It's now Hotel du Vin, and we had our lunch in the Orangerie (not to be confused with any other dining areas there). To summarize, I'd say food excellent, extensive menu, service left a lot to be desired, and the PROFITEROLE was out of this world! Seriously fantastic!
I'd made a reservation but when they looked for it, they couldn't find it. Fortunately it was pretty empty, so we were able to be seated by the window anyway. The service, sad to say, was abominable. Nice enough staff, plenty of smiles, very polite, but our waiter was pretty useless for the most part. For example, when taking our orders, the he just stood there. I had to tell him what we wanted, he didn't ask me for my order, just stood there! No "would you like any sides?" or any guidance at all. Once i'd ordered my sole, if I hadn't said I'd like some sides, I would not have received anything other than a great big fish on my plate! I'm sure a lot of people may not know that you don't get anything else on the plate, so he should guide the guest and say "what sides would you like?" - but he didn't. I had to tell him everything, then I was the one who had to ask my guests what they wanted (he didn't ask them, just stood there, looking at me, like I was the designated table orderer!), and then I had to tell HIM what they wanted. He still didn't ask about sides, so I did the official order round up for the table and passed the information on to him. Strange. We'd ordered a starter of the sourdough bread with different butters. TWENTY MINUTES LATER it still hadn't arrived (bear in mind, I think there were only two other tables in use at the time, with maybe 5 other diners in there - so they were hardly swamped) - our waiter had disappeared, but when he eventually showed up and I was able to flag him down, I asked him where the bread was? He said it was being freshly made for us and he went off to find it. He came back a few minutes later with 4 slices of COLD bread (if it had just come out of the oven, it would not have been cold), and one little thing of butter. He dropped it off and disappeared again. I had to wait for him to show up again and I said "there is supposed to be pesto butter too" - so he looked surprised, hurried off and brought us the other butter. After several minutes of eating the cold bread, I flagged someone else down and asked where our food was, that we were pretty fed up with waiting and then getting cold bread - he looked shocked, rushed away, brought back a basket of piping hot fresh bread (not the sourdough bread) and it was a thousand times better. I wished he'd been our waiter - he seemed a LOT more efficient! He apologized for the wait and went off to find our waiter, and they brought our main courses. We still had to wait about 10 minutes for the sides, but (drumroll.....) the food was EXCELLENT.
We had sole meuniere and one of my guests had the salmon with lentils - the salmon was served skin side up, with layer or pesto crust (or whatever the crust was) spread over the skin on top - but that skin wasn't crispy, it was as limp as a dishrag so totally inedible, and therefore my guest just peeled off the skin along with all the flavorings. Normally, if there is a flavor crust on the skin, the skin is crispy and edible - or else the paste if spread on the non-skin side, so you can get the flavor with the salmon - not in this case. Anyway, the salmon was excellent anyway, the soles were fabulous, and the side portions were very generous (two people could have shared one portion of potatoes, instead of ordering their own separate sides). The food was PIPING hot, although plates were not even luke warm - but we were delighted. Our water glasses were never filled up, I kept trying to catch our waiter's eye, but he seemed to be avoiding us - I sat with an empty water glass pretty much throughout the meal, but when I did see him again, I flagged him down and asked him if there was a water ration - I also told him the food was excellent but so far the service was poor- he seemed surprised at my directness, but my guests had become very frustrated at just the total lack of any follow up or attention - particularly when the place was practically empty. Anyway, I was glad I spoke up because he DID buck up his ideas and attention - brought water immediately, and when my glass was half empty, he refilled immediately - and became attentive. For dessert, we shared profiteroles - and this is not like any profiterole you've ever had. So here's some advice - you MUST MUST MUST get the profiterole! It is HUGE, smothered with delicious hot chocolate sauce, and served with ice cream - it was fantastic, and the highlight of our meal. Even if you don't go for lunch, just go for the profiterole - it will be worth it! Beautiful scenic environment (try to sit by the window) - great place to walk off that meal, just lovely! I'll be back for sure. If service had been good, it would have been 5 out of 5. read more
