Les Bouchons Rive Gauche

I went there to celebrate my friends birthday, because he liked the fries there.  However, other than the fries, there were too many areas with room for improvement.  At $32.90+++ for steak and fries, the steak was ordinary.  In fact, i think Aston's steak was better.

Wine list was limited and over priced.  Sides were normal.

Service was bad.  I was denied entry when I was 15 minutes earlier than their opening hours, they would not even allow me to sit outside.

Only saving grace was the free flow fries, they were really big & chunky.  Ambience was quite good because it was facing the river, but there are so many restaurants that are facing the river.

But should you pay so much for fries??

Well, and at least my friend enjoy the fries :-)

 

And not just me, but my boyfriend, and all the guys we recommended this place to.

The steak sets come with bread rolls and a salad. Do not touch the bread, no matter how hot and soft they are. We ate ours and.. you will see.

The steak comes with the freeflow fries this place is famous for. And what fries they are. Some "Western food" stalls' inferior fries break into powdery mush. Some famous American fries have proven to not even be able to rot over weeks. But Les Bouchons fries are the real thing, seemingly double-cooked, like sauteed potato slabs under their crispy surface. Two flavours, two textures, in one hearty, moving fry. I would have loved to take advantage of the freeflow offer. But alas, I had eaten the bread. My fries went unfinished. But if you can finish everything, I envy you. It's a great deal for big eaters.

The steak itself satisfies the basic requirements of a medium-rare ribeye. And it comes drizzled with a garlicky sauce that even a non-steaksauce-snob like myself had to swab up the remains of. Case in point for sauce snobbery: Black Angus serves up a decent ribeye, but I eschewed the mushroom sauce completely as it did nothing for the steak.

I can't bear to eat the city's best steak at $100 a plate, not again.  And granted, I am no gourmet steak-eater who can tell the difference between very good and very very good, nor a steak-fanatic who only needs the bloody deal on a plate with no frills and no sides. Les Bouchons is the answer for people like me just looking for a very good overall meal.

I've eaten here a few times and found the food to be average at best and quite inconsistent from one meal to the next.  The absolute worst part of this place is the service and especially the VERY RUDE management.  As described in other reviews, they are arrogant and have no concept of customer service.  Example, I made reservation for six people for a Friday night at 8:30pm.  One of my friends was running late due to the heavy rain, being courteous customers we called the restaurant to advise them we would be a few minutes late and we were on the way and would be there in a couple minutes - I called at 8:36pm... that is exactly 6 mins past the reservation time!  The manager rudely advised me they had given the table away and said he tried to call me.  I checked my mobile phone records and saw a missed call from the restaurant at 8:25pm.  He gave away my table BEFORE the reservation time!  Every good restaurant will hold a table reservation for at least 30 min. When I asked him how he could do this to a CUSTOMER, and his arrogant response was "I'm the BOSS" (yelling at me).  Don't go here - it will most likely ruin what you hope to be a nice night out... you'll end up being disappointed in the food and frustrated at the (lack of) service!

I've been to Les Bouchons at Robertson Quay a few times now, though it has certainly been a while, so last night I paid them a visit as it seems rather a long time since I had a good steak.

What I like about Les Bouchons is that is by no means a pretentious or pompous place....You come here for steak, the menu is one page and pretty much only consists of various kinds of steak....so if your vegetarian just go somewhere else, sorry :-P

I was, however rather dissapointed with the service last night....Not that the food took so long to come out...but it was more the general way of handling the restaurant.

Coming in, I had to fight my way through a large group of about 15 corporates who were standing around in the middle of the restaurant, totally blocking the pathway, talking extremely loudly like they were in a bar in Clark Quay. I guess what really irritated me is that the staff made not even the slightest attempt to seat them, even though it was clear that it getting on the nerves of other customers as well as myself. I did complain to them politely but they pretty much just smiled sheepishly and prayed for patience.....nor when the noise continued did they really make an effort in relocating us to the outside which would hae been quiter.

