So much for the Bouillon Racine being the one exception to my "do no pay for expensive steak" policy (see post on Bouillon Racine for more info). When the word started circulating around our program that there was this place that served amazing steak and fries, I just couldn't resist. After confirming with many many people, a few of us headed off on the #6 metro to find le Relais de l'Entrecote (the Montparnasse branch).
We were pleasantly surprised to find no wait line for this heavily hyped up dinner at 8:30pm on a monday evening. We were quickly sat down and explained that there is no menu option, just the pre-fixe salad and steak and fries. Our only options of the night were drinks and whether we wanted our steak medium or well done (no medium rare or rare options...). Once again, in my attempt to find the ever elusive free tap water at a restaurant, this time I asked for a carafe of tap water (which is what I was tipped to say) but it seems to have been to no avail. We ended the night paying an extra €10 for two bottles of "non-gassed" water. I also ended up ordering a 4€50 bottle of Orangina.
As for the actual food, the salad was very light with sides of walnuts and radish. A simple starter for the real meal to come. I had no complaints here.
I did have some complaints with the "steak" though. While the portions were fine (they actually came by with a second round of steak after the plate), the quality and cut of the meat seemed very run of the mill. It was more like a flat-iron steak or a skirt steak than a fattier rib-eye or even basic sirloin. The steak was missing a lot of tenderness even cooked for a medium and had no layers of marble or fat. The fries were excellent and the sauce on the steak was decent but for a €24.50 steak, I was actually quite disappointed (salad is included in that price).
And at the end of the meal, after totaling my orangina, the split between two "carafes of tap water", my steak and fries, and a €1 tip, I ended up shelling out a "modest" €32.50 for a quite average meal. If there's one thing I learned besides to stop trying to order water from these French restaurants, is that I need to stick my my policy of eating delicious steaks at home and dishing out money for foods that are harder to cook or find outside of the kitchen. I apologize to those who really enjoyed their meal here but if you had to ask my for a steak frites recommendation in Paris, I would point you towards the direction of the Bouillon Racine rather than le Relais de l'Entrecote on Montparnasse. It may be that the main branch of this restaurant on the Rue Marbeuf is much better, but it is not something I will be finding out on this trip.
le Relais de l'Entrecote (Montparnasse branch)
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101 Boulevard du Montparnasse, Paris
Metro: Valvin or Montparnasse - Bienvenue or Edgar Quinet
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