I can't lie it's a bit hard to find this restaurant using navigation when walking is your mode of transportation, and you're not a native of the city. However, this is a hidden gem you should try. It appears to be a family owned restaurant. Decor is light and seating is sparse, so if you plan to bring a party of 4 or more I'd definitely suggest calling ahead to potentially make a reservation. We also came on an extremely hot day and sadly their A/C system wasn't working so it was on the warmer side. Not unbearable but a bit uncomfortable, so just keep that in mind if that's the case when you show up. What I will say when it comes to the experience and food is that it doesn't get more authentic than this. I asked for a recommendation and was told to order the griot, which was well seasoned and quite large portion size wise. The plate came with a rice of choice, two fried plantain, beans, pikliz and dipping sauce for the meat. Not bad for $20. I ordered to go because I had an event to go to, but can attest that they do a great job of plating their dishes when you dine in. If I'm ever in NYC again I wouldn't mind returning, dining in and hopefully trying something different like their Kalalou or legume which looks incredible. read more

It was the best Haitian food I ate here during my time in New York. I will come next time for sure! Thank you guys! read more

The food was Excellent. Small place not a lot of seats. A lot of people do takeout from here. I ate in. The food is the Star of the show at this place. read more

Le Soleil Brillant Restaurant - Black Rice Griot and pickling - Haitian Near Me - New York, New York

It was my first time having Haitian food. My Haitian friend brought me there. BYOB, no frills, fluorescent lighting, no music - mostly a take-out spot with 4-5 tables and home-style cooking with Haitian staff where English isn't their first language. The food was so good. My favorites were the black mushroom rice and the pikliz; both were spicy. The black mushroom rice was super flavorful and the pikliz paired well with everything. Pikliz is spicy fermented/pickled veggies. I love chicharrones and the Haitian version here is one of the best I've ever had. It's not as heavy as Dominican style chicharrones; my friend said it's lighter because it's braised first. The white rice was also good and we had it with the white bean sauce and Haitian sauce. read more

I've ordered from here a few times. Good has been decent enough to order again but this time it will be my last. I ordered the fowl chicken which was horrible. I've had Haitian food many times and this place is at the bottom of the list. Fowl Chicken was nothing but skin and bones that looked like it was just dropped in hot water. This is by far not the way the chicken should be made. Ordered Mac and cheese. It looked like they gave me what ever scraps were left in the pan and then threw in some potatoes and beets mixture to fill the rest of the container. Rather than say they had no more they took upon themselves to fill in an order to make money. I will Never order from this place and I would say take your chances if you decide to order for yourself. read more

A nice down to earth place to eat. The food was quite delicious, just some what of a language barrier, so be prepared to speak French. The service was a bit slow. But I think it's just a small kitchen and one chef mostly. Overall not a bad spot, I would go again another day. read more

Le Soleil Brillant Restaurant - Stew Red Snapper - Haitian Near Me - New York, New York

Happy that this restaurant is in Manhattan. The workers are Haitian. The food is truly amazing. I've e been coming here for some years now. This time in particular a friend picked me up some food from here and brought it to me. I ordered Legume and Diri Kole (rice and beans). It cost $20 and they also included a small portion of macaroni au gratin and potato salad with 2 piece sweet plantain and 2 piece green plantain. Food was good def always going to support this restaurant because it's the closest to me since I live in the Bronx. read more

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Haitian restaurants aren't exactly saturating the NYC food scene, so I'll take what I can get--esp. when it's this conveniently located in Midtown. Yes, service is a one-person show, and the kitchen is a one-cook show, but that's to be expected for mom 'n' pop shops. Everything we had was scrumptious. The Fried Goat came with dipping jus, but it was so perfectly fried that it wasn't needed. The Red Snapper in Sauce was bony but delicious, all soaked up in tomato goodness. Even our sides of rice and beans, salad (spicy diced vegetables) and plantains were on point, though I wish they'd given more than just two slices of plantains per person. Our passionfruit juice wasn't fresh but still tasted great, and was generously sized to boot. If you can speak any French, that'll help, as our server was most definitely Haitian. Pro tip: "L'addition" means the bill. read more

