Les Ventres Jaunes — Restaurant in Lyon

A nice traditional bouchon, serving traditional Lyonnaise dishes. We chose for the three-course menus, to experience the authenticity (also at a very good and fair price!). The salads were nice, especially the one with a poached egg, bacon, mushrooms in a red wine sauce. For the main dishes we tried the grilled beef in red wine sauce, with some french fries, and the very famous Quenelle ‘de brochet soufflée sauce crustacés’. This is something we had not tasted before; it has a peculiar flavour and it’s interesting how they make that airy texture. The combination with the shellfish and rice is good. It also goes really well with the red wine Juliénas, recommended by one of the waiters. As a desert, we got the St Marcellin cheese and the creamy-‘yogurt’-y one with strawberry sauce, which had interesting texture, not what you would expect from ‘cheese’, but we liked the combination with the sweet sauce. Moreover, the hospitality is so on point!! All waiters were super polite and friendly, and always trying to help out if we need / don’t understand something; though they don’t speak the best English, they were so kind and open to talk! Thank you! The bouchon is really cozy, with a calm atmosphere despite being at...

We came here hoping for a memorable meal, but unfortunately the experience was very disappointing.

The appetizers were average at best — the Salad Lyonnaise, onion soup, and œuf meurette were edible but uninspired, lacking freshness and finesse.

The main courses were the real letdown. The quenelle was overwhelmingly fishy, with no balance of flavors. The steak was not a good cut of beef, and the fries that came with it were soggy, old, and drenched in oil rather than crisp and golden. The baked ravioli was overcooked to the point of being mushy.

Dessert, which we had hoped would redeem the evening, was perhaps the most disappointing of all. The tarte praline was cold and hard, tasting like the inside of a fridge — so much so that it was almost impossible to cut into, let alone enjoy.

Overall, the quality of the food does not justify the experience. Anyone looking for authentic local cuisine may want to look elsewhere until significant improvements are made in both ingredient quality and preparation.

Service was superb...

This was one of the several bouchons on this block. All of them were jam-packed with tourists like us. Knowing locals wouldn’t come here to eat, we were just too starved and took a table inside. People appeared enjoying eating at outdoor tables. We avoid doing so in certain European countries as they tend to smoke while you are eating right next to them. The lyonnaise salad was bad. It tasted like a school cafeteria salad. The bacon bits were very thin and the croutons were too big. The second dishes were spicy pork sausage and a quenelle. I know these are supposedly homemade dishes but they were tasteless. Not sure what’s lacking, perhaps some umami flavors would help. All dishes tasted like the cook never tasted the food he cooks. I have to say the servers were very friendly. But, the bottom line, we go to restaurants for good food and the ambiance. If you have a time, do your home work by sorting reviews and read them by the French. You will see how good...