Anyone familiar with L'Ami Louis? Have always heard it's great - still true?

Hmm... interesting question. The food is great and plentiful. The service can be surly & snobbish (but acceptable), the interior is a bit dingy, and you will find a lot of Americans there. Add the very expensive price, and it is questionable whether it's worth it. Given the number of outstanding restaurants available at a comparable price, I would not go back.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by SFFlyman:
Given the number of outstanding restaurants available at a comparable price,...... </font>

some of those outstanding restaurants would be......?

Yes, it's pricy. However, by accident, two friends and I had lunch there. No crowds, no lines, only another business pair in the entire place. The maitre d' was cleaning chanterelles at his little podium the whole time we were there. They allowed us to share, even insisted at one point, and provided a doggy bag---necessary as we were each served almost an entire roast chicken. We asked them to hold the frites and serve the famous potatoes double fried in goose fat. It was worth the effort and the price. Normally the pate appetizer, roast chicken and potatoes and a decent wine run about $90-100.00 per person. But at half that for a shared meal, we considered it a bargain and worth repeating. Please don't mention this to the sable-coated dinner crowd. It's impossible to get a late dinner reservation and the staff doesn't cut non regulars any slack. Oh, at the end of the meal we asked to see the famous wood-fired oven. Three heads popped out of the tiny, tiny kitchen opening and they proudly demonstrated the original wood-burning stove, now encased in gleaming stainless steel.