Le Turtle
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About
The restaurant is laid back and rustic but also cool, featuring wraparound booth, pine wood banquettes and neon light installation. French and natural wine bottles are available.
Mon 6:00 pm–10:00 pm
Tue–Sat 6:00 pm–11:00 pm
F 2 Ave. 327 m
B D Grand St. 340 m
What Insiders Are Saying
Le Turtle is a Lower East Side restaurant that we almost thought was a joke. Turns out the joke’s on us.
Restaurant closed upon arrival. No advanced notice, and reservation confirmed a day in advance. Due to open reservation could not make another reservation at same time at another restaurant.
Showed up to the restaurant to it being permanently closed after being asked by Open Table to reconfirm the reservation 24 hours prior.
THIS RESTAURANT WAS CLOSED AND NO ONE INFORMED US!!!!! -_-
It’s closed. Stop listing it.
Restaurant closed and did not notify us. We showed up and had to scramble to find somewhere else to eat.
Planned a nice dinner with four friends to find that this restaurant closed down permanently without any notice. I wished that Opentable had given us a heads up. I also find it annoying that I was actually able to book for that restaurant when it was already shut down. Luckily we were able to find another reservation quickly.
When we got to the restaurant there was a sign in the window that said "We are permanently closed". Not a fun night for us.
IT'S CLOSED!!!!!
Made a reservation here, showed up and the restaurant was closed. Not sure why my reservation was taken in the first place.
Good food, despite gimmicky menu, marred by poor service. Unhappy, inattentive, inexperienced all on display. Too bad, cool room, good music. Tighten up the process and this place would make a much stronger impression. Very much mispriced for such poor execution up front.
Went for a birthday and they gave us the best seat in the house after noting it was for a birthday in the OpenTable reservation.
The food was outstanding and the service was stellar.
Delicious food-- like incredible! New tastes and creative cuisine. This was an amazing experience top to bottom. Fun and super creative atmosphere with very attentive and friendly wait staff. Eat here now!!!
Wonderful experience. Ambiance - food- service was excellent!!!
Visiting NY for my wife's big B'day. Looking for creative meal in a not stuffy place. Hit the jackpot with Le Turtle. I was a bit concerned when I saw the relatively small choice of dishes. The waiter explained the deal: it's designed for sharing. Four of us shared 2 small, 2 medium, 1 large from the 3 sections. Every one was awesome. The Poulet from the large meal (only 2 choices, chicken or beef; we're not beef eaters generally) was just incredible. Whole chicken cooked in some flaming way. They bring it to show you while it's flaming and then cut it up. Crispy skin was to die for. Was melt in your mouth moist. Before that, mushroom risotto (our friend said he doesn't like mushrooms and we got it anyway and he loved it. Can't recall what kind they were) was sooo tasty). Corn porridge (never heard of that) just yummy. Octopus with some crunchy stuff- loved it. Can't believe I'm blanking on the other small plate (but I'm drinking wine right now). Only 2 dessert choices and we rarely do much dessert but we shared some hazelnut something or other, cross between a cake and a mousse and it was perfect. tasty and not too sweet (I'd have preferred the chocolate selection but it was my wife's b'day so her choice). Forgot to mention that my wife and friend had some sort of tequila cocktail and they loved it. He ordered a second (we're not big drinkers). I think we were the oldest people there by about 40 years. Looks like a hoping place for the young crowd. We had a relatively quiet place in the back corner. Got a bit to noisy for easy conversation toward the end when it filled up ( we were the first in at 7:30 on a Friday night). Service was great. Attention, friendly, not stuffy. Really loved this place. Only problem- no decaf! I guess they don't expect old folks. Our friend was fine with that but I gotta have my decaf coffee of any kind to top off a great meal like this. only disappointment. Great choice for her B'day.
Was so nice and delicious. Amazing seat and service, food was incredible.
Outstahhhhhnding. Great drinks 😉
Inventive food and great staff. We are cooks and grown out vegetables at home, so we only venture out to restaurants with unusual food. The flavors and ingredients, quality, and the sharable dishes definitely make eating here a special occasion. Very nice for larger groups too. The waiters know the dishes and wines very well and not tentative about making recommendations. Don’t over order because the dishes are rich and filling. The ambient music was a bit too loud when we arrived but they turned it down, which is a good sign they are paying attention. Manager stopped by to welcome us which is a nice touch.
