FADA

530 Driggs Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11211
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718.388.6607

Cuisine: French Bistro
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Cards: American Express Only
Price: $$$
Hours: Mon-Thurs 4pm-midnight; Fri 10am-1am; Sat 10am-1am; Sun 10am-midnight
Booze: Full bar
Subway: L to Bedford Ave.
Menu: Click Here
We say:

A fantastic French bistro that has quickly become a Williamsburg staple. The atmsophere is cozy yet never cramped and Fada will please anyone craving by-numbers French cuisine. The mussels are delicious. The only downside is the wine selection which is hit-or-miss (and mainly miss).

The Village Voice says:

Though the name suggests a Portuguese place, Fada is a French bistro specializing in the vegetable-intensive provender of Provence. The dining room affects a raffish air, and the menu runs from shareable combination plates called assiettes to refreshing salads, such as a salade fris?e that features smoked duck breast in addition to lardoons, to main courses voluminous enough to stand alone as your evening meal. Recommended entr?es: steak frites featuring a thin sirloin sided with mounds of glistening fries, and an aioli garni of cod and homemade mayonnaise accompanied by legions of steamed vegetables and a handful of snails. Open for breakfast.

Juliette

135 N 5th St.
Brooklyn, NY 11211
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718.388.9222

Cuisine: French, Bistro
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Cards: American Express only
Price: $$$
Hours: Mon-Thur 4pm-11pm; Fri 4pm-midnight; Sat 10:30am-midnight; Sun 10:30am-10:30pm
Booze: Full bar
Subway: L to Bedford Ave.
Menu: Click Here
Delivery: No
The Eater says:

Taking over the former Red and Black space on North 5th Street in Williamsburg, this is Juliette. It’s going for bustling neighborhood French bistro to be sure: Chef-owner Thierry Rochard comes to the restaurant via Tartine and owner Alexandra Drozd last did scene-in-rapidly-gentrifying neighborhood at The Delancey. (To get to that elevated goldmine status, however, they’re eventually going to have to expand to at least a continuous 16-hour day.) The food, which is getting good buzz is along standard bistro lines.

The New York Times says:

This sweet French bistro has a menu that takes tradition to heart with dishes like steamed artichokes, steak frites and fish done niçoise style with aioli. The few Mexican notes, like chicken soup with cilantro and chicken with guacamole, are a trifle jarring.

c/o NY Mag

533 Grand St
Brooklyn, NY 11211
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718.782.7372

Cuisine: French Bistro
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★
Cards: Cash Only
Price: $$
Hours: Mon-Thurs, 11am-4pm, 6pm-midnight; Fri 11am-4pm, 6pm-2am; Sat 11am-2am; Sun 11am-midnight
Booze: Full Bar
Subway: L to Lorimer St.
Menu: Click Here
Delivery: Yes
NY Mag says:

When he opened Marquet Patisserie in Boerum Hill in the late eighties, Jean-Pierre Marquet was a Smith Street pioneer. Since then, he’s relocated to Court Street, sold his Manhattan and Fort Greene outposts, and bought a manufacturing plant in Bushwick. Now he’s branched into the bistro business with Le Barricou, a Williamsburg restaurant whose French street signs leave no doubt about the restaurant’s provenance. Chef-partner Joab Masse’s menu, though, takes a multicultural approach, offering coq au vin alongside salmon over Asian long beans with Thai barbecue sauce.

Shecky’s says:

Ah, Williamsburg, home of too cool for school hipsters, kitschy bars, and…thankfully a crop of dining hot spots. So maybe you won’t be transported to gay old Paris when you enter Le Barricou, but owner Jean Pierre Marquet and chef Joab Masse have definitely added some foreign flair to the neighborhood. The eclectic menu features everything from burgers and lamb shank to Thai mussels ($9) and the French favorite, Coq Au Vin ($15). The spacious restaurant, plastered with vintage news clippings, allows you several options for seating as well. Enjoy your meal at a table for two or make new friends over the modest selection of beer and wine at the elongated wooden bar. Lest you forget you’re in the Burg, the old school foosball table in the back serves as a gentle reminder. Le sigh.

