Le Coche - Paris

Good place for coffee or drink with friends. Nice, cosy interior and friendly service, but food is a disappointment. The fish (deep-frozen) was bland and covered in an equally tasteless white sauce, like one of those ready made Findus frozen meals you buy from the supermarket. The boiled potatoes were dark and soggy. Tarte tatin was good and the scoop of ice-cream was the only thing positive about the meal. A disappointment.

Le Coche is distinguished in this neighbourhood for its offering of mussels and chips on weekend evenings. Moules frites are traditional in Belgium and northern France and it's a pleasure to find them here. The mussels are fresh, the portion is generous and variations beside Marinière are on offer. The service is friendly and the prices are reasonable.

A waiter from another bistro recommended Le Coche as a "cafe well above average". In fact he used to work there but he wasn't 'touting' for business. He told me the food was good and "honest". There must be hundreds, if not thousands of bistro's like this in the greater Paris area, no one will ever live long enough to compare them, however, the tip paid off. Le Coche is a friendly, typical bistro surrounded by Asian eating establishments out in the 13th. It is also a brewery; a bar; and a cafe rolled into one. They open early and close late. Meal times are 'flexible'. I turned up the first time in the middle of lunch service without a booking. No problem. Their rabbit terrine was excellent and their steak tartare was even better. I was lunching alone and happily reading a book in between 'people watching' as I sat outside their front entrance. I told the waiters I was not in a hurry and they spaced out my meal, and wine service, to suit me perfectly. There was not a lot of English spoken but that didn't matter. I practiced my poor 'culinary French' and got on famously with them. Despite the October chill it was a perfect afternoon of good food and good service. The following Sunday, again, on my own for the day, I chose to return knowing I'd have another enjoyable luncheon; and I did. Sitting this time in the partially open 'terrace' at the side of the venue I was suddenly surrounded by a large group of Chinese tourists taking photos of each other while drinking large glasses of red wine. They were deliberately putting me in the background of their photos and were smiling at me while making a big show of tasting and sniffing at their wines like true connoisseurs. It was fun in an odd way - we just made gestures at each other and smiled a lot. After they left I asked my waiter what was the deal with me in the photos. As far as he knew, as I was drinking red wine too they wanted to have a 'real Frenchman' in their photos; not knowing, of course, I was just a foreign visitor like themselves. But I digress. On this second visit I was able to have three different dishes and all were executed with fresh ingredients and much care. An 'average' Paris bistro to be sure but a darned good one! They telephoned for a taxi and I can say I was sad to leave. Thank you to all.

The food in hear is really good and the service is good as well can't exactly remember the price but it was what you would usually expect to pay. A good meal to start the week

We have been to Le Coche at our first night in Paris. We were tired and looking for a place which is near to our hotel and we have chosen Le Coche since it seemed cozy and crowded. We had a traditional salad with Camambert cheese, which was delicious. We had entrecôte and we liked it too. We have ordered a cheese plate with wine. It was including 3 types of delicious local cheese. The dessert was an apple pie and we did not like it.