Savannah has a new French brasserie, and it’s in one of the prettiest buildings downtown. Le Flâneur is the ground-floor restaurant at Recess Hotel & Club on Johnson Square, at the corner of Congress and Bull. The building was an office tower until recently, and what they’ve done with it is stunning. The second-floor common areas are my favorite part. If you remember the old First City Club overlooking the square, this is what became of that space. The rooftop has a small pool, a great cocktail program, and amazing views of the river and most of downtown. I’m told the rooftop will be closing for this Winter and re-open Valentines Day with Asian bites to include sushi.
However, you should know that you can’t get up there unless you’re a hotel guest or a Club Recess member. It’s private. Recess shares a membership with its sister property, Hotel Bardo on Forsyth Park, so joining one gets you into both. They are both stunning, perhaps the two most beautiful properties in the city, but they are pay to play.
On to dinner. I took my wife there for her birthday about six weeks after they opened. I was rooting for this place. We don’t have a big-city French brasserie in Savannah, and I love the idea of onion soup and steak frites a few blocks from home. The menu is small, and a manager told me it’s staying that way. They’d rather do a few things well, and I have no problem with that.
We started with the French onion soup, Burrata with ham, steak tartare, and Escargot. All good. I was planning to have the Saffron Risotto for my entree, but before I could order it, the kitchen sent one out to the table. Turns out, that was the one miss. It was bland and never delivered on saffron, preserved tomato, and leek. Given the fact that my entree was already in front of us, I quickly pivoted to the cheeseburger ($24). It was small, smaller than most which may bother some people, but not me. It was delicious. I loved it.
My wife’s filet au poivre and frites weren’t what I prefer either. From my seat. a proper steak frite is a huge hanger steak and pile of fries where the steak juices soak into the fries. That’s a preference, not a flaw, and I’ll just dump them on the plate next time. Fries here come in a stainless cone on the side. The 6oz hanger looked good at my neighbors table, but it was maybe a little bigger than a deck of cards.
We skipped dessert, but they have a dessert menu, and brunch too. My wife summed it up best: it was good, but nothing was memorable. I’d say average, and that’s fine for a restaurant six weeks old. The room is too good and there’s too much invested for it to stay that way. I plan to go back this spring for a proper second look. In the meantime, I’d swing by for oysters or mussels and a drink at the bar.
Hear our full review in the podcast embedded above or Apple Pods, Spotify, Amazon Music and Youtube.
If you go before I do, let us know how it went: tips@eatitandlikeit.com
Le Flâneur at Recess Hotel & Club
7 E. Congress St., Savannah, GA 31401
912-680-1970
stayrecess.com/eat-and-drink/le-flaneur
