This was my first time in Grenoble, France and on the first day, the one thing I can say for sure is that the language barrier is quite a challenge. Far less people speak English here than Paris, where almost everyone, including the beggars, spoke enough English to get their business accomplished. While walking by the restaurant, my wife and I were checking out the 'chalkboard specials', when we noticed, "We speak English" at the bottom of the sign. We were sold!
This restaurant, with it's wine bottles decorating the front of the bar, it's dining room with a balcony level, it's chandelier and general décor made us feel like we were in a quaint French restaurant in the alps. There was another dining area in a separate room, where families with loud children were eating and outdoor seating was available as well.
We both ordered glasses of wine for 4€. My wife had the pre-fixe meal for 21€ which included a starter, an entre and a dessert. She chose the Tomato with mozzarella and basil for her starter. It was a capreze salad with tomatoes, mozzarella cheese balls, basil and balsamic vinegar. They also brought us a basket of French bread and a big glass bottle of water. Her entre was a Beef Rib Entrecote with potatoes au gratin in a garlic cream sauce. The potatoes were cooked perfectly and the cream sauce was very rich and flavorful with just the right aroma of garlic. I ordered the filet of beef ala carte for 20€, thinking my cut of meat would be a little bigger and I could have a few bites of her appetizer and dessert. Looking back, I should have gotten what she had because her steak looked the same size, was a few euros cheaper and included the starter and dessert. Both steaks were ordered medium rare and came out with a warm red center. Both cuts of meat were a little fatty, but we were able to cut around the fat just fine. Both portion sizes were very large and we were stuffed, but since dessert came with her meal, we forced ourselves to make a little room for some tiramisu. It was served in a glass with a very thin layer of coffee cake at the bottom, the rest of the glass filled with whipped cream and cocoa powder sprinkled on the top.
One of the highlights of the night was the wait staff. They spoke fluent English and helped us as we stumbled through the French phrases we had learned and been trying to practice from the Rick Steves Book since we have been in France. They gave us menus in English and made suggestions on the menu about what they thought we might like and how we might like it cooked, based on their experiences with Americans who had dined there previously. They were so friendly, took great care of us and made the whole experience a lot of fun. read more