Clover Gordes par Jean-François Piège — Restaurant in Apt

We had a reservation for a 60th Birthday dinner for 9 people. The booking was made a long time in advance, we had a set menu prepared together with the restaurant, and we placed our main course (fish or meat) orders about two weeks beforehand. When we arrived, we were seated on the side of the terrace instead of at the front. It’s somewhat understandable for a large group, but considering it was a special occasion, it was quite disappointing. The service was also far from great. We were asked if we wanted starters, even though we already had a set menu. We ordered quite a bit of wine, and normally you’d expect the glasses to be refilled promptly, especially when a group is spending a significant amount of money. Sometimes we had to wait 15' or more for the waiter to notice the empty glasses. The food came extremely slowly. We had a set menu, yet we waited at least 30' for the first appetizer to appear. We were also not offered the special olive oil tasting with bread, which seemed to be standard at other tables — we only received it after directly asking the waiter. It’s worth mentioning we were expected to share the starters, appetizers, and bread in groups of 3, and after nearly 1.5 hours with very little food, we were all quite hungry. The main course was good but not extraordinary, and the dessert was again meant to be shared in groups of 3. There was no candle, no small birthday treat — nothing — for the birthday person, although it was clearly marked as a 60th Birthday on the menu. The table next to us received a small birthday cake and a candle.

For the amount ($$$$) we spent that evening, we all felt quite...

Not recommendable.

We spent 3 days around Gordes. We saw this restaurant, the pictures, the reviews looked amazing. So we decided to join the clover. We expected a wonderful restaurant with French cuisine with a nice view. But we were completely disappointed.

The only good thing was the service, the waiters were very friendly and courteous. The presentation of the various olive oils were great. This is only good feedback I can give. The food was completely tasteless. I’ve been in many French cuisines, but this was by far the worst one I visited. After the presentation and the pictures on instagram etc. I expected so much. They try to do the best show around the food, but it is useless when the food is not convincing. Price. The price is not justified at all (pasta pistou around 36€). I've been to many fine dining restaurants and I'm willing to pay more for a good dinner. Even though the wine was absolutely overpriced and not worth. Had by far better wines in smaller places around, for the half of the price. The view is not guaranteed, even if you sit in the first row. the tables are placed so that only one person has a view. The other sits with the back to the view. They just want to create more space in the restaurant. If you are sitting at the back of the terrace, you will only look on the wall.

All in all it is just an „instagrammable“ place, where everything around is more important then the...

We should have left the minute they sat us down and told us we had 5 minutes to give our orders. Our reservation was for 1:45 and apparently the kitchen closes at 2 pm.

However, we were so looking forward to this special meal that we rushed to place our orders. We were told that although we put our orders in, they would space our meal.

However, it took them 15 minutes to bring our cocktail and then about another 5 minutes to bring out our ENTIRE meal. No separation of timing at all. Our food sat on the table as other guests had their meals brought out after they finished each course.

So by the time we ate our entrees, they were cold. We had ordered a nice wine and had to remind them to bring it to the table and then I poured it for us the entire meal.

The food would have been delicious if served...