La Barque Bleue — Restaurant in Nice

I just wanted to start off by saying this is my first time in France and have had an amazing experience so far and have had friendly encounters all through Paris and Nice. La Barque Bleue is my last dinner here and it was a really unpleasant experience. The older gentleman greeted us and we were seated promptly.

We both ordered a dish to ourselves and a carafe d'eau. When he brought over our tableware and water he made a comment about the small 8oz. thermos my dad had of hot water. He was starting to get very aggressive and we didn't know what the problem was so I told my dad to put it away. (For context my dad brought around a thermos of hot water because we have been out all day and he gets cold easily. He is elderly and the water comforts his muscles after a full, chilly day of exploring.) I can understand very little terms in French. Quickly afterwards another gentleman a little bit younger than the first one came over and asked for our French Health Passes. I was confused as to why they didn't ask before we sat down but chose to do so then. He kept on eyeing the thermos and I asked him politely if there was a problem with the hot water. He spoke a little bit of English and he kept saying the word "police" and "receipt". Again, I didn't want to argue, I was genuinely concerned if we were being rude. I spoke lightly in French, we are sorry and we just didn't know; it'll be put away. He mentioned that we could order hot water from them so I asked for some, and older gentleman brings over a teapot of hot water. The food comes out and I quickly try to move the utensils and plates aside to give him room and he scowls. I don't get it. Was he trying to put my food on top of the utensils and have it fall over into my lap?

Afterwards, I overheard the older gentleman asking the one who asked us for our Health Passes what nationality we were. I don't understand why he would ask and the other gentleman answers "American". I already know that Europeans don't think too highly of Americans, so before even flying in, I brushed up on all of my broken highschool French, and was very polite, using terms such as "bonsoir, merci, pardon, merci beaucoup." This entire encounter I kept thanking him for the service but his responses were very cold in return. While he is cleaning up, he proceeds to take away the pot of water before we even finish eating and drinking. He asked if we wanted dessert and I told him we were very full, which we were. When it comes time to pay he doesn't ask us how our meal was. Grabs my card, taps it on the machine, then tosses it on the table.

I'm hoping that this is just a one-off because this place has raving reviews. It's very unfortunate because it seems that the service is usually wonderful. We just had a bad experience.

I give two stars for the food. Large portions for seafood, everything was cooked and seasoned well, and...

The staff was extremely unfriendly. As soon as we were trying to pay, the problem started. We payed a 150€ deposit as it was demanded with the reservation. We got reassured while making the reservation that we are going to be able to pay for our food separately as we are a big group, and get the deposit back in it’s full value. As we were trying to pay, the man behind the counter started to become extremely unfriendly with much unneeded attitude. We were able to pay for the first few dishes with lots of patience as he was struggled to change money. When we asked to get our deposit back and pay for the remaining dishes he stopped cooperating and decided that he was just not going to give us anymore money back. His excuse was that he didn’t have enough cash in the register, which is complete none-sense. He resisted to give us the deposit back in it’s full value. As we were discussing the matter with him, a waiter started screaming at us to make way for her because it was “her workplace”. Other staff started clapping and disrespecting us. Other guests were shocked how corrupt and disrespectful the staff was. After discussing for a long time, he was finally willing to pay us back our deposit. All in all the food was good but the audacity the staff has is unbelievable. I would definitely not recommend dining in a restaurant with such corrupt and...

Apart from the great view of the port, this place is incredibly overrated. The food had its ups and downs: the salad with “selected southern French delicacies” was underwhelming, but the frutti di mare salad made up for it — fresh and well-balanced. The mussels were cooked to perfection. The linguine was average — we’ve had better. The sea bass, however, was excellent — tender, slightly crispy, and beautifully presented. The wine? Drinkable, nothing more.

But all of this was overshadowed by some of the worst service we’ve ever experienced — worse than your average fast food joint during rush hour. We were served wine but not given glasses, had to remind the staff multiple times about missing items, and when the main courses came, no one bothered to clear the starters. We had to move the plates ourselves and place them on another table to make room.

And just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse — it did. As we voiced our concerns, one of the assistants decided to step in — not to help, but to offend us. Yes, offend. No apologies. No attempt to fix the situation. Just plain rudeness, topped off by a manager who seemed just as indifferent and unprofessional.

We absolutely do not recommend this place — unless you’re starving and everything else...