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Went here yesterday 8/2/25. The food and service was horrible. The fish wasn't fresh and rice was hard enough to break a tooth. The server and service was trash. I use to eat at this place almost every day almost 18 years ago I thought the food and service would be just as great it use to be, but no it was terrible and unwelcoming. They lady with slightly blond hair was very rude and doesn't understand how to accommodate customers. read more

Le Soleil Brillant Restaurant - Haitian Near Me - New York, New York

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Ok, this family restaurant makes delicious Haitian food. I got the goat stew and black rice, and I devoured the entire meal over two days (we love large portions). I'll definitely be back for the easy and quick Haitian food experience. read more

The food quality matched the price, leaving me content with my choice. The staff here offers both friendly faces and assistance. Prices are set at a reasonable level. The products they use taste noticeably fresh. Our return is a certainty. read more

Once you try it, you'll want to come back soon. The prices won't shock you, the service pleases, and the food impresses. The workers here combine knowledge with genuine warmth. The dishes maintained standards, make no mistake. Our group will remember this place fondly. read more

Really great experience at Le Soleil and my first time trying Haitian food. It's very comfortable inside and pretty casual. There were plenty of people coming in for takeout orders. The waiter was nice and the other customers seemed very friendly with him. I ordered the codfish, which came with a ton of rice and beans and 2 plantains. We also ordered 2 akra to try. It took a little while to bring everything out, but definitely worth the wait. Everything was super flavorful. At one point I was just spooning to sauce/oil(?) from my fish onto my rice and eating it. The plantains were also great and, again, I was happy to dip it into my sauce. Next time I'd like to try the vegetables/legumes! read more

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I only learned about this place through a wrong turn. The team shows attentiveness, offers answers readily and performs exceptionally. The food pairs ingredients in clever ways. Their dishes combine good looks with good taste. I shared my praise for this place. read more

So happy that this legendary spot is still around. I had a craving for Haitian food and got a platter of griot, rice and beans, and plantains. As an appetizer, I ordered 2 pieces of akra. The akra were crispy and not greasy and all the food's flavor and heat balance was very good. Only complaint was that a green salad was not available the day that I went. read more

Le Soleil Brillant Restaurant - Griot, banane peze, pikliz, sos - Haitian Near Me - New York, New York

This is one of the few Haitian restaurants that exists in Manhattan. It's been around for at least 15 years though it's changed owners multiple times. The service here is awful. Water which is a standard served at any sit down restaurant in the city (tap - served at no charge) vs bottled (served at a cost) is customary and usually offered once your party is seated. This is not the case at le soleil. The owner is also the hostess, the waiter, general manager all balled in one. We arrived as a party of 4 when there was no one else in the restaurant. No water is offered. Unless you select your beverage from the fridge in back yourself, you'll not have anything. The food used to be plentiful and good quality but now it's just average. The Accra and plantains are a must and is very well made. Variety in the menu and efficiency of how the restaurant is run is poor. I know they could do better! read more

I went there with my family of 10. Everyone received their food except my mother and I. We were very patient because we were having a great time. Everyone finished eating and I STILL hadn't received my food. He said he forgot to put my order in. I asked for the food to go..... unfortunately, they ran out of the rice I ordered, salad rouse, and fried plantain and expected me to pay for my order. When we disputed the charge, he said he already made the plate and I had to pay for it! read more

I came here with a friend to try a cuisine that is not common in this part of the city - Haitian food. The restaurant is not fancy and is a humble, family run establishment with six tables inside. It is located in a quieter part of Hell Kitchen's and was not crowded whatsoever. The food was not bad at all, but could have been better. The rice and beans were cooked well and probably the best part of the meal. For our entrees, we had griot (fried pork) and red snapper. The griot had a nice flavor to it and was well seasoned. However, the meat was a little too dry for my tastes. The red snapper was the better of the two and juicier. Both entrees though were small in portion size in regards to the protein given. If I was to try Haitian food again, I'd probably go to Flatbush or Crown Heights where the prices are smaller and portions larger. read more

