Revue — Restaurant in Ghent

I visited Revue last week on a trip to Gent. Dining au restaurant, à table in Gent is definitely a luxurious affair; one enters into the scenario knowing full-well that the pace will be leisurely, with more time to savour excellent food, one's company made all the merrier by keen service. Unfortunately, this was not the case at Revue, despite a bounty of exterior charms. The service was entirely inattentive to the needs of my whole party, the long lunch took over two hours to complete (this is rather lengthy even for Gent), and when the long-awaited meal did finally come to the table, the meat was overcooked. When I was surprised, confused, albeit disappointed, with the state of my order and requested the presence of our waitress, no effort was made on her part to remedy the situation. In fact, the situation escalated as she became defensive, speaking louder with each statement, telling me, erroneously, that I had ordered my steak this way. The manager on duty was of no assistance; he came over to merely reiterate what the waitress had said. I can't remember the last time I was treated like this in such an establishment; I left early, thanking them as I left, and my husband sweetly remained to pay the bill.

I don't understand what restaurants like Revue are playing at -- in other words, what their ultimate goals are. Exterior signs point to sophistication. The environment is sanitary, and the aesthetic is both warm and polished. The menu is enticing, and the location, fantastic with splendid views. Despite its high opinion of itself, Revue beats itself at its own game. There are whispers of class and taste, veiled promises, yet through inconsistency, lack of humility, and calculating behaviour, Revue misses the substance it so strongly advertises and hopes to possess.

Truly high-level dining experiences always include sharp, attentive service. Truly savvy restaurateurs know that patrons see the way their table-neighbors are treated. Truly experienced clients know that kindness and attention to detail in this context are the real marks of sophistication. Gent, with its overall relaxed style, warm treatment, and bounty of restaurants taking pride in the precise and nuanced preparation of meat and fish, has much to offer elsewhere in terms of culinary identity.

There was one young gentleman behind the bar who treated my party with kindness and attention, remembering our orders of water or wine whilst others had forgotten. One star above goes to him for his excellent demeanor and treatment. The other, to the undeniably curated and clean space. Ultimately, I will return to Gent, a lovely and lively Belgian-Dutch city. However, next time, I'll happily skip Revue, a Narcissus, leaving it to activities of self-adoration in its own...

I don't live in Ghent but I have family here and come back to visit; about two years ago my mom, my brother and myself wanted to get lunch and were seemingly reluctantly seated at Revue. The food turned out to be good but the service was atrocious and we felt unwanted there. However, the service was ambiguous enough to think that maybe racism was not in play.

And thus I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and walked in for lunch with my girlfriend (they don't take lunch reservations).

It was busy but there looked to be plenty of tables available. When I asked if we could have a table for two the head waiter said there was nothing available, we asked if we could come back later and he responded that they were all booked up and maybe to try to come back for dinner.

As we departed the premises and walked out of sight I recounted what had happened the previous time; my girlfriend outraged, decided to call them in English and asked if there was a table available for lunch now (not five minutes had passed since we'd left), the head waiter who'd picked up, responded that yes there was no problem, we just had to come before 2:30 to get the lunch menu.

We went to Cafe Theater instead and had a great meal there before going back to Revue and get some explanation as to what had happened but as you can imagine, they couldn't give us one that made any sense; they claimed that when we came, it was very busy and when we called it was not. Not one apology, not one attempt to make things right. The guy kept on saying what do you want me to do now?

This type of discrimination and treatment has no place in the 21st century and no matter how good the view or or how good the food, your money should not go to racist trash.

Please avoid this...

I don't know what exceptional experiences all of you who have visited this restaurant have had, but anywhere in the world I have not been treated like this. We entered the restaurant, the Manager or whoever that guy was, from the end of the bar, welcomed us, I think that a restaurant that is self-respecting, comes to approach you face to face, this is the first 👎🏼, the boy's attitude leaves much to be desired, the style of conversation, the second 👎🏼, when we finally decided to sit down at the table, we received the menu after 15 minutes, the restaurant being occupied with only 3 tables... I asked for a menu in English and the boy's nonchalant answer was, you have google translate, the 3rd 👎🏼 we decided to leave the place. Apart from a wonderful view for a maximum of 1 glass of wine, it is not worth visiting. For me, this restaurant IS A MUST. Everywhere in this world where I have visited, the best restaurants have menus in English. VERY BIG DISAPPOINTMENT, I...