Le Grand Bistro & Oyster Bar

Shit… They’ve closed… Their brunch was always great… Great substitute for the always packed Sam’s on weekends, and, better/​more interesting options…
Too bad…

Wonderful brunch.
The duck confit hash cakes were bomb-​diggity.
The service was excellent, constantly keeping our bottomless mimosas, bottomless.
While I didn’t indulge, the bloody Mary bar looked appetizing as well.

Our party set a reservation for 5.
Seven additional people came to surprise me. 2 areas of the dining room were curtained off and sat empty. The server seemed put off that he was waiting on more than 5. Not entirely sure why a restaurant would not like more business but we were treated curtly and aggressively until our departure.
A big disappointment for me considering I loved coming here on my own. I will not return.

Fantastic place, great menu, attentive service, solid wine list, some of my fav choices. Ordered Charcuterie appetizer sampler, and mixed raw oysters. They were both wonderful. Main entrée was Duck Confit, first time I have had this dish and it was off the chart delicious. Highly recommended!

Pros–
Accommodating to our late arrival (9:30 pm)
Great beer and wine menu
Fries served with steak are seasoned with salt AND sugar-​yum!
Pork chop was amazing
Appropriate ambiance
Personable service
Cons–
Server wearing denim, come on… buy some slacks, TJ
Server not knowledgable about menu
Sour Pinot noir
For an oyster bar, this bistro leaves much to be desired as there were 2 choices of oysters

We were staying at Hotel Monaco and were in the mood… the mood for some raw oysters. This local take on the French bistro did not disappoint. We had the seafood platter which came with a half dozen on the half shell, shrimp, scallops and octopus. It was delicious and reasonably priced.
We plan to go back to try other items on the menu.

I had two meals here while attending a convention. The first was extremely short as I had a meeting to run to. So all I had was the French onion soup that first time. I told the sever I needed to get out fast (the place was jammed because of the convention) and he made sure my order came quickly, way before the rest of the group. So kudos on that. It was flurrying at the time so the sight of a hot bowl of soup was comforting. The soup was super rich. There was actually very little broth. It was more like an onion compote. It was totally delicious but it bordered on being a stew. I ate the entire thing.
The next time I came for lunch by myself at around two pm. It was almost empty which was my hope. I had hours to waste before leaving for the airport so it was perfect. A place to hang and have a leisurely lunch. Very French. I started with one of their made to order juice cocktails, no liquor. It was made with celery, spinach, apple, rosemary and I forget what else. It was incredible (see the photo). Savory, sweet, creamy, frothy. Wow! I then had some oysters on the half shell. Very fresh with a good mignonette. For my main I had their burger and frites. Excellent burger, bun and condiments of pickled cucumber and red onion. The fries were stellar and came with a garlic aioli. The atmosphere is delightfully Parisian. Come, enjoy and pretend you are in France.

Glad to say I gave this place another shot!
My partner and I went in on a slow weekday night. The server was very knowledgeable about the food including where all the oysters were from.
The best part is that the fries are worth buying again. Still a tiny bit too sweet for my taste — but when paired with the other salty/​briny foods they are a welcome addition.
Will be back!

My first question to myself as I type this review is why I haven’t been here every week, like a creepy teenager ogling after his crush. I am riding a massive crush for Le Grand, needless to say. It’s so good you may want to stop reading this review, as well as all the other great ones, and go pony up at the bar. Right. NOW.
The restaurant is open, wide and spacious with a great gathering area in the back for your next get together with a 100 friends. Since I only have 3 friends, I was seated at the front booth with a nice view of downtown debauchery.
I think the best way to experience Le Grand is by ordering a good selection of appetizers. That way you can experience the rabbit, duck, goose and the rest of the barnyard in one delicious swoop. Doing this not only will challenge your taste buds but it will also leave you with plenty of cash for the next downtown adventure (might I suggest not buying crack).
The food is delicious and even some of the waiters have realistic French accents so you know you are eating the right food in the right location. Add a decent wine selection and food that can’t be found very often in Denver makes Le Grand a must visit.

