Le Marin is pretty consistently booked out - make a reservation ahead of time if you would like to…read morecome. You can see the oyster traps from the outdoor seating. Beware that they will not allow you to order for less than your party. Our group wasn't particularly hungry, and so we thought we would share the seafood feast for two, which had many oysters, clams, shrimp, etc. They INSISTED that we would have to order for all five of us or we would have to leave. Don't sit down unless you're prepared to have everyone order something. We figured it out in the end and enjoyed our meal and the view. Definitely worth coming if you're an oyster fan.

In summary (more in the review below), there is a repeat…read moreproblem of Norovirus in L'étang de Thau oysters that is not being adequately addressed, you cannot rely on the monitoring of the oysters to warn you of health issues - this comes after the fact, you cannot avoid this by just not eating oysters yourself, it easily spreads through kitchens and person-to-person, you cannot even rely on the producers to abide by a ban by the authorities. We had lunch at Le Marin. It came recommended and they have their own oyster site in the lagoon , L'étang de Thau on which coast the restaurant sits. The food was good but not great. The oysters were very tasty though. I visited on a Thursday, on Friday night the vomiting began, and on Saturday morning I read in the news that Norovirus had led to a ban on L'étang de Thau oysters beginning that very Friday - a ban implemented by the local authorities - the Prefecture of Herault. http://www.herault.gouv.fr/content/download/26098/185494/file/CP_interdiction_huîtres%20étang%20de%20Thau090318.pdf Accidental and unfortunate as that might be, I took note of the date presented in the article, namely February 14 as a cutoff for when the oysters could have been infected (and were effectively banned). The ban was basically for 4 weeks back and 1 week ahead. As the article was published on March 9, it begged the obvious question if water tests are not conducted more frequently. If you only need one week before the water might have cleaned out why ban 4 weeks back, unless you do not test the water quality. http://www.languedocliving.com/ltang-de-thau-oysters-suspended-again-news-9233.html I know that in my country (Denmark) water test results of open oyster (and mussels) production areas are published on a weekly basis (at websites of the monitoring authorities), and most likely done more frequently if permission is to be given for commercial use. I assume this is best practice for this kind of raw food. What you need to know about Norovirus is : * highly contagious virus - only need few particles to spread * often spreads in kitchen situations , and * is often transferred from person to person (particularly family members and cohabitants, but also in restaurant situations) * can be fatal for children and old people - estimated 300 fatalities per year * oysters soak up the virus and are for this reason supposed to be closely monitored * frequently spread through fecal matter * the virus kicks in 12-48 hours after exposure, with 2-3 days of hard (projectile) vomiting and diarrhoea, followed by several days of stomach restabilisation (if uncomplicated progression). this means many people suffer through at home, whilst it goes unreported (no known medicine so little benefit from seeing a GP) What you need to know about oysters and Norovirus in L'étang de Thau : * close to the city of Montpellier which suffers heavy downpour and floodings of its waterways regularly * spill water gets into waterways when drainage and sewage overflows in such cases (which oyster producers are only to happy to point out and blame the issue on) - cf fecal matter spread above * several episodes here of which at least 2 in the last year or so (same strange backloaded ban in 2017 - four weeks before, and one week after identification - this meant the ban covered christmas and new years which is a very popular period for oyster consumption, conveniently meaning that the oyster producers did not miss out on high season). * http://www.languedocliving.com/oysters-and-mussels-from-etang-de-thau-banned-news-6686.html * no apparent attempt to increase monitoring after heavy downpour - refer to 4 week backdated ban * it also appears from the news and the press release that first there were community reports of food poisoning cases, and then there were water tests (analysis) undertaken. This delay and process hardly improves on the reliability, if they have to wait for attribution and feedback to flow back to the authorities before acting. As per above, the nature of the virus means it largely goes unreported, and rarely gets attributed to its actual food source. * two oyster producers from l'étang de Thau unfathomably defied the ban and kept selling in the days after March 9, leading the authorities to punitively extend the ban for all producers in the lagoon for an additional week. The complete disregard for customers's / public health that this demonstrates and the consequential inability to rely on any type of self-monitoring and self-policing from the producers (the most realistic and practical form of monitoring) make general oyster production unreliable here * http://www.languedocliving.com/all-oyster-producers-punished-for-actions-of-two-news-9294.html * there are historic medical case studies of Norovirus spread and contagion from L'étang de Thau reaching as far as Italy and Paris (this is a recurring and very well-known issue in the lagoon)