Restaurant Le Petit Château — Restaurant in Quebec

We had a craving for crepes and came here for dinner. I ordered the cheese crepe with dried ham and my girlfriend ordered the shrimp and mushroom crepe. The construction of the crepes was strange: the crepe was on the bottom of the plate and the "stuffing" was on top. It looked nice but because the ingredients weren't cooked together (i.e. they were just placed on top of the crepe), the flavors didn't integrate. Also, the crepe was folded into quarters resulting in a crepe that had the same thickness as a pancake. In other words, it wasn't really a crepe.

A much more egregious error was the use of canned shrimp and canned mushrooms to make the second crepe. They were not cooked together, but rather placed in separate piles next to each other on top of the crepe, and the white sauce was just poured on top. They didn't even try to get rid of the canned taste by cooking the ingredients together with sauce and seasoning. So it tasted like a bowl of canned mushrooms was sitting next to a bowl of canned shrimp on top of thick dough. It was barely edible.

Although we were not very happy with our meal, we decided to risk getting a dessert. I mean how can you screw up a dessert crepe, right? Well here's how... the banana crepe flambe was a crepe folded in half with a banana cut into 6-7 thick pieces inside. The waiter lit the brandy in the glass and poured it on top of the crepe. Those were the only ingredients in the crepe. There was no sugar or butter. No iced or whipped cream. The banana wasn't cooked in any way. There was no seasoning of any kind. It was literally just crepe dough and a raw banana. The brandy poured off to the side of the crepe and soaked some parts. So, some of the crepe tasted like pure brandy and other parts were completely dry. Moreover, the bitterness of the brandy should be balanced by the sweetness of the other ingredients. If I wanted a shot of brandy I don't need to drink it out of a soaked crepe.

Finally, after looking at what the three other couples in the restaurant ordered (it was mostly fondue), we concluded that this restaurant probably does not have a chef. Melting cheese into a bowl and cutting bread does not require a culinary degree. We hypothesized that none of the dishes on the menu require any actual cooking and are designed not to require any fresh ingredients (i.e. they are all dried, canned, or are pasteurized with long shelf lives). Thus everything on the menu can be made by someone who doesn't have any culinary experience.

As a financial endeavor, this restaurant is probably very successful. As a culinary experience, it was an absolute failure. I will, however, give them kudos for one thing. After describing the quality of the dessert crepe, the waiter took it...

May 2025

We initially visited this restaurant in 2022 and provided a glowing review.

Recently, we returned to Quebec City over the weekend and decided to revisit.

However, the experience was significantly disappointing. It is unclear whether the restaurant has changed ownership, but the quality has deteriorated significantly.

The cheese fondue resembled solidified fondue cheese found in supermarkets. The bread appeared to be approximately two days old, neither too hard nor too soft, with a lingering aftertaste. The overpriced apples we ordered were soggy and soft.

Moving on to the main course, the fondue pot and heating apparatus were outdated, preventing the fondue stock from boiling and consequently hindering the cooking of the meat. The fondue was served with a warm, not hot, baked potato containing a single, packaged square of butter, a microscopic green salad, and a small amount of dipping sauce.

For the final course, we were served a chocolate fondue with fruit. The serving consisted of four grapes, three strawberries, some bananas, maraschino cherries, and mini marshmallows. The chocolate fondue had a burnt flavour, which persisted despite the waiters bringing out a fresh bowl.

The only positive aspect of the evening was the attentiveness of the wait staff. The young men serving us were courteous and professional.

In summary, while there are excellent restaurants in Quebec City, this establishment falls short. On a Saturday evening, the restaurant was empty. The decor appeared to have remained untouched for over three decades, accompanied by a musty odour. The utensils and fondue pots were outdated, lacking any attention to detail. The meal was excessively expensive for the quality of the food. The presentation and the quality of the dishes were abysmal. The cheese and chocolate fondues were particularly disappointing. The soft drinks, served in cans, were priced at $5 each. Very limited selection on the children’s menu so we ordered from the full price adult menu for the kids.

I was deeply disappointed, especially since I had recommended this restaurant to eight of my friends who were with us.

Our previous experience was far more positive. I doubt we will be returning for a third time.

Feb 2022

Lots of mixed reviews for this restaurant. We had a wonderful time. We were two families with kids. The service was excellent and the food was on point!! My favorite was the cheese fondue.

For desert we experienced their maple fondue which for me was a first. Excellent!!

Everyone had fun and our meal was very reasonably priced.

Friendly staff, good service, great food!! Looking forward to coming back...

Was served some of the least appetizing pieces of food in my life (which cost more than I would like to admit) - one of the more complicated "Pizza Crepes" on their menu.

Nothing inside this crepe was good: -The tomato sauce was all in the middle, and tasted canned. The "meat" mentioned on the menu was cold supermarket pepperoni. The onions in the sauce had black marks on them like they were warmed up, but they were crunchy and cold. I don't think the chefs of this restaurant understand the function an onion serves in sauce, given the poor taste of both the tomato sauce, and the onions. The cheese in the crepes was Swiss (I think,) and when it cooled down, it became nearly inedible because it congealed and acquired an after taste reminiscent of well-used socks. The batter for the crepes stuck to the plate, meaning you'd often go in for a bite, and leave with only part of the crepe. It also had a nasty aftertaste.

My sister ordered an apple crepe, with many of these same issues. The apples were canned, and the second the cheese cooled down, she had to stop eating it because her crepe had too acquired a strange aftertaste.

We ordered ice cream and a strawberry crepe for dessert. The strawberry crepe's batter was bad, and because it stuck to the plate, half of eating it involved furiously scraping off the dough from the plate. Also, the whipped cream was obviously canned.

Finally, although this is not as big an offense as the others, I was really offended to taste the ice cream and see that it was standard Food Service Vanilla ice cream that you get in the 5 gallon tubs. For something we paid 5 dollars for (I think,) they could have asked literally ANY of the wonderful ice cream places in Quebec City for some quality ice cream.

A lot of other reviews praised the ambiance of the place, but I disagree. Our waitress did not speak English very well, and the porch was surprisingly windy for being a walled patio.Also the tents acting as a roof had gaps that would let rain leak right onto patron's heads if it rained. They had a guy playing music on a guitar, but all his songs were really sad and when we walked back we realized that he only knew how to play about an hour of music because he was playing the same song as we heard while there. He was counting on the patrons not staying for too long.

In short, save your money, and leave the touristy neighborhoods of Quebec City to find some good, properly...