In an enclosed environment, such as a fortified city within a castle, my expectations of amazing food were very low. For an area so focused and driven by tourism, it would have been a shot in the dark to find something outstanding. So after consulting our hotel staff and various internet sites, we settled on Donjon.
Once a large Japanese tour group finished piling in, attention was given to us by the seemingly too young to serve alcohol waitstaff. Knowing that Carcassonne is famous for cassoulet, I had to order that. And knowing the CA foie ban was coming in a couple months, I got the foie trio as well. The wife ordered some shrimp. At no point did the server say, "Hey! That's way too much food! Order less!" Nope, none of that. He let us order enough food for a family of six.
The wife's shrimp dish was probably the worst plate of prawn and veggies either of us had ever had. The sizable peal and eat shrimp were overcooked to the point of them having the texture of chewing gum. The veggies were an anomaly; we like to think that only in America you can get overcooked mushy veggies, but I guess France is no exception to bad cooking. The veggies tasted as if they were marinated in butter, then poached in butter, and finally topped with butter for good measure. Gross.
http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/rGM9YRPH4LNogRhzzvEN9Q?select=03iXk1rOQU4lDn1SyA7X4Q#03iXk1rOQU4lDn1SyA7X4Q
My foie gras trio wasn't actually bad, but it was so much! There was a few ounces of seared foie, which was very good, a few ounces of terrine, meh, and a few slices of raw and unsalted foie. The terrine I understand but raw foie? And with no salt? It was weird and a bit much to eat.
http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/rGM9YRPH4LNogRhzzvEN9Q?select=vvSg09qj1pBe2pCupf6G1A#vvSg09qj1pBe2pCupf6G1A
Then there was the cassoulet; a bean casserole with loads of meat. Here we were served a large 6qt dish all for the two of us. There must have been a couple pounds of beans and at least a pound of goose and sausages. While it wasn't bad, it was just way too much. We ended up taking a few bites each and leaving the rest for the trash. It honestly could have fed a large family.
http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/rGM9YRPH4LNogRhzzvEN9Q?select=q9zeHga_IOxlfC4lGnW_QQ#q9zeHga_IOxlfC4lGnW_QQ
Overall it was bleh. Service was slow and inattentive (something we had to get used to in Europe), and the food was nothing special. My advice would be to not eat anywhere in the castle itself and go for something more lowbrow down in the town. read more