Le Bistro Urbain — Restaurant in Montpellier

Not sure what went wrong today. We took the menu du marché during the lunch on Wednesday, were seated by a very kind lady and presented the wines by the sommelier in a fun and interesting way. Expectations were set and we were very excited.

The entrée was way too large for how heavy the mousse was, and almost all ingredients had the same gooey consistency. It needed 50% of the dish replaced by croutons or a light cracker. The taste was good but didn’t appeal anymore after the 10th mouthful. We did not comment on this to the waitress in hopes the main course would bring a change.

The main course was very very small. With the amount of truite they served us, they probably only had to buy 1 filet for the entire restaurant. The mousse d’aubergine, patate douce, and other side were very tasty. The fish was far too salty, with even more flaked salt added before serving. I told the waitress this but didn’t hear back from my comment.

The céleri-rave in the dessert was a nice touch, but again weighed far too heavily in the dish, it was cut too large and/or grilled too short to eat with only a spoon. I saw several tables (us too) where much celeriac was left on the plate and eaten around. We also did not comment on this to the waitress.

After they offered us coffee, the service suddenly became very abrupt. The coffee was placed on the table without a word or looking at us, and the bill came right after without us asking for it. We have no idea where this brusqueness came from, possibly the atmosphere in the kitchen wasn’t so good anymore after several half-finished plates were sent back? It was only 13h30 so no reason to end service quickly with new tables still being seated.

By chance, we met some friends who also ate at the restaurant during the same service, and they confirmed our feelings completely.

I felt like this menu was an experiment, an OK effort and I appreciate the chef’s resourcefulness with ingredients, but in my opinion it failed. I am somewhat disappointed no comment was made by the staff or chef...

We dined at Bistro Urbain with out of town friends and we were all very inpressed. I always appreciate a prix fixe menu as the smaller number of dishes allows the kitchen to focus and that was evident here in the presentation and depth of flavors in all the offerings. A first course crayfish with basil and a garden vegetable tartlet with a wasabi jelly were both excellent as were the main course duck with eggplant and mackarel. Desserts were a spot-on Rum Baba and and an apricot dessert with a granola-like crust and Chai Tea ice cream. Wine list is good and fairly priced and their wines are all stored in a two-door Euro-Cave which shows the attention to detail this restaurant takes with everything. Wine pairings were available with each course but we ordered a nice bottle of rosé (of course!) Service was friendly, knowledgable,...

Came here based on the reviews and the food was indeed excellent! The mackerel amuse bouche and the pre dessert were particularly delicious and the beef main course was cooked to perfection. However, I have had to knock 2 stars off for the service: the sommelier was friendly but the rest of the serving staff were fairly brusque. Even so they were not exactly available when we wanted to order more wine and we were left sitting for more than half an hour with no drinks. The wait between courses was as much as 30 minutes. It is possible they were massively understaffed but, if that was the case, there should have been some explanation. Amazing food, not so impressed by the service for the standard...