Balthazar Restaurant & Bakery
Categories: French, Breakfast & Brunch [Edit]
Neighborhood: Manhattan/SoHo80 Spring St
(between Broadway & Crosby St)
New York, NY 10012 (212) 965-1414
- Nearest Transit:
Spring St-Lafayette St (6)
Prince St (R, W)
Downtown Bleecker St-Lafayette St (6, B, D, F, V)
- Hours:
Mon-Thu 7:30 a.m.-1:00 a.m.
Fri 7:30 a.m.-2:00 a.m.
Sat 8:00 a.m.-2:00 a.m.
Sun 8:00 a.m.-12:00 a.m. - Price Range: $$$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: No
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Delivers: Yes
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Dinner
- Alcohol: Full Bar
271 Reviews for Balthazar Restaurant & Bakery
Why is this place so damn cute???? We stumbled upon this restaurant on our Soho shopping excursion and was excited because I actually saw it on Yelp before. This review is only for breakfast. I ordered the suggested sourcream hazelnut waffle and hubby ordered the full english breakfast. Okay, I wouldn't have paired sourcream and waffle together, but ohemgee was it dynamite. The hazelnut waffle, along with the strawberry sauce dipped into the sourcream was a perfect harmonius blend of flavors. I tried the full english breakfast and it was just a tad bit better than your average breakfast. $16 for eggs, toast, potatoes and sausage is kinda too much for me. It was a pricy breakfast (hence the 1 star off) but the ambience was lovely and our server was on top of it.
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yummmm Balthazar. It is rare that I have such a vivid memory of the crowd, ambiance and entire night, but when I dined at Balthazar that is exactly what happened. We arrived a little late for our 8:45pm reservation, you deff should make reservations, but the host happily seated us immediately. No sooner had we been seated and started to chat our server came over and asked us about beverages, wine please, thanks. Picked up a great bottle of Burgundy with a little direction and then noticed that everyone was having a great time in the restaurant. The ladies next to us were snapping pictures of their friends, people were mingling and it was a comfortable loud.
I had THE BEST grilled vegetable salad of my life here. OMG!! Seriously, I love grilled veggie salads, but this had no lettuce just loads of grilled vegetables like zucchini, squash, eggplant, shallots, green peppers, and more. But, wait the best part was the salad was served with a huge chunk of fresh and extra extra creamy goat cheese. Coffee and bread are just additions that make each meal better. I have been craving a fab grilled-veggie salad since I left New York and I am scared to try it anywhere else.
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2 words: yum. mee.
very european. big and airy room with lots of hustle and bustle--but in a classy cafe way. it has one of those "i could sit here all day and lazily read a book over an espresso" vibes.
went for brunch recently--the herbs & egg white omelet was amazing, and the home fries were excellently seasoned. one of the best brunches i've had in a long time (it was weekday, not exactly sure how one gets in here on a saturday or sunday morning.
went in another time for a work lunch, and ordered french onion soup. i know it's sort of a pathetic order but it was hands down the best i've ever had. the amount of cheese and the type of bread and everything...i was impressed and left wanting 5 more bowls.
highly recommended, even from a non-european, non-socialite such as myself.
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I've been to Balthazar many times and it's a gorgeous restaurant with above average food. But last night, when asked the difference between the bar steak, the steak frites and the steak au poirve, our waitress described the bar steak as "crap in your mouth". Hearing about "crap in your mouth" right before dinner completely spoils your appetite if you didn't know. Our waitress had the demeanor of someone selling hot dogs in Tijuana. I suggest that Balthazar reevaluate it's serving staff or at least train them better.
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Love a busy breakfast when we're beginning our day in Manhattan. Balthazar also offers a tasty lunch (steak tar tar anyone?). Dinner and into the latenight hours, this hot-spot keeps the crowds coming. Beautiful types with fun wardrobes pile into the banquettes and tiny tables to be a part of the mad SOHO-French-American bistro scene.
Breakfast is a perfect start. The army of servers zip around carrying steaming bowls of cafe au lait to the ever thirsty crowd. I like the bottles of tap water presented with Euro-style. The food is filling and tasty and you enjoy the richness all while spying the room from any of the many tilted mirrors positioned for optimal people-watching.
