Auberge 22 — Restaurant in Bayonne

I am shocked about how I was treated by one of the waiters tonight (older French man with glasses and black and grey hair). We looked forward to having a good steak after cycling up the Col du Tourmalet. This is one of the best reviewed steak restaurants but for us has been the worst restaurant experience we had around the world (and we travel and eat out a lot in both cheaper and very expensive restaurants).

Despite our reservation we had to wait 1.5 hours to receive our food.

We ordered 1.5kg of one of the most expensive cuts there that was recommended to us. However it was mostly fat and not enough pieces of meat (they served us the bone on the plate to make it look bigger but that you couldn’t eat). The steak itself was good enough for the price but nothing exceptional. The potatoes were unfortunately not crispy.

The experience overall could have been okay despite the long wait if it wasn’t for this one absolutely rude man (the other waiters and waitresses were nice).

I do not speak enough French to really discuss with them but my husband and sister in law are French. They like their steak pretty rare and I like mine medium. My husband asked for me if I could have a few pieces just a little bit more cooked. This waiter first rolled his eyes, then came around to look at us and say “are you serious, with a steak like that?” in a very rude and serious way. My husband had to say almost apologetically that’s how she prefers it, he then took it without asking how much more to cook it for and served it back to us completely over cooked (basically completely well done, when I want medium steak).

When we placed the order we had also asked for peppercorn sauce, which in most steak restaurants, including French restaurants, is a standard side order. They forgot about it so when he brought me my overcooked steak again in a very quick and rude way I quickly said “excusez moi” - he again rolled his eyes for me wanting something else and we reminded him (still staying polite) that we ordered peppercorn sauce. He again had the nerve to say “Quelle horreur” - meaning what a horror and left. 15 minutes later the sauce arrived after we already ate half the steak without it so it doesn’t get cold. He came to my side this time, served it from behind me without acknowledging me and whispered something like “sauce de merde”. I only really heard merde clearly. Even the guests behind us heard it and were shocked and shaked their head.

We were in shock and called over another waiter to complain about this unacceptable behaviour. At this point I did not even want to eat there anymore but we paid almost 200 euros for the food so of course did not want to throw it away. But our dinner had been completely ruined and we could not enjoy it at all and just wanted to leave.

The other waiter told him that we complained and 20 minutes later he came back to the table after giving me some weird looks from the kitchen and he was clearly forced to apologise. I assume to avoid the review I’m writing now. He bend down next to my husband and only spoke quietly into the side of his face even though he was insulting me and not him. He said that he didn’t understand what was the issue and then said he was “only joking” and repeated this many times despite my husband explaining all the things that he did. As we did not accept his excuses and lies he said “I am sorry if YOU FELT that I was rude, I was only joking” which essentially means we are the issue and not him and shows that he is not sorry at all. At no point did he even look at me! I could not believe it. I have never been treated with so much disrespect in any establishment.

Needless to say we will certainly not be back and will spread the word between our...

I think eventually they might get it right, but if not they might at least get themselves into an episode of Restaurant: Impossible There was pandemonium from the moment we walked in and were seated until we paid our bill. Evidently there was some new staff and a new Point of Sale system that they just hand installed but weren't quite all trained up to use just yet. During our meal staff were arguing, some if the old staff hadn't been introduced to the new staff. We ordered a 45 day aged steak. It arrived with a salad and potatoes. The steak was too tough to eat. We sent it back, they cook us another one, same problem. Even the chef though both were bad and offered to cook us a couple of filet mignons The filets were fine, but since we had several bits of two different steaks we couldn't finish the filets. In the end we were only charged for one of €110 steaks, the fritters and the water. We also received bread, oilves and butter but weren't chaged for those, but I'm not sure if they didn't charge us in purpose or on accident because of the new system. We also had to bear the unfortunate comment from the arrogant cropped haired French woman at the table next to us claim that we were only complaining about the food to get it for free. Trust me, would have happily paid for her meal, but it's French people like her that give the French a bad name. There are three seating areas, I recommend sitting near the back. In the front you'll have to endure customers picking out their steaks and the guy manning the fire cooking your steak. The concept sounds great in theory, but in practice its more destracting than it is interesting. Also avoid sitting in the middle section where youll have to endure plenty if staff noise, and the paying of bills, because your check isn't paid at your table. The back section offers the most serene area, but there aren't many seats there, so get there early, or reserve it ahead of time. Finally scrutinize your check. Again, eventually they might get it right, its just...

The worst steak we have ever had. It's hard to believe in giving the photos we saw online and it's the specialty of the restaurant. We wanted another kind of steak on their menu, but as the first customer, there were only two other kinds and we picked one that was more than 1200g costed €115. We asked for medium rare and it came to us blue and cold. They took back and came back more cooked. But the texture was mushy and bland without any usual tasty flavor of beef. It wasn't fresh. A fresh steak doesn't taste like that! We were so shocked that steaks in a Biarritz restaurant taste like this. We had so much better ones in other French cities and villages costs less than €20.

Furthermore, this 1200g was only enough for one person as there were servered as slices and half were pure fat and big bone. There are only small amounts of edible pieces. And they tasted bland and mushy. I believe they gave us the not fresh steak left over from a couple days ago, otherwise the texture wouldn't be this bad. We each only had a few slices and were still hungry. So I ate the side dish and it was much tastier. The one star is...