The dining area is vast and very «grand» so the name is appropriate. Super elegant feel with high ceilings and lovely chandeliers; I was excited about my dining experience upon our entrance. The restaurant was more than half empty, but I didn’t think much of it.
Until we were seated, I had positive thoughts. Our table was a tiny booth that was better suited for 4 rather than 6. With an entire restaurant full of space, they couldn’t have given us more room? Seriously? It had its positives because then, we were in a more «intimate» table setting and we could all hear and see each other just fine. But as for actually being able to eat our meals comfortably, it was quite a challenge. Steaks, pork chops, lots of elbowing would be involved. Not quite sure what their reasoning was for that. Anyone got some common sense? Oh well, onto the next thing.
If you’re going to call yourself an oyster bar, you can’t just have 2 different oysters on the menu. Peeved. And they’re $ 3 a piece. I was excited to try but I passed because I figured it just wouldn’t be worth the little bang for the buck.
I ordered the gemelli, mainly because I wanted to try the rabbit. Disappointment galore. It looked sad upon arrival, like something that would come from the cheesecake factory. Platefull of pasta, and one sad looking chunk of meat and it was probably about an ounce or so. Seriously? for $ 18? This was worth about $ 9 like they charge at a restaurant chain for this kind of dish. And taste was bland. Such a rip off, I was kind of PO’d while I was eating.
My friends ordered a cabbage roll dish, also about $ 18 but this was like bird food; it was more of an appetizer size than an entrée. Ripped off again.
Some dishes seemed more worth their money– the steak, pork chop, and pork ribs. Large portions and impressive presentation, but no one raved and said they would write home about their meal.
Service was fine, waiter was nice and said happy birthday to me. Usually in nice restaurants they’ll do something for the bday person and do a dessert with a little candle, but I guess they don’t do that here.
My advice to you? Save your money and go elsewhere. I’m sorry but it just wasn’t a great dining experience. Good thing I had good company with me; it made up for all of it. I’m pretty puzzled as to why this place is so highly rated. Maybe it’s the décor.

Brrrrruuuuuuunnnnnnch! Brunch at Le Grand is pretty fab. I mean, they’ve got bottomless mimosas for $ 9, and they serve ‘em in big glasses. They’ve also got a Bloody Mary bar and fresh squeezed juices and quiche and steak & eggs, and even duck confit hash.
All that plus the friendly staff and the lack of waiting? Sheesh, Le Grand has got a serious brunch game folks.

Delicious oysters at $ 1.25 at happy hour, decent wine selection, very tasty saffron mussels, yummy fries, and scrumptious chocolate mint mousse cake — all great!
Tough steak with sauce that tastes like it was made from a powder, awkward servers, a few items either not available on the menu or anti-​recommended by the server, and menus that are wrinkled/​stained (If you’re going to use standard paper for menus, print them at least every other day! Otherwise, instead of giving the impression that the menu is frequently adjusted for seasonal ingredients, it gives the impression of pure laziness. Phew, rant done!) — not so good.

I made it back to Le Grand after probably a year looking forward to a delicious meal and chilled evening. However the service was quite disappointing and the food ok.
We arrived and waited ten minutes or so at the front desk as there was no nobody around. Finally someone passed by but didn’t even greeted us as he looked frazzled taking a menu from the desk. Another 5 minutes and a lady arrived who greeted us and seated us in a table.
We placed our drinks order and waited about 20 minutes to get our drinks. We ended up having 2 beers for my husband and 1 glass of wine for me for dinner as service just took forever.
We had some oysters to start and then the mussels and a chicken breast.
The mussels were ok steamed with saffron, herbs and butter and the portion was big but I had to ask for bread and the chicken was ok but nothing special. It had some greens and roasted potatoes and a mustard glaze

Came here for an early dinner and ended up catching the tail end of their happy hour. Here’s some advice — don’t go here and give yourself only an hour of digestion before your first parkour class. I learned this the hard way.
It was easy to fill up — select cocktails for $ 5, $ 1 off our starter, and well-​priced entrees.
We started with some meaty and well-​seasoned olives. I appreciated the whole fennel and rosemary specked throughout and the oily citrus marinade.
Next up was the gin-​cured salmon tartare with capers, egg, pickled onions, and crème fraîche. I don’t usually eat/​like raw fish, but this dish made me rethink this choice. It was not only easy to eat, but the texture and flavors were very enjoyable.
Our entrée was the Pappardelle with rabbit, oyster mushrooms, peas, pancetta, and mustard. The dish was rich, and I enjoyed the rabbit meat, sauce, and fresh crisp peas.
This may just have been my first experience with French food and it has made me eager for more.