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Balthazar seems to elicit a strong reaction from a lot of people. I have friends who adore Balthazar and friends who hate it. I guess I'm Switzerland. I don't think it lives up to the hype or is worth a one hour wait but I don't mind going for a decent albeit overpriced brunch.
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Good brunch spot. I always wished I had more dough when I lived here so I could have been one of those uppity bastiches ordering up all the stuff my gluttonous heart desired.
Alas... wait, I might have. A lot of my time at brunch was spent being hungover.
I do remember waiting and going to the bakery (sneaky), and getting this pecan pie-ish little treat. Not to buttery or sweet, crisp, light and awesome.
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The Eggs Benedict was good, but to be honest I've had better from the room service menu at the Treasure Island hotel in Las Vegas. I'm not sure if this is indicative of the food quality here or my substandard tastes in general, but I am surprised people line up en masse to dine here.
The average wait time for brunch on Saturday was 1.5 hours, so we hop-skipped it out of there and headed elsewhere. We tried again the next day, and luckily there was a pitiful table in a corner by the entrance to restrooms that we snagged. Anything but waiting!
I was tempted to try the Boudin Noir, something with blood as seasoning/marinade has got to be attempted at some point. But I got queasy at the last minute and pussied out. I'm sure it would've been much more memorable than dull old Eggs Benedict and then this would've been a much more interesting review!
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The steak frites were very good. It was worth a splurge. The atmosphere is very romantic and fills your appetite for French cuisine.
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first, we waited 45 mins for a table. i was staaarrrrving.
we had the risotto with a piece of crispy pancetta on top, that was the best dish we had.
entrees were totally disappointing and flavorless. dessert was ho-hum.
we came by recommendation from a friend.
it might have been a fluke but neither of us was impressed.
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The seen and be seen scene on Spring Street from inside and out can't get any better...but the coffee in the bakery could be. Convenient place to catch a cab...and be dropped off. Naming this popular place after 1 of the 3 Magi was a wise move. Celebrities go there and lots of business is done there too.
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We came for brunch -- a crowd mingled outside, so we did not have much hope; however, I ventured in, and to my surprise, we were seated immediately. The service was professional, the food was good, the look and feel of the place was wonderful. A basket of breads was $16. The brunch entrees were approximately $18 each. When I tried to take a photograph, I was promptly stopped -- they explained that they only allow photos of your family and friends, but not of the general decor. That aside, the overall experience was a very pleasant one. (We could not eat all the breads from our basket, so we took them home, and enjoyed them later).
[See the one photo that I did manage to take: http://www.flickr.com/... ]
Best breakfast in the city: civilized, quiet, and perfectly Continental. I usually go for the bowl of cafe au lait, a perfectly buttery croissant, and maybe the soft boiled egg avec soldiers. It's the best way to start a day of shopping, with a relaxing coffee and browsing the paper.
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(Jan/ 2007)
If you don't have time to sit down and enjoy a great meal at Balthazar, then definitely stop by the Balthazar bakery. The long line says it all!
Do not miss out on the banana nut donut. O M G ! The most delicious and satisfying donut I have ever had.. and I don't even really like donuts, so that says a lot.
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If you:
a) are a tourist
b) are loaded
c) enjoy only decent but way overpriced French food
... then this is the place for you.
I don't want to repeat the 250 reviews that came before me.
Except note that most of the top ratings are from Californians
Don't get me wrong. My years in California made me a believer, but they haven't gotten enough Parisian loving to know real French food.
The French just don't want to fly that frickin' far.
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Never coming here again!
Totally overrated and overrpriced. I came here for breakfast. Breakfast food should not be that expensive. $4 for tea? Really? A tea bag and small cup of hot water? Lame.
Cafe Orlin is a better breakfast/brunch place.
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I love Balthazar, it continues to be, after all these years, me and my boyfriend's favorite date place (actually, I think Grammercy Tavern was our very favorite date place, but Balthazar is our regular, traditional date place.. we got engaged there!) But anyway, you can always count on Balthazar for fabulous service and DELICIOUS oysters!! it's not too casual, but not in the least bit fancy, it's pricey so it feels special, but it won't totally break your bank. It's great late night at the last minute or for a more planned kind of thing.. in short, it's an old stand by.. go with some friends and order The Balthazar, you won't be sorry!
