Petit Robert Bistro Columbus Avenue

Petit Robert Bistro is a very nice French restaurant in Boston! I would recommend making reservations as it can get busy! The wait staff is very friendly and knowledgeable. And the food is amazing! You can’t go wrong ordering anything on the menu, it was all delicious. And the drinks were amazing too. Can’t wait to come back!!

Highly recommend for a fine French food. Great services and quality. Certainly will be back for more!!

Our daughter chose Petit Robert to celebrate her Masters Graduation with a select group. We were early, so they sat us outside for lattes & a pastry basket, "just to stay in shape," as Eck would say. We moved inside for our early afternoon meal, and the fun really started! Our selected drinks were across the board - more lattes, wine, a mocktail, and black coffee. The Amande Douce was a delightful combo of orgeat [almond syrup], lemon juice, and orange juice. A few of us shared the escargot, which were a treat, but maybe a tad over salted. The extra sauce was wonderful for bread dipping, while the brightness of the mocktail was a match for the hearty garlic. Once again, we gave the menu a thorough workout as our selections ranged from a beautiful onion soup, French toast, mushroom crepes to both smoked salmon and prosciutto mortadella waffles. We shared tastes and thoroughly enjoyed our selections! Several boxes were required to bring the delicious remains home to extend our gourmet feast to another day. Unfortunately, we were much too full for even a glance at the amazing desserts. We observed a variety delivered to neighboring tables, but, alas, not this time. Ahhhhh. Gastronomic Satisfaction. Merci, Petit Robert!

The chef provided a great experience with a modern twist on many French classics. The octopus is by far the best I've had anywhere in Boston.

We had the BEST lunch here. It felt like we were in a little cafe in Paris — 10/10 would recommend for a delicious lunch. My step mom was literally emotional about the Soupe A L’Oignon Gratinee. Definitely check it out!

Service: Our server Joe was friendly, yet professional and took good care of us. Ambiance: We opted for their outdoor seating, as were most patrons were on a pleasant summer evening after a few days of rainy weather. Helps to have mosquitoe repellent ahead ;) Food: We had foie gras appetizer, coq au vin and a jumbo profiterole. The foie gras was a healthy portion and seared well. The bone-in chicken (Coq au vin) was moist and delicious, accompanied with jus and pasta. Jumbo profiterole with vanilla ice cream and fudge was classic. Excellent meal from start to finish. Timing from the service side couldn’t be more perfect. Wine/alcohol pricing were reasonable. Verdict: Highly recommend for your classic French bistro food in the South end neighborhood.

Best French cuisine we've had in Boston this far! Food delivered across the board - from escargot all the way to our creme brulee! Will definitely be back.

Wonderful service and food. I realize that you are limited with what can be imported from France - but the Coq au Vin was great, and the Bistro experience was as genuine as one will find in the US. Highly recommend... reasonably priced for what you are getting.

First time at Petit Robert for dinner and this was hands down the best food I’ve had in Boston since living here for 5 years. Sea bass was excellent, and the scallop special was amazing.

Hidden gem in the South End. Friendly, professional, especially Estaban (mgr), all the staff are very nice

I adore Petit Robert Bistro for a weekend brunch. The omelettes are only okay - but the included side salad and fries (!!!) are awesome, especially given the price. The atmosphere is very chic. We sat inside due to the weather but snagged a table beside the window for people watching. In better conditions, I would choose to sit outside because the patio is lovely. My only real complaint is that there is only one single-stalled bathroom, which can result in waiting in a very cramped area. Otherwise, this is a brunch spot I would recommend!

Great place. It's not easy to find parking g but totally worth the trip. The food was amazing. Perfect service.

Nice seating outside during the summer - the braised short rib sandwich was yum and the fries were perfectly crispy, the perfect width and flavorful. Don’t get the mocktail though, it’s straight up overpriced juice from a carton put into a fancy glass. Go to your local indian grocery, we sell these for a dollar a juice box :)

Great atmosphere and service. Excellent food. It's just a little bit expensive, but everything else was lovely.

