When I say small, I mean you will sit down, look around, make brief involuntary eye contact with the couple next to you, and accept that you are now, in some meaningful sense, dining together. And then, this is the part I didn't expect, it stops mattering entirely.
Le French Diner sits on the Lower East Side, and it fits the block exactly. The menu is a chalkboard. The classics are there: escargots, hanger steak, monkfish, tapenade. But then alongside them, almost as an aside, lamb's neck and octopus. I ordered the hanger steak and a salad. Both were excellent. I did not order the lamb's neck. I thought about it for longer than I'd like to admit, then didn't. I'm not sure what that says about me but I suspect it's accurate.
The wine list is short. I mean genuinely, mercifully short. One Bordeaux. One Chablis. That's more or less it. I've stood in front of wine lists long enough to feel like a fraud about it, and I'd rather not be reminded. At Le French Diner the question answers itself. I ordered the Bordeaux. It was exceptional, and so was not having to decide.
The kitchen is completely open, which in a room this size means you're essentially eating in someone's very well-organized home while they cook in the corner. The staff are attentive, and given the size of the place, there's really nowhere for them to be otherwise. On the night I went, 90s hip hop was playing at a volume that was just right. Jurassic 5, I think. Maybe De La Soul. Something that signaled the room knew what it was doing.
Here is the one thing I need to tell you. They don't take reservations. The night I visited, my companion and I arrived close to opening and got counter seats immediately. About twenty minutes later I watched someone get told it was an hour wait. That hour was probably optimistic. If that happens to you, and it might, write your name down and walk over to the lobby bar at The Ludlow Hotel, or Bar Goto if you want something more interesting in your glass, and come back when they text you.
I'm telling you this not to discourage you, but because standing outside wondering if it's worth it is a waste of time in a neighborhood with good bars. It's worth it. The room is tiny and it doesn't matter at all.