On a nice little evening I stopped in here with a friend to sit on the patio and relish in the nice weather, but to our surprise it started raining. Never fear, staff quickly appeared and adjusted the awning to where it completely protected us from the rain, pretty slick Le Grand!
We kicked off with some drinks from the specialty drink menu, the French 1512 and Marie Antoinette, both were absolutely delicious and strong. Fried and stuffed squash blossoms with ricotta and a tomato-​caper sauce, sign us up! These were delicious and paired quite well with tomato/​caper dressing, but only three very small blossoms were on the plate-​in my opinion the amount could be doubled (or tripled, just sayin’). I opted for the fish of the day, Striped Bass. My friend got the Bistro Steak. My fish was pretty good, but nothing too special. My friends steak impressed him, I had a chance to try it, and meh. The fries that came with the steak were really good, as was the aioli meant for dipping.
The service was quite nice and I look forward to returning for happy hour oysters and drinks.

My family and I had a perfect meal here. It’s a big restaurant therefore it’s not exactly a bistro but a «grand bistro.»
We made reservations at 6PM which apparently was early because it was emptier when we came but got much more crowded around 8PM.
Dad had the $ 29 NY steak served with sauce au poivre, bearnaise butter and pomme frites, mom and my boyfriend had the $ 19 bistro steak that also came with sauce au poivre and pomme frites. It had a bleu cheese butter rather than the bernaise. Dad also tried the french onion soup made with sherry, veal stock and gruyère cheese. I had the laughing bird shrimp with came with chorizo, sherry and green olive toast and a scallop ceviche. We also ordered some Bordeaux that was really smooth in texture.
I loved how the fries were served with a home made mayo (the way the French eat their fries). The ceviche tasted like there was Mexican Powder in it. It was good but was not the best ceviche I’ve ever had. The Bistro Steak was pre-​sliced which made it easy to share. It was very tender and was cooked to perfection. The fries were thin and were probably twice fried, making them very crispy.
For dessert we had the crème brûlée trio (orange blossom, lemon and hibiscus) served with berries. This is hands down the best crème brûlée I’ve ever had. It tasted eggy and had a nice thin caramelized sugar on top. Some crème brulees put too much caramelized sugar making the top hard and difficult to break into but Le Grand’s was perfect. All three flavors were beautifully made and tasted amazing. We cleaned this dessert up quickly.
We also had the torte de pamplemousse which was a grapefruit cake with rose ginger sorbet and a vanilla blossom reduction. I didn’t taste the ginger in the sorbet. I saw candied ginger pieces sprinkled on the plate but the sorbet tasted like grapefruit to me rather than rose or ginger. The cake with the cold sorbet was nice but the cake was on the dense side.

The universe saw to it that my wish to dine at Le Grand Bistro if ever in Denver was fulfilled, proving once again how good things can happen when we leave it to the universe.
We took the entire menu tour. As it turns out, a new chef and direction was put into play recently. Judging simply from previous Unilocal contributor photos, I would say it’s been a complete overhaul.
Where to begin… Ok, how about the oyster selection. We counted five different farms and regions. Each were delicious. We are used to lazy pantry chefs just laying down one kind of oyster on a seafood platter and leaving it at that. Here, all five represented on ice, along side the smoked calamari, scallop ceviche, baja shrimp. All of it fabulous.
Steak tartare, tartine sardine, french onion soup (of course) featuring sweet onions (Walla Walla sweets?), heirloom tomato salad, mussels, bistro steak (sliced for sharing — Thank You chefs!), and quite possibly the tastiest and creative trio of crème brûlée I’ve ever had.
A dessert special — deconstructed peaches and cream. Our bar server, Sheffield, helped me name it a Stone Fruit Crema.
Craft bar. Perfectly prepared espresso. Yes, these things matter.
Service is quite simply beyond anything ever expected. The passion for what entire staff is doing here is obvious. I promised our lead server, Sarah, that instead of putting out a comment card I would do the shoutout on a review… so… hey girl! And lest we forget, thanks to Amber, Leah and Sheffield too.
A brief note to our Vegan reviewers. Yes, you have a right to eat how you want to eat, but you won’t find it in french bistros. Hope that helps with your restaurant choices in the future. Here’s another thought… maybe going to, say, vegan restaurants? It could be interesting. You never know until you try it.
A wonderful weekend of dining, as I made Le Grand Bistro the only dinner house we ended up doing each night my party was in town.

