Le Bistro on NCL: Here’s Everything You Need to Know - My Review
Shortly after booking my cruise with Norwegian Cruise Line, I started to receive messages asking where I would be dining while onboard. Numerous people were asking if I’d eat at Le Bistro, the onboard French restaurant, as they were keen to see what I’d think of it. It would be rude not to, right?!
In this review, I’m going to share with you everything you need to know about dining at Le Bistro, including what’s on the menu, what my food was like, how much it costs to dine here and more. I’ll also show you what the venue looks like on a couple of the ships that I’ve cruised on, which will hopefully help you to visualise what the dining experience could be like here on a future cruise.
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Before we get started, I should stress that this review should offer you an insight to this venue on any Norwegian Cruise Line ship, even although I experienced it on Norwegian Breakaway. The menu and the experience should be very similar across the fleet, so don’t worry about your ship offering something completely different! At the point of publishing this post, Le Bistro is available onboard the following ships:
Norwegian Breakaway
Norwegian Bliss
Norwegian Dawn
Norwegian Epic
Norwegian Escape
Norwegian Gem
Norwegian Getaway
Norwegian Jade
Norwegian Jewel
Norwegian Joy
Norwegian Luna
Norwegian Pearl
Norwegian Prima
Norwegian Sky
Norwegian Spirit
Norwegian Star
Norwegian Sun
Norwegian Viva
Norwegian Aqua
I experienced Le Bistro while cruising onboard Norwegian Breakaway, but this review should help you no matter which ship you’re planning to cruise on!
First, where is Le Bistro located?
Le Bistro isn’t like many of the Speciality dining options presented on Norwegian ships that can sometimes share a space with others: this venue feels much more exclusive generally. The exact location is going to depend on which ship you’re travelling on, so I’ll give you the example of Norwegian Breakaway.
On Breakaway, you’ll find Le Bistro on Deck 6 on the ground floor of the circular atrium space. Note: this isn’t the same space as the Main Atrium - it’s just along the corridor from there. As you can see in the below image, this allows Le Bistro to have an incredibly prime spot on the ship, rather than being a venue that’s open as you pass by like some of the others elsewhere onboard, making them more informal.
Le Bistro (left) onboard Norwegian Escape, © Fraser at Sea
What’s the venue like?
Le Bistro is among my favourite dining venues on NCL ships from a decor and design point of view - it’s a great example of where the designers have understood the brief absolutely perfectly.
Stepping inside this restaurant is genuinely like stepping into a boutique and upmarket eatery in central Paris - it’s amazing. Before you even enter, you’re met with other cruisers relaxing outside in the atrium, often sipping a cocktail or a glass of wine before moving inside for their dinner.
One word of warning that I would offer you about the external seating is that this atrium shares a space with the Casino (it’s just one deck up). Due to the open atrium, it’s really common to hear the slot machines, particularly when they activate one of their features. Smoke isn’t an issue here, as the Casino is now non-smoking unless you’re in the sealed-off smoking section, but noise certainly does travel downstairs here.
Once inside, you’re met with a sophisticated space that really discreetly nods to its country of influence: France. You’ll find abstract shots of the Eiffel Tower and other landmarks quietly reminding you where you are, but it’s absolutely not overwhelming like some cruise ship decor can be at times.
The design of this venue on the newer ships is a little different - it’s even more refined feeling than what it is in the above shots.
Here’s an image from Le Bistro onboard Norwegian Luna - it’s a very calming venue, dressed in creams and golds, with some occasional pops of colours through the furnishings and table decor.
Le Bistro's Interior onboard Norwegian Luna, © Fraser at Sea
What’s on the menu, and what’s the food like?
If you’re thinking about dining at Le Bistro on one of your upcoming cruises, then this is probably among the most important aspects of this review. I found the menu in here to be very ‘typically French’, but it also was varied enough that I was able to have plenty of choice.
From a personal point of view, I’m not an overly exotic eater, so I struggle when I dine in restaurants that seem to be catering to a more ‘cultured’ tongue (I’m hoping that terminology makes sense).
Here’s the menu that was presented to me in Le Bistro. Isn’t is a nice touch to have a featured champagne in here? On this point, I really liked the fact that they seem to have partnered with Veuve Clicquot here - a really premium touch!
With six starters and eight main courses, I’m confident that you’re not going to go hungry in here. If you’d like go upgrade from the standard menu to the lobster dish, then you’ll be looking for the ‘Homard Thermidor’, which comes with an additional supplement charge of $25.
I opted to order two starters, one main course and one dessert (I’ll show you the dessert menu shortly), which was met with no issue from my server. I sometimes find that it can be difficult to have a server that accepts multiple starters, but not a single question was asked in here, which was great.
Let’s move on to look at my food…
Escargots a la Bourguignonne, served onboard Norwegian Escape, © Fraser at Sea
Cromesquis De Chevre, served onboard Norwegian Escape, © Fraser at Sea
Filet de Boeuf, served onboard Norwegian Escape, © Fraser at Sea
In terms of quality, Le Bistro really did deliver for my meal.
Norwegian Cruise Line has a very highly regarded steakhouse called Cagney’s onboard their ships, and so to be honest I was a little nervous to be ordering steak at another venue on the ship, but it was one of the most delicious meals that I ate while onboard.
Okay, I’ll be honest - escargot isn’t my usual ‘go to’ on any menu, but that’s one of the things that I really enjoy about cruising - I can order something new and a little ‘out of my comfort zone’, and if I don’t like it then I’ve at least learned that! Luckily for me, these snails were loaded with garlic, making them really difficult to dwell on for too long…!
Moving on to dessert, here’s the menu followed by what I ordered!
Ile Flottante, served onboard Norwegian Escape, © Fraser at Sea
This was probably the simplest part of my meal, but in my defence I’d eaten a lot of food before this point! This dessert was really nice, acted as a strong palate cleanser, and allowed me to leave without being completely over-full - a win-win-win!
How much does it cost to dine at Le Bistro?
Le Bistro is among the most expensive of the Speciality dining options onboard the NCL ships, with a cover charge of $60pp. If you opt to book on the ship, then you’ll also be charged a 20% ‘gratuity and speciality service charge’ of 20%, which will take your booking here to $72 per person. This price is correct at the point of my most recent NCL cruise in April 2026.
I dined here as part of my ‘Free at Sea’ package, which meant that I didn’t pay the gratuity and speciality service charge, and I also didn’t pay any extra for my cover charge - I simply signed for a bill of ‘zero’ at the end of my meal.
Would I recommend dining at Le Bistro during your cruise?
If you’re joining the ship with one of NCL’s dining packages and you’d have a meal here included as a result, then it’s a bit of a no-brainer. The quality of the food was excellent, and I was also overall really impressed with the calibre of the venue in general.
If you’re going to be paying $72pp including the service fee then I guess I’d encourage you to ask yourself the question of whether or not you feel it would offer you value for your money. If I was paying for just myself at that price, I wouldn’t have too much of an issue. Would I feel as though I was getting value for my money if I was paying for 4 people, and our bill was $288? Hmm, I’d need to think about that.
I really hope you’ve enjoyed my review of my experience at Le Bistro. If you’d like to see more from our experience onboard Norwegian Breakaway, check out the below video on YouTube. In this video, I’ll take you on a full and detailed tour of the entire ship, covering every public venue onboard. Beneath that video, you’ll also see lots more Norwegian Cruise Line content that I’ve created right here at FraserAtSea.com!