In terms of food, the service was fast - but then it's not exactly rocket science to cook and steak and fries and serve them at the same time. The house salad was fairly scrumptious, and I would certainly not complain abou the medium-rare beef filet - the quality of the meat was excellent, the steak was cooked to perfection with just the right amount of simple salt and pepper rubbed into to give it a slightly crispy outer layer. The fries were also excellent.

One slight complaint...the 'free flow of fries' is a bit of a joke. After asking for a refill myself and a friend had to wait about another 15-20mins before they arrive. Now I know for a fact that to place fries in the depp frier and plate them takes no more than about 7mins so what was going on I don't know....espeically considering that a restaurant specializing in only steak and fries really should have plenty of fries ready on the go at request of the customer.

All in all, I do feel a little dissapointed. That's not to say I wouldn't go back. If you are craving an excellent steak, it is a good stop and not too expensive.

Certainly next time though I will try the branch at Ann Siang which is apparently superior. Qu'est-que on peut faire?

Our 2nd time in this place but something must have changed in between as the steak and frittes were as nice! We all had starters and my cold cuts with pate was delicious indeed. The bread rolls were warm and crusty. However, when I ordered my steak, I asked if there was any grass fed steak on the menu and the only answer I got was they had sirloin, ribeye....etc etc...she was basically reading the menu to me vs answering my question. So I asked the 2nd time and it was the same answer even though I said to her that she was not answering my question. Indeed I felt like banging my head against the wall given that it's a steak house and the staff didn't even know what they were serving and worst of all not being able to even answer a simple question!
Anyhow, I ordered the sirloin but it was all greasily. I had to use a toothpick a few times to pick it our from in between my teeth. The frittes....well, they all looked a bit too black and stale to me...I had a couple and left the rest on my plate. 
As for dessert, I had the sorbet. The mango was very nice and the lime was good, too. We had a bottle of wine and the bill was not too bad....
We wanted a table outside but they were fully booked so we had to sit inside. However, one of the waiters was very helpful. As soon as they had a table available outside, we moved, even though we were only there for dessert and coffee.

Dire.

We've eaten at Les Bouchons in Club Street many times and always had great food and service. These standards are not emulated by the Rive Gauche restaurant in any way. After an hours wait I was served an American rib eye that was 75% fat and was clearly a very bad cut. Despite being summoned discreetly so as not to cause any embarrassment the waiter and management refused to accept that there was any problem and were extremely condescending and then became very rude.

This was a simple issue about a bad cut of meat. It happens and it's just one of those things that restaurants know how to handle because mistakes do occasionally get made. It should be no big deal. Yet something that would have been so easily dealt with in any other restaurant was blown out of all proportion by two arrogant, small minded individuals who clearly need a refresher course on customer service.

The attitude of the management is so staggeringly bad that Les Bouchons Rive Gauche is officially the worst restaurant I have been to, anywhere, ever.

Vile, absolutely rotten.

Les Bouchons is like a quintessential French bistro that exude a simple but elegant air about it. With just a few tables spaced out comfortably within and dimmed lights that glowed softly, a cosy and intimate atmosphere is created. All we needed is a French ditty in the background to make me feel like I'm part of the backdrop in the movie, Amelie...

The meal started off with hard rolls, which were tough enough to weather any falls or throws. Disclaimer: no one and nothing got hurt during the event.

Our palate teaser before the stars arrive. A generous bowl of salad consisting of mixed greens, freshly sliced tomatoes and walnuts, drizzled with a mustard-like dressing that provided a slight heat and tang to it.

Our ribeyes were done to Perfection, with a capital P. Mine was medium and was proven with its tender cut with lovely pink insides, that was succulent and melted in your mouth. The steak was cooked in its natural juices, probably just lightly peppered and salted, to allow the true flavour of the beef to rise to the occasion. However if you prefer, there is always a tray of condiments to count on. That contrast in wellness could be observed in Alv's medium rare, which was softer and had a more intense red. Always a pleasure to savour steak done to your requested wellness. Steak frites were excellent - chunky and fleshy all at the same time. Best part? It is refilliable, which will make any carbo-loving fiends happy. If I really had to pick on something, maybe a smaller serving of fries can be served, so that we get hot, sizzling ones every time?

