LE FRETI — Restaurant in Annecy

We went to Le Freti’s as we wanted to try a nice cheese fondue while we were in the region. The fondue menu is extensive. We didn’t make a booking and were seated outside (you need to make a booking if eating inside). There are no heaters but you’re provided a blanket so that’s fine.

The waiter was not very helpful (we dined outside at around 7pm on a Wednesday), we looked at the menu for a long time and when we finally settled in the cheese fondues we wanted to order we asked the waiter if the two fondues were enough or if he had some recommendations. We then ordered the ‘traditional Savoyard’ and ‘Forest fondue’. The first was delicious but the second was not great, the mushrooms were very rubbery and tasted bland. The bread that came with the fondue was very stale. We understand bread should be crusty with fondue but this was just very stale dry bread - not even crusty.

I also think to have made our experience better it would have been helpful to have a more attentive waiter.

The 2 cheese fondues were far too much for 2 people. The menu says the fondue is priced “per person” so we thought we both needed to order the fondue. It would have been nice if the waiter suggested only to have 1 fondue to share between the 2 of us alongside a salad or another side. This was far too much cheese and we left feeling sick.

Overall I thought it was below average dining experience. The one thing that was redeeming was the flavour of the ‘traditional...

I booked a table several weeks ago as Le Freti had good reviews. I realise it was Bastille Day and the place was busy. However, my reservation request was confirmed and I had assumed we would be given a nice table having booked in advance. When we got there I tried to tell someone we had a reservation to find out if we should join the queue. I was waved to the queue with no greeting or pleasantries. I don’t mind joining the queue, but a polite response to my question would have been appreciated. When we reached the head of the queue we were told ‘upstairs’ again with no greeting or pleasantries. When we arrived at reception we were greeted and checked in and then pointed at a doorway and told ‘round there’. We went ‘round there’ and found two tables at the top of the staircase with sinks behind them. Not the nicest place to dine. I asked to be moved to a better table and was treated like a nuisance.. and told the table we were then given was ‘the last one’. I booked three weeks ago.

The food was ok, but I had hoped to have raclette etc explained to us. As it was, in the face of no help with the menu, we just chose the simple meat ( hot box and beef bourguignon). It was ok. Nothing special. When we were ready to leave we ask for the bill twice and eventually just went to the desk to pay which is apparently what we should have done but no one told us that. All in all...

Our reservation was for dinner at 8.45pm, upon arrival we had to wait 20 mins to be seated and once seated, we had to wait a further 30 mins until our order was taken, it was well over an hour before we'd been served drinks and food. This was our first time in a fondue / raclette style restaurant and we made the service staff aware of this when ordering. We ordered 1 x fondue and 1 x raclette, we were also advised to order some meats and salad. The food arrived but was missing potatoes, the table next to us advised that they should be served as part of the meal. The food was good but far too much for two people, we could have easily shared the raclette or fondue between us and still been satisfied. The serving staff didn't check if we were happy with our meal at any time and when we finished our meal, we had to wait a long time and we had to ask for our table to be cleared . The venue was also far too hot inside, I was literally sweating throughout the meal! The aircon could do with a serious upgrade to counteract all those raclette toasters in operation!

Overall, we felt that we could have had a much better experience in this restaurant if we'd had a better entry to the restaurant and the serving staff had given better advice when ordering and taken more care of us...