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Good French restaurant.. brunch was fun. I actually liked the interior design of the place better than I liked the food. Don't get me wrong the food was really good, but i just thought that the classic and authentic interior was really cool. (Example of the authenticity: old wooden stairs that were worn down in a classy rather than run down way).
I think I might avoid going again during Saturday brunch-- as it was so crowded while waiting for a table, I felt like I was getting onto the 6 train at rush hour.
I had the Eggs Benedict, b/c i can't not get the eggs Benedict at a French restaurant for brunch.
Lastly, I did think it was on the pricey side for what the food was.
To begin, let me say the food was exceptional. Well prepared and very tasty. If your only concern as a restaurant goer is that the food be delicious, then Balthazar is a fine choice. However, for many, a dining experience is more wholistic, and it is in these peripheral matters that Balthazar leaves room for growth.
While enduring a brief wait for them to prepare our reserved table upon arriving at the restaurant, a large, healthy cockroach scrambled over my boyfriend's shoe. Not wanting to alarm me, he notified the hostess of the offending insect's presence in as subtle and polite a way as possible. She, not knowing what to do, stomped on the bug right in front of our eyes. While this was perhaps just an unfortunate twist of fate for us (i.e. we perchance saw the only cockroach ever to find itself walking across the dining floor of this particular restaurant), it did not bode well for the experience.
After being seated in a cramped corner of the large, noisy dining room, the manager-on-duty rewarded our even-tempered reaction to the disgusting incident near the door with two glassed of fine champagne. This was appreciated in spirit, but the expensive liquid was not quite sufficient to wash the bitter taste of disappointment out of our mouths.
In addition to this ugly business, when my boyfriend ordered a beer, the waiter who was bringing it to us dropped the beverage onto the window seat behind my chair, shattering the glass and effectively spraying me and my counterpart at the table behind me with a fine mist of Stella.
Our experience thus soured, the delicious food and complementary dessert (for our grievances, I suppose) were simply insufficient to make up for the ill-fated nature of our experience. It was my boyfriend's birthday dinner, and perhaps for a meal with no significance the wonderful food would be able to make up for the tragedy-leaden atmosphere. However, it is best not to risk losing the emotional import of your special occassion to the unromatic setting and near-comically accident prone staff of Balthazar.
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for a brasserie, i think balthazar does a good job accomplishing what it was meant to do. sure it's hard getting a table here. new yorkers are smart and if a place has good food, you can bet there will be a line to follow.
pros:
great breakfast/brunch
awesome breads (balthazar bakery next door)
good job with french standards (i.e. onion soup)
steak frites
steak tartare
beef stroganoff (amazing)
burger w/ gruyere (i think i've listed all their beef dishes now)
seafood tower
lots of celebrity sightings - just makes the meal that much more interesting
late hours
cons:
the tables are very close together
hard to get a reservation
loud as hell in there
service is just good enough to not be bad
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I LOVE BALTHAZAR!!!
Everything is amazing, but please order the Steak Frites! You will not be disappointed. Come to Balthazar for brunch, lunch, dinner...bring your girlfriends, your date, your parents, or all of the above. It's one of those perfect NYC restaurants!
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This is a great experience.
Went with wifey for brunch and it was packed. Like others have warned, don't even bother to come without securing a reservation.
Simple bistro-style food, but everything was perfectly made.
Trust me on this one, order the duck shepherd's pie... just trust me.
They offer a sampler bread and pastry basket on the menu for $16, sixteen bucks!!! I saw wifey eyeballing it and prayed she wouldn't say anything. Before I could stuff my napkin into her big mouth, she ordered it, and our server quickly scurried off into the kitchen like a cockroach before I could rescind the order.
Fortunately for wifey, that basket o' goodies was full of some of the best bread and pastries I've ever eaten. Good god! The chocolate bread. Oh, the chocolate bread!!!
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Yelp didn't exist when this spot opened. Yes, I'm old. A classic NYC spot. Best for a $14 martini before heading off to the LES for dinner. Also recommended for a toasted baguette with jam and a coffee in the a.m. if you're in the neighborhood.
