Best French Restaurants in Boston

From haute cuisine to bistros

If you're interested in dining in the perfect French restaurant, Boston has many tempting options for you.

From elegant candlelit dining to cozy bistros, from Parisian haute cuisine to rustic Provençal cooking, Boston's best French restaurants and French bistros feature spectacular French food and cooking techniques . . . often combined with the best New England seafood, freshest local vegetables, and romantic ambiance.

Dinner and wine at top Boston French restaurants can quickly add up, so be prepared for a fairly hefty check at the end of your meal.  Alternately, restaurants with "bistro" or "brasserie" in the name usally signal more affordable but still delicious choices. 

Remember to make reservations - you'll need them in most French restaurants in Boston.

Recommended French Restaurants in Boston

Parisian Elegance Near Boston's Theatre District

If you're planning to dine near the Theatre District and want to try a perfect French Restaurant, Boston's Pigalle should be high on your list of options.

Step through the door and you'll have to think hard to remember that you're not in Paris.

Elegant cream and chocolate decor with touches of red, intimate nooks, flickering candles and glowing lamps, and glittering crystal create a romantic ambiance. 

The regular menu changes frequently and features high-quality fresh New England ingredients prepared according to French techniques - but many of the dishes have an international flair.  You'll notice Italian, German, and Asian flavors and influences.

You can order either from the regular menu, or from a multi-course tasting menu.  To add to your choices, the tasting menu offers small or large portions, and you can elect to have it with or without wine parings.

Pigalle is located at the edge of historic Bay Village - with its narrow gas lamp-lit streets and Federal architecture, the perfect spot for an after dinner stroll.  With the Theatre District just across the street, Pigalle is in a convenient location if you're on your way to a performance.

More Bay Village restaurants

Directions to Pigalle:

Address: 75 Charles Street South, Bay Village
Nearest T station: Green Line/Arlington
For more information: 617-423-4944; www.pigalleboston.com

Fabulous French Bistro in Boston's South End

If you're like lots of Bostonians, once you've eaten your first meal at Aquitaine, a much-loved French bistro in the South End, you'll want to move in and eat all your meals there.  

Chef/Owner Seth Woods serves some of the best French food in the city in a high-ceilinged space that's filled with light and warmth. 

On the menu, you’ll find traditional French favorites prepared with fresh local and New England ingredients.  

If classics like steak frites, beef bourguignon, and lemon sole meuniere make your mouth water, this is the place for you.  

Be sure to check the blackboard for the plats du jour such as coq au vin and roasted cod with mussel bourride.

Desserts . . . almost too delicious to describe.   Imagine bittersweet chocolate mousse . . . profiteroles with vanilla bean ice cream . . . apple tarte tatin with calvados.

Although like most of Boston's other French restaurants, Aquitaine is not inexpensive . . . but it does offer one of the biggest bargains in the South End: a popular $10 prix fixe brunch - Saturdays only, from 10am - 3pm.

Directions to Aquitaine

Address:  569 Tremont St, South End
Nearest T station:  Orange Line/Back Bay
For more information:  617-424-8577; www.aquitaineboston.com
Check out more South End restaurants

Innovative Cuisine Overlooking Boston Common Downtown

Do you love French food but want a restaurant with an innovative vision? Troquet, a sleek and stylish spot overlooking Boston Common, may be exactly the right French restaurant.

Many Boston locals think of Troquet as a wine bar that just happens to have fabulous food, due to Troquet's outstanding wine cellar. Oenophiles rave about the wine pairings and rare vintages.

Despite this reputation, Troquet is unpretentious and not the least bit stuffy, so you'll have an enjoyable evening even if you can't even pronounce anything on the wine list. 

But back to Troquet's French cuisine.  The chef pairs the freshest New England ingredients with classic French cooking techniques. 

For example, imagine East Coast halibut with lobster succotash . . . pan roasted rib steak with root veggies, glazed onions, and potato puree . . . or roasted suckling pig with calvados, braised cabbage, and parsnips.  

On the menu, you'll see suggested wine pairings for each course - too good to pass up!

More Theatre District restaurants

Directions to Troquet:

Address:  140 Boylston, across from Boston Common
Nearest T station:  Green Line/Boylston
For more information:  617-695-9463; www.troquetboston.com

Beauty plus romance in Back Bay

The multi-course, prix-fixe menus at L'Espalier, a fabulous French restaurant in Boston's Back Bay change frequently - but regardless of what's on the menu, you can be certain that your meal will be extraordinary.

Recent main course options include smoked organic chicken with grilled mushrooms, baby carrots, and avocado and lobster crostini . . . roasted rabbit with potato gnocchi and peas . . . beef tenderloin poached in port with ravioli and mushroom consomme.

Several menus, including a vegetarian menu and a tasting menu, with and without wine pairings are offered.  A la carte options are available for lunch only.

If you're visiting Boston for Thanksgiving, be sure to check out L'Espalier's special Thanksgiving dinner menu with wine pairings.

