Au Fil de l'Eau — Restaurant in Nontron

We went for an evening meal at Au Fil de L’eau last night. Lovely table by the River Dronne, very friendly smiley waiting staff. Great aperitifs, served with a delicious smoked salmon mousse & cucumber canapé. My husband is a professional chef & said he really liked his starter, from the specials board but it needed more seasoning. I had the salmon & tuna tataki, which I enjoyed. For mains, he had the trio of river fishes cassoulet but he said the sturgeon had such a strong flavour, it wiped out the dish sadly. My confit of duck was lovely but I wish the skin had been crispy. He had the cheese & nut salad but didn’t like the texture of the goats cheese. My crème brûlée was lovely, had a thin crisp top but needed a bit more vanilla, fresh vanilla pod would’ve made it perfect. Lovely location, lots of ducks & sparrows cane to say hi & eat bread. Nice atmosphere. Just a few tweaks to the dishes...

Food very poor, but what was really atrocious was the customer service. For dessert, I ordered the waffle, hot chocolate and whipped cream, but this was served without whipped cream. I queried this as it was very dry without it. I was told I had to pay an extra 3 Euros for that?? I took a photo of their menu, this is what it says: "Bruxelles waffle, hot chocolate and whipped cream (Extra whipped cream 3E)". Clearly you're meant to get whipped cream, but if you want EXTRA whipped cream it costs another 3E. When I challenged this all I could hear was them in the background laughing and talking loudly in French which I didn't understand, then refusing to serve it with whipped cream. Seriously don't bother with this awful place, the food is terrible and the service...

I have given it 4 stars because of the location mostly. A beautiful shaded spot next to the river. The food was nicely presented and tasty but only lukewarm on arrival. The "head" female waitress was lovely. Chatty, helpful and smiled a lot. However there were about 4 or 5 young waiters who need lessons in smiling. Not one smiled at us and when we were leaving, I was about to go up the steps as a waiter with food was about to go down. I stopped and stepped aside, but no smile to acknowledge I had done so and no "merci". Courteousness is surely a part of their job. Unlike the waitress, these lads are not an asset to this restaurant. Having said all that, we...