This photo is of my lunch which was the black rice leftovers. I had the most delicious dinner last night - the Red Snapper was perfectly seasoned. The black rice was incredible, and I wish I'd gone bigger on the fish! The service was excellent, the passion fruit juice was a great touch. Highly recommend! read more

Le Soleil Brillant Restaurant - Left over black rice - Haitian Near Me - New York, New York

I went here a couple months ago with 3 others I believe so my memory is slightly foggy but I think I remember everything that was ordered. Anyway, this is a small little place in an odd little part of Midtown West/Hell's Kitchen. The man who gave the service here is quite friendly and the menu as noted by others was missing a few things (the conch which I don't mind as it was the priciest thing on the menu and some other stuff.) I'd highly recommend calling prior in case your going as stuff here is made fresh. The food overall was very tasty and I'd recommend going here if you're looking for a more quiet Haitian meal unlike places such as Rebel as it was slightly cheaper and some dishes were just a lot better. We started with the acra which were a fried root vegetable. The vegetable was malanga which turns out to be taro in other places and it was a tasty fry with not too much breading. To add flavor, there was a side of pikliz; a spicy slaw of scotch bonnets and onions (and or other vegetables judging by the other spot I went to) which helped with the richness. As mains, we ordered the fried goat, fried pork, calalou, and the daily vegetable. All of these were served with sides and we went with rice as well as fried plantains. Fried goat / tassot cabrit served with pikliz, rice, and fried banana/banan peze. This was the favorite of the table. The goat was fried but also very tender and there was wonderful flavors built in. I would recommend this one highly. Fried pork/ griot served with pikliz, rice, and fried banana. This was also good and a lot better than the version I had at the other place. There was a good mix of fatty and nonfatty pieces and the pork had a nice flavor. Just like the goat, it is also recommended though I think the goat is better (more of a fan of fried goat though so take it with a grain of salt.) Stewed goat with okra/Calalou. I'm assuming this is similar to callaloo in other countries nearby albeit those were vegetarian. This dish was noted that it would take a bit longer which we didn't mind. The goat was very tender and again the flavors were quite nice. Also recommended. Daily vegetable/stewed legumes with beef: I was surprised to see that there was beef in this dish but the beef was tasty. The texture was maybe a bit too soft otherwise and the flavors were lighter than the calalou. This was the least favorite of the table but by no means bad. In terms of sides, the fried bananas were fine and the rice was good but unfortunately, this spot didn't have djon djon/black mushroom rice for me to compare. There was also a side sauce with some onions which went well over rice. The food overall was tasty and the people were nice. Just call to confirm what they have though I almost prefer a place that makes everything fresh and when stuff is out, it's out instead of it being around daily and not tasting as good. Good spot. Would recommend and I apologize for the late late review. read more

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Used to live in Miami and have ate at many Haitian restaurants. This one is better than most I've been to. Very flavorful and fresh. Especially liked the stew chicken with black rice and griot. The rice and beans and legume were good as well. Will definitely be back! Service was fine. The cashier spoke limited English but we were still able to order okay. Ambiance: hole in the wall vibes. There are a few tables to eat at but we took our food to go. read more

Le Soleil Brillant Restaurant - Griot - Haitian Near Me - New York, New York

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Dined here wit a couple of friends on a Thursday night. The place was empty when we arrived and there's one person to greet you when you come in. Our waitress was really nice and went over the menu with my friend and I. Each day there's a special plus a selection of specific foods that they've cooked for the day. So when I went there was legume (vegetables), turkey stew, and beef (which they ran out of). In addition to the daily special there are some other specials on the back of the menu you can order. The downside with their menu is that you cannot order all of the other things listed on the other days. We wanted a side of Akra and patat but they ran out or didn't cook that for the day. We really wanted their Mac but they also were out of that; pretty disappointing. They offer a kids menu but I was told they actually don't provide the food that's actually listed on the kids menu yet which was confusing. Like, why have it listed of you can't serve it? Anywho! The food itself was great! The prices were average for a typical haitian restaurant; between $14 and $25. I would definitely call in advance if I were to visit again to make sure they have the foods I would want. read more