Solid 5 for me and my family. We started the dinner with a minor understanding about one of the offerings on the menu. The Manager stepped in and made everything right. French Onion soup was the best we have ever had. The steak was cooked perfectly and the atmosphere was perfect. The servers were excellent and made our first experience at this restaurant excellent! I would Highly recommend this place to anyone looking for a restaurant that checks all the boxes!

If you want to host a private event that your guests will love and perfectly captures the charm of the South End, my wife & I could not recommend Petit Robert Bistro any higher! We held our welcome dinner for friends/family in June 2025 and it was the perfect way to kick off our wedding weekend festivities. My wife & I have frequented Petit Robert quite a bit in the past as we live right around the corner, and have always been thrilled to see Esteban welcome us in with the utmost hospitality. It was a no brainer for us to pick them again for our welcome dinner and we were paired with Desmond, their Director of Events. Desmond was so communicative throughout the entire process and although we ran into a slight logistics snafu the week of the event, he took it upon himself to figure things out personally in short order to get everything resolved (which to no surprise, they were resolved!). We had our family have a private dinner in the back patio while we reserved one of the front rooms for our friends to enjoy themselves over some light bites and an open bar. The evening was so special and we highly recommend to any and all who are also interested in hosting an event there!

Had a delicious meal for my birthday! The food was great, service was attentive and ambiance was lovely. The profiterole was next level good! The only thing I wouldn’t get again is the cheese plate as it was a bit lackluster for the price. Can’t wait to go back and try more!

What I've eaten has been delicious but I haven't tried too many dishes. The muscles are incredible and serving size I couldn't finish! Staff are fantastic and they remember repeat customers. Cocktails are well made and bartenders nice. The outdoor patio has an awning and in cooler weather the inside is beautiful.

Old standard still has it. Place was hopping on a Wed. night. Loud, side by side dining. Good service - waters replaced frequently. Classic French beer on tap! Delicious salads.

Petit Robert in Back Bay feels like stumbling into a Parisian dinner party where everyone actually wants to be there. ✨🇫🇷 The service alone deserves a standing ovation. We were welcomed in on a freezing cold Friday night at prime dinner time with no reservation, and seated immediately. Julian and Alexander were fantastic, but honestly the whole team radiates that rare energy of people who genuinely like their workplace and each other. It’s warm, effortless, and playful in a way you can’t fake. You’re not just being served dinner, you’re being welcomed into the vibe. The ambiance seals the deal. Cozy, charming, and perfectly French without trying too hard. The kind of place where time slows down, conversations linger, and another glass of wine feels inevitable. Great service, great atmosphere, great fun. Petit Robert isn’t just a restaurant, it’s a mood, and a very good one at that. 🥖🍷

I’ve been here twice to catch up with old friends. The brunch menu is delicious! Some of the best French pastries I’ve had in Boston. But the real star of the show is the omelettes. They are fantastic and very authentic. Amazing texture and flavor! The staff is so friendly and took very good care of us.

Great food here! The place is small so you’re sitting very close to the other tables. It was honestly really loud. The food was great! Our reservation was at 7 pm. We were seated and out of there by like 9:30. My mom and I both really enjoyed our meals!

Unpretentious French bistro with a good mix of modern and classic French cuisines. Bistro isn’t a huge part of Boston’s dining scene, but Petit Robert is probably the most popular one in the area. I recently took a visit with my family, and we were satisfied with the overall experience. During our visit, we saw a huge crowd on their patio, so we chose to dine indoors where we found ourselves surrounded by excellent decors. Surprisingly, we were the only group inside, but our host initially gave us a bad table. Upon request, we later moved to a nicer one, yet it wasn’t a pleasant start to the meal. Our server, however, was very friendly, and he managed to make up for the host’s mistake. We started off with some escargots and beef tartare. The escargots were a bit too salty, but the beef tartare was superb. The chunky bits gave a nice chewy texture that contrasted with the crisps, and the veggie toppings gave it a refreshing finish. While their entrée menu was mostly focused on bistro classics, there were some dishes that had just the right amount of creative tweaking of the classics. The lamb racks and the seasonal risotto were examples of such a style. Coq au vin was also a deeply comforting dish. Not only were the meat extremely tender, but also the subtle wine flavor was enriching. We missed the dessert options as we weren’t able to find our server for a while at the end of the meal. Nevertheless, Petit Robert definitely qualified as a good bistro, and I look forward for trying their upcoming spot in Cambridge.

