Le Vieux Lyon — Restaurant in Lyon

16 years traveling in all continents and working in EU hospitality industry and then having my own business under Google reviews, I never had to write a 1 star review until I visited this restaurant. The service here was the ABSOLUTE WORST I’ve encountered in my life, the steak was so bad and chewy we couldn’t finish it and the dessert was inedible to say the least. From the beginning we were already ignored so many times until we were received negatively and they seemed annoyed to accommodate 6 of us but we pointed out it was empty inside. I know the culture and set my expectations accordingly. We were too hungry to move and thought perhaps the food might be worth it. Apparently NOT. My friend told our server in French that her steak was burnt as it was dry and all charred on top, and the fries were also burnt. The male server asked her if she just wanted more fries and my friend simply responded “I want quality not quantity”. The server just walked away without any solution. He even came back later saying sarcastic remarks, that the fries were good right?! I was asking for bread and made eye contact with this other server who was idle at the bar and he just looked away and proceeded to do something as if he’s gotten busy. Wow. They gave us 1 small bread bowl for 6 guests. After being ignored many times for water, bread, cola, steak knife and an entree which took forever, my friend’s pasta trio arrived when I was almost finished with mine, the bill also took forever so 2 of us went to the till to pay but this server Johan commanded us like children to go back to our seats. There was this much kinder gentleman who helped us with our bill as Johan went away. I wish I got his name but him & 1 lady were the only ones whose service was good. We left telling this server Johan that the service we had was just terrible, he responded in front of everyone that he has the same opinion of us! Wow, now paying customers also need a review! And we did nothing besides follow up our orders and provide honest feedback. We were horrified and all 6 of us left feeling heavy and utterly dissatisfied with both the food and service. I could swear the wait staff here (except for 1) shouldn’t be working in this industry. AVOID THIS RESTAURANT...

I've never left a bad review and don't feel like they're usually necessary, but unfortunately, this was one of the worst dinners I've ever had.

Right when we took our seats, I was injured (until I bled) by a broken, stained piece of plastic lying on my chair. Our waiter was regretful but distanced the restaurant from the problem, blaming everyone else walking by. A small concession would have been appreciated, but nothing was offered.

Our waiter completely forgot about us midway through. We waited around 40 minutes for our mains after our entrees as other people who came far later were served. Another waiter even came by to swap us to dessert forks but got confused and a little frustrated when we said we hadn't had our mains yet.

The food was average to bad. Entrees were nothing special, and our mains had little flavour—with the number of people coming in and out, it felt like the conveyor-belt version of Lyonnais cuisine.

We wanted to leave after our mains, but had to order dessert to finish our set menu. We checked the menu on our phones to save time, but when the waiter walked by he didn't even present us with options—he just went, "you want the mousse and praline, right?" even though we didn't. We felt pressured to say yes because he was clearly in a hurry.

In the end, we were itching to leave the restaurant as fast as possible. The lack of care for patrons' safety, comfort, and time was distinctly felt, especially during the dinner rush. What I perceived as poor service might have been a cultural difference coming from a US/UK background and the restaurant was definitely understaffed so I can understand the hustle, but it still put a huge dent in what was supposed to be a romantic date night. Plus—the food isn't even worth it, especially at this price.

1 star for the convenient location and the fun buskers who set up shop in front of the restaurant; they helped lighten the mood while we waited...

Located in old town Lyon, it was easy to walk to. The ambiance is classic french in the old town area. We were seated next to an old mouldy wall with spider webs and developed an environmental allergy (rhinitis, congestion, itch) immediately after we sat down.

We had a reservation so the service was fast. I didn't see many tables un-reserved / available for walk in.

Knowing that it was in a touristy area, we expected some price mark-up which we are comfortable with but we still expected a standard in food. Unfortunately the mains came out unpleasant and tough. The beef was cooked as recommended by the chef to medium rare (leaning towards rare). The duck breast cooked medium as recommended to us. The duck fat should have been rendered more. The steak should have had a pleasant crust. We were disappointed since it seemed like this restaurant would be cooking and serving hundreds of steaks and duck breasts in a night, they would have perfected the process by now... The choices of sauce were the same for both duck or beef: pepper, cheese, mushroom, mustard. They come on the side in a little pot. The pepper sauce had an overwhelming floral lemon scent. The table bread (free) was not delectable.

Prices were...