La Guérite - Cannes — Restaurant in Grasse

It will be a long one.

We’ve been coming to La Guerite every year 2011-2019. It always has been a one-of-a-kind experience with amazing food and vibrant atmosphere. It became truly amazing around 2014 and I was expecting a lot from our trip in 2024.

It used to be gorgeous, the food used to be delicious and ridiculously expensive - and it was 100 % worth it! Now it’s just basic for the same money and it’s just heartbreaking that a place of this caliber would just give up on its cuisine and service completely.

So me and my friends planned a reunion - and we met in Cannes. I’ve booked La Guerite a month in advance to make sure we get the best experience. We had a booking at 12.30 for “the first seating”.

So once we arrived in Port Canto, we were notified that departure is from Port Moure Rouge and that we “for sure received an email”. We did not. Went to Moure Rouge, we asked the La Guérite staff is there a parking nearby and they said they do not know and we have to go and find a spot ourselves - they had no intention to help even though the public parking was 50 m away and it would make sense for people working there daily welcoming the guests to be aware of this information.

Once we arrive we’re sat at the table close to the kitchen and it takes a struggle to get a slightly better one (after all it’s a special occasion for us so we want a sea view?). So the sea view section is not granted to us because the second seating is at 2.30 pm and the “sad” seating is somewhere where we don’t have to worry about leaving early.

So we’ve paid 887 euros for lunch and 740 euros for the beach for 4 people.

There is nothing worse than paying lots of money for the food you don’t like - and this really rubbed me the wrong way. 98 euros for a lobster pasta which is uneatable. A bunch of appetizers which are tiny and don’t taste nice at all! This restaurant stands for an epitome of luxury and this sad salad is what I get for 45 euros?

And to top it off, once I ask for a glass of rose at 3 pm after dinner we’re asked to leave, because “second seating” started 30 minutes ago. How is that our problem and why were we sat at the sad section which is not needed for the second seating? Nothing made sense. If we could have a nice table and it was clearly communicated that we had to leave by 2.30 pm it would make sense, but no one told us about any limitations since we sat at the sad section, but apparently it’s just a thing - and we were asked to leave to the lounge.

We went to the beach - the only amazing place of them all. Found out that the sunbeds are 100 euros per sunbed (in the email I was told it’s 150), rented them, had a lovely swim and left. The beach, the view and the laidback beach attendant were the only highlights of this trip. Honestly the jump from the rock and the swim is something that saved the day (as the azure waters always do) - and with this review I encourage you to improve your service simply because you’re charging way too much for the food and the sad sad sad service. The place used to be amazing and it definitely can do better, so I...

It’s unfortunate that I have to write this review as La Guérite was supposed to be the highlight of my visit to Cannes,however, my visit ended in being physically assaulted by a member of staff. We visited on the 15th September for a 3:30 reservation. Around 5:30pm, after having a decent time, we were ready to leave and asked a waitress (who I now know is named Andrea [pronounced with a French accent]) for our bill. It was taking a while, and we really wanted to move because pigeons were flocking to our area. We thought we would try to intercept the bill along the way and headed to the bar. Our bill was not ready so my friend reminded this same waitress as we weren’t sure if she had forgotten. The waitress - Andrea, very rudely raised her voice at my friend and said “my colleague will bring you the bill. Just wait for 2 minutes”. We were shocked to be spoken to in such a manner but just said “okay”. She walked away from my friend and rolled her eyes. I turned around to face the bar, and suddenly felt a HARD, POWERFUL and INTENTIONAL shove on my left. Which a second later was followed by a voice saying “sorry”. I looked to my left and realised it was Andrea. I was in complete shock and disbelief, I turned around to look at my friend to ask if she saw that, to make sure it wasn’t in my imagination. Another customer who I do not know said “did she just push you?!”. My friend also saw it. I immediately went to find the manager who introduced himself as Billy. He asked me which waitress it was, and when we approached Andrea, she denied it, claiming it was an accident. Billy was extremely apologetic, however I told him that sorry isn’t good enough because if I defended myself by pushing her back, I would have been escorted off the island. The push happened immediately after she shouted at my friend, and it is physically impossible to push someone that hard accidentally. Therefore, it was 100% done on purpose. There was more than enough space for her to get past me, and even if that were not the case, a simple “excuse me” would have sufficed but she wanted to hurt me. Billy offered us a free drink as compensation, but unfortunately, it still wasn’t good enough because how do you adequately compensate someone has just been assaulted?? On top of that, she went back to work like nothing happened. The customer who saw the incident went to Billy to tell him that she witnessed Andrea push me. He continued to apologise, but it was obvious that the apology was all I was going to get. My friend told him that we just want to pay our bill and leave. I was physically shaken up after the incident and brought to tears because I would never expect to visit an establishment like La Guérite and be assaulted by a waitress. It was such a helpless feeling knowing that nothing would be done. Maybe if I were famous, high profile or a high spender they would have taken the incident seriously. I hope La Guerite will take accountability after seeing this review, but the likelihood is that they will just defend...

I don’t ever leave reviews but the worst service I’ve ever received in the three dozen countries I’ve visits deserves a warning for any others. I’m sure this historical island club used to be something of merit. However, I cannot complain enough of the disaster and disrespect of our visit. Had I the understanding this was a “find your own service” type of venue maybe my expectations would have been more tempered. To set the scene, my girlfriend who was celebrating her birthday, and I arrive and are enticed by the ambience walking in. Like a few other couples, we were seated along the entrance where we could not hear the music and our painstaking service began. It took 30 minutes, I kid you not, after requesting to change seats and asking a busser for a bottle menu to served. At this point I thought I must have shit my pants to be neglected so horribly. Mind you, I see our party as relatively attractive and wealthy individuals so was confused by the impression that they must have been trying to get us to leave? Trying to patiently wait, I ended up respectively complaining to the host and our server of how this was completely unacceptable. Our bottle finally arrived maybe 40 minutes after our reservation with the promise we would be moved. After we finished our first pour, there was no additional from our $100 bottle and we had to get up to refill ourselves. Not only did the wait to be relocated take longer than our delayed food, our server had the audacity to take the bottle back away from our table. Again to be clear we were stone cold sober at this point and debating whether we should just leave. The party side of the venue and the hour plus long commute encouraged us to push through. The food that came might as well been made by an infant- their signature pasta was soaked with lemon and we didn’t bother finishing it. There was no desire to spend more than needed at this point. After moving and trying to enjoy ourselves, we tried to order more drinks that might as well have been unnoticed. When everyone else started getting their tabs, we were handed a bottle and our bill. I presumed the extra bottle was to make up for the terrible service and our complaint. Actually- they tried to charge us for an unrequested $120 bottle and 3 additional drinks that we did not order. I have never been so on the verge of getting up, charging back, and leaving in disgust but the environment and other guests are all that made up for the absolutely atrocious experience. If you dare to attempt to attend, I would only go with a group where you might actually be treated as a human being - or go to the bar and leave. This was supposed to be a highlight of our trip, but it was such a disgrace at an attempt of a high-end...