L'ENVIE — Restaurant in Amiens

We attended L’Envie last night before watching the illuminations at Amiens Cathedral.

Both waitresses were lovely, as was Samantha. When the food came out it was presented beautifully and looked amazing. My son had the kids beef mince (burger) and fries, he has allergies so could not have the sauce provided however this was a miscommunication and was easily rectified and they were very happy to do this. I had the Sea Bass and risotto which was lovely and full of flavour, whilst my father had the lamb shank. We both had Crème brûlée which was beautiful. The staff were fantastic, one member in particular spoke excellent English and enjoyed trying to learn new words and it was a pleasure being looked after by her.

Samantha also made a massive fuss of my little boy and made him feel particularly special and he too can’t wait to come back. I would visit Amiens again just to visit this...

We went there today for lunch. A table of 5. I have never been treated this way by staff in a restaurant before. Sure there was a huge table there of 16 people. But that doesn't excuse the fact that A) it took us more than 2 hours to be served B) that we were ignored or spoken rudely by the staff when we asked questions. Wait you know what? It wasn't the staff, cause the two women on the floor were kind, but there was a man there that yelled at patrons and just never came when he said he would. He was so rude. And acting like he was the boss. Well if he is the boss... it explains a lot.

I ordered a burger. It was under cooked and cold, the bun was greasy and the fries were tough. Someone else at the table had veal that was over cooked. My daughter's fish was hard.

I will not be returning. And there are plenty other restaurants there to choose from, I'd advise you...

Almost everything was great about our lunch here. We shared the burrata entree and it was spectacular: thoughtfully constructed with fresh, seasonal flavors and a nice balance of acidic sauce and rich cheese. The crème brûlée for dessert was also nice. But the plats—I got salmon and my husband got cod—were so bland they were not enjoyable. The risotto tasted like it was only rice, no other ingredients, not even salt. The linguine that came with the salmon was so over cooked that it was breaking into small pieces. Both fishes were drowned in the same sauce, a kind of mayo.

Overall we enjoyed it as the setting was beautiful, the service was quick and attentive, and the burrata especially made it worth it. But I’m still amazed how much the quality varied...