La Villa Massenet — Restaurant in Nice

We came here expecting a nice dinner, but the experience quickly unraveled. It started with a badly made mojito — overly sweet and undrinkable. We politely let our server know, and to her credit, she was kind at that point and acknowledged it was made by an inexperienced bartender. She replaced it with a different cocktail without issue, which I appreciated.

Then the food arrived. The starters were quite tasty with the burrata and tomatoes stealing the show. However, the mains were a big let down. I had ordered a medium-rare steak (€38), but it was very clearly well-done. I noticed it immediately when cutting through it but didn’t want to seem difficult since I’d already mentioned the drink, so I told her I’d eat it. It had been cut in half presumably to make it easier to share between us. My girlfriend and I were sharing, and we tried to make it work, but it was so overcooked and unpleasant that we stopped halfway through. It simply wasn’t worth the price.

When our server returned, I let her know I was done and again mentioned that the steak was overcooked. She looked at it and initially said, “It’s not well-done,” then corrected herself: “Well yes, you’re right. It’s not right.” But she still didn’t offer to remake it or do anything.

Then we waited — for over 45 minutes. During that time, she brought over a complimentary obfuscatory limoncello and offered dessert, but never returned with the check despite us asking another staff member for it. Eventually after I asked her, she came back and handed us the full bill with the steak still on it.

I politely asked if the steak could be removed given the situation. When she returned, she slammed the updated bill on the table without saying a word. When I asked again about the charge, she snapped, “So you don’t want to pay for the food you ordered?” — completely dismissing the fact that I’d tried to be polite the entire time, and that we had barely eaten half.

To top it off, the sea bass was also partially undercooked, though we chose not to bring that up. The bread and starters were solid, like I said, but that’s about all I can say for the positives.

This place charges high-end prices but delivered underwhelming food and condescending, defensive service. No hospitality, no effort to make things right. Just a disappointing experience from start to finish. Avoid. Would not have posted this if they had just taken it off the...

The sea bass fillet was tender and delicious. I enjoyed my meal up until the end, but after finishing, i had to wait a long time to pay the bill. If there had been many customers, i would have simply waited my turn, but three other tables who finished their meals at the same time or later than me paid much faster and left before i did. I considered calling a server, but i heard that it's not proper etiquette in a french restaurant. Since other tables were also waiting without calling for a server, i tried to make eye contact with the staff, but they showed no interest at all.

Seeing that there are quite a few reviews from others who felt the same way as i did, i believe the restaurant is at fault here. Please don't expect to receive feedback onsite. While it would be nice if customers could directly voice their complaints and resolve them amicably at the restaurant, there are many timid customers who aren't able to do so. Nice is a popular tourist destination, and as this is a well known restaurant among visitors, i believe the restaurant should be fundamentally equipped with the mindset to improve so that customers don't feel this way. Staff who are sometimes friendly and sometimes unfriendly without reason are not ideal. I hope they change for the sake of the delicious food and the improvement of...

Pleasant atmosphere, quick and courteous service and great food.

We sat inside on a busy Monday night, and the restaurant was almost completely full. The wait staff was flying around, serving people, but they had the time to take the order and periodically check in on us to make sure that everything was in order.

We had the following drinks: • Old fashioned • Bora Bora (Mocktail)

Old fashioned was standard. The mocktail was a bit too sweet, which is usually the case with most mocktails on the market, but the combination of juices was tasty.

We had the following dishes:

Appetizers • Tuna tartare, avocado, wasabi. • Miso glazed eggplant, spring onion, pomegranate.

Mains: • Beef filet, pepper sauce, baby potatoes. • Duck breast, fig sauce, panisse.

The tuna tartare had large chunks of tuna (we're used to finely chopped fish mixed in with various spices and herbs) which was fresh and lightly spiced. The eggplant was perfectly grilled and flavourful. The beef filet was prepared medium as requested and was very tender and flavourful. The duck breast was a bit too raw for our taste, but it was prepared correctly as medium rare (more on the rare side). The fried panisse (Niçoise specialty) was...