Restaurant Mirazur — Restaurant in Nice

Food: The theme of the night was “Back to Earth”. 1.) Amuse-bouche (pre appetizer) 2.) The bread came and it was pretty awful because the dough of the bread was raw in the center. 3.) 1st official dish came- it was sliced apple in a very sough pink colored sauce and underneath it is raw shrimp meat. Not a good start. 4.) 2nd dish- soggy green leaves covered with vinegar sauce and underneath is chopped up tuna. I didn’t understand why he would create a dish that was entirely soggy and mushy with zero texture or flavor. Bad combo? Maybe the next dish is gonna get better? 5.) 3rd dish- a Salad covered with a Creamy cheesy sauce that I felt it belonged with a pasta dish, not on a salad. Why was there Sour and Vinegar on top of the first two dishes but suddenly this actual salad has zero vinegar but instead with this awkward cream sauce on top? 6.) 4th dish- Ceps(mushroom) in this foam cream sauce that tasted almost identical to the cream sauce from the previous dish, but it’s just foam now. I really could not understand why the Chef would choose to boil a perfect Ceps mushroom? When you boil a mushroom all of the Aroma and taste is Lost! Usually an amateur cook would make such a mistake! 7.) 5th dish- another bread came- supposedly it’s Sourdough but it doesn’t have any of the fermented aroma and wonderful scent of sourdough bread because they explained the Chef wants to use “scent less flour”. I could not understand what this bread at this far into the meal was for? It was bland and tasteless! 8.) 6th dish- pink colored Seafood stew: hot pink color is beetroot blended with a cream sauce covering potatoes and hot caviar. Hot caviar??! 9.) 7th dish- raw uncooked sea bream with a soggy lettuce wrapped around charred tasting croutons with a strong spicy green sauce. I thought the last dish was a Frankenstein, but I was wrong this was the true Frankenstein! Everything was out of Balance. The fish was uncooked and tasteless without seasoning or marinating it or even grilling it. The lettuce was soggy and tasteless and the green sauce was spicy but enhance nothing. 10.) 8th dish- overcooked Lamb stacked with random leaves of raw veggies and a strong salty soy sauce that resembled something from a Chinese restaurant. Simply terrible because the Lamb was overcooked all the way through and the lamb itself didn’t have taste which I am so surprised because usually lamb has a strong meaty/game flavor but this was bland and mushy. And the raw veggies belonged to a salad, didn’t serve any purpose for this dish. The strong soy sauce was just so out of place and awkward on this dish. Nothing worked here. 11.) 9th dish- sugared ice on top of a few slices of fig and jello. I’ve had better shaved ice from Mexican food stands. Not impressed by this creation that showed zero imagination. 12.) the ending with some random items that I could not understand what the purpose was. Celery sorbet was strong and bitter and pretty awful. The cake lacked any texture of a well made cake. Terrible ending. Service and Hygiene 1.)I counted four of the servers were coughing, sniffing, and even blowing their nose. They were sick which I don’t think they should be working for hygiene reasons. Ambience: 1.) The building from the outside looked amazing and the first floor with all the chefs working. But the second floor is where you dine. That was disappointing. The first thing you see is bland white walls with a low ceiling. Once the sun goes down there’s nothing to see.

Sommelier: This was so scary because the sommelier dunked all of the red wine in ice!!! And when I asked him why he would do something so outrageous, he answered to me that it’s his personal preference to have wine cold and to be word for word he said “I only serve wine cold below 14 degrees Celsius!!!”. I was in shock and speechless!

Tonight’s dinner started at 7:45pm and ended at 11:30pm. I can only say I felt Tired, Sad, Hungry, and Tortured. Paying 450 euro per person for such a gruesome experience, I felt I was pranked by Chef Colagreco. Was...

For the short version: If this was just a regular restaurant with normal prices then it would have rated much better but as it is and what it should be - very disappointed and would not go back.

For the more detailed information: We had dinner there to celebrate as we wrapped up a 2 week trip across Italy and France. This is the second Michelin starred restaurant on our trip. The previous was a 2 star in Tuscany which was excellent and put this 3 star establishment to shame. Maybe I'm being harsh but the expectation is high with 3 stars and over $500 per person when it is all said and done and previous Michelin places have been excellent and amazing experiences.

Really after thinking about it this place gives Michelin ratings a bad name. We always associated Michelin ratings at an impressive class for atmosphere, service, and of course food.

So let me touch on each for this place.

First atmosphere. They actually have stunning views of Menton and the place itself is nice, beautiful warm wood tables. Nothing amazing to comment on aside from the view. On the downside it feels a bit cramped and was quite warm plus also very loud. The loudness made it hard to hear the waiters explain the dishes. Wouldn't have been a big distraction from the experience if the rest was great.

