmosphere: casual
Reviews of interest
- John Talbott (2010) “Colette loved the speck salad with clementines, parmesan and mint leaves while I was enchanted by the warm smoked sardines and brussel sprout leaves on a butternut squash puree.”
- Thierry Richard (2010) “On s’y régale d’assiettes diablement futées et originales (c’était quand la dernière fois que vous avez mangé de la betterave jaune ?), exécutées superbement…”
- Caroline Mignot (2010) “…toujours aussi bien balancée entre accords vifs, fraîcheur et gourmandise.”
- Christine Muhlke – New York Times (2010) “While the feel and food of Frenchie wouldn’t be out of place in Brooklyn or London’s East End, Mr. Marchand has the advantage of French training underscoring his seemingly informal offerings…”
- Emmanuel Rubin – Le Figaro (2009) “…deux petites salles de brique et de bois et ce tonitruant rapport créativité-prix..”
- Barbra Austin (2009) “The food at Frenchie is ingredient-driven and free of gimmicks…”
- John Talbott (2009) “…simple, inexpensive but quite fine food.”
- Alexander Lobrano (2009) “…this vest-pocket bistro in the Sentier, or old Paris garment district, is a delightful spot with really excellent food.”
- Meg Zimbeck (2009) “a simple-sounding truite fumée, asperges (smoked trout, asparagus) over the too-simple-sounding salade tomates cerises…it was clean…and bright.”
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TIP TO ALL FOODIES NOT ON VACATION -IF you can get through on the phone (dropping by is more efficient) you can actually get a reservation at Frenchie until August 17th when they close for the summer – they are open Monday to Friday for dinner only. Food is memorable and very reasonable. Had an amazing sea bass (bar) in a fennel consommé last night followed by a pannacotta with raspberries and chocolate to die for…
I realize what becomes hard to become obtain, becomes most desired, but really, what happened.
I haven’t been to the restaurant in a while, but thought it necessary to write about their customer service, or lack of. There’s no denying Chef Marchand makes some incredible food. Unfortunately, with popularity and fame comes customer service complacency. He has hired unruly front of the house staff, his reservation system or lack of sucks! It takes months to get a reservations, and just keep your fingers crossed they got it right. Just the other night, friends from US made reservations for a table for 4, months in advance in US. Prior to leaving for Paris, they once again confirmed Third time you’d think would be the charm, well you’d be wrong. They arrived in Paris last week, had concierge reconfirm. The restaurant said they only showed reservations for 2 NOT 4. So, they were left with no dinner reservations. Fortunately, they found a decent place, L’Hedoniste.
I use to have friends from US call me to plead to me to make reservations for them, because at one point they weren’t answering their phones. So, the only way you could make reservations was in person. But currently I refuse to go anywhere near that restaurant, because of the horrible experience I had trying to make reservations for the last set of friends who pleaded to me. The attitude was like, “take what I give you, I can’t be bothered with all your demands.”
The dining experience has to be about the whole experience, from the time you make the reservations to the time you leave the door. Yes, those types of restaurants exists in Paris, more so than not! So why put up with this type of crap. If Chef Marchand would give half his attention to the customers as he does the food, then that restaurant would be a winner.
I agree whole heartily with Randy. I finally managed to get a reservation for October (4 months in advance) for when my parents come to Paris because my mother is just dying to try it. However, although I haven’t even eaten there yet I already have a bitter taste in my mouth due to A) how impossible it was to get through to them on the phone after calling for 45 minutes straight during the allotted 2 hour reservation window 5 days in a row, and B) how rude they were when I finally got through.
And to non-french speakers and double beware, the guy who answers the phone now refuses to speak any English (even though later in the conversation he switched to strong English as he was frustrated with my french), so dust off your french dictionaries.
I do hope the food is worth the agonizing experience getting in!
Hi Whitney, I wrote this on another post related to Frenchie substitutes, but I really feel Frenchie isn’t worth the wait/aggravation. It’s good, but not *that* good. The service was surly (as it was when I made my reservation in person 3 months in advance). The earlier seating was entirely Americans. With wine, it ended up being 70€/person, much more than we’d spend getting a better meal and service elsewhere. I too had felt like I *had* to go there, but afterward I felt a little duped.
Just dont fill up on bread mind.
After waiting forever to try this place, I finally got a chance last week and I can safely say one of the best meals I’ve had in Paris so far. I got the oeuf poché with mushrooms as the starter which was just perfectly cooked and seasoned. The truite with what tasted like mandarin oranges was outstanding as were the desserts. I got just a single glass of wine which was well recommended to go with the meal. The only major dowside for me was the service – just cold and unwelcoming. For being the top restaurant that it is, it should do a lot better on hospitality. That’s the business they’re in.
We just got back from a week in Paris. We managed to score reservations to Frenchie for a table of 4 at 9:30 on weeknight. Due to the difficulty of getting said reservation, we had very high expectations. I’m with Lynn’s opinion from above- it’s good, but it’s not that great. For people living in Paris, the food may be revolutionary but we could easily name 4-5 restaurants in San Francisco with a similar concept and better execution of the food. The service was definitely cold and the least friendly we’ve experienced in Paris in our last two trips there. We had a lot more fun at Itineraires last year and Fish (La Boissonerie), Coq Rico and Lilane this year.
Reservations for us were easy to obtain (2 months in advance and online). Meal was great, staff friendly. Great experience.