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The food here was really good. My cousin had pumkin ravioli and I had salmon with a really yummy sauce, mashed parsnips and leeks. Excellent dishes with wonderful flavors! I was not disappointed.

Aside from the outdoor seating, both meals I've had here weren't up to par. The hostess ignored us while babbled away in mindless chatter. The food was greasy, tastelss, uninspired, over cooked, boring and over priced. The chicken in my salad and my friend's chicken sandwich was very dry, tasteless and over cooked, not at all fresh. Croque monsieur was very greasy and bland and drowning in dry, hard cheese.

The food and coffee is decent, but not blow-me-away great. Service was also okay, but not great. All in all, it's a decent place, but not somewhere I'd be itching to go back to.

French Roast is currently my favorite restaurant in New York. I pick favorite restaurants based on somewhat fuzzy "feelings" that may not always be the most rational, but there you have it. Thus far, the food has always been fantastic, but I am a vegetarian so I cannot speak to any of the meat dishes. The ambiance is great I highly recommend going for one of the outside tables at dusk, it is lovely. On the other hand, at peak hours anyone who is at all claustrophobic should probably avoid the place, and it can get kind of loud in the dining room. The service, contrary to the reviews here and elsewhere, is not "awful" more like "harried." I have always been seated quickly, treated in a brisk but friendly manner, and my order has always been in front of me in maybe 20 minutes at most. However, after they make sure I'm doing well (and they always do check back in a few minutes after I am first served), the waitstaff does tend to forget about me, and I did have an empty glass waiting for water for probably a good 15 minutes or so the other evening. If you have a little patience, it's never too difficult to flag someone down though. Also, for the record, I ordered a (smallish) entree, an appetizer, and an after dinner coffee, and it cost me $20 and $4.50 of that was just the coffee (which is maybe a tad overpriced for cafe au lait, but it was huge and extremely tasty, so given all the other pluses, perhaps worth it).

Reasons why this place is not recommended: 1) My menu...make it menus (dinner, specials and wine) stayed on my table a full 20 minutes after I placed my order. They were taken away at the same time my empty appetizer plate was removed. 2) My appetizer (escargot) was not good. Sandy, salty, rubbery, tasted fresh out of the (maybe expired?) can. 3) Water glass remained empty for ten minutes before it was refilled. 4) My check was near illegible because the printer was low on ink. Was my steak frites entree good? Yea, it was decent. Was it good enough to suffer through that kind of poor service again? Not with 40 other restaurants within ten blocks, no.

I have been here twice since moving to the neighborhood. The ambiance is great, but the service is poor. We ordered two hamburgers and didn't get our food for almost an hour! Although the burger was good, it was overpriced. I gave it a second try, and experienced the same. I will not go back again.

French Roast has a terrific atmosphere in my opinion. It's seems very comfortable and I feel very relaxed each time I go there. The first time I went there with my sister and some of her friends, we had only intended on ordering drinks but I also ended up getting the penne which ended up being quite delicious. We had a very friendly and handsome waiter(I might add). The food also didn't seem to take too long to prepare and we received our drinks quite quickly. The next night...my sister and I decided to go back to French Roast and stop by for drinks and maybe a desert. We ordered two cocktails and the chocolate fondue to share. That was when we noticed that the food and drinks were slightly over-priced and we were quite disappointed. The waitress who served our table was still friendly and had a good sense of humor. So all in all...the food and service is amazing but I believe that the price for some of the things could be a bit lower. But the next time...I am in the City(considering that I live in Berlin)...I will be sure to try and stop by. :)