L'ESCALE DU SOMAIL — Restaurant in Narbonne

We had reservations to eat dinner. Two (French) memebers of our party arrived with three children and the owner tried to tell them she didn’t have room, until they explained they had reservations. She didn’t bother hiding her annoyance. Having had a late lunch, I did not order the « menu » (three course meal) and just ordered a main course of duck breast, which was served sliced and overcooked rather than rosé as I had ordered it. One bite was eaten before I sent it back. When the owner came back with the duck properly cooked to order, she made a comment about this one being much larger. She was insinuating, I had eaten a large portion of the duck before sending it back, when in fact they had given me a small one. Given it’s location, it can function as a tourist trap so she can serve improperly cooked food and be rude to her customers as much as she pleases, but she won’t have the opportunity to do that to anyone in our party ever again. (I’d add that our previous visit the music was so loud that we had to yell to hear...

Right from the beginning we should have suspect something was up. -"How are you fries?" -"Oh, they are just awful". Smart ass waitress made sure we understood that we just asked a (not so) stupid question. There was so many stuff wrong with our food it hurts : -Goat Cheese Salad: The cheese was so ripe you could probably get mouth ulcers eating it, and the whole thing was drowned in salad dressing, pretty gross. -Lamb chops: served with a knife that don't cut shit, they were absolutely full of fat, very little to eat. -Chicken green curry: Chicken was to cooked and thus rubbery, the overall taste was rather bland and the rice was overcooked, turning into mush in the mouth. -Vegan menu: all was particularly bland, especially the dessert that was totally unsweetened (WTF). -And then there is the aforementioned fried, while crispy on the outside, the inside felt like cardboard in the mouth, probably using the wrong type of potatoes. Needless to say we'll never...

A good selection with good prices. Portion sizes are large. The service was just ok although the bartender was friendly enough. Food was mixed. I liked the vegetables with the fish and the cafe gourmand. The steak was fine although hubby thought fries were better at McDonalds. The Asian salad and Asian appetizers were not enjoyed much. Desserts look really great. The decor inside is very nice and the seating outside area is quite large. Maybe not the finest dining, but worth it for variety, reasonable prices...