My wife and I had the misfortune of dining at Le Hide on Monday, October 12. The service we endured was atrocious -- by far the worst we've experienced in Paris or anywhere else in Europe.
We ordered starter dishes and main courses. 20 minutes went by, then 30 minutes, then 40 minutes -- but no starters. When I inquired, the server who took our order said that our food was "coming." He didn't apologize for the delay. He didn't say when we'd be served. And he didn't offer us something to eat or drink while we were waiting.
A young woman then came over, apparently the lead server that evening. Like the first server, she said our starters were "coming." I asked what that meant. She didn't answer my question, but said defensively: "Are you in a hurry?" My wife and I said we were hungry. She replied in a snide tone: "Well you'll eat." Her message was crystal clear -- my wife and I should be ever so grateful to dine at Le Hide, no matter how long we had to wait.
Our starters finally arrived, almost an hour after we ordered. A few minutes later, the same woman came over to our table and asked if everything was fine. I said: "The food is good." That caused her to say, aggressively: "Oh, you don't like us, do you?" I told her that I didn't say that. This didn't satisfy her -- she refused to leave our table. She continued to harangue us while we were trying to eat our starters.
At that point, I put my hand off to say, back off, leave us be, let my wife and I try to enjoy our meal. This caused the woman to absolutely flip. In the middle of a small restaurant, she screamed out: "Don't ever do that to me, don't ever do that to me." She then stalked off. My wife started to cry. The evening was ruined -- we ate our starters and our main dishes (thrown down by the woman) and left as soon as we could.
I've since read other reviews about this restaurant. The reviews mention lengthy waits both to order and receive courses. And the reviews highlight indifferent service by indifferent servers. It's disturbing that a restaurant like Le Hide puts such people in front-end positions.
A footnote: Before we left Paris, we dined at another restaurant near the Champs-Elysees. Chez Gabrielle was a great place. We enjoyed fine food and stellar service, two evenings in a row. Too bad for us that Le Hide didn't offer the same. read more