The food, service and ambiance were amazing!! 5 stars! First time at this restaurant tonight and we loved it! We had 2 items from the specials-Lentil soup with carrots and smoked ham was the best lentil soup I've ever had. My husband had the 28 day aged Prime Ribeye steak with homemade steak sauce, crispy potato croquettes and glazed carrots. We also had the French Onion Soup and PAN SEARED BRANZINO with butternut squash purée, escarole, fingerling potatoes, Moroccan olives, beurre rouge-to die for!!! The fresh bread with whipped ricotta and scallions was also a winner!! We will be back!! read more

Our waiter was distant. He would appear a bit every 20 mins. Dinner took over 2 hours for two courses. Service was so slow it ruined the experience. Waited 15 mins to order drinks. Another 15 to get the drinks. Also, one of the waitresses was wearing a bandana as a mask. Not cool. Waiting for the check was a whole story in itself. The food however was amazing. read more

Been eating here for years the food is phenomenal and the owner Marty is always accommodating and goes above and beyond. Always consistent and true French origins. Not a pretentious place at all. read more

Extremely busy little bistro. Ordered take out, but definitely looks like a place to sit, drink and eat some excellent French-ish food. Delicious food - croque monsieur reminded me of my time in Paris. The ONLY reason this is a 4 and not a 5 is because whoever answered the phone wasn't as welcoming as I had hoped. When I arrived, I was immediately helped, but again, not many smiles. It was super busy and very muggy, so I'm guessing that had something to do with it. Overall, great experience and definitely will try again. Delicious food, without a doubt. read more

Got salads for take out while working. 2 caesars, one with salmon and other with chicken. The salads were so small and the chicken was burnt and very dry. Piece of salmon was nice ..... BUT... these TWO lunch salads with nothing else rang up at $53!!! Are you kidding me? I wanted to take them back but was already at office and hungry so choked it down. Pathetic! read more

Martel Restaurant - Tiny salad with burnt dry chicken. - French Near Me - Fairfield, Connecticut

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This is a really nice restaurant, only 5 minutes from our new home. The ambiance is warm and friendly, and the staff both nice and competent. The food is very good indeed, reminiscent of the French food I used to eat while living in France as a kid many years ago. A very nice place to go for a great dinner to cap a good day. read more

Don't even think about sharing your disappointment about the horrendous service and amateur hour food, the manager won't have it. He'll tell you to take your service elsewhere. I've never run a restaurant so I don't know what it takes to be successful, but I don't think customers should be told off for sending back undercooked chicken. read more

Fabulous Food - Superb Service - Extraordinary Experience! We have had both lunch and dinner at Martel. Both were wonderful! Our last visit was for a late lunch. Paul was our server. We left him a generous gratuity for his engaging welcome, menu assistance and some very funny jokes and comments. Marco, the Manager was also engaging and helped us feel at home. Our lunch was perfect, as was the dinner we enjoyed recently. The Sancerre wine was tasty and our lunch salads and smoked salmon really were super. We HIGHLY recommend Martel for lunch or dinner. i & p read more

It's really just not that good. The menu is very great and the dishes are properly portioned but the way the food is actually served isn't that appetizing. The steak frites... the steak was so tough I couldn't eat two slices of It therefor out of the four I only ate two. The truffle spread which comes with the fries is more of a thick butter and I am assuming they are passing this off as aioli. I don't know the food to me was just dumb. How do you serve a onion soup with hard crust in a burning hot bowl.. am i supposed to eat it with my hands ..? The whole dinner had a good taste but the quality check and sense really was not present . read more

Went for NYE and was happy to be able to make reservations. The menu was prix fixe. No regular menu available. Add to that that it's relatively early (currently 8:30PM) and they have run out of 50% of their main course choices: filet mignon and halibut. My date is vegetarian and the only option on the menu was halibut, which they had run out of - I'm sure she wasn't the only unhappy vegetarian there tonight. The kitchen ended up substituting in scallops, otherwise we probably wouldn't found a different restaurant. I ended up getting the lamb rack - pretty good. Lobster bisque was pretty good. All in all, not impressed - I might give it another shot in a few months. But I am definitely not recommending it for NYE. read more

