Les Relais d’Alsace — Restaurant in Caen

So good, we went back twice in our short stay!

First night in Caen and we stumbled upon this by accident - purely because it seemed to be the only place around still willing to accept guests and serve food around 9pm. But we were so happy we found it because it was such a lovely place!

The menu is quite extensive covering the usual French offerings plus the flammkuchen and German style dishes you often see in restaurants in Northern France.

The first night we went, we had the bavette and chips (on of my fave cuts of beef), one of the German dishes which was essentially a huge pile of sauerkraut with some seafood and beurre blanc, fish and chips and a burger (dont judge us, we'd just arrived after an 8 hour drive then walking round trying to find somewhere for food 😂), and every single dish was hearty and well cooked. The German style dish in particular - it was incredible value as there was so much stodge to eat. We went in mid September but I can imagine eating that in winter being so good.

Second time, we went back after a long day out at the D Day sites, and we wanted somewhere we knew would deliver great service and food. We had a Caesar salad, fish stew recommended by the waiter (we wanted mussels but not the season), beef tartare and a chicken and mushroom dish, followed by three creme brûlées and sorbet (the sorbets are really good).

Again, all absolutely delicious and after a long day out exploring they were just what we needed.

Both occasions the staff were incredible, whether it was the person serving or the person taking the order. Everyone was friendly, smiling, joking and everyone spoke English (we speak a tiny bit of French, but do know other languages I promise) so if you're worried about any communication issues, there wont be any, plus the menu is in English too.

The second time we went, the beef tartare is prepared at the table which was a lovely bit of theatre, and you could say yes or to no to any of the ingredients. Also when we ordered the waiter checked we understood it was raw beef which means someone mustn't have done in the past 😂

So all in all, a really good place to go in Caen for good food and...

I rarely write reviews but I have to write this one to warn fellow travellers. We went there because my hotel (IBIS) recommended me to try their Caen meat specialty. The food was not good, at all. Also, the vegetarian burger is a fried patty sandwiched between fried hash brown buns (too much fried food for one meal, makes no sense!). The flavours were underwhelming.

But the food was still better than the service. The person who greeted us was very rude. They did not take our order until 15 minutes of seating us. They brought the bread when we were already half way into our meal and did not even check in on us. The manager was coughing and sneezing without covering his mouth.

Would highly recommend you...

Nous avons été déçus par la nourriture et le service.

J'ai commandé pour moi un steak et des pommes de terre sautées, le tout indiqué sur la carte avec un doigt. Mon mari a commandé des moules et des frites. La serveuse n'a pas compris pendant tout ce temps que nous voulions dire pommes de terre en anglais (elle n'est pas obligée non plus). C'est pourquoi j'ai traduit toute la commande en français. Elle était complètement énervée et a dit avec un regard stupide : oui, oui j'ai compris, des pommes de terre, a-t-elle dit en français. Bon, nous avons essayé de rire gentiment, juste pour être sûrs. Ma fille voulait des frites Fitz, elle a aussi traduit "frites" dans Google Traduction, la serveuse a fait une moue incompréhensible - elle ne comprenait pas ce que nous voulions dire. J'ai alors montré ma carte, les mêmes pommes de terre que j'avais commandées. Elle a alors pris la commande en roulant les yeux. Qu'avons-nous reçu en fin de compte ? Pas de pommes de terre pour mon mari, j'ai reçu de la purée et notre fille des pommes de terre frites. Elle n'a pas dû comprendre sa propre langue. En ce qui concerne la nourriture : je n'ai jamais mangé un steak comme le goulasch, la salade voir photo, totalement vieille, gluante et immangeable. Les pommes de terre étaient vieilles mélangées à des pommes de terre fraîchement frites. Et ce n'est pas tout. Lorsque nous avons voulu payer, la serveuse est venue nous dire qu'elle allait revenir, personne n'est venu pendant 10 minutes jusqu'à ce que nous entrions nous-mêmes dans le restaurant et payions à la caisse....