Papillon Bistro & Bar

We recently went to a private party which was on the first level in the rear of the restaurant. There have been many other occasions where we had business networking events that I have sponsored on the second level bar area which worked out fine. This is a French brasserie restaurant that has an active vibrant bar scene during the busy working day or evening. I have always enjoyed the bar bites that I have order here but never sat down for the traditional lunch or dinner. One of these days I will.

I’ll start with the good. The food items we ordered came out as described on the menu (though not on time or together). Unfortunately, the bad was everything else.
We arrived at around 3 pm, 5 of us. The place was empty downstairs, with 3 total tables seated. The host proceeds to start seating us next to a two-​top top in the corner that was really only a four-​top, and so she started bringing a chair over. The whole place is empty, why seat us there? Finally someone in my party asks if we can be seated somewhere else, like any of the open tables in the restaurant, several of which could accommodate a party of five without moving any chairs, and she agreed to bus another table for us.
After a sub-​half-​assed bussing job (see photo), we were seated with 3 menus for 5 people, and no drinks menus. Our table was filthy and a fork from the previous table was left there for the duration of our visit. After about 10 minutes, our server showed up and I had to ask for menus and have him return again to take our drink orders. We were only having drinks and apps, and we ordered everything together.
When our apps arrived (with no plates for anyone), the food runners just stood there with the plate, gesturing to me to move my silverware, as if I was in their way. On top of that, we were missing one dish, a shrimp cocktail. Our server said he would double check, and then came back and said it would be right out. The shrimp cocktail, which consisted of cold shrimp, and 2 sides of sauces, came out about a half hour later when we were almost finished with our other apps.
Throughout this entire performance, a manager walked by our table several times without assisting or doing anything which tells me they either don’t know or don’t care what kind of service is given at this place. Not to mention no explanation or mention of why a cold dish that takes 30 seconds to prepare came out 30 minutes late.
For what they charge in this place… man…I’m in the wrong business.
Go elsewhere.

Great food (the scallops were absolutely perfect), great service (friendly and attentive), and great atmosphere (fun for casual drinks and for a sit-​down meal). I’ll definitely be here again.

I can’t comment on the food as I’ve only eaten here once, but I’ve come here for drinks countless times and with large groups.
The food I have had was fantastic though.
The bartenders are all nice and great conversationalists.
The owner is phenomenal. He’s so cordial and professional and will take the time out to say hi if he remembers you. He will have a conversation with you that shows he actually is interested in your experience and isn’t fake of phony.
The décor is great as well. I love the upstairs bar. Very classy feeling yet they won’t judge you if you come in casual attire.
Overall, great place to stop by and grab food and/​or drinks

Great brunch at a good price! Ordered a fabulous omelette that came with a Mimosa for $ 15. Very cute inside. British pub feel with a NY twist.

Great bar scene! Service was the best I have had in a long time, thanks Samantha! Fun cocktails and food. Loved the music they were playing too!
I’ll be back every time I’m in town.

Overall this is a pretty average place I’d say, in terms of both food/​drink quality and service.
Our team came here for a casual drink after work and we spent 30 minutes just to get our beers/​cocktails. Understood that it was busy during after-​work hours, but come on, does that really take that long to prepare those beers? We also shared truffle fries and nachos — fries were a bit soggy, really nothing special.
Would probably not return. Everything was mediocre.

More employees than customers today (only 2 – 3 tables, possibly 8 total customers) and still yet very slow and inattentive service. Even getting the tab handled took 10 minutes. Food only fair. Good site for a restaurant to open… disappointed…

Went here for a company happy hour in The Prohibition Room. The bartender Angel was friendly and accommodating. Sasha who works there was helpful and responsive during the booking process. She was willing to work with our budget for casual after work drinks. I’ll be back.

Um hello, loved the music choice the other night. old school, classic hiphop followed by random 90’s boy band pop ballads? (dare i say i still remember every N’sync lyric?! as did my girlfriends…) in a closer to upscale than casual french bistro? dope.
We came for early evening drinks. Awesome, laid back bar atmosphere. beautiful, sleek sophisticated bar and bartop. nice bartenders. nice afterwork crowd. Will update after a night of dinner. oh, awesome bourbon selection !!

