In May 2025, my wife and I were on a 2-month whirlwind tour of Europe and dropped by Paris, France,…read morefor two weeks. My wife always told me that France is one of those countries where virtually any restaurant one visits, one will find excellent French cuisine; well, apparently, except for one in the whole of France, this location.
The chef's problem with me is twofold, I'm the chief cook and bottle washer in my USA home, and I know how to cook, and I know good food when I taste it and make it... this steak missed the mark by a long shot! His second problem with me, I'm a writer by trade.
My wife had been craving a good steak. My go-to for good restaurants is OpenTable, which is where I found this one. Yes, there were mixed reviews, but given my years of being a foodie, I also know that restaurants can have bad and good days for a variety of reasons, so I gave this one the benefit of the doubt - mistake. This review would have also been on Open Table's review, but I was not able to find the space on OT to place it.
I have to start with the quality of the beef fillet - poor. When it comes to good, tasty cooking, any cook or chef knows that it begins and ends with choosing quality ingredients throughout the entire meal... substitutions are not ever allowed. It offends me when substitutions are entered and when cafés and restaurants believe their customers cannot taste the difference - news alert - WE CAN AND WE DO!
The website claims to use only "prime beef". If one intends to serve the finest to their guests, one must start with the finest of ingredients, and this cut of fillet was clearly not prime! As other reviewers have commented, the cut is mighty and thick for sure, and is filling, but that's it. Some sauces came with it, but they were second-rate also.
If a true prime cut were served, it would have melted in our mouths from the first bite; it did not, so we clearly had a bait-and-switch going on. Quality fillets are always known for their "tenderness", and not necessarily for their robust taste as compared to other cuts of beef.
I do have one thing to say positively about the cut, it was served as a perfect "medium rare", dead on, spot on. The beauty and simplicity of quality beef is, the cook has only one job: with a moist, tender cut of prime beef... cook it to the customer's specifications, with a nice layer of salt/pepper, and that's it. The chef knows this and needs to step up his game and stop taking shortcuts, especially in a place known for its food, like France, so this is why I'm not cutting him any slack here! I know what he knows or should know.
The beef did come with nicely made small potatoes, and a good portion of salad and bread. Our host/server was cordial and amiable, and accommodating; the décor is cowboy/western-ish, which is fine. Midway through our meal, we also noticed that we were the only souls in the place, while other restaurants were saturated inside and outside by 7:00 pm; upon completing our meal, we fully understood why and shook our heads.
This may be one of those restaurants that once knew how to do steak right, and once had a good reputation that they have since been leaning on, but having fallen on hard times currently, and have begun to substitute out prime for far lesser cuts of beef.
My advice is to take a vacation, reassess your ambitions with your restaurant and vocation; find a way to get back into the gourmet food game in a way and manner you need to properly compete with your fellow Perisan chefs, or close and do something else that strikes your true passion, because running a restaurant is not it, and you are not doing yourself or your customers any favors by serving what you served us... from one cook to a possibly once great cook, you know better.
Bonne Chance!
