La Maison — Restaurant in Cognac

There were good and not so good things. Let’s start with the good: The atmosphere and deco is very nice. Staff is welcoming and kind. Some of the food we tried were tasty and not very ordinary. Not so good: The chairs at the terrace are metal without cushions so in a slow dining place, it makes painful to sit for a long period of time. My son chose lamb chops and he asked well done. Finally the meat was rare and very hard. Since they didn’t ask us if we were happy with the food we didn’t give this feedback, not to make a fuss. The dessert we chose was the worst part. It was a raspberry red pepper tartare, so sounded very interesting and experimental. It was experimental but not tasty at all, two random ingredients put together to experiment. And even though we said we didn’t want aperitifs, that we would have wine with our meal, they made us chose the wine before we chose our food and the glasses arrived long before our meal. So I think this restaurant has a great potential but it really needs a good counselor. We left the place neither...

Chose this restaurant from the Michelin recommended list for Cognac. The restaurant was a short walk from the hotel. We had an early reservation and we were given our choice of tables upon arrival. Upon seating, a board with warm gougeres was served. The menu is one page and features a variety of things to share and main course plates. We shared the fish tartare which was similar to ceviche but came with a delicious creamy paste. No cocktail menu, but you can order pretty much anything and they will make it. I had a delicious gin and tonic. With our main course we requested wine pairing and each plate came with its own wine. There were 3 choices for dessert but we considered our choice a miss (peach and brie) - flavors didn't work for either of us. All in all a delicious...

Quite a strange experience - the room was lovely and the service was good, but unfortunately it was let down by the food. We went mid week and had a fixed price lunch - me a starter and main, my uncle a main and dessert, with the food arriving so that we both had two courses at the same time. My squid starter was good, but my uncle's main of 'flying bird' (it turned out to be chicken) looked pretty tough and over-cooked. We asked about this, because I had ordered the same for my main, and the dish that appeared for me a few minutes later was almost unrecognisable as the same course! So - a good experience overall, but it's a shame when a restaurant with good service can be let down by quality control in...