Au Vieux Paris d'Arcole — Restaurant in Paris

It’s a complete scam. I tagged this place on my google maps because from the outside it looked pretty, so my boyfriend wanted to take me here during our last Paris trip. It’s overpriced and the meals are below average. When we were eating there, there were only 1 American couple (who were getting scammed as us but they were unaware) eating there and later on an old couple (which were friends with the stuff as far as we understood from their conversation) arrived. Apparently, the restaurant’s policy is scamming tourists, since there is no French person goes there to eat except their friends. On top of that, the waiter was constantly commenting/acting like we “tourists” don’t know anything about the French cuisine and what they gave us is normal. I had lived in France for 2 years but because I was talking in English with my boyfriend (bc he is Belgian and doesn’t speak French), apparently it was enough for the waiter to etiquette us as “the tourists”. We paid 105€ for 2 entrées, 2 main courses, and for 2 kir royales. The waiter was judging me because of my decision to take my kir with processo instead of white wine. We ordered oysters and when I order I said 2 per each. After over half an hour waiting, the sarcastic waiter brought 2 plates of oysters: 1 with 6 oysers and the other one was with 5. When I told him that we asked only for 2 each, he said they don’t serve only 2 oysters. Which was weird. When we finally finished and wanted to pay, I asked him why in my plate 1 oysters were missing, he got all defensive and said he gave me 1 less because I ordered tap water. And he didn’t add the price of tap water to the bill, so instead he gave me 1 less oysters. Like what?!?!?! Plus, during the meal he gave us the oysters sauce and said “you put it in the oyster” as if we had been eating oysters for the first time in our lives. Tbh, I had never tasted that much of a smelly and disgusting oyster sauce for the first time in my life. On top of that, during our whole meal he was trying talk to us to learn where we are coming from. Even though I said “Belgium” he constantly asked me if I’m from the Middle East just because I have brown hair and eyes. He said Iran, Afganistan etc etc, and ironically my skin colour is lighter than him 😅This behaviour was undercover discrimination and unacceptable. Overall experience wasn’t nice at all. I wouldn’t recommend anybody to go and pay 5 times more than the worth of the food there. Go to Bouillon...

DO NOT GO HERE IF YOU ARE FOREIGN!!! I had just gotten engaged and we planned to go here for our last night of our Paris trip with our best friend. We were immediately sung into the restaurant in a theatrical way by our server, but soon realized it was just a mocking of us being foreign throughout the (lack of) dinner. He constantly spoke to us in a cheap New York snobbish accent whenever we asked for something (like the heat being turned on), and continuously rolled his eyes the few times he came to our table. We made reservations, showed up on time and were sat away from everyone on the top floor, with no water, heat or music. We weren't approached at our for twenty minutes, weren't served drinks for forty minutes (two cappuccinos) and only one of two appetizers arrived after almost an hour, which was simply shaved ham on a plate with a cold pat of butter and stale bread. After an hour and fifteen minutes, we finally walked down and demanded to pay for what we'd received so we could leave. The server became belligerent, and kept switching between telling us our second appetizer was coming, and then claiming we hadn't ordered one. The owner was also present, and saw us leave after paying, but never asked what was wrong to make us leave. I truly never write negative reviews, but this completely spoiled our last night in Paris which we have visited frequently before. My partner and I are both servers, and so are usually the first to be sympathetic to any short staffing problems or kitchen issues, but we soon realized the bottom (warm) floor was treated with quick, competent and courteous service from our server and the staff. There was a fire, music, and everyone who'd arrived after us had entrees and was enjoying our dinner (they were also French.) You could potentially make the argument that we were sat separately because of COVID and us being foreign--but we were NEVER asked for our sanitation passes or vaccination cards! It makes you wonder if anyone on staff cared about sanitation guidelines for themselves or their local guests! It was the most insulting restaurant experience...

I'll give them one star for the pretty décor outside but don't go inside

There was a polite young man who greeted me who was then overtaken by another man who proceeded to serve me for the rest of the evening. The best part was being sat by some lovely people who made conversation with me. That being said everyone was sat by everyone given the tight cramped seating area. At one point the server boasted about the upstairs area but said we would never be allowed to even see it. A couple beside me complained they had been trying to leave for a while but was being prevented, every time they tried he would snip at them that he was too busy. That should have been my warning sign to leave but I ordered the mussels and duck confit. Mussels were over priced for the size and quantity though tasted okay, great even compared to the duck confit that followed. The first bite I thought was good but as I got more into it turned out it was sickly sweet, presumably from the candied carrots. It seems whatever syrup they had on the carrots also covered the duck. Half way through I was almost choking it down and ultimately didn't finish as I was getting sick to my stomach.

After much flagging down I was able to get the bill but despite my being ready to pay and attempting to get the machine brought I was ignored some more, I didn't want to say anything least I would get snipped at like those prior to me so I got up and went to pay at the counter. I'm unsure if that was a faux pas so to speak but I had places to be and it seemed useless to stay sitting. While I was being spoken to in English during the whole service he swapped to French and kept saying Merci, Merci beaucoup, Merci Madame again and again without giving me the machine. After a fashion as it was clear I wasn't getting anywhere and he had offered a couple times to comp meals (which I had happen earlier that day as well except they actually did it) so I walked out because perhaps the earlier comments weren't a joke but then he yelled to me that I had to pay. I returned and said I would be more than happy to if he could give me the machine....