Le Soleil Brillant Restaurant - Legume, diri blanc (whit rice), and sos pwa nwa (black bean sauce/gravy) - Haitian Near Me - New York, New York

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Very disappointed in my delivery order today. This is my second time ordering from Le Soleil and the first time it was so nice. Today I was served what looks to be AT LEAST one day old food, rancid pikliz(that they charge you $2 extra for btw) and old uncrisp banan. I get that they may not have much knowledgeable patronage in the area but I'm a Caribbean woman from Miami Florida. I have PLENTY of Haitian friends and a restaurant serving you days old food for $30 is a disgrace! Macaroni was just burnt crust, barely lukewarm, banan cold and soggy. Shame on them for this! Ou pa wont!!!! read more

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If you haven't had Haitian food yet, you are doing yourself a disservice. I occasionally remember to take pictures of my food, but today was not one of those days. Lambi (conch) with Diri Djon Djon (black mushroom rice) read more

Le Soleil Brillant Restaurant - Lambi - Haitian Near Me - New York, New York

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PROS 1. The Accras was delicious and huge. 2. Rice and Beans was cooked well. 3. Turkey Stew was delicious. 4. The Fried Chicken was cooked well but needs more flavor.. 5. Friendly staff. read more

I don't like giving bad reviews but it needed to be done. I spent 40$ on DoorDash for very bad quality of food. I ordered the pumpkin soup that was just bone and broth. No meat and one potato you would think a Haitian restaurant would master the soup joumou instead I was disappointed. I ordered the legume with rice and beans the legume was flavorful but one piece of meat. The rice was cold overall my experience wasn't good at all. Never again. read more

Le Soleil Brillant Restaurant - Pumpkin Pumkin soup (where's the noodles, carrots, cabbage) just bone. No meat - Haitian Near Me - New York, New York

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This restaurant is not what it used to be but still okay. Many years back it was Great. I came here with my daughters and a friend. The service is so s.....l........o......w. It was always slow my gosh! I could have ran circles around the waitress. The lady is sweet but please hire someone who is a professional waitress. You do not realize how much business you are losing with the slow service. Other than that the food that I had was good to me. My daughters ordered white rice and white bean puree, plantains Accra and Haitian Mac and cheese. My girls are vegetarian not meat eaters. Why did they cook the Haitian Mac and cheese with shredded chicken in it? Since when is Mac and cheese cooked with chicken in it? I didn't understand that. It was a first for me, we sent it back. If you are going to add meat you must state it on the menu. The other stuff my girls loved. I always stick with djon djon or white rice and beans puree, legume which is vegetable stew with side of plantains and fresh juice. I don't eat dead flesh so that's as good as it will get for me as far as vegan food. My friend was highly disappointed with her conch meal. She said that her conch was not good and it was cold by the time they bought the other stuff to go with it. She never got her drink. She ended up canceling it. We got our drinks probably when we were almost done with our food. I don't mind Haitian CP time as long as the food is good. My friend ended up taking her food and giving it to a homeless man near the restaurant by the bus stop. We went into a store and came back out the food was on the ground in the street. read more

Le Soleil Brillant Restaurant - Legume (vegetable stew and djon djon (haitian black rice) - Haitian Near Me - New York, New York

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Food was great and the service was excellent. I recommend anyone to go check it out themselves.

appreciate comfort food after work especially since I dont have time to cook traditional comfort food style. The pork rice beans with added sauce and the other order of legumes with rice was filling. Will order again. Also for the area, this type of food adds to varieties of different selection of other ethnic foods in midtown Manhattan read more

sorry, this is the wrong place and I couldn't cancel the post. I have to do 85 characters.

