Cévé — Restaurant in Boulogne-sur-Mer

The waitress was extremely rude to us and when we failed to understand what she was saying in French she complained loudly about it (assuming we didn’t understand or she didn’t care). Marred an otherwise visit free of rudeness and lack of hospitality. The menu was written by hand on a chalkboard in a handwriting that was difficult to make out, so we had lots of questions. When we queried what “St Jacques Sauce” was supposed to go with we received a blank expression until much effort the waitress finally understood that we meant, ‘What dish does this sauce accompany?’ and despite clearly seeing that we had trouble understanding her French, she insisted on speaking even more rapidly, then when we didn’t comprehend, treated us as though we were stupid. We were not treated like this anywhere else in Boulogne-sur-Mer, where most people made an effort to both be friendly and to communicate. The ‘Sauce St Jacques’, as with other items on the menu, which appeared to be additions, was listed by itself. Our question: What does it come with? Moules? Scallops? What? Every time we ordered something we were told they didn’t have it. This happened each and every time we needed to order a particular course, entrée, plat and dessert. Boulogne -Sur-Mer is situated on the opposite side of La Manche (the Channel) from England, perhaps it’s not extraordinary to expect some minimal level of English comprehension from people working in hospitality. I myself used to work in hospitality in London where we regularly had tourists who spoke zero English. We accommodated them without rudeness. We did our best and ordered everything as much as possible in French. Please meet us halfway. The food was fine but nothing amazing for the price - €110 for two. We don’t expect everyone to speak fluent English, but some basic effort isn’t too much to ask, considering that we are both proficient in at least three languages. Unfortunately it...

Fantastic experience. We went for my grandfather's birthday exacty 73 years after he was last over in France on more serious business! We were greeted like family and practically entertained all evening by the host and the chef who had a lovely rapport.

The restaurant is beautiful and authentic, the menu is not at all limited by being grill-based and in fact benefits from more attention being given to the dishes.

At the end of the night, we were waved off from the street by the host which I felt was the ultimate touch of class and my grandfather was told to not leave it another 73 years - he certainly won't!

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We booked this based on recent reviews. The restaurant itself is pretty and in a lovely location and the staff were friendly and helpful, but sadly the food was not great, lacking flavour and presentation. I had slightly undercooked monkfish with overcooked vegetables in a soup of bland sauce. Maybe it's just a case of personal taste, but with so many choices in the area, I would've...