It's a really fun place with some excellent elements, but our main courses were disappointing and our server was more tolerant than amenable. Actually the hosts are wonderful and polished, but the server and bus staff were a sour note. Our server actually looked offended when we decided to celebrate my husband's birthday elsewhere after a little stroll. I won't belabor that pt, because we did love our appetizers. I think we would stick to the seafood platter if we go again. The frites and spinach were perfection, but the steak au poivre overpowered the taste of the beef. The monkfish was a bit under salted and the bacon was a bit limp.
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I make it a point to visit Balthazar for breakfast whenever I'm in the city. I love the place. I love the decor and I love the ambience and I love the food. It may be a damn expensive breakfast, but it's so good I can hardly mind the fact that I'm paying $4.25 for a small glass of iced tea. Sour cream hazlenut waffles have the most delicious red berry sauce on them, and the bread basket is rad. Service is generally friendly and attentive, and it's a great place to people watch.
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Take-away from the little bakery is the way to go. I find myself wishing for one of their scones and a big coffee this Friday morning. Aah.
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I just love Balthazar. I usually end up eating there on every trip to NY since I'm usually shopping in the area.
We didn't have a reservation but weren't in a huge hurry, so I didn't mind the 45 minute wait. We were lucky enough to be sat in the dining room as opposed to the cafe even though they were fully booked - so FYI make a reservation.
The decor inside is as close as you're going to find anywhere outside of Paris to a traditional French bistro. I love it. Tile floors, tin ceiling, deco lighting. The menu is also traditional bistro, with a raw bar and nightly specials.
Our server was SO nice - professional yet friendly. We ordered oysters and Nantucket scallops to start - everything was perfect and fresh. The scallops were served in an incredible ceviche - though personally I think that Nantucket scallops need to be eaten a bit more naked, so I tried to separate them from the ceviche a bit. They were so delicious.
Hubby had the monkfish, which is a very savory preparation with the bacon and creamed leeks. I had the Sunday special of rabbit (lapin a la moutarde) with homemade pasta. I'm always happy to order rabbit since you don't see it on menus often. It was delicious. And since they have their bakery next door, the bread is amazing.
Their Balthazar salad is one that I've copied many times at home, it's so wonderful. I never get tired of this place.
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I do love the decor, especially all the bottles on the bar, but I never love my experience here as much I am "supposed" to. But out-of-towners always seem to need to go there. The food is good, the service can be snotty, and the wait is usually very long.
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I would've sworn I wrote a review for this place. Anyways, I would have to agree with most the hype is over. The food isn't bad, it's just too many people correlate Balthazar with such exceptional food that at the end many leave disappointed. The seating can get very cramped especially if your not sitting in the banquettes. However, I do like the bakery, but at the same time I feel its a bit pretentious.
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As part of Keith McNally's empire, I prefer Balthazar over Pastis, they're both tourists hangouts, but in Balthazar there's less Sex and the city trash and they have an awesome raw bar.
Don't expect anything amazing, they have a formula and the formula works like a Swiss watch.
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Grabbed lunch with a friend at this historical joint.
Ate at the bar, which I recommend unless you want to wait -
service was prompt and although it was crowded and people
were hungry, they made the experience fun and I felt well taken care of.
Got the nicoise salad, while my friend munched on a goat cheese
and veggie salad - both were tasty and very generous portions.
Would have loved to have wine/champagne with the meal but then
my day would have taken a different turn since we still had hours
of walking/shopping to do - lots of others around us were enjoying
their cocktails with oysters which looked fresh and enticing.
I felt as though there was a lot of history and soul to this place -
looking forward to another meal there soon!
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I went here for the experience, but I think this place is over-hyped. Not sure why out-of-towners always insist on going here. Food is good, but pricey, great place to people-watch but its also crowded, and there's almost always a wait for a table. Why fight the crowds? There are other places to have brunch in this city.
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Went to Balthazar tonight. Had 6:00 reservation. Seated promptly. Had Pumpkin salad and then Salad Nicoise for dinner. Pumpkin was raw, not seasoned, and bland. I didn't get it. The salad was nothing--totally eh. The Salad Nicoise was good, but didn't fill me up in the least. Tuna was eh.
