There are many reasons why you return to a restaurant: Great food, friendly service, a pleasant ambiance, fantastic location and fond memories of a previous visit, to name a few. Five years ago, I ended up at Le Stanley for a birthday dinner. Le Stanley was not my first choice. Or even my second choice. But for various reasons, we passed by my original choices and ended up at Le Stanley. Though I was a bit disappointed about eating there, I must admit I was pleasantly surprised and had a most enjoyable dinner. Since then, my visits have been increasingly dissatisfying. But I kept going back, drawn in by the head waiter who intercepts you as soon as you pause to look at their menu and with the hope of reliving my original experience.
My last visit was the final straw. The aggressive approach to solicit diners, which was once mildly amusing, I now find annoying. And the food which was borderline acceptable at the previous year's dinner has deteriorated even more. My appetizer (octopus and potatoes) was adequate, but my Veau au Citron was rubbery. My dinner companion fared much worse. Her Fish Soup appetizer tasted like it was from a can. A far cry from the delicious Fish Soup served at Le P'Tit Resto (another restaurant in Menton) a few days earlier. But the real disappointment was her entrée of Moules Marinièress. The mussels were not only microscopic, but tasteless. When we complained, the waiter rudely responded that they were traditional French Mussels not oversized American Mussels. I've enjoyed Moules Marinières before, and these were not French Mussels but rejects, leftovers and under-developed mussels. The kind of mussels that would be discarded in most restaurants; French, American or otherwise.
It's one thing to serve inferior food, but to insult the intelligence of a diner by trying to pass it off as something normal is inexcusable. Instead of trying to defend the mussels, the entrée should have been replaced. And removed from the bill! But it was neither replaced nor removed. Needless to say, I will not be returning to Le Stanley. read more