Next the service. At a top tier place we expect impeccable service. Now of course course tmmistakes happen but at a certain calibur it should be minimal at worst. Fist we ordered sparkling water, confirmed what kind and all then they served flat. No worries once they came back to refill I asked for sparkling again and they realized made a mistake and got us switched over. If that was it I wouldn't even be me mentioning it. Next tmy wife is pregnant so she had some slight modifications to her menu which was appreciated. However as such when they gave her only a spoon for a course and me a full set we thought nothing of it. Then when course came they were pretty the same but no way could eat with just a spoon. Had to flag someone to get appropriate utensils. Last but not least they spilled my glass of water near the end on our table. These indivually are minor but none of these and especially all of these shouldn't be happening at a place like this. Out table wasn't the only one having issues. The table behind us had a waiter drop a plate of crisps all over the floor and took a few minutes for anyone to come clean it and another table next to us had to send back their dessert to some issue. Then near the end we couldn't find a waiter at all and took quite some time to get anyone's attention. When they asked if everything was excellent I said it was fine and they happily moved on. Maybe I should of addressed it more there but attention to detail is what makes the difference.

Last but not least the food. I mean that's most of why you would go to a place that was a few years ago rated as one of the best restaurants in the world right? The food started out really excellent and the presentations we're phenomenal. After the first few courses though they really didn't do it for us. Extremely bitter on a few, sauces a bit bland or under seasoned. Other dishes so overpowered by some strong choice flavors. Specifically the grapefruit foam was really rough for us and the dessert had some rose petal ice cream or something similar that was way too overpowered. That is a couple examples but really a bunch fell flat. Maybe it was just our tastes but overall left wanting something more or different. I will say their pull apart bread was phenomenal but just went downhill fast. The presentations we're very good but the sustanance...

The welcome at Mirazur, if you're driving comes in two stages. First the car park guy welcomes you and takes your name and your car keys, then you go down the path to the reception desk where someone else takes your name and flicks through the reservation system before asking to take coats and telling you how welcome you are. At this level and price point I think they could at least have pretended to have known we were coming. It would have been even better if they had known that this wasn't the first visit. 'Welcome back gentlemen' would've started things off very well. This 'being known' is the reason I go back to a very small number of places time and time again. It moves the whole experience away from being a commercial transaction to that of an act of hospitality. After a while 'one of the maître d's' (sic) came to tell u how things would work. We'd chosen to come on a 'roots' day as opposed to a flowers or leaves day (all determined by the phases of the moon!) and therefore the menu (9 courses) would be based on roots from the restaurants many gardens adjacent to or not too far from Mirazur. We'd be starting with a selection of what were described as Tapas. Nothing to complain about there. All were very morish and some were really delicious, such as the cheese and onion tartlet with its crispy top and the black squid-ink tuile. The desiccated salsify wrapped around with Lardo di Colonata and sprinkled with bee pollen was spectular. It pains me now to have to write about the next course. This was billed as duck breast from Challons with red onion from the garden and a confit duck leg sandwich. Let's start with the good news. The duck sandwich was succulent, full of flavour and a delight to eat. Less spectacular were the red onions, which were, how can I say it, just like eating red onions. Nothing special there. The main event, the duck breast itself, was beyond poor. Firstly all three plates of it were cold, and `I mean cold, not just warm as might be expected in a restaurant rather than a farmyard kitchen. Personally I was prepared to roll with that but the texture of the duck was really awful (the result of the ghastly sous-vide method of cooking) and horror of horrors, the skin was inedible. My guess is that the skin had been coated in lovely aromatic things and then fried to give it colour and flavour before being paced in the water bath. On serving, therefore, the skin was soft and gelatinous, very difficult to cut and almost impossible to chew. We then did something I've never done before and which ought to be a no-no in a 3 start restaurant, we sent the duck back. The restaurant manager offered with reasonable good grace to have new portions cooked for us. They came very quickly and they were hot but the presentation of the meat and particularly the skin, was exactly the same. Indeed he told us he'd asked the chef to prepare it exactly they same way. We were told that the chef was waiting in the kitchen to know if this time it was to our liking. Conversations ensued during which it became perfectly clear that serving duck skin in the way we'd received it was entirely the point. There was, in the contention of the chef, as articulated by his manager, nothing wrong except that it wasn't to our taste. Interesting! I've eaten my fair share of duck in my life in all sort of different styles of restaurants and cultures as well as at home. Crispy skin is the holy grail of duck cooking surely? Who wants to eat something with the texture of silicone sheeting? Whilst no longer the best in the world, Mirazur continues to hold the coveted 3 stars. I wonder how long that...