Martel Restaurant - NYE is prix fixe. No regular menu available. - French Near Me - Fairfield, Connecticut

Great little eating venue. A bit cozy and plain, but that's not why we are here. Food was excellent- Coquette St Jacque/ broiled trout. Drinks were delightfully over sized. Priced as you would expect for this area. Some of the servers have communication issues, but they work it out. read more

I've been going to Martel for years and I love the food and staff. Marty is extremely passionate about what he does. The restaurant is his life and all their food is phenomenal! I love the staff. Marco his right hand man is great and so is the rest of the staff. Always appreciate Paul Panettiere who is great and extremely helpful. Great place to go for everyone! read more

Large party to celebrate event, food was good but very slow. Servers and male manager not friendly and it was if we were bothering them. Definitely put a damper an a joyous occasion!!! . read more

We were in Westport for an errand and a friend recommended Martel. It was a little awkward at first - the space is very small and when you walk in, you walk into the bar. There's no clear place to check in with a host, but I think they could tell we were looking for a table and seated us. We were very close to the tables on either side of us (so much so we felt like we were involved in conversations about what happens to your body after you're buried and whether another woman's grandson should be circumcised) but it was pretty entertaining anyway. The food was delicious, though. My partner got a delicious Caesar and Duck Confit. I got the lobster risotto. The Duck was perfectly cooked - very tender and it literally fell off the bone. The lobster risotto was a hit with me because it came in two sizes and I got the smaller one. There was so much lobster, I couldn't believe it. The flavor was great - I had it for lunch the next day and enjoyed it just as much. The waitstaff was kind and boxed leftovers up on the way out it was hard to get though the dining room because of how close together the tables are - but we'll be back because dang was that good! read more

I've been dining at Martel's for years but am finally giving up on it. We have been excusing awful service because we "like" the place and the menu, but enough is enough. Service last evening was terrible and the food was mediocre. We waited quite some time to be seated and once we were we didn't see our waiter for probably 15 minutes. Then our drinks took another 10-15 minutes to arrive. The food actually was served in a timely manner. However, the chicken dish that three of the four of us ordered was overdone and barely passable. I am saddened to have to write this negative review. read more

Gave Martels a couple tries this summer, the first very average and the 2nd below average. The most recent ordered steak frites , the steak came raw and room temperature, sent back to be cooked to medium and came back well done. Ate it at that point, meat very gristled and poor quality, fries soft and greasy. Another at the table ordered a very ordinary roasted chicken with creamed spinach that was mostly cream and lumpy starch. Think they need a team meeting to get this place back up to par. read more

Never disappoints! I've been to Martels quite a few times as it's one of my most favorite restaurants in Fairfield. I always get a great meal. I recently went for lunch and had the Cuban sandwich and one of their martinis!! Yummmmmm on both. My friends also really enjoyed their meals as well. Martels always pulls though with great food, service and there's always a buzz in the air. If you haven't tired this quaint little restaurant I highly recommend. Also love sitting at the bar but it's very hard to get a seat on a busy night. read more

Just spent $53 for dinner at Martel. I had a tuna burger with lettuce and tomato--no fries, no salad and a side order of broccoli rabe and 1 glass of the house white. The bun overpowered the tuna burger and was definitely not worth the $23 price tag. Cappuccino was bitter, probably made with stale coffee. I have enjoyed many a meal here, but current prices and portion sizes have definitely made for a less desirable experience. Restaurants that want to remain relevant and profitable need to offer more value for the $. You can do better Martel. read more

