Sapnà — Restaurant in Lyon

The food at sapna is amazing and that‘s why I‘m even more sorry that I had such a disappointing experience last time. As it‘s not possible to reserve a table there, they told us to come early to get a table. I went there with two friends as soon as they opened in the evening, and although the restaurant was empty (except one table) they told us that probably the tables are reserved and that there would be no space for us right now. (WHAT!?!?) really weird... I told him that they told us last time that there are no reservations allowed - so how is that possible? Stumbling around, he offered us to call us in about an hour, as soon as a table would be free for us. That was totally fine for us, however, 1.5h passed and still no call from the restaurant. We went back to sapna to ask whether it will still be possible to get a table tonight or not, because otherwise we‘d have to look to another restaurant in order to still have some dinner at least... btw, restaurant still not full. Without a single word of excuse he proposed us to sit at a bigger table with two other guests - so in their case obviously also smaller groups of people could get a place!? I never felt so unwelcome at a place and we felt, that they were really unhappy about our presence and the fact that we came back. It was like as if they didn’t like to have us as guests there this night. Really disappointing management and I‘m sorry I won‘t come...

There are lots of things to like about this place but are there is much room for improvement as well.

We did not manage to get a real table for two, as they were kept for larger groups (maybe)... Additionally, there is no possibility for reservation. Therefore, we got a place at the bar which made us stare at a boring shelf during the dinner. Neither the seats nor the situation was confortable. As we arrived early we were served relatively fast. Apart from a few waiters, they were very reserved and explained nothing about the concept and the food.

The main dishes were delicious, the chef combined asian flavours with local ingredients perfectly. The plating was a bit odd as everyone needed to eat from the same bowl without individual plates. This made some mass.

Compared to the main dishes the desserts were VERY flat. When reading the ingredients on the menu we were so excited, but in reality every dessert was dominated by one flavour (e.g. beetroot in the beetroot-pear composition). This has to be improved. Plus we were constantly listening to the kitchen mixer (pacojet), which was just annoying...

In total, I would give 5/5 for the main dishes and 3/5 for both service and the desserts. This is a shame because for the money spent we were expecting something better... Maybe too much hype...

Sapna m'a fait de la peine. D'abord parce que j'avais adore y aller la premiere fois. Tout etait etonnant et savoureux. Surprenant mais bien ensemble. Et puis j'ai eu la mauvaise idee d'y retourner. Je voulais montrer un restaurant que j'aimais bien a ma mere, a Lyon. Elle qui peut rarement me voir. C'est pour cela que quand le serveur a repondu sans sourire et sechement a ses questions et demandes de repeter les parfums des boissons aperitives, j'ai ete refroidie. Quand j'ai vu que le plat a partager de magret etait comme elle le disait 'marine mais cru", a peine chaud, bourre de gingembre a la texture fade, j'ai tique, mais ca allait encore. Mais quand elle a eu ce dessert au chocolat, malt....et que le malt avait gout de brule et le chocolat n'avait pas gout de chocolat. Que ma mere veut aller poser des questions au comptoir a dessert et que ce meme serveur lui dit "asseyez-vous madame" (depuis quand, parce qu'une cliente est agee, on se permet de lui donner des ordres?), j'etais humiliee pour ma mere. Et ca n'etait pas fini. Quand gentiment, ma mere repond a la demande si "tout s'est bien passe" que c'etait bon - et le bao burger etait vraiment super reussi, c'est vrai, mais que nos 3 desserts qui coutent 12/17 euros nous avait TOUS decus (sexy ice cream avec du caramel au beurre sale et du cookie? J'aurais prefere prendre une glace au Picard surgele on aurait du une glace au rhum le melange etait fondu, le cookie, sec) - peche ou abricot zaatar (un tout petit peu de fruit, mon mari marocain qui ne sent rien du zaatar qui est une epice qu'il connait pour avoir vecu 18 ans au Maroc) - voila la reponse arrogante de ce serveur : "non, c'est toujours le meilleur patissier 2018". Bon, je verifie en partant, la personne qui avait fait nos desserts la derniere fois etait une femme. Son apprentie? Je ne sais pas, mais ce n'etait pas lui et nous etions a cote du bar a dessert donc je ne pense pas me tromper. Et le mauvais plan, c'est que les desserts changent tout le temps. Donc si on a apprecie un dessert et qu'on veut le retrouver, ben, c'est mort. Un choix...