Everything was tasty, from cocktails and wine, to food. This place was criticized severely in NYT review from two years ago and seemed it paid attention. NYT should return and try again.
Delicious food, livelier after 7pm
Loved the inventive food. Need to improve wine list...
Very limited menu. Overpriced. Wines were good. Service was good. Carpaccio was disappointingly fatty and pickled scallions were an odd combination for it. Salad was excellent.
The chicken was amazing!
Very nice 3 dishes experience (artichoke with applesauce, then grill squid) with marvelous white wine. Although I was alone bartender and host were very friendly with me. Very nice dinner
Food was superb, wine list mediocre at best. A French restaurant needs more burgundy! . We had the poulet and risotto.. fantastic.
Interesting meal. It's a good restaurant, all dishes were cooked very well, but something was missing. Maybe it felt too inventive and lacked a little soul. But overall I would recommend it.
Great fun ambience.
However: Vegetarian/ vegan options are not substantial - no protein, all carbs.
Dessert options too narrow, not good.
Everything was great, food was excellent. As we wait a bit for our starters and entrees, they offered us another glass of wine.
The only thing we found really below the rest was... wine. We tried 3 reds, all available by glass (19 to 23$/glass) and all disappointing. All were French, (we are too), all were too young.
The food was so good and each dish so perfectly balanced that I would recommend to suggest a wine pairing.
You could die trying to get a piece of bread!
Wonderful meal! The chicken is absolutely lights out, and the three dishes we shared beforehand were fabulous.
Unfortunately, the experience was very disappointing. The door would not close all the way, making it rather cold. The food was surprisingly flavorless.
Lovely food and drink.
Steak is phenomenal great experience, I will go there every chance I get
Tasty interesting food. Why, though, do they need to set the chicken on fire, bring it to the table, show it off and then take it back to the kitchen to cut it up...?
Very happy with this restaurant. Only downside was they forgot our mains but comped us a round of drinks. Other than that the food was delicious - definitely try the chicken (probably the most expensive chicken dish I've had but definitely worth it). Food plus 2 glasses of wine came to about $90 (incl tip and tax).
I don't understand the restaurant...all I can imagine is that is a tourist trap and return business is not a priority. It is def not French...more of a Spanish vibe to the food/drinks. We had 2 drinks and 4 very small plates...dropped $200+ and we were starving - got pizza on the way home. Our first order was a cheese dish that was just peculiar...a weird cheesy beet soupy thing. They offered nothing like focaccia or toast points, which it screamed for...no idea how to eat this. A spoon? Next we had a pasta of some kind that was pretty reminiscent of mac and cheese - I don't even recall the other two completely forgettable dishes. The deco was cool and a lot of effort went into the vibe which was also cool but the staff was pushy in every way...pushing drinks and pushing you to order the priciest dishes of chicken or beef. The drinks were tasty but stingy. In fact, the whole experience felt very stingy...giving you the least food/drink for the most profit. We left feeling hungry and totally fleeced. It would have been so easy to lift the offerings with extras that really would not have cost much more for Le T - too bad. Really poor form all the way around.
Food was too conceptual and all of it lacked flavor and salt.
We had the Sasso chicken which lived up to its reputation although the accompaniments-4 small fingerling potatoes, a spoonful of chicken liver mousse & some dressed greens were meager.
Our server reccomended the cauliflower as a starter. Four florets again with a handful of dressed greens, were good but over priced for the portion size. The hazelnut financier could have used some ice cream for a change in texture & temperature. Overall, we enjoyed the meal.
Food was good. The crab pasta was excellent. Waitress recommended more food than was necessary. Ambience a bit more local restaurant than I was expecting considering website recommended business casual attire. More shorts and T shirts.
This place was recommended to us and we didn’t do the research that we would normally do. There are 8 appetizer dishes to share and 2 main course selections, also to share. There were 3 of us and we chose 3 appetizers and one chicken main. We chose beef carpaccio (good but too many competing flavors for my taste), eggplant (okay) and the octopus (excellent) The chicken was very tasty at $69. The beef entree was priced at $95 or $135 for the larger portion and the people next to us said it was very good. I thought the food was good but there wasn’t enough choice, and I thought it was pricey. We all agreed that it was good but all agreed we won’t return and would not recommend without explaining the limited choices and the pricing.
One of the best chicken dinners I have ever eaten!