I've been here before and it's been okay, but it's not worth it. The meal was very expensive and the food just wasn't up to par. Service was okay.
Go somewhere less well known for better and more substantial food.
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Balthazar is a circus. A loud, no holds barred, bells & whistles included, circus.
The staff is somewhat crass and the waits are long, but the food is pretty good and it's lively.
But here's the thing:
The food is not so so spectacular that I'm ga-ga over it.
Balthazar seems like the type of place with a few standout acts - and some clowns to keep you distracted.
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So my wife and I are riding the "C" line down 8th avenue into downtown, with no idea what so ever where we are going or what to even expect. We are in the city, visiting a couple that I've been friends with for over 10 years, transplants from the west coast, and now living in Chelsea.
My friend Kris calls me up, bad reception and all (no I can't hear you now!), while I'm in the train, and I am barely able to make out "Balthazar" and "Spring Street". I think I can figure it out from here. Getting off the "C", we take the short walk over to 80 Spring, and are thrilled at what appears will be an outstanding breakfast.
This is exactly what you would find in France; the high ceilings, the faux paint finish, rich mahogany and plenty of fresh pastries on display. My friends were stuck in traffic, and my wife and I were starving, so we started out with a croissant...
Unbelievable! Not too flaky, not to spongy, but just right!
Kris & Erica finally arrived (luckily, after we finished the croissant so we didn't have to share!) and we ordered some coffee, which was rich, strong and black. However, if you want to make an event out of your brunch, they've got a full bar, so bloody marries and mimosas (poor boy and standards) are no problem.
On to the main event. I ordered my staple: Eggs Benedict, which was amazing. So many places totally jack you on their holandaise sauce. Not Balthazar; this sauce was warm & thick, not runny and cold/re-heated. My wife ordered the Brioche French Toast with bacon. Now, I am not a fan of "sweet stuff" for breakfast, but this FT was unreal. And, I kid you not, the bacon was about an inch thick!
I can't wait to come back and try out the late night that many peeps rave about. As for breakfast, its a sure thing!
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I had lunch with Meg Ryan and her friend here. Okay okay, Meg was sitting 2 tables over. We were in the same restaurant at the same time...so technically, I can still continue my review with "I had lunch with Meg Ryan and her friend..."
I haven't been to France, but I imagine Balthazar's is the closest I can get. We ordered so much food that the waiter had to think hard on strategically placing all the food on our tiny table (hey we don't always eat like this okay). I highly recommend the Moules Frites. It was so good I wanted to drink the sauce (okay I did, but not ALL of it...gosh...I know what your thinking...).
I don't say this often, but I have to say that everything at Balthazar's was first class -- food, service, and decor. Absolutely fantastique!!!
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Balthazar is my favorite restaurant in NYC, although I haven't been to TOO many restaurants in the city. Amazing food all around, and the $11 bowl of French onion soup is definitely something to crave for the rest of your life until you go back. Pay the $11 dollars for it, though it might be an intimidating price for a small bowl of soup. It will haunt your dreams (in the most fabulous way possible).
Definitely make reservations. Also, be careful taking your camera in there, as celebrities frequent the place and a server will likely tell you to put it away. An amazing, unforgettable restaurant.
This place is special, my aunt first sent me to this hood for the best croissant in the city years ago, and it is still the place for 'becky' in SoHo. It is the kind of place that beckons my sister in law out of her bed in Queens, where the waffles meet your expectations and the sea food platter is beyond description. We sat and visited forever, never felt rushed and loved every minute. Make reservations, we were thankful that we had (and it was mid week) .
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Good, real good, always is. We have been many many times, and always take out of towners, as it is, a true NYC experience. Between the 3 of their restaurants, Pastis, Pravda, and Balthazar, I like it the best, mainly because of the crowd. The place is so big, it really doesn't matter who is in the restaurant, as I never care. The other 2 are a be seen at the scene, and in NYC that's so boring and I hate people checking me out while I eat. We'll definitely support all 3, but models please enjoy who you're with, or get some new friends. My advice, go and enjoy the food and the drinks.
A little bit of a wait consider we have appointment with them. A bit hyped but the food was good and they still serve a large group of us water after we finish our breakfast!