This is probably one of the best restaurants I have been fortunate to enjoy ... Besides the cool atmosphere-- the food is off the planet !!!! From hanging with friends and having a great space ---to look into weekly a place that I would visit every week For a comfort zone I could never go wrong !!! The owner Marty is amazing --- the specials Are Michelin 3 star !!! read more

Wow! Amazing first experience. My boyfriend & I had dinner here on Saturday Oct 31, as my early birthday treat. And it sure was. We initially got sat at a table near the main bar right next to the front door, which I wasn't too pleased about being the door was being constantly opened and it was a cold night. As soon as our waiter (Robert) came over we asked him if we could possibly be moved and of course he went over and accommodated us at another table in the main dinning room. We started the night off with the grilled calamari appetizer. The calamari was cooked to perfection and the balsamic syrup over the arugula was to die for. I had to ask for bread so we can dip it in the glaze! Followed by the Martel Salad!! Which was amazing as well; the array of colors in the salad made it look very appealing, and the great taste followed. Clearly these items were so delicious we dug right in & I didn't get a chance to get a picture. Lol. For the main course I ordered the pan seared Branzino, which I don't regret. It is served with a butternut squash purée, Swiss chard, fingerling potatoes, Moroccan olives, and beurre rouge (red butter). My boyfriend had an item off the specials that night. A braised short rib with mash potatoes, mushrooms, and carrots. He was impressed. We each had to have some of each others dishes as both dishes were just simply amazing. Now for dessert!! This was a hard one. We were stuck between the crème brûlée, mixed berry shortcake, and the coconut layer cake. We asked our lovely waiter to surprise us from those choices. He brought out the mixed berry short cake, once again... not disappointed! He said it was his favorite, and it was my top choice! We will definitely be returning, and hope to have the pleasure of dinning with Robert once again. He was super knowledgeable on all food items, very attentive, and made the experience worth the while! Thanks for a great birthday dinner Martel's!! See you soon. read more

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Martel has been on my Fairfield A-list restaurant group for a while. The food they produce is superb. From their soups to braised short ribs, every dish is assembled together wonderfully. The staff is friendly, and the location/setting is lovely. read more

Great spot for solid food! Fantastic cocktails and consistently great cuisine. A must in the area!!

Great food every time I eat at Martels. Ordered food: trout almandine was delightful, great veggies underneath. Next dish was the braised beef sandwich, which was an upscale version of a Steak and cheese...delicious. The last dish was the tuna burger which looked good, but not my thing, sister-in-law loved it. My only complaint, I forget every time not to order the ice tea, its not fresh it appears to be powdered and very lemony. read more

Great neighborhood place. Doesn't take reservations so get there early. Great chicken pot pie!

The food is easily four star. I ordered Beet & Goat cheese salad. Why? Because I like the aforementioned beets and goat cheese. Most places don't seem to get that, but Martel does. LOTS of beets, LOTS of goat cheese. Rock on. For dinner, the Duck Sheppard's pie. Very tasty, though a little light on the veggies. I also had a samples of the Little Neck Clam appetizer and Pork Milanese entree. The broth was excellent, and the clams were tender. Very nice. The breading on the pork was intriguing...just a little different in a good way. I really like when a restaurant makes a dish their own, without getting too crazy. So...why three stars? The service. A little distant, and rather amateurish. Like vinyl seats in a luxury car. I ordered Armagnac after dinner. The server heard Grand Marnier. He just had an edge to him about the whole thing, it was off-putting. Then the check comes. Grand Marnier for $10.50 instead of Armagnac for $9.00. "Excuse me, I had Armagnac. It's less expensive." "No, I didn't change it because they are the same price." "No, the Armagnac is $9.00." "No, they are the same price." "Go get a menu please." ...the Armagnac was $9.00 ... As I said, amateurish. read more

