Café Ramuntcho — Restaurant in Bayonne

I am leaving this review for anyone who values their time and good food. I'm not sure if management has changed since all the positive reviews, or if the experience is much better at different times, but today this restaurant insulted its customers with poor management and bad food. I hope they solve whatever problem they have, because lunch today was very bad.

At first it seemed fine. We were seated quickly and ordered our drinks, entrees, and plats. We got our drinks at a reasonable time, but then we noticed the next table got their drink orders messed up at least 2 times. (This was only very apparent because staff was discussing/bickering about it very publicly.) We eventually got our entrees, a "samoussa" (just a brick de chevre with some ham) and a bland, barely seasoned "Greek" salad. (How did they manage to make such a bland salad when the vegetables available here are so good?) We finished our entrees, and then apparently the staff forgot about us (and some of the other tables too.) No one cleared any dishes, offered any refills, or anything. They did stop by our table once, touched my husband's cell phone, avoided eye contact, and walked away. Very strange.

After an hour of sitting there with fruit flies buzzing around our empty entree plates, and the people at nearby tables also barely getting any service, an employee finally cleared our dishes and asked if we wanted dessert. (Despite the cleared dishes being very small, definitely not the main course.) We explained we had not eaten our main course yet. She tried to act like there was some confusion because of the language barrier, but we have been enjoying lovely food at restaurants all over Southern France, and we know how ordering an entree and plat works. (Plus, the other customers had also been waiting a long time, and French was clearly those customers' native language.) She finally found our original order (again, this shows language was not the issue as our order HAD been written down and should have been given to the kitchen while we ate our entrees). She told us the kitchen was making it. We waited another 10-15 minutes for our main course. My husband's "Basque Burger" consisted of a cold, factory-produced bun that looked like it came from McDonald's, a pitifully small amount of sliced meat, some tomato sauce, and barely melted cheese. My courgette tarte had a soggy crust but tasted okay. There was more bland salad as well. We barely ate half of our food, despite waiting so long and being very hungry. Then my husband had to stand near the register for 5 more minutes to pay, and they charged 35 euro for this meal. Staff seemed embarrassed but did not do anything to improve our experience before we left.

We will be laughing and joking about our terrible experience at Cafes Ramuntcho for years to come. So I say "thank you" for that. At least you are providing a different experience than all the other cafes and restaurants we have visited in the South of France.

Side notes:

I noticed a woman behind the counter handling some type of cake with her bare hands, after touching other things first and not washing her hands.

We were shown a handwritten board to order from, but were told one of the dishes was not available. If it is handwritten, why would you leave the unavailable dish written there? Erase it or...

Lunch in Cafés Ramuntcho was very enjoyable. It is beautifully decorated and has a great atmosphere. The staff is great and they were really good with my mother's allergies as we could ask and easily find out what was in the food, and also they took it seriously which was a relief. The food was excellent, service was friendly, and would highly recommend it. Also, the coffee was very good and the framboise cheesecake is one of the best...

Une seule étoile voire moins! Je parle du café ramuntxo à la devanture rouge où nous avons l'habitude d'aller depuis des années. Accueil déplorable, même pas un bonjour. Lors de notre dernier passage, nous avions eu le même ressenti, nous nous étions dit que c'était un jour sans et que ça arrive à tout le monde d'être mal luné ou pas en forme! Nous y sommes repartis ce samedi, quelques clients à l'intérieur mais pas foule. Rien qui peut justifier un manque de politesse, même pas un bonjour d'accueil. Nous nous installons à une table non débarrassée et attendons, 5min, 10min. Mesdames sont derrière le comptoir à ranger la vaisselle et autres du service de midi. Nous nous levons pour commander au comptoir et attendons encore 5 min. Elle prend la commande avec la bouche pleine, en fait, à la commande, au service , et à l'encaissement (attente aussi de 5min) elle à la bouche pleine. Elle se trompe dans la commande et nous amène 2 chocolats au lieu de 1 chocolat et 1 café et nous fait comprendre qu'on lui avait commandé 2 chocolats. De mauvaise foi ! Sans parler que les enfants de la serveuse sont arrivés pour manger et ont été servi avant nous. Ça sent la fin de cette institution. On ne peut pas être...