La maison du coquillage — Restaurant in Lisieux

We were a family of 5 and from the moment we entered the restaurant the waitress was unpleasant. We although some of us poor French speakers try to order our meal and say please and thank you in French. This was met with annoyance something we have never encountered before.

We ordered an expensive bottle of Sancerre wine which was opened for us at the table as you would expect but she managed to damage the cork and leave large quantities of it in the wine.

My husband and I ordered starters, oysters and I had foie grais. The oysters seemed very fresh!

Our children had the menu enfant which arrived with our starter the steak hachè was delicious, the nuggets and chips looked packet frozen and tasteless. Our six year old required some tomato sauce and this was not an easy task as you could not get the waitresses attention.

Our mains were nice I had Sea Bass it was well cooked the sides were unexciting. My husband had Moule frites which were nice but nothing exciting either. Our older daughter had the fondue du Normandie which was "nice" it is hard to get melting cheese wrong.

To finish the children were given the smallest saddest icecream I've seen in a restaurant, especially one with any standards. I ordered a mojito which didn't taste like one and my husband had an Armanac with a dead fly.

So over all average food for above average prices. And by far the most rude waitress we have ever encountered in France in many years...

Great food !!! we enjoyed everything and a special mention to the fried small fishes as appetizer and the stuffed razor-clams (butter garlic and herbs... beautifully prepared!). Moreover, every single staff member was enjoying working there and did a great job from the young waiter to the more experienced staff member... so congrats to the owners who managed to gather a whole team of motivated and dedicated people in France, almost unheard of nowadays... when I paid and asked for a tip to be added on my credit card, she made a discreet comment and all the staff nearby expressed their gratitude in unison... cannot enjoy more a nice dinner in a nice setting on the seashore in beautiful Normandy coastline. We'll be back for more before the end of our holidays for sure !! Keep up with the amazing job, especially today when we see so many restaurants closing down across France or not even open in the high season in touristic areas on the coastline :( Too many silly clients complaining about details on the internet, and not appreciating the hard work and quality in front of their eyes... so for all the discerning tourists out there, pay a visit to that family-owned business and enjoy the...

What a great find! We pulled off the highway at Houlgate based on the beautiful houses on the city illustration. It was a cold and windy January evening. The team at Maison du Coquillage was readying for dinner and welcomed us in. The service was wonderful, very helpful and patient with my rusty high school French. The food was fresh and delicious, with some items like whelks being a new discovery for us. Even the 15 year old found a burger while the rest of us ate a drank many new tastes and had a wonderful time. Bonne annee,...