Les Tontons Flingueurs — Restaurant in Bayonne

I had high hopes of this restaurant because of the reviews. I was hugely disappointed. People say the service is friendly. That not how I received it. It was pushy and casual. I had a sense of the staff wanting to get as many people through the restaurant as possible as quickly as possible. A casual attitude to service meant that sloppiness could be passed off as mateyiness. It might help if the staff wore clean clothes. The gaspacho was the very worst I have ever tasted; vilely oversalted, so that the taste of the tomatoes, which should be the centrepiece of this dish, was completely obliterated. The Axoa was edible. But that is all that can be said for it. The chips were greasy and cheap, certainly not 'fait maison', and the few salad leaves were tossed on as an afterthought. It was a notch above school dinner standard, but only just. There was no presentation, so style. It was all very much a fast-dining mode place, not somewhere to linger over really well-prepared dishes. I love Bayonne, but Les Tontons Fingers, which I had chosen to visit particularly, was a massive...

When is a veggie burger not a burger? When you have one here! I'm not a vegetarian, but fancied something different instead of eating meat. The food was well presented, but perhaps this is to distract from the quality. My "burger" has a wooden steak in it which I take out to open the bun and see a few chopped pieces of aubergine, courgette, carrot, gherkin and brocoli all of which looked like it had been cooked a week ago then topped with cheese - this is not a burger, so why call it one!? I would have been happier with a thick slice of aubergine between the bun. On the side was a huge portion of potatoes and the smallest salad ever, this was the best of it as the mustard dressing masked the disappointing taste of the rest of the meal. Staff were pleasant enough, but when they tell you they will be back in 5 mins to take your order after they finish off having a coffee you'll be waiting much longer. Not a place...

We had the chef's sharing plate, which was a large pork chop (couchon) with potatoes in a delicious sauce. We had planned on having a dessert, but the shared main was sufficient for us. The staff were friendly, and between their smattering of English and our smattering of French, we managed quite well. We even had a pleasant conversation with the two French ladies sitting at the table next to us. We sat outside as it was warm enough, and their tables were sheltered. We felt the price was reasonable for what we had - 2 glasses of wine and the sharing plate was approximately €35. We would definitely go again if we had time or return to Bayonne...