My girlfriend lives in Fairfield, CT. I'm from the South! And she kept talking about this place Martel and it didn't disappoint. I wanted to take her on a nice dinner while I was there to express my love for her! Bc she's amazing in every way. Anyway... Martel is the best dinner I've ever had. LITERALLY THE BEST. Ww got the fondue for the app. Cesar salad. I had the duck for my entree and it was amazing! Ending our meal with the apple tarts side of ice cream was amazing. Please do yourself a favor and eat here and support your local French bistro. read more

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We frequent this restaurant often. Unfortunately I had an awful experience recently. We waited 1 hour plus for our order, our waitress claimed it was due to a lot of to go orders after not checking on us for 30 min. Finally my husband had to leave with the baby because we couldn't wait any longer. We finally got our meal and had to get my husbands to go- they came over and asked how everything was, I said not great. Instead of asking why she just offered a dessert menu. After dinner I asked to speak with a manager. He asked who my server was and that takeout "wasn't that busy". I explained what happened and he said "oh hope it doesn't happen again". I told him we unfortunately will not be coming back even though we love the place... he said "well that's up to you". I am a very reasonable and rational person who frequents this place often. All I wanted was and apology but all I got was straight attitude. I will bit be returning. read more

I really like this place. It's got a fun atmosphere, bar in front table seating in back, which makes it a bit on the louder side but not bothersome. Love the feel and the decoration really makes you feel like you're in a metropolitan city rather than Fairfield county. The food is delicious - a highlight would be the chicken pot pie for dinner and the bourbon bread pudding for dessert. If you're in the mood for lighter fair, the panzanella salad hits the spot. The only slightly negative thing is vegetarians don't have as many options as other places in town. Overall a great experience in both service and food. read more

The food has a depth that sets it above other restaurants. For instance, today the special was New England clam chowder. Best ever. The chicken pot pie is tremendous. My wife says the Bistro Burger is the best cheeseburger she's ever had. Martel never fails. Paul's a great waiter and his music selections are really cool. read more

My mom and I went for brunch last weekend and we were both pleasantly surprised. While it is a small tight space, I think they do a good job of trying to accommodate guests. We decided to sit at the bar. I had a pomegranate cocktail off the menu named "La Luna" and it was absolutely delicious and came in a fun glass. I was a little disappointed, however, that this cocktail cost more than my actual meal. For my meal I had the crepes filled with brie, apple, and prosciutto. While this was delicious, my only complaint was that the ingredients were not layered well or really at all. One corner of the crepe was packed with prosciutto, another corner with brie, and the other corner with apple. I found myself having to fish around to get each component into one bite. But once I did get a little bit of brie, apple, and prosciutto on my fork it was a delicious bite! The service was pretty average overall. I felt that the bartender had a bit of trouble trying to communicate with the other servers and pour drinks at the same time (causing us to wait a little longer than normal for our drinks) but her upbeat attitude and friendliness made up for the wait. We will be back to try some other items! read more

Martel Restaurant - Crepes - French Near Me - Fairfield, Connecticut

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My husband and I went here for lunch based upon a recommendation from a friend. The parking lot was crowded which was a good sign. The atmosphere was clean, relaxing and reflected understated elegance. We were greeted immediately and received consistent service the entire meal. My husband started with the tomato and pureed eggplant soup- amazing. It was creamy and rich and had the perfect amount of spice. I ordered the bistro steak frites with garlic chive butter. The steak was so tender I could cut it with a fork and the chive butter melting on top of it just added to the already marinated flavor. My husband ordered the braised beef sandwich that had fontina cheese, horseradish and peppers on top. He said it was the best sandwich he has ever eaten. I took a bite and was completely in agreement. It was tender and smoky and cheesy. It had all of the components of a delicious beef sandwich. We thought we were completely stuffed and we were but the dessert menu was presented to us and I figured I would just "try a bite." We ordered the beignets with powdered sugar and chocolate sauce. I never had a beignet- they were these delicious balls that were crispy on the outside and airy and light on the inside. Something about the warm crisp exterior and the cool drizzled chocolate sauce.....we ate all 8 of them. I felt disgustingly stuffed after but it was so worth it. read more

