L'Etoile du Jour — Restaurant in Abbeville

What a terrible experience. Rude waiter was really unhelpful with the menu. I asked what they could do for a vegetarian and he responded “The salmon salad without the salmon.” I asked could they substitute goats cheese (we don’t have any), asparagus (out of season, don’t you know?!) or boiled egg (no! (no explanation)). When the salad arrived the grated carrot was black, the avocado was non existent, there was no dressing… I could go on. The bread provided was totally stale. We ate because we were so hungry. When the bill arrived we were charged full rate for the salad, despite no salmon or protein substitute. We complained, the waiter said he could do nothing. He was totally disinterested and ignored us for the next ten minutes. What a joke....

On the way to Bordeaux We decided to make a stop for a bite to eat in Abbeville. We chose a small little Bistro at the end of the high street. A beautiful old Tudor styled building with pretty lights out front which made it look quite promising. OMG……………….. What can I say the Trout was so well cooked, a wonderful balance of delicate flavours. The Entrecôte Steak was to die for with the right amount of tenderness and crispy edged flavour, with skin on Pomme Frites as a side gorgeous. Followed by an amazing Tart Tartin and an even better than IVY Rhum BaBa. Well what can I say it was so much better than we imagined the staff and service was exceptional and we will be returning. A wonderful example of...

So we must have had the apprentice chef…. Everything was OK… but not the usual French level of quality we normally expect.

We have half French so know what we are talking about….

The server was busy, but very pleasant… Perhaps the Sunday night on his own wasn’t the best time to judge him. They seemed very very very rushed to get every course out asap, even at an early time for France (avant 21h00).

The food appeared ok/mediocre… certainly not representative of the photos in the reviews… the taste was about similar; we felt we could have done just as well at home, if not better…

I would give it an 2-3/5 overall….. but perhaps on a good night...