Babel Babel — Restaurant in Nice

Updated to clarify based on owner feedback (Original review posted below)

I appreciate the owner / representative of Babel Babel taking the time to respond to my initial review.

I can appreciate business owners defending their staff and establishment, but unfortunately in this case it paints a skewed picture of reality.

We spent a few nights in Nice and the surrounding areas as part of a combined business and leisure trip. We were looking for a good restaurant to enjoy our final night before heading back to the US.

We used Google to find the "best restaurants with a view" in Nice - and Babel Babel was constantly talked about in various websites and blogs as being very good. We looked at the location and reviews online, and it seemed to be exactly what we were looking for.

We wanted a nice view of the ocean and beachfront, especially since it was a full-moon on Friday evening. The booking system for Babel Babel showed 8pm as a possibility for request which we duly made.

Shortly after making the request, we received a proposed time of 9pm instead - which we were okay with. I'm not sure why 8pm is even a possibility on the request system, as the owner claims only two seating times are offered, and we were not offered other seating locations.

So, we duly arrived at 9pm, and no one was available to check on our reservation. We stood around for about 5 minutes waiting for someone to welcome us, but we had to walk to the nearest server to get their attention instead. They informed us that other people were still finishing their dinner at the table they had planned for us.

In the meantime, other parties were seated ahead of us because they had 4 people, and we had 3 - and yet we ultimately got seated at two smaller tables that would also be able to accommodate 4 people.

While waiting, we ordered glasses of wine from the bar - which is what the owner may have been referring to in their response. We did not order any cocktails from the table - we only ordered ONE bottle of wine at the table - which should be obvious from the receipt if anyone bothered to look.

We finally got seated 30 minutes after the time that the restaurant proposed, with very little apology offered.

The person that seated us also happened to be the person that served us all night - no one else was introduced to us, so the claim from the owner that this was not technically our server seems strange. This may well have been the case, but we were never informed of this.

We ordered a few meals to share - which we made clear to our server, but we were not offered shared plates (almost any other establishment would extend this courtesy). Within 5 minutes of ordering food, we placed an order for a bottle of wine. The wine arrived almost 30 minutes after ordering, but the meal arrived quite fast. So unfortunately, we were not able to fully enjoy the wine with our dinner since it arrived so late.

Then, at the end, the person who was serving us all night did not bother to inform us of their departure, nor did anyone come to check on our table. We had to go find another server yet again, before a new person ultimately came to bring us the bill.

The only positive was the super friendly person that ultimately brough us our food and cleared our plates - they were excellent!

Original Review Over-hyped and poor experience overall. Not sure what all the bloggers are talking about. Maybe if you're not used to anything better this spot is okay.

Requested a reservation for 8pm, but was proposed for 9pm instead. Upon arrival, no tables were available and we waited 30 minutes to be seated.

The food was okay, but nothing to write home about.

We ordered our wine a few minutes after we ordered mains, but the wine arrived when our dinner had already been eaten.

We ordered a bunch of plates to share, but no one offered or even considered additional small plates for the table so we could share.

Our server disappeared and went home without any sort of transition and we were left wondering if we could still order or should...

Just superb. Incredible food, excellent service from friendly people and delicious homemade drinks (such as ginger beer).

Quail Confit is incredible. Chicken liver pate & Brioche is incredible. Pumpkin thing ! is incredible. Smoked beef tartare is incredible.

That's a lot of Incredibles used right there but they truly are deserved in this case.

Now.... Falafel is a good example of the dish but nothing special. The fish wrap was a bit of a disappointment I do have to say. 4 pretty small pieces of a mackerel, which tasted like good mackerel, but the rest was just pretty bland and I even think the hummus took away from the dish. The wrap bread itself was a pretty basic example and could be improved. At €14.95 it would be easy to feel overcharged, however combined with a starter (falafel) and desert (chocolate mouse) for €19.99 it is a filling meal, albeit not impressive in my opinion - though the chocolate mouse desert was delicious.

I will go back for the other dishes in a heartbeat and to try more of Babel Babel's creations as I think their unusual and daring plates are will mostly be.....incredible !! The creative chef does know how to combine flavours and textures to create some serious gourmet food. Must have been an off day when the fish wrap was created.

I think this restaurant will become a very well known place to eat for excellent food and wouldn't be surprised if it starts getting some honourable mentions...

I had the opportunity to visit Babel Babel in Nice with a group of friends. We used the restroom first, then announced that we wanted to buy shots of tequila. Unfortunately, already at this stage we had unpleasant experiences.

The waiter at the entrance asked if we were guests to which we replied that we needed to use the restroom and then we were going to buy drinks. The waiter seemed very unfriendly and unwelcoming which started to spoil our experience.

After using the restroom, I went outside to find my friends. Unfortunately, the waiter prevented me from doing so, calling me a liar and forcing me inside the bar. This behavior was not only unprofessional but also unacceptable.

During our visit we tried to talk to the waiter and explain to him that this is not how customers are treated. Unfortunately, we met with an equally unpleasant response. The whole experience was very unpleasant and left a lot to be desired.

Overall, Babel Babel in Nice fell short of my expectations in terms of service and hospitality. It definitely spoiled our mood and prevented us from enjoying the evening. Locals should pay attention to the behavior of their staff and ensure that customers are treated with respect and...