Le bistrot de 2 mains — Restaurant in Lisieux

Read this before go to this restaurant. We were three people and ordered a variety of dishes. Unfortunately, the experience was disappointing overall.

One out of evert three mussels still had a lot of sand inside. The French fries were honestly terrible—the first time in my life I’ve eaten fries completely soaked in oil. It seemed like they were re-fried in semi-warm oil, which made them soggy and greasy.

I asked the server (possibly the manager, she was an older waitress) if they could replace them or make a fresh batch. She couldn’t speak English, so she called over a younger, kinder waitress to translate. The manager did not seem pleased with my request. I even offered her to try the fries herself, explaining that they were not crispy at all and full of oil. Her response was, “This season’s potatoes are like this, we can’t do anything about it.”

We ended up leaving all the fries untouched on the table.

The bavette was also disappointing—I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. The calamari was equally greasy, clearly not fresh or homemade. It looked and tasted exactly like pre-fabricated frozen calamari from Aldi, all identical in size.

The only things we actually enjoyed were the escargots and the crème brûlée.

I hope my experience helps others avoid the same disappointment. Please don’t do this...

The mixed reviews for this restaurant make sense after my recent visit. We chose the first formula, starting with the fish soup and six escargots.

The fish soup had a strange texture and a taste that was far from what you'd expect from a classic fish soup.. Unfortunately, the escargots were a major disappointment. One shell was empty, another tasted off, and a third was mushy with a distinct, unpleasant ammonia flavor.

​The mussels that followed were decent, but we've had much better elsewhere. ​The atmosphere was also a letdown. The dining room felt more like a school canteen, with the servers observing at the doorways, which made the experience feel a bit awkward.

​When it was time to pay, I expressed my concerns about the quality of the food. After some discussion, they did offer a discount, which I appreciated.

​While I'm grateful they adjusted the bill, I can't recommend this restaurant. When you go out to eat, you want the certainty of a good meal, and unfortunately, this experience was very...

The food was mediocre, but what truly ruined the experience was the owner’s unbelievably rude attitude. When we politely asked about a mistake in our order, he got angry, picked his nose in front of us, and told us to “get lost.” It was shocking, disrespectful, and completely unprofessional.

This was by far the worst dining experience we’ve ever had, and it tainted what was otherwise a beautiful trip. The lack of basic customer service and human decency was appalling.

Absolutely not recommended. If you care about being treated with basic respect, avoid this place...