The Paris Cafe: $2.50 Oysters and $17 Tartare in a Seaport Brasserie From 1873
The Paris Cafe’s happy hour runs Wednesday through Saturday, 5 to 7pm, at 119 South Street in the South Street Seaport: $2.50 oysters, $4 tiger shrimp, $6 draft beer, $9 house wine, $12 cocktails and a $17 beef tartare. The restaurant dates itself to 1873, which puts it among the oldest brasseries in the city, and it’s now run by Opus Hospitality.
The verdict: come for the food. Beef tartare is $30 on the dinner menu and $17 from 5 to 7. French onion soup drops from $25 to $16. Oysters go from $3.50 to $2.50 apiece. A $12 cocktail du jour against an $18 house cocktail list is fair, too. The catch is the calendar — four nights, two hours, and the place is closed Monday and Tuesday, so it won’t save your Monday.
The Happy Hour
The menu is called Rendezvous le Cinq à Sept and it runs Wednesday through Saturday, 5–7pm. Prices are from The Paris Cafe’s own menu, and the days were confirmed by the restaurant in October 2026. Food: local oysters $2.50 each (usually $3.50), tiger shrimp cocktail $4 each, a $14 snack tray of olives, herb-butter popcorn and spiced almonds, $9 house frites, $16 French onion soup (usually $25), and $17 for the beef tartare (usually $30), heirloom tomato stracciatella (usually $22) or petit burger. Drinks: $6 12oz drafts (Allagash White, Southern Tier Pumpkin Ale, Von Trapp Pilsner, Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro), $9 house wine by the glass or $40 a bottle, and $12 for the Alpine Citrus Vacation Spritz or a rotating cocktail du jour, against $18 for the regular house cocktails. The beer list shifts with the seasons, so confirm current pricing if you are coming for a specific pour.
The Room
The Paris Cafe sits at 119 South Street, on the corner of Peck Slip. The dinner menu is straight French brasserie — steak frites au poivre at $58, moules frites at $38, escargot at $29 — which is why the 5–7 menu matters: it’s the cheap way into the same kitchen. Fulton Street station (A, C, J, Z, 2, 3, 4, 5) is the closest subway.
Who The Paris Cafe Is For
| Occasion | Why It Works |
|---|---|
| Oysters after work | $2.50 oysters, Wednesday–Saturday 5–7pm |
| A cheap way into a French kitchen | $17 beef tartare, $30 at dinner |
| Beer drinkers | $6 12oz drafts, four on the list |
| Weekend brunch | Saturday and Sunday from 11am |