Le Comptoir

51 Grand St
Brooklyn, New York 11211
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718.486.3300

Cuisine: French
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Price: $$
Hours: Mon-Thu 5pm-12am; Fri 5pm-1am; Sat 11am-1am; Sun 11am-12am
Cards: Cash Only
Booze: None
Subway: L to Bedford Ave.
Menu: Click Here
Delivery: No
Time Out New York says:

Williamsburg’s bistro scene gets a boost with this comely newcomer from chef Sebastien Chamaret (La Goulue). The restaurant—opening for brunch this week, with dinner service planned for later this month—boasts an open kitchen inside and a leafy garden out back. As for the food, Chamaret turns out locally sourced American fare with a Franco bent: A “bacon-cheeseburger” sausage from local butcher the Meat Hook is paired with lentils and frisée, while French toast is torched on top like crème brûlée.

Metromix says:

The word “comptoir” means counter, which isn’t a surprise considering this Grand Street spot contains a long counter that curves around the central open kitchen. Nice—especially given that the space was renovated with 90 percent recycled materials, meaning you can be eco-conscious while noshing here. In that on-display kitchen, chef Sebastien Chamaret (La Goulue) cooks up seasonal fare that draws on his French training. To start out, the menu promises to serve brunch every day while they wait for their liquor license. It’s not clear which part of the chef’s French schooling inspired a dish that uses a bacon-cheeseburger sausage, but purists are the only ones who will be disappointed by such juicy innovation. If you don’t want to sit counter-side and smile at the chef, you can check out their dinging room or backyard garden. The restaurant will open for dinner when the booze starts to flow, which looks to be sometime in September.

c/o Grub Street

108 Franklin St
Brooklyn, NY 11222
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Cuisine: French, Coffee Shop/Cafe
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Price: $$
Hours: 8am-11pm Daily
Cards: Cash Only
Booze: None
Subway: G to Greenpoint Ave.
Delivery: No
Brownstoner says:

Le Gamin opened at full capacity yesterday at 108 Franklin Avenue in Greenpoint. Le Gamin will serve a variety of sweet and savory crêpes, sandwiches, salads, and desserts in a casual, French inspired space. “The ‘full bistro menu,’ with items like steak-frites and moules-frites, differs slightly from Le Gamin’s Prospect Heights location,” according to Grubstreet. For about the last week or so, Le Gamin has had a “very soft” opening, in which food was prepared outside in Le Gamin’s mobile truck. Starting yesterday, the truck will head for Malibu, CA and the kitchen will be open. Founder Robert Arbor told us that he had received approval from the community board for a liquor license, so while it’s BYOB for the time being, you can expect beer and wine offerings soon.

Metromix says:

With a location in Prospect Heights and a popular crepe-dispensing truck, Le Gamin has perfected the casual French style. The Greenpoint location has the feel of an authentic French café, with specials written on blackboards and a crowd of locals debating the issues of the day. The spot has many more options than a coffee shop, but the vibe is decidedly not bourgeois. Low prices and an easygoing atmosphere make it easy to spend an afternoon here. You can whittle away the time by sipping a café au lait, or you can go for one of their light dishes like a country ham sandwich or a baby green salad with goat cheese (both are under $10). Their dinner menu offers heartier fare like roasted duck breast and a pan seared skirt steak, but they seem like an extravagance in such a low-key setting. Instead, opt for what Gamin does best: crepes. Savory fold-overs stuffed with things like chicken and ratatouille are available all day long. While you sip your post meal-espresso, satisfy your sweet tooth with a crepe tartin filled with caramelized apples and crème fraiche. C’est magnifique!

340 Bedford Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11211
(between 3rd St & 2nd St)
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347.599.0699

Cuisine: French
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Price: $$
Hours: Sun-Thu 5:30 pm. – 10 pm; Fri-Sat 5:30pm-11pm; Sat-Sun 10am-4pm Brunch
Cards: All Major
Booze: Beer & Wine Only
Subway: L to Bedford Ave.
Menu: Click Here
Web: www.morganerestaurant.com
Delivery: Yes

Moto

349 Broadway
Brooklyn NY 11211
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718.599.6895

Cuisine: French/American Nouveau
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Cards: Cash Only
Price: $$$
Hours: Mon-Fri, 6pm-2am; Sat 11am-2am; Sun 11am-1am
Subway: J, M at Hewes St., G to Broadway
Menu: Click Here
Delivery: No
We say:

South Williamsburg’s hidden surprise. There is no sign on the door so hopefully this jewel will remain hidden from the masses. See some pictures on their website. This place is beautiful and affordable. The food is unique with French flair and the drinks are cheap!

