Mon Plaisir

Not a bad choice but wasn’t very impressed. We had snails, duck confit, pâté, and steak. It was ok. The service was just ok, the attention wasn’t really given to us. May still go back next time.

I felt like I was in Paris for about 2.5 hours! Fantastic restaurant… was about to say «little», but then I went into the back, and they’ve expanded dramatically yet each part of the restaurant feels separate and intimate. The ambiance, oh the ambiance, it was just so rightly Parisian.
The food, much like in most of Paris, was hit or miss, with the average quality being a 3.5−4.0 out of 5.0. The service was consistent and the waiters present when you ask, but they’ll forget about every 4^th thing, and then be extremely kind (soooo un-​French) in getting it to you on a gentle reminder.
The food and price keeps this place down a bit, but I just loved this place last night. Can’t wait to go back.

Overall, very very good. Four of us went on a Thursday night — reservation were much needed, and I’m glad we made them a few weeks back — and almost walked past this gem of a restaurant. There are three or four doors, but they have signed pointing to the correct one to use, which I think is because the restaurant has expanded over the years but never changed the doors to windows.
Tables are cramped together but somehow you don’t find yourself overwhelmed by noise from other tables, nor do you feel terribly stuffed in.
The food was, for the most part, delicious. I started with the crab and avocado timbale. A touch of crunch, some lemony goodness, and the perfect ratio of crab to avocado. I could have easily skipped my main and just had another one of these. I’m glad I didn’t, though, because my scallops with pea purée (I had them leave off the bacon) with incredible. Four large scallops, cooked perfectly, with just enough pea purée to last through all four (I can’t be the only one who gets sad when I run out of sauce!).
Another in my party had the duck breast, which was delicious — surprisingly it wasn’t too fatty for me — and came with potatoes cooked in a way I’d never had before. It looked and tasted like high-​end hash browns. I’m not complaining! I kept sneaking bites when she wasn’t looking.
The others both got Scottish steak and said it was very good, though I can’t vouch for that myself.
We got 2 desserts to share between the 4 of us: crème brûlée of the day (vanilla) and the dessert special, a pistachio panna cotta. The creame brulee was incredible, but the panna cotta was by far the low point. A good panna cotta is light and creamy. This was… not. It was overly thick, almost solid — I put my spoon in had to use a lot of pressure to get it out! It’s a shame, as the taste was nice — but the texture made it inedible, almost like swallowing an incredibly thick crème fraîche.
Maybe they don’t make the specials enough to make them well? Overall, I would definitely return — but would skip the dessert specials.

A bit of history first: This is the oldest running French Restaurant in London and a place where few celebrities like to hang out.
From the outside it looks small but the owners have very cleverly expanded it and its very spacious and cosy inside.
The menu is of course focused only in French cousin mostly the traditional part of it. The end result was very good. Not to many sauces good and fresh ingredients and everything made in store. The wine list was small but still offering wines from most of the famous regions of France. Top that with good service and nice atmosphere and you have a place where you can really enjoy a nice dinner with friends… Vivre la France

Authentically French eatery in less-​touristy part of West End (Seven Dials).
Interesting menu and wine list, good food and service.

We had a watermelon and cucumber soup and the blue cheese salad for starters. Both were way below average especially the soup which tasted like a fruity juice rather than a soup. we then had a calamari and a lamb dish as entrees. The calamari was good but the lamb dish wasn’t. We didn’t want to pay more for dessert after our experience. The bill turned out to be almost 70 which is double what I usually pay! overall, I would never go again and don’t recommend this place. London as so much more to offer. save your time and money.

I selected this restaurant for a pre-​theatre bite last week. I decided to go for the pre-​theatre meal (funny that!) and ordered a pumpkin soup, steak and brie and grape. The entire meal, with a free glass of red wine, came to £15! Yes £15. Forget the standard of the food, I ate a 3 course meal in central London, with wine, for £15! Yes £15. Even if the food was just adequate, which it wasn’t, I would have been satisfied. The soup was nice, served with some fresh baguette. The main of steak was perfectly nice, served with plenty of fries. Ok, so it’s not Gordon Ramsay, but at a time when money’s tight. this place is a find.

Busy night in seven dials but got a nice table. Food was nice served quickly. Classic peasant French. Highlights was coq au vin which was tasty. Quick and reliable but nothing special.

The restaurant was not full on a Saturday nite. The service was slow, the food was too salty (onion tart) or just bland (seafood soup). The best part was dessert — but truthfully — who cannot prepare ice cream with a strawberry sauce? We had to ask for each course. We waited at least 10 minutes for a glass of wine.
It was our last night in town and we finally just wanted to go back to the hotel. Again, we had to track the server down to get the ticket and the dessert.
Consider yourself warned.