My friend was happy with her tenderloin steak, which came with little fat and done to her liking.

Another friend who had the weekend special, which was Couscous Royal, that came served with sausage, lamb and beef stew. A unique choice indeed. The Couscous was fragrant and each grain was well-defined. I must say that the meat in this one, though well flavoured, was a tad tough. This was rather apparent for the sausage, which had a slightly burnt outlook. Good thing was that the light stew was naturally sweetened by chunks of carrots, potatoes and onion slices.

We could barely walk after our meal and couldn't even take any desserts, which was an utter surprise to everyone! But it was definitely well worth to miss desserts if I get such good steak every time. Anyway, proteins is healthier as compared to sugary sweets, isn't it?

For more pics, refer to http://wildrocketing.blogspot.com/2009/12/worth-sacrificing-desserts-for.html

Visited Les Bouchons Rive Gauche tonight. Ordered a beef fillet, medium rare. Steak arrived as ordered. Very tender.

Good service too. No complaints! :)

I was at Les Bouchon last Friday and did not have a reservation for dinner.

When we arrived, we stood at the entrance, facing the main door, in full view of all the service staff. We were left standing there for a good 15 minutes, yet none of the staff had come to enquire if we were waiting for a table. I decided to walk up to a lady in a red T-shirt to enquire if there were any available tables. She replied that they were full. I asked (gently) why we had been ignored for the past 15 minutes, when the least they could do was to inform us to leave our number and come back later when a table was available. Her reply (very haughtily) was 'How am I supposed to know that you're waiting for a table? You could have been standing there reading the menu. Anyway, I told you, we are full!'

For goodness' sake! I have been a frequent patron of Les Bouchon at Club Street and the service and food are both excellent. Unfortunately, you can be sure that I will never visit the Rive Gauche branch again.

What a shame.

Needless to say, we were not going to tolerate such terrible service. We dined at Brussel Sprouts next door and had a ball of a time - great food and terrific service! Warm, welcoming and accomodating.

Have just come back from Les Bouchons and was interested to read the reviews.

We had walked passed many times but never been in as it is always empty while its neighbours have been very busy. Anyway, feeling like some red meat we thought we would try it out. There was lots of "reserved" signs on the outdoor tables so thought "thats good enough."

To start Mrs Wife had the escargot, a favourite of both of ours and a disappointment. I like them served in their shells (even if most places buy and stuff seperately) however the real issue is that for us, there was no real flavour. Initially the sauce was tasty however it quickly faded to leave you swallowing a flavourless stretch of snail.

The charcuterie plate was good. One saucisson in particular was outstanding - deep, complex and flavourful. The supporting rillette was bland. Two tiny cornichon needed a few friends.

For mains it was steak all round - a juicy rib eye please. After two bites it seemed that we had the wrongs steaks and swapped so that we had the "doneness" as we ordered.

The steaks were both certainly tender however the cooking was very very strange. Both of our steaks ranged from rare to medium in the single steak. There was little to no seasoning on either steak but a little salt and pepper fixed that.

How do you get a steak so tender yet the cooking so wrong? How were they cooked so that the (very large) steaks were radically different in doneness?

Anyway - they didn't taste bad and certainly hit the meat spot.

All dishes are the same cost i.e. all mains $32++, all entrees $16++. Not the ticket for me - a caprese salad should not cost the same as a homemade terrine.

Come if you want big pieces of meat but go to Spruce for a better steak.

The service was very good - paid attention to us but not over the top. The bread kept coming the water was filled when appropriate. We walked in off the street however with a reservation, eating along the river would be the better option.

Our price per person incl. a bottle of wine.