I was wavering on three stars; Villandry might have skated on mediocrity alone, but at this price point, that's just not acceptable.
Service was incredibly spotty: the young man at the door was bored, inattentive, and distracted; one of our waitresses was fantastic; another botched a simple order; two separate men fumbled simple etiquette. Really odd.
Menu options were surprisingly slim, but then, we came at an odd time--early dinner. We ended up with two different sorts of fried calamari (one regular, one "spicy") and beef carpaccio as starters, pumpkin ravioli and a lemongrass shrimp dish as mains, several drinks, dessert.
For a French restaurant, everything felt oddly Italian--from the Italian waitress (the good one) to the dishes. The calamari were clunky, floury, overly-breaded, and bland: sort of like drywall wrapped around each piece of squid, which is an unfortunate thing to do to a tasty animal. The "spicy" version had a few Thai red pepper slices tossed in along with them. That and the dipping sauce were the only differences between the "regular" and "spicy." The carpaccio was fine, but it lacked any hint of acidity, brine, or bite: without vinegar, capers, or just a dash of sea salt, the meat just tastes bland, and the arugula and Grano Padano couldn't make up for the lack of basic seasoning. Again, decent base ingredient, botched execution.
I can't comment on the shrimp, though they looked plump and the portion was ample, but the pumpkin ravioli felt like a "fresh" pasta dish from a shop. If the pasta was made in-house, it certainly wasn't made today (or yesterday, for that matter). The filling was bland, but had some adequate pumpkin flavour. However, aside from a tiny handful of barely-oily arugula (the same from the carpaccio?) and three sun-dried tomatoes, there was no sauce. And that's fine, but how about some olive oil, at least? A spoonful of pesto? Anything? No? No. Just dry ravioli on a tepid plate, with a small handful of arugula on top.
At least the "Aspen" fries (frozen fries tossed with grated Parm and a drizzle of white truffle oil) were good, though they were served in a shallow, slippery bowl which meant none of us could get at one with a fork without sending another flying. Awkward.
Cocktails were boring but there was nothing essentially wrong with them.
Dessert fell short, as well; my partner's sea salt caramel and walnut tart was in a stodgy, hard crust (is this place seriously claiming to be French?) and had a tinny flavour reminiscent of stale caramels left in a box with no hint of walnut aside from the single walnut half pressed into the thick caramel topping. My creme brulee was fine, though it came out fifteen minutes after everyone else had finished their dessert because my waitress thought "creme brulee" meant "crumble." Unless you think I'm pronouncing crumble "crumble-lay," I'm not sure how you mess that up. I shouldn't be surprised; this was the gal who didn't know what a cafe au lait was--French? What French? We finally settled on an Americano with milk for that guest.
Despite the espresso machine at the bar, the espresso wasn't made with fresh beans and the particular bitterness hinted at significant over-extraction. As is the norm with such exercises in futility, it was an overpriced afterthought made by someone without a clue.
Nothing about this place, aside from its veneer, spoke of a fine dining experience. The only good part about this meal was that I didn't have to pay for it.
Avoid. read more