Cara C.
Yelp
Le Bucheron is across the street from the hotel we were staying at, so we made several visits during our time in Paris. The service is friendly and the staff know enough English to help you out if your French is lacking like mine.
We enjoyed the patio on our first visit, where we sipped wine and shared a charcuterie & cheese tray. There is plenty going on in this area of Le Marais, so the people watching was enjoyable as we relaxed after a long day of museum-going.
Our second visit, we decided to sit at the bar to eat and drink, in hopes of getting a better feel for the locals. I unwittingly committed a faux pas by grabbing the wine bottle we had ordered and pouring it myself to start, but the bartender was very polite about it and just asked "taste? Do you like?" She was a lot of fun, singing along to American pop music and blues that were playing on their stereo, and we enjoyed goofing off together as she and her cohort busily worked the bar and dining room all evening. We both had pasta dishes - I had gnocchi with for cheeses and my husband tried the pasta Le Bucheron, per our server's recommendation. Neither of us were disappointed. Then she talked us into dessert - best crème brûlé I've ever had (and I've eaten a lot of crème brûlé in my lifetime). After that, she treated us each to a shot of limoncello as an aperitif, on the house. When we left, she asked us if we would be back and gave us the business card, so apparently the wine mistake and lack of French skills had been long since forgiven.
Yes, we had a third visit as well... I had been cooped up in my hotel room all day, not feeling well, but we decided some fresh air and food might help me out, so we crossed the street again to see our "friends". My husband opted for another pasta dish (spaghetti bolognese) and I decided to just have hot chocolate, and again we weren't disappointed. The chocolate came melted in my cup, with a small pitcher of streamed milk to put over it, and completely hit the spot. After he devoured his pasta, his sweet tooth started to persuade him and he decided he needed to try the profiteroles he had seen going to another table earlier. Again, we weren't disappointed. He ate most of it, as I had already had a good portion of chocolate and milk for the evening, but of course I had to taste it! The choir pastry puffs were filled with vanilla ice cream and topped with a delicious chocolate sauce and complimented perfectly with toasted almond slices. We stayed awhile, conversing and sipping water, and thoroughly enjoy how the French welcome you to stay and relax as long as you like. They're open late, so it's a great place to relax at the end of your long days of touristing, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone passing though the area...