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Provence en Boite
263 Smith St (at DeGraw St, Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn)
Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn | Map718-797-0707
Subway: F, G to Carroll St | Directions
PricesAverage main course: $19. AmEx, MC, V.
Description
It’s hard to resist the rustic charm at Provence en Boite, which garnered a cult following in Bay Ridge before moving to its location in Carroll Gardens. Chef Jean-Jacques Bernat, who’s worked at Vinegar Factory and Citarella, and his charming wife, Leslie, are indeed from Provence, France and they’ve decorated the corner restaurant, on busy Smith Street, with leaf-print tablecloths and wood banquettes. Resist the charm. Aside from the delicious desserts—including a flourless chocolate cake and a fruit tart, both made on the premises—the food was dumbfoundingly unappetizing. Small, dry, mealy black olives tasted like they’d been sitting in their tiny bowls for weeks. The bread was slightly stale. An escargot starter mixed chewy snails and mushrooms in a red-wine reductions that tasted like a sea of vinegar. The seafood salad featured watery, tasteless mussels and cold, overcooked shrimps. Sliced duck breast arrived medium-well (not medium-rare as ordered), was gray and chewy and did not benefit from the addition of an overwhelming berry sauce. The accompanying vegetables—carrots, asparagus and haricots verts—had all the flavor of sour water. Sometimes the servers refilled wine and water glasses; sometimes they just watched us do it ourselves—as if in a dream far, far away. We wish we could have joined them.
Hours
Tue–Thu, Sun 8:30am–10:30pm; Fri, Sat 8:30am–11pm.
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This is an excellent restaurant. Try the food and you will certainly want to come back. It is like a small slice of Paris on Smith Street.
I was disappointed with my experience at this place. The owners seem to be entertaining guests from their part of the world. Service is very slow, even to take the orders and they seem to be over priced. Besides they occupy the entire width of the sidewalk during the peak seasons, it hampers the movement of passerbys to the adjacent buildings from the sidewalks. Definitely a no no place
The food at this charming restaurant is very very good . The olives are French and therefore of a very specific taste - the hillsides of the South . I ate an extremely good steak with salad and frites . I went back a second night and ate duck breasts - cooked perfectly and my companion had a beef in wine stew also excellent . The staff are friendly and helpful but not in your face - I can stand the effort of re-filling my own glass during a conversation !
Merde en Boite not Provence en Boite. I am French and I have to say, no one who has ever lived in France would have accepted to eat the food I was served. I ordered an omelette, what came on my plate was a yellow brick, dry and compact. Beware, the owner is a cheat. She tried to scam me on $2 on our check. I had to argue with her in French fshe backed down - somewhat. I live next door and have noticed the wait staff is never the same from week to week..... an additional bad sign.
I worked at this place as an intern and it was a huge disappointment to see what they do in a "professional" kitchen. Yes, the pastry is delicious but the kitchen is full with rodents, and all kinds of dirty insects. Nobody in the kitchen wears a hat or washes their hands. The vegetarian soup has chicken stock so it isn´t really vegetarian and, the worst of all... they use food that has passed its expiration date. Don´t go if you love your health. Yes, as somebody said before, the patrons are crazy too... they are rude and they wouldn´t hesitate to attack a costumer and make an embarrasing scene in front of a lot of people. By the way... they charge $5 per person for service, even if you only order a $3 eclaire... so be carefull because you might end up paying more than you want and more than they tell you it would cost.