L'Huitrier Pie — Restaurant in Libourne

We went on a Monday evening in the 3rd week of Sept which may have been a mistake as L'Huitrier Pie is one of few restaurants in St Emilion open on that day of the week. Perhaps the normal chefs had the day off because the 5 course tasting menu (€66 pp) we chose was a disaster. From the first bite of the first tasteless amuse bouche, which was made from overcooked and too thick pastry, every course that followed was ill-conceived, overly complicated, badly executed and sometimes downright horrible. Two examples stand out: one was a cold tomato dish presented as a slice from a rectangular gateau. When it is the fresh tomato season, and France has so many varieties of delicious examples of this sublime fruit (some of which we grow at home), how such a taste-destroying creation could be acceptable to a Michelin-recognised restaurant was beyond us. The second was a tuna dish, slightly overcooked, swimming in a lukewarm & an oily chicken broth. To our palates, chicken & tuna are not a good taste combination. There was a dispiriting preponderance of foams in many dishes, an all-too common (in France) lack of vegetables with the main courses and the utterly pretentious spraying of lavender mist from a perfume bottle to accompany one of the desserts. The service was friendly, professional & well executed but the dining...

We sat inside and ordered the 5-course menu.

The amuse bouche brought so much promise with it. An olive bite that was so delicate and memorable. Raphael recommended a terrific white wine from Chateau Carbonneaux.

Then a guest or two arrived and sat just outside the door at a garden table. This table kept a cigarette burning in their hand the entire time, which filled up the entire inside with smoke.

The service was fantastic, with Raphael and Alizee tending to us very well. The food started very well, but the beautifully plated dishes had such delicate flavors (as one would expect) that the only flavor I tasted was cigarette smoke.

Every bite tasted like cigarette. It got bad enough that I could not finish the meal and left halfway through. C'est la vie.

Update: I was not charged for my meal and I am pleased with how my family was treated. I still maintain my view, the service is amazing, the food is very good. The ambiance...

Michelin presentation, Michelin price but not Michelin quality. We had ordered a 3 course meal with matching wines and things started strong with great welcome meals and the actual entree was good but with a catch... There was no wine served with it. After asking we discovered that the wine had been forgotten and we were offered a glass to share and for the price of the meal to be altered. A fair change but the wine matching was, in my opinion, far from matching. This continued with all wines and dishes. This was the first time at dinner (on our 4 week trip in France) I left wine in my glass at the end of meal because it did not go with the meal. One other tiny but important detail was that half the basket of bread was stale. It comes down to the average food and disappointing wine. A shame.

I regret my...