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All Reader Reviews of...

Buvette

42 Grove St., New York, NY, 10014
nr. Bleecker St.
212-255-3590

Avg. Rating

6
Food: 6
Service: 5
Décor: 7
"Mixed Reviews"

Average Reader Rating on a Scale of 10.

50% would go back.

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i would not recommend this place to anyone

By dalia.valda on 3/2/2013

  • Overall Rating: 2
  • Food: 1
  • Service: 1
  • Décor: 7
  • No, I would not go back!

Over priced, food is bland and my fiance and i left starving and went to shake shack right after. The cod tasted very similar to a can of tuna you can buy in the grocery store for $3. The waitress was really overwhelmed, could not explain the menu, the food didn't take long to come out at all but wasn't paired well. They brought out the vegetable side with the appetizer not with the tiny intended "main". I spent the entire evening wishing i went to any other restaurant in NYC. My fiance is so annoyed, he actually wants to go back and ask for a refund.

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9 out of 18 people found this review helpful.

LOVE THIS PLACE

By Foodylicious on 5/26/2012

  • Overall Rating: 9
  • Food: 9
  • Service: 9
  • Décor: 10
  • Yes, I would go back!

Love this place the chef/owner Jody executed this place just right, you cant go wrong in ordering because everything is delicious. The staff are well trained and always willing to make you feel at home specially Anthony. Now for those of you un-appreciative reviewers, grow up, get out some more, travel some, educate yourself and please save your negative comments you come across cheap, ignorant and anti cultural. Buvette is a Gastroteque and the only one in the city. And for the one that stated Buvette is a knock-off "Le Pain Quoditien" yeah it shows how much you dine. Also for those of you hungry cave people, this is not your local "Olive Garden" this is a place for refine eating... Just for the record I am not related to the owner nor staff Im just sick of reading so much negative comments.. This is NYC an urban city where we all work so hard, so when is time to dine please use your imagination and enjoy it...

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33 out of 56 people found this review helpful.

Loved this tiny grown-up restaurant

By JaneSt on 4/22/2012

  • Overall Rating: 9
  • Food: 10
  • Service: 8
  • Décor: 10
  • Yes, I would go back!

As a resident of the West Village, I was delighted with this charming and sophisticated restaurant. The food was outstanding, the wine list impressive and the clientele was adult, meaning the restaurant was lively but not overly loud. I loved every last detail and will recommend Buvette and put it top of the list of my neighborhood favorites.

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33 out of 68 people found this review helpful.

Are you kidding?

By MichelinStars on 3/21/2012

  • Overall Rating: 2
  • Food: 2
  • Service: 1
  • Décor: 1
  • No, I would not go back!

Beautiful space? Buvette? Seriously? Who is writing these reviews? To those who rave about it, shame on you. You obviously went somewhere other than 42 Grove Street, or have no business writing reviews, or you're just plain lying. The decor is a knock-off from "Le Pain Quoditien", minus a cleaning crew, and the food was casual and uninspired. The only thing identiyably French about this place is the service. This space qualifies more as a neighborhood Italian wine bar than a restaurant. What a waste of a perfectly good evening. I spent it looking at my dinner plate thinking of all the places I'd rather be.

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34 out of 84 people found this review helpful.

Buvette 42 grove street

By FrankEJ on 12/20/2011

  • Overall Rating: 3
  • Food: 4
  • Service: 1
  • Décor: 6
  • No, I would not go back!

After hearing so many good things about this establishment,We 4 hungry,shopped out customers,Tryed to have a nice,simple french induces lunch.1st Very tight space,2nd ignorant female wait staff.Ordered,20 mins for wine and fromagerie.Then 55 more mins for burnt Croque Madame,and Ham and cheese omlet,Had to cancel soup due to 2 1/2 hour time frame.Very disappointed,All four of Us would not return and will tell others of the over rated Buvette,To bad your Only as good as your Help allows you to be.The wait person told Us at bill time thank you for your patience the kitchen was backed up.I believe she forgot to order OUR meal for the kitchen. Never stated she was sorry.Bon Appitiet some where else.

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48 out of 86 people found this review helpful.

Pretty much perfect

By teljr on 3/28/2011

  • Overall Rating: 9
  • Food: 9
  • Service: 9
  • Décor: 9
  • Yes, I would go back!

I've eaten here 5 times. It's a wonderful atmosphere -- definitely tight, but if you can get a spot at the community table in the back it's pretty much perfect. The food is fantastic (don't miss the lentils and kale, any of the toasts, but especially the oxtail marmalade, hazelnut pesto, and aligot/potatoes) and whatever is being served as a special that night (on our last visit, on St. Patrick's Day, it was the best corned beef and cabbage I've ever eaten). Not sure why one of the other reviewer didn't like the service -- it must have been an off night, as every time we've been there we've had charming, incredibly attentive servers. (And Jody Williams always makes a point to say hello and make people feel welcome.) I would also have to disagree on the Gottino comparison, which I found slid somewhat precipitously food-wise when Williams left.

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62 out of 113 people found this review helpful.

Some good food, ignorant server, beautiful space

By ferarie328 on 3/21/2011

  • Overall Rating: 7
  • Food: 7
  • Service: 5
  • Décor: 9
  • Yes, I would go back!

Buvette has some charm -- it's beautifully designed, and you feel like you're in the south of France, but it's also not very comfortable (none of the chairs have backs -- they're all just stools). Some of the food is good, such as the country pate, and some of the food is very inventive and delicious, such as the oxtail marmalade, the aligot, and the salsify. However, some food is just bland and uninspired, such as the rabbit confit and the porc rillettes (we ordered both, and they were both so bland and textureless we honestly couldn't tell them apart). The wine selection is good, but our server gave us some mis-information (she tried to tell me that tannins and acidity were the same thing, and she described the brandade as a "salt-cod served baccala style" when in fact baccala just means salt-cod in Italian, and in fact brandade is the style in which it's prepared). Despite some definite flaws in the cooking and the service, it's not a horrible place to go to a late night or pre-dinner glass of wine and snack.

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65 out of 122 people found this review helpful.

Not comparable to Gottino! Good Food, but Tiny Menu, and Bad Service!

By IlConformista on 3/16/2011

  • Overall Rating: 5
  • Food: 6
  • Service: 3
  • Décor: 7
  • No, I would not go back!

I sat at the bar with a friend and it was hard to get any attention or service, in spite of the place being not full. It took us 2 hours and 30 minutes to have a bite. Lovely food in the end, but hard to call it a proper restaurant: a few delicious vegetables, but only one appetizer and one main dish last night on the tiny menu (cheese and charcuterie plates abund though). Gottino is completely in another league.

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61 out of 124 people found this review helpful.

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