Le Moulin de Ponceau — Restaurant in Chartres

We were doing a Michelin starred route in France. After an amazing experience Chartres at the only starred restaurant, Le Georges*, where everything was in line with a restaurant étoilé, we decided try Le Moulin de Ponceau, without a star but one of the other two restaurants featured in the guide.

It was a total disappointment and the worst restaurant we went to during our week in France.

We arrived the first at the place for a reservation we had made three days before. On arrival, we noticed that some tables were substantially better than others -essentially a handful of tables overlook the canal, fact that only insiders would know. We asked to be seated in one of the tables at the veranda overlooking the canal, but they kindly refused because according to them those tables had been booked up long ago. It sounded to us like a bad excuse and we felt like we had been treated unfairly. I immediately wrote a one line review on Google giving Le Moulin one star and pointing out that as a non-regular you would not be treated fairly. Once the heat of the moment passed, I erased the review because we decided to give it a chance. It was online maybe for 10 minutes.

We noticed some passive-aggressive attitude from the server from the start. When we went to pay at the cashier, we were confronted about the review. They basically lectured us. You have an unhappy customer and you decide to confront him like that, embarrassing his companionship. That was totally unacceptable for the Michelin standards and I reported that to Michelin. This restaurant should not appear on their guide.

Regarding the food, it looked good but it was mediocre. I would underline that we ordered the 26€ Mr Prévost chicken and it was grossly undercooked (see the picture).

Overall, the biggest disappointment of out trip, mediocre food and utterly bad service.

Not recommended.

EDIT: according to the restaurant this is not a plate they serve. I add the geolocation of the photo to...

Maybe I was not lucky at the evening there … that can happen … but for a Michelin guide listed and recommended restaurant I did expect more …

First: 5* for the setting, just down at the small river - if you are lucky you get one of the three tables in the conservatory-style part just on the water - and great interior minimalistic design.

But then 2* for a quite grumpy, inattentive service - zero English menue or even willingness to support in sharing the basics of the dishes I chose - yes not common everywhere in Chartres but The George at least tries best to explain what excellent food you get served in English

Then the food - good setting, but the lamb was 90% fat the steak knife would not be able to slice and tasted like old mutton. Also the other dishes where not really CCE prio Al to be me ruined in the Guide Michelin

So this time only * from me as they are set on that...

Delightful and inventive menu with a number of surprises. We visited at the beginning of November, so the sunroom tables weren't available (and we were there for dinner, so it was already very, very dark outside anyway), but I think it would have been fun to have lunch there and see the river flow by. Very attentive and friendly serving staff, perfect portions and great wines. Amazing first night in Chartres, highly recommend for higher level dining if you're not in the mood for bistro food or more touristy fare.

Edit March 2024 -- We returned for lunch, and some of the waitstaff remembered us! Once again, we chose to have the chef's tasting menu with wine pairing, and once again, we were blown away by the inventiveness of the dishes and the absolute tsunami of flavors that washed over us the entire meal. Mind-blowing...