NY Mag says:

A check-cashing storefront under the rumbling JMZ “el” in Bushwick becomes an artist café in South Williamsburg, and so goes another New York metamorphosis. It’s possible you’d even mistake Moto’s surreal interior, at once both familiar and unsettling, for the backdrop of a Kafka novel: The sepia tones of this apothecary-like setting are sharpened by flashes of futuristic metal (the bar’s taps are refitted bike parts, hence the name) and the pull-chain toilet and musty specimen jars in the shadowy downstairs lavatory suggest a litany of human misdeeds. But not all is doomed: Marble-topped tables, crusty panini, hushed patrons, and $5 tap beers like chocolate-y Corsendonk, dense Guinness, and spunky Stella reveal a more palatable intellectual side.

c/o Yelp

52 Havemeyer Street
Brooklyn, NY 11211
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646.409.4019

Cuisine: French/Mediterranean/Crepes
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Cards: Cash Only
Price: $$
Hours: Tue-Fri 12:30pm-10:30pm; Sat-Sun 11am-10:30pm
Booze: Beer and wine
Subway: L to Lorimer St.
Menu: Click Here
Delivery: No
Metromix Says:

Chef-owner Lorenzo Gantonio has plied his wares in European hot spots like Nice, Morocco and Monte Carlo. Now he’s set up shop on an unassuming corner in south Williamsburg, and he couldn’t be more enthusiastic. After moving stateside in mid-2008, Lorenzo unabashedly “loves New York. I love New York!” and so he decided to open a permanent Gotham home for serving up crepes and light Mediterranean fare. The long list of crepes includes both savory (brie and apple, mushroom) and sweet (Nutella, French chestnut, Suzette) offerings, and the prices are recession-friendly at $3.50 to $6 a pop. The entrees are pasta-centric, with a cream, bacon and parsley dish and a lighter chicken with white wine sauce. We’re not sure the former tenant, Paper Moon Cafe, was around long enough to elicit any pangs of nostalgia, but hopefully Lorenzo’s passion for the city and simple cuisine will prove a better recipe for success.

Brownstoner says:

Pâtes et Traditions, an off-the-beaten-path BYOB spot in Williamsburg, was recommended to us by a Brownstoner reader. Sarah Horne for New York magazine writes, “For those with rusty high school French, pâtes refers to pasta, not pâté, and the latter is nowhere to be found here. Instead, Niçoise chef Lorenzo Gantonio, offers a selection of cream-laden pasta dishes and buckwheat crêpes with skinny-jean defying fillings like Roquefort, walnuts, and more cream. The long list of crepes includes both savory (brie and apple, mushroom) and sweet (Nutella, French chestnut, Suzette) offerings, and the prices [for the dessert crepes] are recession-friendly at $3.50 to $6 a pop. The entrees are pasta-centric, with a cream, bacon and parsley dish and a lighter chicken with white wine sauce.

Santos Anne

366 Union Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11211
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718.486.6979

Cuisine: Mexican & French
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Price: Moderately Priced
Hours: Mon. 4pm-12am, Wed-Fri 4pm-12am, Sat-Sun 12pm-12am
Cards: Cash Only
Booze: Full Bar
Subway: L to Lorimer St.
Delivery: No
We say:

At first we were a bit skeptical about the French/Mexican fusion, but after our meal at Santos Anne we can safely say that it’s one of our favorite new places. We had veggie tacos and steak, both were amazing and the prices are hard to beat ($15 for a full steak meal)! The ambiance of Santos Anne is cozy with turquoise walls and lit candles scattered across the room. There’s live music on the weekends, and if you’re lucky a free tarot card reading.

Simple Cafe

346 Bedford Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11211
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718.218.7067

Cuisine: Comfort Food/Pizza/French
Our Rating: ★ ★ ★
Cards: All Major
Price: $$
Hours: Tues-Wed 10am-8pm; Thurs-Fri 10am-11pm; Sat-Sun 10am-8pm; Closed Monday
Booze: Beer and Wine
Subway: J,M,Z to Marcy Ave.
Menu: Click Here
Delivery: Yes
Blackbook Mag says:

Simple keeps it complex: neighborhood café transforms into tasty pop-up Vietnamese joint when it’s not dishing out classic American fare. Homemade bread keeps the vibes cozy on non-Southeast Asian days. Burgers, soup, and sandwiches for the lunch table. Buffet table for brunches. As the name suggests, space is low-key, with comfy, no-frills décor.

Citysearch says:

This Williamsburg spot serves everyday comfort food filled with French influences, including delicate pizzas and pastries in a smart setting.