This was a gem of a find in Albi - I thought the prices for the menu du jour (19€) was super reasonable and such a good value for the quality and quantity of food that you get. You can also get a slightly different menu for 25€ that has a different appetizer and dessert and a fish or meat, which is a good price for a 3-course meal. For the one reviewer that obviously hasn't eaten at many places in France and complained there were not a lot of options on the menu du jour and that the service was slow, well, welcome to France. That's just the way it is. Most places have only one option for the menu of the day, but it works because the food is fresh; there's a slightly higher priced option if you want beef or a different appetizer. Between the 4 of us dining together, we got 2 of the menu du jour and 2 of the slightly higher priced options so we could try more dishes. Appetizers: - Tuna and sun dried tomato muffins - These were surprisingly good! Not salty, and a good savory muffin to start off the meal. This was included in the menu du jour. - Shrimp and Seafood appetizer - This was on the 25€ menu and it was delicious. Kind of like a seafood bisque mousse topped with little clams and shrimp. If you like seafood, this is a good pick and it went well with the pieces of bread. - Escargot and vegetables in a puff pastry - My Dad got this and we all loved it. Also on the slightly higher priced menu but worth it for a unique dish. Plat: - Cabillaud / Cod - This was in a butter-orange sauce and it was good. I've had a lot of cod dishes in the last week and this was probably not my favorite of the bunch probably because the texture of the fish wasn't very flaky and it felt a bit flat. The vegetables were really good, but I thought the steak was better than the cod. - Steak / Boeuf - Definitely one of the best pieces of steak I've had in France. The meat was good quality and the sauce was perfect. I loved this dish and would highly recommend getting this if you like steak. Desserts: - Cafe Gourmand - If you like a little bit of variety with your desserts, this is a good option. It had a little apple cake, apples wrapped in a phyllo pastry, and a crunchy almond cookie topped with cinnamon ice cream. It was all delicious and tasted fresh and homemade. - Flan de Pomme - This came with the menu du jour and it was delicious! A cross between a bread pudding, custardy cake and came with an apple compote. So unique, not too sweet, and just a perfect dessert. All in all, we had such a great meal here. The service was a bit slow but they may not have had enough chefs in the back making food, so we got to enjoy a nice leisurely lunch. We ended up having a lunch that was 2.5 hours, so if you're in a rush, just grab a sandwich or some other faster food elsewhere. If you have time and want to have high quality food at reasonable prices (especially for the menu du jour for lunch), this is an excellent choice. I would normally have given this place 5 stars if the lunch had been about 2 hrs long, but it was more like 2.5 hrs or just shy of 3 hours because it took them so long at the beginning to give us water, take our order, etc. I would definitely come back here again if I were in Albi during lunch, as the menu du jour is an excellent value at 19€. The slightly higher priced one at 25€ is also a good deal. read more

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Went here for lunch. We should have been wary because the chalkboard advertising the lunch specials neglected to mention prices. Only when we sat down and ordered beverages did we see the prices on the menu, which were a bit higher than we anticipated. But, fine, we should have been more inquisitive. They had two levels of lunch menu. The more expensive one (at the level of a nice dinner menu at other restaurants) had a number of options. The more reasonable one had no choices for entree, plat principal, or dessert, just a choice of which of those 3 you'd like to order. I don't understand why they couldn't have had at least two options for entree and plat principal; most other restaurants do that. On the day we went, it was an oxtail gelatin for appetizer, cod in a sauce for lunch, and a hot fromage blanc with stewed apricot. I got all three and they were all tasty, but my husband wouldn't get the appetizer because gelatinized meat grosses him out. Again, why wasn't there a choice? Service was SLOW. Considering that they were serving the same dishes to everyone, there wasn't much of a reason for this, especially since the restaurant wasn't all that busy. The waitress took our dessert and coffee orders at the same time, but coffee came out a full 20 minutes after we had finished eating the dessert. There was hardly anyone left by that time. What was the delay? If you want to come out for a very nice dinner, this is probably a good, but pricy, place. But it's not appropriate for lunch and you're paying extra just for the renown of the location, so I'd rate it as a tourist trap. read more

Le Lautrec, housed in the former stables of the Toulouse-Lautrec family home was the perfect lunch spot, during the two hour closure of the museum by the same name. Having been thrown out of the museum at noon, we decided to find a spot for lunch, until the museum reopened at 2:00 pm. Regional cuisine and local ingredients are used in the cassoulet dishes, steak and other plates. Prices are on par with the quality of the food that is served. read more

When traveling, we often prefer to make lunch our big and elegant meal of the day. Le Lautrec fit the bill perfectly. It was one of our best meals in a three-week visit to France that was full of marvelous food. This was even better because it was less hidebound. Inventive, creative food impeccably served and utterly delicious. Extremely affordable. I had a lobster salad with mango that was perfection, well-balanced and completely satisfying Hubby went more traditional and was likewise delighted. Every part of our meal provided maximum enjoyment. read more