Good service, decent atmosphere but seating is a bit tight. Potato waffles were OK. I got the smoked salmon option and thought it was a bit plain. If I returned, I wouldn't order it again.

This is a great cute Parisian bistro in the south end! We visited in March on what was considered “warm” but it was of course still cold so our mulled wine at the end of the night was so welcome. We sat on the patio which is lovely under some lights and looks up at the pru. For appetisers we shared escargot and my friend got the French Onion Soup which she enjoyed. The escargot is the biggest reason I give this 4 stars, it was not a luscious oily sauce that one should expect, and it wasn’t hot either. Just don’t bother with the escargot here, it doesn’t live up to the french classic For mains we both got classics - Coq Au Vin and Duck breast. They were both really good and well cooked! We also got fried which aren’t pictured. Cocktails were great too. Overall recommend this place for a cute night out! Follow me on ig for more recs @sophiaeaaats !

Loved the mocha latte. The grilled cheese with ham was okay, but not worth the price imo. The fries were great. Overall with a cute vibe, but expensive for what it was. Wish they did breakfast into the afternoon.

This is a quaint little French restaurant. They have valet parking, as street parking is tough and parking garages are a bit of a walk. The service staff was great. The kitchen was kind of slow, especially between the appetizer and main. They serve bread in one loaf, so make sure everyone at the table has washed their hands! Thw mousse dessert was great, but the onion soup and salmon were not really memorable. Good, but I wasn't blown away.

I came here on a date after I mentioned that I had never really had quality French food before. My date made a reservation and it wasn't too busy for 6:30pm on a Thursday night, but we were seated right away. We had the option to sit outside or inside, and we chose to sit outside since it was a nice day and the neighborhood seemed quiet. We ordered the escargots and half a dozen oysters to start, and they were both absolutely delicious. The escargots were flavorful, and the oysters were extremely refreshing. For our entrees, I ordered the scallops and my date ordered the pork. The pork looked like it was breaded, which surprised my date, since he was here last year and it was prepared differently then. It was still tasty, but maybe a tad overcooked. The scallops were cooked perfectly though so I had no complaints! I took off one star for the service since it wasn't the quickest. Overall, I wouldn't mind coming back!

Good atmosphere, friendly service, and pretty good food. This is a nice spot for a breakfast or lunch on a sunny day. We liked both of our dishes, although neither were amazing.

Love this French bistro. Decently priced menu for delicious food. Will always recommend.

Petit Robert Bistro lands at a solid 3.5 stars for me, but I’ll round up to 4 thanks to the service and ambiance. A group of three of us ended up here for dinner because it was one of the few places open with availability around Back Bay. With no reservations and limited options, it worked out, but while the service and menu were great, the food itself wasn’t quite as impressive. The French onion soup was just okay — the consistency was a little strange and not what I’d hoped for. My chicken dish, served with Brussels sprouts and potatoes, lacked flavor and seasoning. The veggies especially were underwhelming, almost like they’d been boiled with nothing added. My friends ordered the short rib and steak, and theirs looked a lot more promising than mine. On the bright side, the wine list was a win. They had bottles under $40, which is a rare find in Boston and definitely appreciated. The ambiance was another highlight — it really felt like stepping into a cozy Parisian café. Overall, the restaurant is intimate and charming, the kind of place where you’d want to spend hours unwinding. While the food wasn’t anything to write home about, the atmosphere and attentive service made it a pleasant dinner.

