If you are American, stay clear of this place. They have made their mind up about you before you walk in the door.
Lets start from the top.
Pull up to the restaurant and no valet. Okay. Drop my wife off at the front while I go to park the car. When she checks in, "it's just you!?!" Umm, no, "he's parking the car."
Weird. Then when I walk in she says "Happy birthday or something like that." Verbatim. I had emailed them ahead of time to tell them it was our honeymoon and 1 year anniversary.
After being seated we weren't greeted for a while. Then we were greeted twice, both of whom said the same thing. "Have you been greeted?" What? Ever heard of marking a table? The second greeting was the assistant sommelier, a young kid whom I knew more about wine than. He offered us welcome cocktails and described them well, but they ended up on the check. What?
We had pre-ordered the mid-level tasting menu, but when we got there we wanted to add one dish we saw on a different tasting. The back-server (never really saw the lead) said, "You want more?!" Straight out of Oliver Twist. But the subtext was, "fat Americans" all the way. Ummm, sue me, we are in the Languedoc for one night and I want an oyster in the meal. They obliged. Wish we hadn't asked. The oyster was over-manipulated and no taste of brine or ocean. Forward to a course or two later and my wife gets a sharp sliver of bone in her venison and cuts her mouth. No real apology from anyone, they just refired the dish. Then another course they served us faulty over-oxidized wine and tried to tell me that was the style of the wine. What, who gave these somms their jobs? My wife and I aren't somms, but we knew the wine was off and they debated us on it. It wasnt a sherry for crying out loud. I did my research afterwards, and no, it wasnt supposed to be that oxidized.
Then upon leaving we asked for our coat and jacket. They gave my wife her coat and said to me, "you had a jacket?" Yeah, I came to this two star Michelin with a shirt, tie, and suit pants with no jacket. What?
If it was a misstep on my part to rake my jacket off before dinner, a simple "jackets are required in the dining room" would have done the trick, prior to the meal.
As they were searching for my jacket which was right in front of them and matched my suit pants the chef was saying farewell and thank you to other patrons. Not a word to us, like, "hello Madame so sorry we made your mouth bleed"
This place is the new definition of resting on their laurels.
Most of the dishes were very forgettable, I only remember one course, and have no idea what dessert was.
Dear Michelin, please revisit and re-evaluate so that people don't go spend $700 (550 Euro) to feel uncomfortable and belittled.
The only positive memorable thing was the amazing cheese cart at the end of the meal. But hey, any restaurant could go buy a huge gueridon and 40 kinds of cheese. read more
