LE BISTROT ABEL - Bistrot lyonnais gastronomique — Restaurant in Lyon

I almost cried at the restaurant. I write this review with a heavy heart. We - two excited travellers from halfway across the globe - were eager to sample the renowned Lyon cuisine in an authentic bouchon. To put it simply, the food was abysmal. I’m not trying to be a contrarian here. It might be that the dishes are really, really not suited to our palettes, but it was truly bad that I was speechless. We ordered the menu Lyonnais. The escargot was ok, and the salad was a standard salad, leaves, dressing and toppings and whatnot. For the mains, we had the quenelle and the andouillette. They were shocking. The quenelle, a beige log in a mysterious sauce, was strangely bland and unnervingly smooth. Too homogenous for my liking; thank goodness it came with rice. Apparently this food is made with fish, but as I was eating it very well could have been some unidentified alien food. The andouillette was intestines stuffed into a sausage. I usually like tripe, but this dish felt like they took the revolting aspect of eating an organ and put it in the spotlight. It was bland, chewy and mushy. At least it comes with mash potato to shovel into your mouth. Finally, we thought dessert could wash away all the strange disappointment of the mains. Wrong. The baba au rhum was super strong and wet tasting. And don’t even get me started on the saint marcellin cheese. It tasted like fart that I tried not to gag. Honestly the best thing that I ate was the sugar cube, which came with our coffee, that I put in my mouth to wash all my sadness away. Very very sad. Other than that, service was impeccable. Try the food at your own risk! Our wallet hurt...

On Monday may 6, my wife and I were seated at the charming bistro d,Abel at around 7:30. The bistro was almost full , good sign! My wife had the salad Lyonnaise, and the beef tartare. I ordered the saucisson with lentils and chicken sauce supreme. My wife salad was under dress ,lacking of seasoning. Her tartare was coarsely chopped and stringy with no flavor whatsoever.( huge portion by the way!) When I pointed out the lack of flavor to the waitress she brought a plate of condiments. She was extremely professional. My wife exasperated told her that will not do! She took her plate away and deducted the item from the bill. My saucisson with lentils was fine if slightly under season. The chicken supreme was ....a leg...which may have been fine if braised or cooked suficiently, however it was very tough. The accompanying rice look like an oily uncle Ben's rice dish...very "al dente!". We shared a baba au rhum for dessert. We can say the food was consistent in its poor quality, it was achingly over sweet.

Anthony Bourdain would not be proud to patronize such a poor food quality restaurant. As a + 40 years chef myself I will say ....fire the chef ,Abel you are living on past...

This used to be my favorite place in Lyon to enjoy traditional Lyonnaise cuisine, but when I came back this summer, it had completely changed. The escargots, which used to be my absolute favorite dish for their unique flavor, are no longer the same. The quenelle was inedible — completely dry and served without a single drop of sauce. The saucisson was acceptable, but nothing compared to the flavors they had just a few months ago, which were truly exquisite and always made me want to return.

Beyond the food, the service has also changed. We had issues when selecting the wine: we specifically asked for one that was not biodynamic, and the waiter assured us it wasn’t. However, when he brought it to the table, the label clearly stated that it was biodynamic.

I wouldn’t return, as it feels like the place has changed completely. I don’t know if the team is different now, but it’s a real shame, as both the service and the food used to...