10 stars for the service as they are doing an amazing job running the outdoor terrace 10 stars for the location and outdoor ambiance 3 stars for the food as that is also what we came to enjoy and that was unfortunately disappointing The moules looked good but had the weirdest texture and lacked flavor (and then I did not mean salt) The pork chop was so so and on the dry end 10 stars for the fries (hence the overall 4 stars)

The main entrees were a miss for me. The bourguignon and the onion soup were just...fine. It was very tight spaces both inside and outside. If you're seated inside, it's upscale. There's a small bar area. If you're seated outside (during warmer weather), it's casual and you'll be interrupted by people walking through the packed tables and rats scurrying the streets. The creme brulee and their latte were good, so maybe just stick to dessert? The service was attentive. Honestly, I just have no interest in going back. I felt claustrophobic and the food was just a miss.

I enjoyed the food, but not the experience. My date's food came out 20min after mine, with no acknowledgement or apology from the waiter and he took away my fries without asking if I was finished with them. I was not. And he moved so fast I couldn't interject. Should I have followed him to the kitchen to get my food back? And we were still waiting for my date's meal. I couldn't even share my meal with my date while we waited because he is allergic to shellfish. I did not enjoy taking turns watching each other eat and someone else deciding when I was done with my meal.

During Boston Restaurant Week, I visited this restaurant, but the experience was disappointing. I was initially told I couldn’t have a corner table because I was alone, despite many open seats, though I was later allowed to sit there. Service was slow, and when I asked for the Restaurant Week menu, I was told they needed to “check my reservation,” even as other guests received it without question. The food was adequate but unremarkable, and I’ve had better French cuisine elsewhere. I still left a generous tip, but I wouldn’t return. The drink was mediocre; I went to Parla in the North End and it was much better.

Steak frites - got well done steak (ordered medium well). Beef bourguignon was two beef pieces with cold mashed potatoes on a side. Service was good but food was meh.

Came in for brunch on Monday presidential day … Waited more than 5 minutes at the host stand with no employees in sight so had to walk myself alone into the place to finally find an employee just talking with another one who finally sat me. You need to go through the kitchen and the dishwasher to get to the dining room only to be seated to have average food and service, definitely not worth of 45 dollars for a burnt steak and plain roasted potatoes. Absolutely nothing to come back for.

Ordered a the steak frites medium rare, it came out almost charred and rubbery. The coq au vin was bland and the fresh pasta was overcooked. The mussels were good, though.

Do not recommend the potato waffle for brunch- we both ordered it and mine was burnt, the other slightly burnt, and both very tough and unpleasant to eat. Yes, it’s only one item on the menu, but it takes up a sizable amount of real estate on the brunch menu, so you’d assume it would be a staple. Service was awkward and inattentive. They forgot to give our table bread, although all the other tables around us had it. We caught the attention of one of the servers to ask for bread, but very oddly he did not want to cross the room to hear our request, and acknowledged us but did not come closer. He seemed like he wanted us to shout from across the room? So strange lmao. Could be coincidental, but I noticed that all of the POC were seated at the back of the restaurant where you need to cross the kitchen. 🚩It’s also very very very warm inside. Overall not worth the money and wouldn’t return. There are many better places in the South End for brunch, it’s not really worth wasting the time for a second try.

Indoor didn’t have air conditioning until about 30 minutes after we got seated. I ordered the steak from the dine out week menu, asked for medium rare received well done with some fries, zero vegetable. A plain overcooked steak with fries, and that comes with some extra charges because it’s steak I guess? My partner ordered mussels, minuscule ones you would never see in a city by the sea, seasoning was okay but definitely on the saltier side of the spectrum. With 2 appetizers, 2 entrees, 1 dessert, 2 ciders and cheese, we spent almost a hundred per person. At this price point, I would expect much better food and service, or has the food scene in Boston gotten so bad that even this is allowed to exist? Avoid this place if you value food quality, I wish I had just cooked at home.