Le Relais de l’Entrecôte

Efficient. Delicious. Expert.

Most amazing restaurant ever. It's a NEED when you come to Paris.

Service was ok. Only served green salad, fries and Steak. Long line to wait but average wait is about an hour. The steak was ok tender but quality of beef is not ok.

Also, After seeing the waitress put the uneaten bread(from the previous customer) back into the basket and to serve the just arrived customers.

I turned 38 in Paris a couple months ago, and my friends Ava B. and Maka E. treated me to a birthday lunch at Le Relais de l'Entrecôte. I'd never heard of this place, but there was a long line when we showed up at 1:30 on a Saturday, and I was, of course, immediately intrigued.

Le Relais de l'Entrecôte is apparently one of a handful of restaurants run by three (for sure feuding) second-generation branches of the Gineste de Saurs family, who built a steak frites empire in Paris and beyond. This location is the oldest of the Relais de l'Entrecôte restaurants, and is commonly referred to as L'Entrecôte Saint-Germain.

We were already hungry when we got there, but endured over an hour in line, in the freezing January cold, looking longingly inside as we stood waiting by the windows. The line moved at a reasonable clip for a sit-down restaurant. This isn't the kind of place where you linger over a post-meal coffee.

The restaurant was fun, bustling and bistro casual, with lots of lamps and reddish wood. There were colorful tablecloths covered in disposable white mats for quick clean-up. Service was brisk and impersonal, though not at all unpleasant. The waiters just kept things moving. My only complaint on this front is that the default water option was an expensive bottle. You have to request tap water if you want to avoid that trap.

There's no menu at Le Relais de l'Entrecôte. You sit down and tell your server if you want your steak rare, medium, or well done. You may also order a beverage. I got a glass of what I assume was the house red, which was both perfectly fine and maybe the only one on offer (I ordered "red wine").

The food started coming as soon as we sat down. Lunch started with white bread and a green salad with radish, walnuts, and a nice dressing that zinged with mustard. As soon as we finished our salads, we got our steak frites: a beautiful plate of contre-filet steak, house secret sauce, and golden fries. I ordered my steak rare, and this was the right call. It was tender and delicious, especially with that flavorful green sauce. The frites were just right, thin and crispy, the ideal side for the steak.

There were, interestingly, several dessert options, and we went for the profiteroles, which were tasty and covered in chocolate sauce and slivers of toasted almond.

This was a lovely lunch, easily worth the wait. I love an old restaurant that does one thing and does it well, and Le Relais de l'Entrecôte is the place for fantastic steak frites.

Great steak place in the middle of Paris. Steak was made to order, love the cheesy potatoes. Service and ambiance great, they have a Sommelier on staff so the wine is excellent as well. Dessert excellent a must while in Paris.

Yes, just OK. Once again we were lulled into the tourist trap. We have now been lulled four or five times!!! The first time we tried to go the line was around the corner prior to the place opening. We were about 200 back. They opened and the first wave got in. I left my partner in line and went to count how many were left...only about 120. I sent a text and said "we are out of here". On our last afternoon in Paris we decided to attempt a second time. This time it was about 1:30PM and the line only had about 20 people when we got there. Still had about a 20 minute wait.

We ordered. Not a choice as we knew. So we got the Entrecôte with a greenish mustardish sauce and fries. The entrecôte was cooked perfectly but that is about all that was perfect about it. It was so tough. The sauce, that I remember being the best part of the meal was a bit off tasting. Wish I could pin point the taste. It was not very good. The fries were the best part of the meal.

The place was packed, bumper to bumper. The ladies that work there looks absolutely exhausted. And they work so very hard. Service was very attentive.

The cost was $27.50 and it was all one can eat. One should go at least once. And sad part is we will probably go back. But I would not stand in the line for very long.

My lunch was short and sweet. I arrived at the restaurant exactly at 11:30 and there were already 6 people in line waiting for the doors to open at noon. When that time came, the line was extensively longer - the indoor seating was packed within minutes. There was still outdoor seating available.

