L'Happy Curious — Restaurant in Fontainebleau

I consider myself well traveled having lived and worked on 3 continents. I've been to France a number of times and know what to expect from customer service. This experience really is at the bottom. It just occurred so you will note how furious I am.

I came to breakfast with my 3 year old daughter. After waiting about 15 minutes, because 1 person serves 30 tables, we ordered coffee, 2 orange juice, and 2 pain au chocolat. The pastries and coffee came pretty quickly thereafter. We had to wait about 30 minutes and the waitress to pass us about 6 times for the juice, and they brought no water, so my daughter had nothing to drink. Meanwhile it was more important to serve all the retired folks their coffee so that they had something to go with their chain smoking.

So we get the juice and my little one is already bored, so I asked if I could have a cup for take away. After a few minutes, the waitress brings me a used Heineken branded plastic beer cup that is seriously so dirty that I should have reported them to a board of health. Disgusting. I sat there and pondered what to do. I took photos then walked over to a woman behind the bar I assumed to be a manager or owner.

At first she said she spoke English, but that was only until she noticed that I was complaining. She asked another bartender to come over. I explained the situation and how it was really sad and embarrassing to serve a child like this anywhere in the world. She started pulling a stack of these beer cups to find one that was cleaner, but I was disgusted. I told her that she could keep the cup and her 3 euros. I felt so bad for my daughter that I almost cried.

I'm usually disappointed in Europe whether it's an average mom and pop place or a Michelin rated restaurant but this really was terrible. Hope it impacts someone in their...

Amazing and NOT crowded castle nestled in the forest probably 90 min + south of Paris. You've surely heard of Versailles. We'd been advised to pack our belongings and take the shuttle (bus/train) to the magnificent chateaux, but there were so many other things that took up out 15 days we never had the time. When returning from the countryside and visiting the resting place of Leonardo Da Vinci in Amboise, we found the bustling village of Fontainebleau. We arrived at dusk so the chateaux was closing for the evening. The cafes and streets were packed and there was a wait everywhere we attempted to find dinner. "They must have all left the castle to have dinner" The next day we figured we'd spend a few hours in line and then commence a tour. Uhhhh no lines and one decision. Do the audio tour at an incredibly inexpensive price... We strolled around the grounds never realizing we'd passed the entrance... again there were no lines or indication of where all the people and mayhem were... so we decided we were hungry and shared an amazing crepe prepared by a young smiling man under the main stairway to Napolean's Chateaux,...

My experience was deeply underwhelming. Disappointing given some of the other rave reviews here. I went solo on a Sunday afternoon. It wasn’t crowded but they initially sat me in a really terrible corner in the far back right next to the fridge and directly in front of the toilets. There were plenty of seats up front where the atmosphere was much nicer so I asked to be moved, which seemed to be no problem. Each item I ordered wasn’t available from the glass of French wine to the lamb, so I ended up with a gritty red as a substitute and a very mediocre (and expensive) deconstructed onion soup (there was no croutons inside the soup, just those large pieces next to it). That glass of wine was 7E and that soup was 12E, and even with inflation, was really expensive for what the experience offered, especially since both were not-good. The overall vibe was just very off, more than the trope-y ambivalent French service, but like actual disdain or discomfort by...