Le Grenier à Sel — Restaurant in Chalon-sur-Saône

We expected a bit more, we showed up unannounced on a Thursday, the restaurant was almost empty, but they told us they had no tables available... eager to try it, we decided to book a table for the following day. When we arrived they were not sure whether we could sit outside (even though we specified we wanted a table outside) The menu offered a burrata salad... but they only had mozzarella (no big deal but just change the name on the blackboard, how hard can it be) also they charged 12€ for something quite basic Their specialty is grilled meat but they don't master the cooking, I asked for medium rare and it was basically well done, that's a shame given the good quality of the initial product and the garlic butter is charged extra The waitress was new so she probably meant well but she asked us if we wanted to order dessert before we had our main course, she didn't know what she was bringing to the table when asked about a dish They referred to us as the table "without any coffee or dessert" when checking out, again no big deal but it's small details like that that leave a bad impression... too bad because it had all the ingredients to be a...

They do great barbecued meat with potatoes in their jackets or potato gratin. We liked the confit duck and something which Google translate called ‘pork butt’, both cooked on the barbecue. Though it was a very hot evening we were cool because of the air conditioning. The waitress was very kind to us and recommended great desserts and wine by the glass which we liked. We had a Chardonnay which was off-dry and a nice red called Moulin ‘s vert. The chocolate cake was runny in the middle and extremely good. A French guy next to us had profiteroles with hot chocolate sauce which he said was very good. We are going to try to come back tonight and get the profiteroles! It all felt like good down-to-earth French food. It was very good value. They gave us some tasty olives and a free drink at the beginning of the meal that I think had cassis in it....

Unlucky visit...were looking forward to eating here but they were understaffed which resulted in the grilled meats all being overcooked and inedible, not to mention hardly any service. There was no apology for the terrible food. Perhaps just unlucky for us this evening. The server refused to explain the menu, and never stopped by our table to check on us, she disappeared into the kitchen for minutes at a time leaving the grill master to wait tables. It seemed as though she had to prepare the desserts. A great disappointment, we left our entrées...