I had been looking forward to our meal here for months. I had done a ton a research on places to go for a very special occasion in Paris. I had always been intrigued by this hotel and the restaurants in it. Based on the reviews I had read and some personal recommendations, I decided to make a booking at Le George and we were both very much excited about this dinner. Sadly, we were very let down.
This hotel is known as one of the finest in Paris. So, we decided to make a night of it by first having a drink at the bar before dinner. Things started out on a positive note. We were warmly received, asked if we had a dinner reservation, told them we had one at 7:30 at George (and they confirmed it) and ordered a few drinks to start after the friendly server explained the menu to us. The drinks were delicious. However, nobody came to check on us, and soon it had been 20 minutes since we had clearly finished our drinks. Finally it was 7:40, 10 minutes passed our reservation, and I finally, after many tries, flagged down somebody to ask for the check. We wrote this lack of attention off as a fluke, but sadly, in hindsight, it turned out to be a foreshadowing of the service we'd have for the evening: friendliness, but lack of attention and haphazardness.
This restaurant is a Michelin one star restaurant. For any restaurant that manages to achieve even one star, there comes an expectation of high standards of service, great food, and a memorable evening, especially in France. While the food and drinks turned out to be delicious, everything else was not. First, the room, to be fair, is gorgeous. Simply a gorgeous place to eat. We loved the decor and the flowers and the comfortable chairs. Things started off well. Our waiter welcomed us, and he was excited to learn that the night before we had ate next to a man who had interned as a sommelier at Le Georg recently and who had eaten there the night before. "What a coincidence!" Our waiter then brought us the cocktails list, and somebody else brought us some nice amuse bouches of fried shrimp and bread, and then we waited. Waited for nearly 30 minutes before somebody else came to take our order for our drinks. It should not take nearly 30 minutes until somebody comes to take an order for a first cocktail in any restaurant, let alone in a restaurant of this supposed caliber. The cocktails came pretty quickly and they were delicious. But then we we waited again. NObody ever came to the table to explain the menu to us or to walk us through it. Somebody just came over, nearly after an hour of being there, and asked if we were ready to order. Come on, that's not how service works. We asked them to explain the menu to us. We ordered some delicous arancini, octopus, and a crudo to start, which they served to us with a delicious focaccia. All the food was excellent. For our mains, we ordered the carbonara pasta and the stuffed pasta with veal. Both delicious. Things seemed to be looking up.... however, after we had clearly finished eating, and after our plates were clearly clean, it took over 30 minutes before anybody even stopped by to ask how we were doing. No water refills (it was tough to get water refills). Over 30 minutes til they cleared our plates.
During the night we could see the whole restaurant. It was a great view, but it just seemed like everything was in disarray. Waiters, including our server, were just running around, in a rush all night. No order, no precision. AGain, they were all friendly when they eventually got to us, it was just the absolute lack of attention that really was frustrating. Eventually we ordered a dessert which was delicious as well. We eventually got a bill, told whoever that brought it to us (it was not our server) that we were unhappy with the service. "I'm sorry" was all he said. And then we left, and there wasnt even a host/ hostesss at the door to say good night.
At this price point, this experience was very sad. The food was delicious, but honestly, that was not a Michelin quality experience, let alone an experience that you'd expect at a roadside diner in America. read more