I’m so sorry papillon but I was not impressed.
Ambiance-​very loud, very rowdy. However, I did like the décor. The top level has a nice view of midtown east.
Food-​the mussels frites was too salty and overpowering. The sea bass was very light and dare I say flavorless? What bothered me the most is the bread. Almost every French restaurant I have been to has had phenomenal bread. However, the «toast» served by papillon lacked dignity.
Service– the service was good.
Maybe I had heightened expectations, but this not a place to try again.

Closest thing to a hip beer bar that I have found in the neighborhood. Lunch is actually decent, albeit a little noisy. Sometimes the service is slow when it gets crowded. Not bad if you’re booking a group event; try the back room on the first floor.

Papillon has a lovely, stately red and yellow exterior and is 2 levels. I came here for brunch with a large group and we had the 2^nd floor to ourselves. The room quite nice, with many windows, giving the room an airy and comfortable ambiance.
For our group, we were given a brunch special of $ 22, which included a brunch entrée, drink, as well as tax and tip.
Since I don’t drink alcohol, I asked for a mix of orange juice, pineapple juice and cranberry juice. It came in a nice big mason jar, beautifully pink and tasted delicious! They got the blend of fruit juices just right.
It was tough to decide what to get, but I finally decided on the brioche French Toast, served with apples and caramelized syrup. When I got my dish, it smelled amazing but didn’t look like much. Instead of big, fluffy, thick pieces of French Toast, it was triangle-​cut pieces of toast with very little egg breading on them. It certainly was NOT brioche or French Toast by any stretch of the imagination and on top of that, the toast was dry and lacked flavor. It was pretty much inedible; I could only have a couple bites.
I returned the French Toast and chose the omelette instead, since the person next to me had ordered that and it looked pretty good. For the omelette, you are able to select 3 fillings and I chose cheddar cheese, bacon and onion. It took quite awhile for the omelette to come out and when it finally did, it looked quite different from my friend’s. The home fries which should be cut pieces of potato with peppers were actually french fries mixed with peppers. I believe that consistency is key at a restaurant establishment so I found it to be very strange that they made the potatoes differently. Also, the french fries were a bit on the soggy side.
The actual omelette was pretty tasty and it was quite large so that was good. I enjoyed the cheesiness with the bacon, though the onion and egg itself could have been used more seasoning.
The service was decent and I really appreciated that they allowed me to order another entrée after the French Toast. Also, we were each given separate checks which is always wonderful.
However, since the food was mediocre and prices look to be a bit on the higher side, I would not come back.

I’ve only been here for brunch so I can’t say anything about happy hour or dinner. But I had a great time at Brunch. I came with a large group of people (about 50 maybe?)and we had the entire 2^nd floor to ourselves, I didn’t see anyone on the first floor, so we might have been the only group there at the time.
The service here was pretty great! They were so organized and quick. The food was average breakfast fare and portions were large. We weren’t rushed and wait staff wasn’t obtrusive.
The area isn’t known for having amazing food but Papillon is a good spot for large groups.

First time going during the middle of the day it was quiet for what it usually is afterwork. Waiter was amazing I was sure which salad I wanted and my friend suggested I get one and she gets the other one. When the waiter brought our salad he had separated the salads for us already. That was very nice and considerate. Never been to a place where the waiter takes it upon themselves to separated. Love the food and atmosphere!!!