The waitstaff was lovely. It seemed every 5 minutes they had to tell a group of diners that there's a line outside and they never got annoyed or rude with anyone. They were also very attentive and you can't get that kind of service most places.

I gave the restaurant 4 stars instead of 5 because I thought the food was a little above average. It wasn't anything I would brag about, but it was a decent meal and I enjoyed it. I'm not a fan of salad so I only ate it until the steak and frites came, but I liked the touch of walnuts. I liked the steak sauce especially with the fries, but neither was absolutely amazing on its own. The steak itself wasn't cooked to the right temperature for me, but that may be because the US and France have different standards (obviously). Nevertheless, the meat was tender, easy to cut, and went down well. I just wish it had more seasoning. This was the first time I tried profiteroles. I thought there would be more to them, but I wasn't disappointed. You can't lose with the combination of chocolate, almonds, vanilla ice cream, and puff pastries.

It's always a somewhat difficult adjustment to revaluate your expectations when it comes to the quality of food when traveling to different countries. Because I'm so used to over-seasoned/salted American food, I think my unhealthy preferences took away from the food at this restaurant. It's a good restaurant that is always packed. It's definitely worth trying (and ignoring my bias) if you have the craving for steak.

It's a tourist place. We got lucky and waited in line not terribly early and still made the first round of seating. That was key! I had low expectations despite always wanting to try this place after 4 recent trips to Paris and never making it there (the line is just too long, and let's face it, Paris has plenty of good eats to be waiting in line THIS long). But this time we timed our arrival perfectly. The steak was fine and the sauce was just the best thing about it. It's pretty much an assembly line in terms of service, efficient, so if you're expecting ambience and long intimate chats with your dining party, this place isn't really it.

This place is often raved about on social media so we decided to give it a try.

We headed over about 30 mins before they opened for dinner and we were probably like the 15th in line and as time passed the line was down the next block.

We were seated shortly after they started letting people in. The meal is preset with bread and a salad with mustard dressing first. The mustard was a little too strong for my liking. Next is the main course of their famous and only dish - steak and frites which is smothered in their secret sauce. You will of course be given a choice of how you want your steak cooked. Food was just so so for me. Not bad but definitely not what I was expecting with all the hype and the line. Still a good place to go if youre hungry as they will offer generous seconds!

Staff is very kind and attentive.

Dessert is not included in the meal but they have alot to choose from in case you want to add on. We passed on it as we were quite full from seconds.

I read a ton of reviews so I knew what to expect. Long waits even right before closing. We waited about an hour and a half, and it was raining. I actually thought that there would be a shorter wait because of the weather.
The restaurant is quite big, but the tables are all close together. So there's a ton of seating inside and outside. You go and they ask you how you want your steak cook. The portions that they give I think or a good size, a ton of delicious french fries perfectly cooked crispy. The steak itself was decent, the sauce on top is what makes it so good! And then you use your fries to eat all the sauce on the plate. We ordered the eclairs with chocolate for dessert and this was my favorite! Service is pretty good, towards the end of the night they started cleaning up, so I think they were not as focused on helping the tables.
I would come back, if I could somehow get in there without waiting more than 30 minutes.

I've heard so many mixed reviews on this place, so I had to go try and decide for myself while visiting Paris.

Let me just say, even though I knew the wait would be long I still didn't expect to wait in line for 45min at 10pm but alas we made it in. Seating is super packed and tight but they have a system. Our waiter was amazing, so friendly and gave recommendations when needed.

Now on to the most important part, the food! The salad & bread weren't bad but nothing to rave about. The steak & fries were good - have I had better absolutely but the sauce is what makes it different. We got profiterole chocolat for dessert and loved it!

I'd say if you're in the area, give this place a try but time it so your wait isn't over an hour. Any waiting longer than that doesn't make it worth it in my opinion.