The owner's defensive response to my review is exactly the poor judgement and appalling behavior I witnessed that evening. A simple, "I'm sorry you saw it that way, bystander, we'll try better next time" would have been more appropriate. Yikes! I wasn't a member of that party, and I'm sure all 10 guests of that party will post their own reviews. read more

Stumbled in this past weekend after driving by on the post road for the last 2 years and was pleasantly surprised. The space is small and tight with a separate bar area in the front. Cozy and a bit on the loud side (which I like) when it filled up. Cocktails and wine pours are pricey but very generous - so it evens out. Menu was very nice - a good variety. We split a Martel salad and steamed mussels. Both were above average. We also split the black fish special which was prepared perfectly. No dessert but enjoyed a second generous glass of wine. Busy spot overall. Glad I finally went! read more

Amongst our favorite restaurants. Everything is very fresh. Personal favorites are the Burrata Salad with Arugala and Chutney. It's not on the menu, it was a special unfortunately, but Wow was that good. My wife loves the Meat Loaf. Mine is the Steak Frites Au Poivre with Haricots Vertes in place of fries. The Mac n Cheese is sensational as well. Great Seafood too and Drinks as well. Ok, updating review. 40 meals in and never a bad one. We've had the burgers which are excellent, the Croque Monsieur, excellent, and WOW the Braised Beef Sandwich with Fontina Cheese & Horseradish Mayo is unreal. Outstanding Food !!! Simply stated, if you were a Billionaire, I couldn't imagine you being able to eat any better. Wonderful food !! read more

One of the best restaurants in Fairfield and on our list of favorite go-to's. They don't take reservations so we always build in a little wait time which is a great way to enjoy the lively bar and have a drink before dinner. The cocktail glasses are large and the pours are heavy. Food is always great and the atmosphere is very french. Service is attentive and professional. It's a great place for a spontaneous weeknight dinner or a special occasion. read more

Been coming here for years. A French bistro feel. Food consistently good...my favorite is the lobster salad. We never feel rushed which is wonderful since their wine by the glass selection is wonderful and the pour is generous. read more

I had fond memories of this restaurant from previous visits some years ago and was excited to stop by for lunch the other day. It was so disappointing. Service was fine, salads we ordered as appetizers were good however my entree -- steak au poivre -- was inedible, so tough and chewy. I did not touch the steak or eat any portion of it. Despite this, the waiter or staff never asked if there was any issue with my meal, they just cleared the full plate away (yes my bad for not speaking up or sending the meal back). Small things like asking if we'd like more iced tea and when we replied yes, no refill but a whole new ice tea appeared for a new charge. Just an overall lackluster meal and disappointing experience from a place that used to be so good. We won't be back. read more

Authentic French bistro with a wonderful ambience. Service is excellent, food to match and owner Marty Levine, usually on site, is extremely attentive and engaging. Lively bar scene and top notch bar tenders. No better place for an informal dinner and drinks in the area. And $1 oysters before 6:00 pm except on Saturdays. read more

The food was fantastic! We went for lunch and everything was delicious. However, docking 2 stars because it took an hour from the time we ordered to the time we got our food. read more

We had dinner there this evening. 4 people. 3 of the dinners were fine. I ordered a sea bass special that was very rubbery and lacking in taste. The waitress asked us how our dinners were and I gave her my feedback. Nothing was done to address my feedback. As we left the restaurant my wife spoke to the owner or manager to register our feedback. He reacted very rudely and aggressively to her. I then tried to speak with him and he was equally aggressive and angry. There are lots of other options locally and we will not be back to Martels again while this owner/manager is there. No excuse for being so aggressive, rude and creating a very u comfortable atmosphere. By the way, we tipped the server 20% as she was clearly not empowered to address our feedback. read more