The food is amazing, the service is excellent, but it just takes too long for the food. Make sure you order way in advance and expect 30 minutes on top of that. Definitely worth the wait. Wish they can produce food a lot faster. read more

I brought a group here for our collaborative, and the food was incredible. Try the black rice! The staff was also very friendly. We received large portions (and took some to go) for a great price. The whole restaurant had a home cooked / family feel to it. I'm definitely coming back! read more

Visiting from Georgia, I was quite pleased with the taste of the food here. The rice was very good,meat was also flavorful. My wife had the fried goat which was a mistake. Not the fault of the restaurant but I refuse to buy goat from any place unless it was killed fresh that week. Goat now has no goat taste. Portions could be a bit bigger, overall we really enjoyed out meals. read more

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I've never been a huge fan of "Caribbean" food, but just recently my cousin introduced me to the subset of "Haitian" food. As in, he recently moved to Baltimore and was here visiting for the weekend and 2 hours before his bus is scheduled to leave he MUST drive up to 57th street to grab some Haitian food from this spot specifically before he returned home. All this for some Haitian food? So we pick up his food, make our way back downtown to my mom's and I almost made the mistake of stopping by the local Chinese spot on my way home, before trying some of his black rice and beans and griot. I dunno if it was my hunger or what but my sampling was packed with flavor without being too spicy and the fatty pieces of pork were deliciously succulent. The place was set to close in 40 minutes so I placed a phone order for my own plate and raced up there a 2nd time, arriving 12 minutes before closing. Ahh, the satisfaction. I looked forward to the leftovers too. Omnomomnomnom. read more

I've ordered here a few times. Good Haitian food. Only place in Hell's Kitchen that I know of. The goat is so good. It's really tender. The rice and beans, boulèt ( meatballs), sós pwa blan ( white bean sauce), pikliz are good. The macaroni and cheese is traditional Haitian style and is good as well. It's not the soul food style The cow foot was tough no flavor, and didn't like at all. Will still order from there since everything else is good. read more

Apparently there used to be a sizeable Haitian population in this corner of Hell's Kitchen, and Le Soleil is the sole remaining survivor of this ethnic enclave. After much reading on Haitian cuisine, we were going to order the griot and lambi. Unfortunately, these entrees were not available on the day we came to Le Soleil for lunch. Instead, we had the goat and legumes. Both were amazingly flavorful. Even better were the rice and peas. Highly recommended, and we will return for the griot and lambi. read more

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I came with a friend for dinner. I learned that some dishes are excellent, while others are not. For instance, the oxtail stew my friend ordered was great - the meat was very tender and flavorful. However, the pork chop I ordered was very dry and hard. I would come back for the oxtail and possibly explore other options that may be good for takeouts, but I would probably never eat in here again because the employees were having a shouting match. The ladies who served us were very pleasant and gave us recommendations. However, some employees were fighting in the background, near the kitchen, and it was so loud and sounded violent that it ruined the dining experience. read more

It's not often I find a good Haitien restaurant, and this restaurant reminded me a lot of my home cooking growing up

Hands down the best Haitian food I've ever had! FULL OF SO MUCH FLAVOR; my boyfriend and I love this place; we usually get our orders to go and love how this is right here in the heart of Midtown; the griot is flavorful and juicy as well as the fried chicken; both the white rice and the mixed rice taste great those; their passion fruit drink is juice is great if you're into sweet fruity drinks. The customer service was great and the staff was humble; for us it's a hidden gem in the city; If you love authentic Caribbean food with tons of flavor then come HERE!! For us the food is always on point! highly recommend! read more

Great food. I believe on my own cuisine. If I tell you food was great . Believe me. If only there weren't over 3K miles away. See you when I back in NY. Lunie from Miami read more