I went here with mom and my kids for dinner one night during a recent visit. Not a bad choice but I am sure there are better choices for this particular area of town. There are things that I love and things that I hate.
The good: Super cool old school layout and vibe; fancy but not too stuffy. Big time singles scene crowded with young professionals doing happy after work. Good looking, upscale professional crowd along the bar upstairs and downstairs. Great service. Delicious food.
The bad: Very smallish and limited menu; very pricey. Prices are painfully high given that portions are decidedly small. Small enough that you will likely need to eat somewhere else immediately afterwards (if you are very hungry). Prices are more like $$$ or perhaps $$$$ range given the portioning (definitely not $$ range).
Commentary: We started off with splitting a calamari appetizer amongst the 4 of us; the calamari was perfectly flash fried but consisted of only fried rings (no tentacles). Served with remoulade sauce & came with two lemon wedges for sprinkling on some citrusy zest. Delicious! but pricy at $ 17.00.
My shrimp entrée had 5 average size shrimp on top of disc shaped bed of mushroom risotto. The disc shaped bed of risotto was roughly the size of a chewing tobacco can (think Copenhagen or Skoal). The lemon butter sauce was exquisitely good though. The price tag was $ 26.00.
My son’s scallop dish had exactly 4 average sized scallops on top of cheese /​butter mashed potatoes. I did not taste his dish, but it did look good and he raved about it. The price tag was $ 29.00. My son and daughter LOVED the loud, top 40 tunes blaring from the invisible speakers; however, I felt like the music would be more suited for a teen dance club (not a old school style restaurant).
My mom and my daughter ordered salads. Each salad with no added extras were priced at /​around $ 15.00 each. My daughter added grilled chicken to her salad — which upped the price considerably; however, the grilled chicken addition was perhaps the most generous portioning of the entire meal.
We also ordered fries and 2 desserts to split amongst the four of us; no complaints there. The price tag for the meal with tax and tip was around $ 175.00 (ouch!).
Bottom line: Service is good and very attentive. If you want delicious food that comes in small portions with big prices, then this place will fulfill your needs /​desires. Great atmosphere & ambience. Solid 3 Stars.

Service here was the worst I’ve had, I came in yesterday after seeing the tree with my family and they sat us in the front in the corner where no waitresses came by. The hostess had a bit of an attitude and didn’t make us feel welcomed.
That should have been the first sign. But we sat down to eat as we were starving. Food was good, the fries were a bit greasy but our burgers were done to our requests so we were happy with that. But our waitress failed to bring utensils and when we had requests for condiments she brought it 30min after serving our food… Luckily a bus boy/​waiter who didn’t take our order helped us out but we were never asked if we wanted something else to drink other than water and the waitress seemed like she was high or in a daze, the bus boy beat her to the punch both times we asked for things, and she was show up later saying something incoherent about telling him not to bring the stuff.
After our food was served we didn’t see the waitress for 45min and we had to flag the hostess for the bill which she plopped down on the table.
This was such a poor experience when we had such high hopes since the atmosphere and venue are gorgeous.

Came for brunch spontaneously.
Food was alright, but what was super weird was the atmosphere. It came off as a vintage restaurant, but they were playing club music at eleven o’clock in the morning on a Sunday.
I get that this is what’s expected at night, but you could adjust the music for the time of day. If I want to bring my elderly parents here for the food, they’ll be turned off by the music. I was surprised that a middle-​aged couple even sat down, bringing the total of occupied tables to three.

I came here twice for lunch since it’s literally right next to my work place, how convenient. It’s a pretty spacious with two floors. The décor is nice and the noise level isn’t too loud during lunch. It would be a great spot to grab a drink after work since there’s a bar inside and there’s hardly any bars around this area.
I had a crab cake and the pesto chicken sandwich and it was pretty tasty. I would come back for the crab cake :) My boss/​coworkers ordered the French onion soup, salmon, pesto chicken sandwich, papillon salad, and some other salad. They all enjoyed their meals. There were no complaints about it considering some are pretty picky eaters. Everyone said their meal were delicious, haha. Overall, this is a mediocre place.

Been here few times before. Now that I have Unilocal,I am finally able to check in, and give my two cents. Very classy place, and lovely ambience. First off, ill start the fact that they have these highly talented opera singers who take turns pouring their hearts out. Very entertaing, and not to mention cheaper than the real thing lol.
We had a group of four total. First off started with the 5 cheeses platter. Wasnt too impressed, tasted great but portion was small. Then stuffed mushrooms, highly recommend. Very Delicious. The boys in our group both got the tuna tartar, which they enjoyed. I split the papilion salad and beef burger with my girlfriend. Salad was very good, and refeshing. Burger was average. Overall, loved the service here. Waiter was always coming to our table to check on us and had great sense of humor. Singers were just lovely, amazing talent. The manager even came by to give a toast, and did a magic card trick. Nice touch:)

Quite an interesting experience.
We loved the food, charcuterie, goat cheese and spinach mushrooms, thai chicken, all good.
Taps did not work, so no draft, slow but friendly service
Would go again