Brasserie Hippeau — Restaurant in Loches

Brasserie Hippeau was one of the most pleasant surprises for my wife and me during our 2-week French honeymoon. We were walking in downtown Amboise looking for a place to eat on a night when several of the highest-rated restaurants in town were closed. We chose Brasserie Hippeau because it had a pretty outdoor seating area and the food we saw others eating looked good. We are SO glad we decided to stop in!

Our entire meal was absolutely fantastic! I didn't know I could enjoy so many fantastic flavors within one meal. The bread was super soft on the inside with a nice crisp crust, the mushroom soup was amazing, I loved the steak frites, and my wife was a huge fan of the chicken dish she ordered. We enjoyed an amazing bottle of wine with everything. And then the cheese plate came! We were absolutely wowed by it! Everything was affordable and the service was very good. It was a great first dinner in Amboise.

While Hippeau is one of the first restaurants you'll see when you walk toward the main square by Chateau Royal d'Amboise, you may not think about stopping there because there are so many other great restaurants in the city. But it is WELL worth stopping in to enjoy this underrated gem! We loved the Hippeau and most definitely didn't leave the Hippeau hungry. High-quality meal in one of the best dining cities...

Major attitude problems here. The place is the epiphany of "Rude French Service". There is a nice way to tell to guests if you want them to have a full menu, instead of the male barkeeper walking up to a single woman guest after 10 minutes of ignorance and then, with a face of irritation barking at her "Oui?!" (translation: what way do you want to inconvenience me?) and then literally shout at her that this is a restaurant and you can't just have a coffee with a dessert from the a' la carte menu. Mind, that the resto at this time had at least 10 empty tables and most guests were already paying, so it is not that they've been overwhelmed, or something. It wasn't yet the closing time either. The worst was the style of this guy, almost intimidating. Ridiculous. Go work in some factory where you don't need to see people, or more, where people wouldn't...

Moody old maître d'!

Upon arrival, we had nobody around to seat us, so we ventured into the restaurant looking for some help, we were met by confused looks and then the arrival of our host who led us back outside and aggressively pointed out to us where we should stand and wait to be served, we apologised for our insolence, and then asked the gentleman if we may have a table for 2 and see a menu, he ordered us to "speak french", obviously at this stage we realised it wasn't quite the hospitality we were after, thanked the host and told him good evening in french, to which he turned his face and wouldn't respond.

Whilst the etiquette lesson was welcome, turning your face away from potential clients is nothing short of strange. Left us rather perplexed.

Still, we went on to have a lovely evening at baalbeck where the service was...