LE TERMINUS DU CHÂTELET

Un bistro parisien comme on les aime malheureusement il n en existe très peu
Allez y vous serez comblés et si vous aimez les champignons vous serez aux anges que des produits frais et faits maison

This was the single worst dining experience I have ever had in Paris. Our waiter here is the reason why some foreigners may think that the French are rude. I love all things French and have had only the kindest, loveliest experiences dining and talking to people in Paris and throughout France…until tonight. I travel to France twice a year for the past five or six years to eat, drink and shop.

Our waiter called to tell us that we should come 15 minutes later than our reservation and that worked well for us. When we came, I told him that our party of five was actually four because my mom became ill. He immediately let us know how annoyed he was that we didn’t tell him. I know running a restaurant is difficult, but the restaurant was totally empty except for two other tables by that point so he could have been a little nicer about it. When he told us about the special, he pointed out that the andouillette was not available but no matter, it’s not for us anyway, just the French. When we ordered wine, he gave us two glasses of red wine, with a very minimal pour. He said he would choose the wine. By this point, we could sense his resentment towards foreigners. We tasted the wine and it was vinegar: sour, fizzy, nasty!. I asked him about it and he promptly replaced it. Honestly, it felt like he knew but tried to get rid of it with the dumb foreigners. We sat right next to wine serving station and saw that the wine was served next to a Coca Cola glass that the bartender used to measure the wine. We noticed that for non foreigners, he would top off the wine. Not for us and the other non French.

Many people came to the restaurant asking for a table, if they were non French, he was very dismissive. One couple came in and they only spoke French and he was quite lovely and apologetic to them. I speak a little French and could understand. When another (foreigner) couple came in that was late for their reservation, he scolded them so rudely that we winced at our table. Then he went on to very kindly and sweetly seat a group of French ladies, I don’t know if they had a reservation. But what followed totally blew our minds. After he sat the ladies, he called someone and told them that they weren’t here to their reservation that was in the future (ten minutes later!) and that he was going to cancel their reservation. Ok, I get if you’re going to scold someone for being late but wow, you’re going to scold someone even though they are not late and cancel their reservation anyway?!

After the initial hiccups in the beginning, we realized that it was going to be a bad night but we tried to make the most of it because we had already ordered by that point and it was our last night in Paris. It’s a small restaurant and we sat prime to hear all the craziness that was happening. It was certainly entertaining, though in a negative way. I will never be patronizing this restaurant again and warn any foreigner to not bother. I know he is not representative of most French people. The other server that came in at the end of our evening was much friendlier and the food wasn’t terrible but we all left feeling quite bad and didn’t finish because of such unfriendly service.

We stumbled upon this French bistro hidden along a quiet street on a rainy day and decided to give it a try. With no reservations, the owner managed to get us in at the start of dinner for the 5 of us. The place filled up fairly quickly so our timing was just right.

The place felt different. Unlike many other places we dined at, you did not hear a word of English from the staff or patrons, except for the owner when we were ordering, and the menus were only in French. That said, the service was wonderful and they made us feel welcomed and treated us like any other French speaking guests, with warmth and care!

We ordered a few items off the menu with our favorites being the escargot and confit de canard.

I'll be keeping this place on my list on my next visit to Paris.

Amazing place, food and staff!!

Il n'y a pas de secret, si ce bistrot traverse les époques depuis 1929 c'est que l'adresse est bonne. Le cadre est typique (Art Déco) et chaleureux. Le service est parfait : gentillesse, sourire et efficacité! Une excellente carte (bien sûr très nombreux plats avec des champignons). La cuisine est bonne et les plats très copieux. Un bon rapport qualité prix : entre 40 & 50 euros par personne. Bref le vrai bistrot parisien, dans son jus: une pépite!