Directions to L'Espalier

Address: 774 Boylston Street, Back Bay, Boston
Nearest T station: Green Line/Hynes Convention Center
For more information:  617-262-3023; www.lespalier.com
Attire:  Jacket and tie preferred
Check out more Back Bay restaurants

Wine, music, and food in the Downtown Leather District

If you're looking for great wine and music in a superb French restaurant, Boston favorite Les Zygomates in the Leather District may be exactly what you want.

Dinner options include appealing fish, meat, and game options, cooked nicely and paired with complimentary vegetables.  Steak frites with herbed garlic sauce and truffled frites is outstanding.  The vegetarian option features crepes with veggies, goat cheese, and bechamel sauce.

The French bistro food is indeed delicious. . . but the wines and the live nightly jazz are the big attractions. 

If you’re visiting Boston and love great wine, great food, and live jazz, a evening at Les Zygomates could be the best way to end a day of sightseeing.

Directions to Les Zygomates:

Address:  129 South St, Leather District in Downtown Boston
Nearest T:  Red Line/South Station
For more information:  617-542-5108; www.winebar.com

Tradition in Downtown Boston

A revered Boston institution since the 1860s (despite a spell in the late ‘90s as a stodgy, old-boys’-club kind of place), Locke-Ober has been transformed in recent years by its French-influenced cuisine.

Don't be fooled by the understated, rather somber exterior of this Boston landmark.   Inside, the restaurant's ambiance is polished and elegant, although the real star is the food.  

Some of the menu choices evoke the restaurant's place in the history of the city - for example, JFK's Lobster Stew - while others such as Wiener Schnitzel and Cowboy Steak with Gaucho Rub draw upon international flavors. However, the sauces, techniques, and presentations are classic French, perfectly executed.

One of the original owners used to personally select wines from his native France.   Today, the extensive wine list continues this tradition of excellence with offerings from France, the U.S., and Italy.

Directions to Locke-Ober:

Address:  3 Winter Place, Downtown Crossing
Nearest T station:  Orange, Silver, Red Lines/Downtown Crossing
For more information:  617-542-1340; www.lockeober.com

Fireplaces and romance on Beacon Hill

Do you love small but perfect French restaurants?  

If so, Boston’s Beacon Hill has just the place for you tucked away on fashionable Charles Street: The Hungry I.

You’ll love the three cozy candle-lit dining rooms - complete with fireplaces!— in this charming 1840s brownstone.  Even the table settings are gorgeous.

The dinner menu changes daily, and usually features a half-dozen starters and salads, and about the same number of entrees, each featuring fish, poultry, game, or meat, along with a vegetarian option.

And of course, the wine and dessert choices are also superb.

Directions to The Hungry I:

Address:  71 ½ Charles St, Beacon Hill
Nearest T station:  Red Line/Charles-MGH
For more information:  617-227-3524; www.hungryiboston.com

Romantic French Food in the South End

Mistral, located in Boston's South End, wowed Bostonians when it first opened, and its romantic interior and great French food and wine continue to make it a top choice.

The chef/owner prepares fresh local and regional products with a Mediterranean flair that has made it a local fave ever since it opened in the late 90s.

Each entrée is paired with something wonderful - roast rack of lamb with green beans, heirloom tomato and feta salad, and oregano, for example - and cooked to perfection.

And desserts are sublime.

Directions to Mistral:

Address:  223 Columbus Ave, South End
Nearest T station:  Orange Line/Back Bay
For more information:  617-867-9300; www.mistralbistro.com
Check out more South End restaurants

Charming French bistros in Fenway and the South End

Popular Boston Chef Jacky Robert has several small bistros, aptly called Petit Robert Bistro, scattered across the city. 

In Maison Robert, Jacky Robert's previous French restaurant started by his parents, Boston’s favorite French chef wowed the city with classic French cuisine.

Now, he celebrates more casual fare in Boston's most affordable French bistros.

Every detail hits the mark, from the crisp white table linens to the cabinets filled with wine bottles to the blackboard with the Menu du Jour.  But most important is the food, and that's what draws diners including my own family back again and again. . . More about Petit Robert Bistro

Sleek and Savory - Downtown - Financial District   

Radius, a popular spot near South Station, offers what the chef calls a “modern French menu.” 

You'll enjoy the innovative dishes, somewhat lighter than traditional French cuisine, emphasizing the freshest local ingredients.

Typically, their menu lists only about 8-10 first courses and main courses for lunch and dinner - but trust me, you’ll still have trouble choosing from the tantalizing options!   With mouth-watering desserts and an outstanding wine list . . .    More about Radius Restaurant

A Rustic French Brasserie - Downtown Waterfront

Sel de la Terre features Provençal-inspired cuisine prepared with seasonal and locally grown New England products.

Specific items change with the seasons, but they're always delicious.  You'll enjoy the best of the French countryside made with fresh produce from New England.

If you have trouble choosing among the yummy main courses, you may be tempted . . . very, very tempted . . . to order a couple of the equally tantalizing first courses instead.

Directions to Sel de la Terre:

Address:  Boston Waterfront: 255 State St
Nearest T Station: Blue Line/Aquarium
For more information:  Call 617-720-1300; www.selledelaterre.com