Aux Lyonnais — Restaurant in Paris

Authentic. Delicious. Expensive.

For foodies craving a higher-end experience, including an actual valet (Voiturier), this very well could be your place. For health-conscious diners acclimated to healthier options on nicer American menus, your arteries might be in for a shock at Aux Lyonnais. With Ducasse's excellent lineage and credentials, it's no surprise this restaurant delivers at the level it does. Service was good, although a bit surprising that the wait staff was all so young. It brought a bit of a smile to my face to see the manager rush outside to shoo off a street rose-peddler, who was trying to get a patron's attention through the window. As many know, at most Parisian restaurants, attentiveness isn't the waitstaff's strong-suit, especially since they're not dependent on tips alone. The decor is typical vieux Lyon, and the cleaner-than-usual bathrooms upstairs were much appreciated (although I wish the French would learn how to tilt a directional arrow 45-degrees upwards to indicate "go upstairs" rather than use a purely horizontal arrow that might indicate going past the stairs or "open the stairs 'Munsters'-style and proceed down to Grandpa's lab in the basement").

Try the quenelles. And the coddled eggs...

Such a disappointment. Food was ok and service was not ok. Curious about Lyonnais cuisine, but it tasted ordinary. One of the entrees was finished, so I had a special salad with poached egg as first course. It was a normal mixed salad. Not that prepared at all. As main, we went for the fillet of beef. Ordered from the manager, medium-well for the wife since she is pregnant and mine was medium as requested. Hers came as medium. She ate the edges and left the rest. She ate without complaining because she was hungry but at the end of the meal we informed the waiter. My red wine was good but came with a fly swimming inside and that thing probably also enjoyed the wine. No attention from the waiters or the manager who seemed to have a nice talk with another table for about 10 minutes. It was first after a while when a waiter came by to remove the first-course-plates that I could inform regarding the swimmer who drank my wine. The waiters informed the manager of everything. As a great finish the manager brought us someone else's bill. After some minor errors with the bill he finally got it right. He waited by the door after we left, maybe wondering why we didn't leave any tip. I'll return to Paris, unfortunately not to...

It doesn't look as bright, grand or spacious than the photos on Google suggest. The photo taken below is the best view we had of the restaurant. It is a small and cramped restaurant like most in Paris except that it was poorly lit with an unflattering yellow cellophane filtered-through light.

The food was expensive for tiny portions and the options were pretty much less than 10 items on the menu! I ordered a chicken for a main and it was a measly amount. (Usually I can't finish half of my mains at other good restaurants) The chicken was bloody and uncooked or farmed in terrible conditions.

A man which I assume is the owner came over to entertain us but left us when we were finishing and about to leave. He was preoccupied with a bunch of old ladies behind us which are the main clientele and lost couples like us and another tourist couple next to us who were smarter and were going to leave as soon as they sat down and saw the joke menu.

Another fine tourist trap in Paris. Thank you scammers. If you were smarter you would be in...