Le Barbue d'Anvers — Restaurant in Lille

This restaurant sits in a sort of building backyard, preceded by two others more economical places I'd say (judging from what it was served), so it was found almost because of a chance and - at the net of my experience - I wish I would have not found it at all.

Firstly, it has to say that we arrived here only because we were after dining while eating the two popular Lille dishes: the carbonnade flamande (stewed meat) and waterzoï (boiled poultry in bouillon with cream). We couldn't find any of those on the first top 5 restaurants we visited on our path, and being already 8pm we decided to give it a go to this place, though the cost already put me on the warning condition. But I thought, ok these are local special mains, so they must somehow be with worth; hence we entered.

At the entrance, the waiter indicates is the table number where we can sit. He said you can go upstairs, table 10. Every restaurant I've been so far, even the cheapest, has always seen waiters escorting us to the table, so this was already collecting its second negative point. Finally at the second floor, another waiter see us arriving, and when I said about the table, it let us accommodate next to a table close to the kitchen (which was having the door fully open because of the hot weather and the fact they could not keep their windows open), a fridge with cold drinks and the elevator used by guests (the space for passing between my chair and the lift was so reduced, that I wonder what would have happened if a person on a wheel chair was there).

Anyway, the waiter comes with the blackboard with the daily selection, but we say we want those dishes. He suggests that they will take only five minutes to be prepared and whether we were ready to eat. We just say so and literally after seven minutes the mains arrive, clearly suggesting previously cooked food, which in fact was barely warm, tasty, but definitely not worth the money they sought. In serving the meal, part of my stew was poured on the underneath napkin; when it came the time of the wine, some drops went on the table, and the tea (served in a metal teapot you usually get in a second-hand style bar) was heavily dropped on the table.

The dessert selection was almost okay, and the glasses of wines good, but this was very little to compensate the bill. Toilets are in the basement, where a second guest hall is located, with the gents with a door open and the hand wash basin in the main...

I found this place by mistake as I walking down town in Lille and decided to give it a try.

I was alone and I tried the croquet maroilles, the poulet maroilles and a 500ml local beer.

Firstly, the croquet maroilles was excellent. It was served with salad and it was exceptionally good (costed 7 euro). Secondly the chicken was good but not the best I tried. The sauce was a bit thin and had not a lot of flavour. The plate was served with fried potatoes which were tasty (costed 19.5 euro). Lastly, the beer was exceptional 😁.

I must say that the hospitality and helpfulness of the personnel was beyond expectations and made the whole experience amazing....

We pre-booked as a large group of 15. We were seated quickly but weren't offered a menu for 30 minutes, our order wasn't taken for another 30, the wine arrived after the starters, le soupe do poisson was cold (and unpleasent), the mains had obviously been sitting around before being served, one sauce was delivered after we had finished eating and the table wasn't cleared efficiently. It's a shame as it is a nice venue. We were seated in the cellar rooms but there were only two staff serving the whole floor and they seemed to be very inexperienced. I wouldn't recommend this...