Running eastward just below the Seine river from the Place Saint-Michel, it is today an animated Latin Quarter artery with one of the highest concentrations of restaurants in the city, Greek specialties predominating.

It is situated between the Boulevard Saint-Michel and the Rue du Petit-Pont and faces the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris.

The inhabitants of the Rue de la Huchette in the period leading up to the Second World War are portrayed in Elliot Paul's book The Last Time I Saw Paris, called A Narrow Street in the British edition (1942).

From around 1284, the name of a house on the street belonging to the Notre-Dame chapter — À la Huchette d'Or — took the place of the former Rue de Laas appellation.

The maitre d's of these establishments often shatter cheap plates on the street in front of their doors to attract attention and entice tourists inside.