Wow, they have an excellent happy hour burger. One of the best burgers I’ve had downtown. It had just the right amount of salt, was thick, and cooked perfectly. I’d come back and have the burger again in a heartbeat (probably a slower heartbeat if I continue to eat those).
The oysters were also fresh and tasted great.
I would come back!

Delicious décor, a fantastic happy hour, and enough cool factor than you can shake a stick at.
Well okay, cheaper Oysters during normal operating hours would help keep the change in the pocket, but after such a wonderful first experience here, I can’t help but want to go back as soon as possible.
Le Grand, get ready because here I come again!

It’s not a fantastic experience when the first thing you recall about your lunch is the obnoxious family of 6 that decided to invade your meal. Not people, but flies! How unpleasant.
Other than that, I do remember that my huevos rancheros was hearty and definitely filling, though I wished there was more duck confit to it.
Duck, duck, fly!

Je peux dire beaucoup de choses de ce restaurant formidable, sûrtout en français! Mais je suis pas sûre que ça aille aider n’importe qui sauf moi!
Okay, okay, back to the language we’ve all agreed upon. Sorry, kids, I just can’t help myself when I’m in the right environment. And Le Grand is the perfect environment for taking a trip to France, if only for a few hours.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of finding myself at Le Grand a handful of times. Each time has been memorable and lovely. Top notch, approachable French food and delectable drinks.
For my most recent visit, a bunch of Unilocalers and I met up before heading to the theatre. Between our group, we tried a large portion of the menu. Everything from the mussels to the oysters to the cheese plate.
Lisa H and I decided to split said cheese plate as well as the tartare de boeuf since we enjoyed it so much a few weeks back. Oh là là là, tout était tellement bon! Yet again, I loved the spiciness of the tartar, as well as the beautiful presentation. The cheese plate was also excellent: four distinct cheeses paired with toast. My favorite was the soft goat cheese. YUM-​O!
I can’t forget to mention the awesome drink I splurged on: Rue Rosé. I was sold when I saw that this concoction contained St. Germaine. Really really amazing cocktail, right there.
Le Grand Bistro has continued to please during every visit! A little pricey for me to frequent often, but definitely worth visiting and spoiling yourself when the occasion calls for it.
Delicious drinks, fantastic eats, stellar service. Do yourself a favor and venez dire bonjour!

Good bistros are hard to come by, so I was excited to hear Le Grand opened this week… Et Le Grand est une nouvelle restaurant fantastique à Denver.
Where to begin… How about with cocktails? Fantastic. Le Grand has an award-​winning mixologist running the bar, and it shows. My drink, made with cognac and a violet-​infused liqueur, was pretty damn amazing. Of course, they also have a great set of wines and beers (it’s Denver, after all!).
As for the food, Le Grand also nailed it. Instead of going for salad, we started with their foie gras and a rabbit rillete. Both were outstanding; it was the best foie gras I’ve eaten, and the rillete was this awesome combination of rabbit meat and duck fat. For dinner, although I almost had a steak, I ended up with the mussels. Perfectly cooked, light and flavorful, just the way they needed to be, and paired with some pomme frites, mais oui!
One other thing I really liked about Le Grand — Our server was stoked about the food. It’s great to see such passion.
Be prepared, though, Le Grand is still be working out some kinks. Service was very slow, for example. But don’t let that stop you from giving it a shot.
Bön appétit!