Colbert

Verdict

If you have been to Colbert once, the question on a second visit is not whether it holds up; it is whether you have found the right seat and the right format. Under chef Sascha Rieb, this Strasbourg brasserie has earned consecutive Michelin Plate recognition in 2024 and 2025, plus a climbing OAD Casual Europe ranking that moved from a general recommendation in 2023 to #620 in 2024 and #843 in 2025. At the €€€ price point, that track record makes Colbert one of the more defensible bookings in the city. Book it for a return visit if your first experience was at a table in the main room; counter seating, where available, gives you a materially different read on the kitchen.

Portrait

Colbert sits on the Route de Mittelhausbergen on Strasbourg's western edge, far enough from the tourist centre that the clientele skews local. That geography matters: the room operates on a rhythm set by regulars rather than one-night visitors. The kitchen runs a French brasserie foundation with modern touches under Rieb, the kind of cooking that wants to be eaten more than once, where the value of a second visit is that you already know the format and can focus on ordering better.

The OAD Casual Europe ranking is the most useful trust signal here. OAD's casual lists weight the opinion of frequent diners and industry professionals, so a climb from recommended to top-1,000 over two years indicates a kitchen that is tightening rather than coasting. The Michelin Plate, awarded in both 2024 and 2025, confirms consistent technical execution without the formality of a full star. At €€€, you are paying for cooking that has been externally validated at a level above most brasseries, without the ceremony of Strasbourg's heavier hitters like Au Crocodile or 1741.

The counter experience at Colbert is worth planning around. Brasserie formats in France often reserve counter or pass-adjacent seating for walk-ins or solo diners, but if you are returning and want a different angle on the kitchen, asking specifically for counter placement changes the meal. You watch pacing, plating decisions, how the kitchen handles a full service in real time. For a regular, that proximity is informative in a way that table dining is not. French brasserie cooking at this level, modern technique applied to classic structure, reads differently when you can see the sequence of the kitchen rather than just the plate that arrives in front of you. Rieb's cooking, within the French brasserie and modern cuisine frame, is the kind that rewards this kind of attention.

Hours are generous: 8am to 10:30pm Monday through Saturday, 8am to 10pm on Sunday. That all-day span is practical for Strasbourg, a city where the lunch trade is serious and dinner reservations fill from a mix of local professionals and visitors making the Alsace circuit. For context on where Colbert sits relative to the wider French dining world, the gap between a Michelin Plate venue in a regional French city and the starred tier is real but not vast, the cooking at this level in Alsace is technically grounded in a way that compares favourably to modern French brasserie work you would find in comparable cities. For reference points further afield, the distance between Colbert's tier and the very leading of French cooking, Arpège in Paris, Mirazur in Menton, or Troisgros in Ouches, is wide, but Colbert is not reaching for that comparison. It is a well-executed regional brasserie with modern ambitions, at €€€ that is exactly what the price suggests you are getting.

For returning visitors: the format rewards knowing what to prioritise. Alsace as a wine region gives Colbert a natural pairing depth, local Riesling and Pinot Gris are the obvious choices with French brasserie cooking at this price point, the region's producers give the cellar real options. If you are visiting Strasbourg across multiple days, Colbert is worth building into both a lunch and a dinner slot to get a read on how the kitchen shifts register across services. Strasbourg's dining scene beyond Colbert includes options across a wide range of formats, see our full Strasbourg restaurants guide for the complete picture, our hotels, bars, wineries, and experiences guides for the broader trip.

For comparable modern-brasserie cooking in a different German-border city context, Maximilian Lorenz in Cologne operates at a similar register. For Strasbourg's creative end, de:ja and Les Funambules are the relevant comparisons if the modern technique side of Colbert appeals more than the brasserie structure. Umami is worth knowing if you want to step outside the French register entirely.

Quick reference:

Should You Book?

Yes, particularly if you already have one visit behind you. Colbert is not the most adventurous option in Strasbourg's modern cuisine tier, but it is the most consistently validated at the €€€ price point.Au Crocodile or 1741.