Came here a few days ago and as soon as your walk in you’re greeted by friendly staff who whisk you away to your table.
We had a great table if it wasn’t for the couple next to us staring! I wasn’t even doing anything ;)
The menu is a traditional home cooked style of French cuisine, I wanted a main and the lady skipped straight to dessert. I ordered gratine French onion soup which had copious amounts of cheese, too filling you cannot demolish an entire one — I promise you. It was simple and great.
This is a must to visit if you’re just in town for a few days looking for a decent French restaurant — I think they claim to be the oldest French restaurant in the city, I’ve hear wackier claims.
The couple kept staring through the evening, until there credit cards failed to pay for their dinner!
I think ‘Mon Plaisir’ translates to ‘my pleasure’

Why is the service ghetto at this place? I thought it was a fun, quirky dinner with fine service, good wine, and awesome desserts. Also, definitely try the escargots while here.

I hoped my first Unilocal review would be a raving, positive rant. But instead I am moved by anger at a pathetic onion soup and still hungry as I write this.
We were lured in by the packed, cozy looking tables on a rainy night for a post-​theatre snack. Looking back, I have no idea why it would be so crowded– certainly, I hope, not for the lousy food. The menu looked promising. Before we tasted our food we even discussed coming back to try the coq au vin. Then our food arrived. I had the onion soup and my husband had a meringue with ice cream from the post-​theatre menu. The onion soup was the worst I’ve ever had. La Madeleine – a French cafeteria chain in the US – even has better soup. I thought it was impossible for onion soup to lack flavour. But, in fact, it was watery and completely tasteless and unsatisfying. I didn’t even finish more than half. My husband’s dessert (two bites of meringue with a dribble of chocolate sauce) was no better.
To add insult to injury, the waitress didn’t even leave a basket of bread at the table, just offered a small piece of baguette and took the basket away. How can you call yourself a French restaurant?!
Service was also unimpressive.
We won’t be back. I’ll find my coq au vin elsewhere.

I’m conflict about this review and strongly caution you before moving forward. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
What do I remember most about my dining experience at Mon Plaisir? That I lost a glove. Yes, that is what I remember most. Perhaps in playing out the evenings events, more will come to me…
The Brit took me here (his favorite French restaurant ever — at that time) before we went to see Les Miserable. I think. Why else would we be in Covent Garden? I dropped a glove going in, and he picked it up, pointing out that I need to mind them. We handed over our coats to the host and were seated in an empty room. There were very few people dining there, though it did fill up eventually.
It was cozy and cute. I remember our server seemed snobby to me, but hey, they’re French, right? Perhaps something was lost in translation. I remember The Brit had Boar meatloaf. I tried it, but can’t remember it being anything spectacular. I think we might have ordered escargot, but I can’t recall if I was too chicken to try it at that time. I have no recollection at all of what I ate, or if it was any good. Hmph. Sucks, actually, to not recall. I don’t remember complaining though either. Beyond that, I just remember overhearing a very picky, very bitchy woman proclaim that she was vegetarian but didn’t have options, and then proceed to order French Fries. Effin’ vegetarians for ya. ;) And that is all. That and that when I walked out of the door back onto the cold and windy street, there was only one glove in my pocket and the restaurant denied finding a solitary five fingered woven glove anywhere.
To think, I abandoned that glove and the meal wasn’t even memorable enough to compensate for it’s loss.

Ghetto service, but the food was pretty ok. I very much loved their foie gras, beet carpaccio, and the steaks. Also, be sure to check out their cheese plates. Sooo yum.
Wait staff can be trained better.

Yup, just had another very satisfactory lunch at Mon Plaisir. I only work around the corner so we sometimes run in there when we need somewhere quiet.
The surroundings are lovely, very french, idiosyncratic, a bit higgeldy-​piggeldy and all the more charming for it.
The menu is very rustic french. Always something for the more adventurous there or you could just opt for steak and chips as we did.
Steak was lovely. Cooked perfectly. Chips proper French, thin and crisp. lots of them.
Side dish of beans still with a little crunch.
Just a shame to go back to work. I first went here when I took the missus for a first date some 18 years ago and it was lovely. It has been ever since.
It’s on a charming road in Covent Garden yet prices are totally reasonable. My kind of place then!

