Restaurant Le 9 — Restaurant in Béziers

Atrocious... Avoid at all costs.

If this establishment had ANY competition, they'd be out of business in no time.

If you're heading to Les 9 Écluses de Fonseranes (the 9 Locks... They are absolutely 100% worth a visit and also the boat trip is really good), take a picnic. Take a couple of beers. Take yourself in the opposite direction to this ghastly place. Go spend your money where the staff care about customer service.

We initially tried to sit in the terrace restaurant but were told "no", so moved to the terrace outside. Fair enough - we weren't aware there were 2 parts to the establishment. However, the manner in which we were told was rather brusque to say the least. No smiles, no hospitality!

Anyway...we ordered 2 beers and 2 red wines. Drinks arrived and the red wine was fridge-cold.

When we tried to speak to the bar staff to ask for room temperature red wine, the barman was horribly rude and told us it was the correct temperature. There was another man (not in their uniform) who was very cross with us and although we couldn't understand what he was saying, the manner in which he was speaking and waving his arms around was incredibly aggressive. My friend and I returned to our table with our cold red wine.

Now, I'm PERFECTLY aware SOME red wines are served chilled. But, bear in mind the wine choice was white, red or rosé. Pretty non-specific and, judging by the taste, I'll take an educated guess it was the cheapest one on offer at the hypermarket!

We walked away with our cold red wines and returned to our table. A few minutes later the barman came to our table with 2 glasses of white wine (chilled, as it should be). "Is this what you want?"... I'm surprised the glasses didn't smash on the table with the force he put them down. He removed the red wine. Probably to decant back into the bottle it came from for some other poor customer to consume.

To me, customer service is EVERYTHING.

If there is something wrong with your food or drink you should be able to approach the establishment from which the purchase was made and have any legitimate complaints listened to and addressed in a friendly and professional manner.

What you should not experience is a jumped up 'restaurateur' (and I'm using that word in the loosest possible term) dismissing your complaint as if it was your fault for ordering it in the first place!

Also.... I have seen other people review the iced tea. I agree! I had one there a few days before after doing the Béziers city walk.

A teabag served in cold, iced water is shockingly bad. Coldbrew tea needs to be steeped in water for more than 10 minutes. SURELY they know this??? Don't order it. It's basically a glass of iced water at a rip-off price.

I did wonder if we were receiving such appalling service because we weren't French. Seemingly not!

Have a good read of the reviews BEFORE venturing out to this godforsaken hell hole.

Avoid.

Avoid.

And...

It is a real shame this restaurant isn't more worthy of its iconic and scenic location. The service was unacceptably slow. Also, at times I felt I was being ignored. I chose the prix fixe menu (€24) and when the entrée of salmon gravlax finally arrived it was almost laughable - see photos. And while the pieces of cuttlefish in the main were tender, the rouille had no distinctive flavour at all; more like a store-bought tomato pasta sauce. With plain rice, it was lacklustre. I think this company is abusing the privilege they have of being the only food outlet at the 9 locks, with that amazing view. There is absolutely room for improvement on all fronts. I recommend you save your money and bring your own...

Beautiful view and location. End of positives Very slow service. We ordered two chicken bagels and were told it was not possible to NOT put burger sauce in one (bizarrely despite the fact it was obvious the sauce was added manually during preparation). These took 40 minutes to arrive. One of the bagels had three tiny slithers of chicken in (see photo) which was totally not worth €14. I complained to a waiter who didn’t apologise or even acknowledge the problem. He walked off immediately and got someone else to come over who just said he would refund that bagel. All of the items on the menu are very overpriced and all you pay for...