Tiny, cramped little tables. I order the French Onion Soup and Coq Au Vin. I’ve never seen a FOS with less cheese: it was very carefully sprinkled around the middle, so as not to touch the edge of the crock. I guess the dishwashers complained that they can’t get the dried, burned cheese off the lip easily — tough, it’s your job — I wanted a decent amount of cheese. No strong onion flavor either, and approximately zero salt (salt being considered the Spawn of Satan by nutritionists this last decade or so).
The Coq? Basically just a leg and half a thigh, with little sauce. In fact, the sauce was probably about one-​third oil, coating everything with an unpleasant slick.

I appear to be going through a French restaurant phase — I was taken to this one last night my my friend Harry, in London on business from the USA. He looked tired from his flight and I was keen to find somewhere close to his hotel; this Covent Garden restaurant looked good and fitted that criterion. We also chose it in honour of Harry’s absent francophile wife, a best friend since my early childhood.
Both of us loved the ambiance right from entry — this place is exquisitely decorated in authentic French fashion. The menu states this is London’s oldest French restaurant. General De Gaulle, no less, dined here during the war.
Tables are stacked very close to each other — I worried our conversation was disturbing our neighbours. We were chatting up a storm, so their conversation didn’t disturb us.
Service was awkward, in that typically Parisian way familiar to tourists. The staff were perfectly efficient, I just felt judged by them the whole time. There were communication issues. Harry, being American, wanted to add a tip and as service was included I prevented him — if looks could kill!
My steak tartare was good — finely chopped rather than minced; absolutely zero fat; well-​flavoured and seasoned (just perhaps slightly too much pepper for my tastes). It didn’t come with the extra garnishes the menu seemed to promise but to be honest didn’t need them. The waiter thoughtfully offered me extra bread. The fries it came with were sublime — very fine cut, they hit that perfect fried potato sweet spot of being crisp and crunchy while also meltingly yielding. A side of creamed spinach was a perfect complement. We washed this down with an excellent Merlot from the house list.
Three stars as I’m marking down for the service attitude (as I said, they were impeccably efficient though); food was well above average and for prices one would expect in this part of town.
I’d be happy to go again; the cheese board looked very tempting.

Went for a friend’s birthday as part of a big group. The service was fine, despite some language difficulties, as was the food. I had a steak — nothing special and a bit overpriced, I thought, at 20-​odd quid.
The restaurant has 4 rooms — the back room is very intimate but quite lively, recreating the atmosphere of a typical Parisian brasserie.

Bön restaurant français
Dans une ambiance sympatique, un restaurant avec des petites salles reliées par des petits couloirs. J’ai testé un perdreau aux mures qui était bien servi et excellent. Le vin de la maison était beaucoup plus ordinaire. Si vous êtes dans le coin, je vous le recommande.

We came here for a pre-​theatre meal, although only one of us ended up ordering off the pre-​theatre menu, which has only 2 choices per course. Both were great, as it turned out, but I can’t go to a French restaurant and not have onion soup, so I had to go a la carte… I haven’t eaten in many French places in London so find it hard to judge, but the onion soup was better than the one i enjoyed 2 weeks ago in Paris. And with the euro so strong, it was also considerably cheaper! It had the right amount of lovely melty heart-​attack inducing cheese, soggy croutony bread but not so soggy you couldn’t taste its croutony nature, and tons and tons of sweet onions. Yum.
The soup was perfect, but I’ll shut up about it now. My main course was scallops, 5 juicy plump things, with some very sweet carrot and a mustard sauce. Altogether delicious, although the boy couldn’t stomach it because it was all very sweet. Everyone else loved theirs, though whether the entrecôte grillee was an actual entrecôte cut was debatable.
One thing to note is that you’ll probably need to order vegetables — the pre-​theatre menu lamb was just that — a shoulder of lamb on a plate. One for the carnivores! Thankfully the green beans and spinach were some of the best bits of the meals. Bar the soup. Did I mention the soup?
They only have French wine which 1) I know nothing about and 2) I now know I don’t like much.
Very French, very nice.

Off one of the Seven Dials is the ‘Oldest French Restaurant in London’: Mon Plaisir. It is very French. From the posters hanging on the walls to the slight pompous attitude of the French waiters. I think it’s great.
If possible, try get a seat in its original dining room, which is located as soon as you enter, as it has not changed since it first opened over half a century ago. Be sure to book.
The food can be quite hit and miss. What I usually order tends to be more on the decent side, however, there have been occasions when the company I’ve been with have been presented with dishes not even quite close to being decent. Like the time a friend ordered their’ Roast Partridge with Grapes and Madeira Sauce’, but the sauce did nothing to quench the overly dry meat of the bird.
I’m quite boring when it comes to ordering in French restaurants in general. I stick to the steaks frites. They just do the beef so well. I go for the Entrecôte Grillee, in which I order it so that it comes lightly grilled on the outside, and pink and juicy on the inside. Very enjoyable.