Bouillon Chartier — Restaurant in Paris

Scary poisonous food!!!

It was my first time visiting this place. I decided to come after seeing it recommended on TikTok and also by a Parisian I met during my trip. Surprisingly, when I looked it up on Google, it looked quite nice.

I went on May 11, 2025, around 10:00 PM. The restaurant wasn’t very crowded, and the food was served quickly by some older male waiters.

Hmmm…. Everything served on the table was super smelly, fishy, oily, and dirty, including the plate, fork, and knife. It was extremely unhygienic. I had to go to the restroom and wash all the utensils before using it. When I touched the sides of the plates and utensils, I could feel they hadn’t been washed properly. They were slippery and greasy. The plates were covered in oily fingerprints.

I ordered 3 menus. The dish with the fish smelled very fishy. The beef was so hard and I cannot bite it, really shows that the quality of meat is super bad & low 👎🏿. If you compare this with rubber, it’s not even as hard as this meat. I can seriously break my teeth if I eat this.

The crazy taste and super strong smell came from the sausage, was super disgusting. I felt like puking and couldn’t eat it.

The bread tasted like leftovers from a few days ago. Very hard, dry, and stale. It was served in a plastic market-style basket, the kind you'd find at a super cheap place.

The free tap water was terrifying. The bottle looked like it had never been washed. It was cracked, with white stains and mineral build-up all over the inside and outside. The glass smelled awful too, like something fishy and oily.

I ended up bringing all the utensils to the toilet and washing them myself at their sink using hand soap.

When I asked for a new fork, they brought another one just as dirty. Clearly, cleanliness and hygiene are not their priority!

The next morning, I woke up with a mouth infection. I have three small sores on my upper lip. I went straight to the pharmacy and explained everything. I had been poisoned. I also had a fever and a headache. I had to spend extra money because of this awful experience. I just hope I recover in the next few days.

Don’t trust the rating of this place, it’s high only because the food is cheap. But the quality is way below average, even compared to affordable places in Paris. Honestly, McDonald’s is a much better option than this!

If you don’t care about hygiene, taste, or quality and only want the cheapest food, maybe this is your place. But for me? NEVER AGAIN. 👎🏿👎🏿🙏🏻Even if it were free, I wouldn’t return!

Don't even try this place, or anywhere like it. It's better to pay a little more for clean, tasty, and safe food. This was a scary experience. I’m writing this honest review hoping that one day, the restaurant management will...

Told the waiter who greeted me (small and balding with grey hair and glasses) we were 3 people and I told him I think my friend had reserved a table, he said they don’t do reservations and I should chose a table. After waiting for 5-10 min to order and trying to catch the attention of the waiters (who all chose to ignore me) I was approached and immediately told off that I cannot just chose a table and I was asked to get back up, after asking where I could sit instead I was told to wait at the entrance until my friends join because “many people just come here to sit.” I think it’s a shame, I wanted to drink some wine while waiting for my friends and I understand if you need the table when it’s busy but the restaurant was more than half empty. I was forced to wait at the entrance without a table... I am also a waitress and I understand the principle of consuming food and drinks in order to have a table. For me personally the experience was humiliating to be honest… (especially me asking if I may please have a chair to wait on my friends) now I am just sitting next to the entrance for 10 minutes and also seems unnecessary (just ask me what I want to drink next time? :D or maybe just let me know from the beginning that I need to be a full party of 3 before this whole theatre) afterwards the waitress who waited on our table was so lovely (04) and the food came very quickly, throughout the whole evening she was very polite and attentive, also another gentlemen brought to my attention that there was toilet paper stuck to my shoe after visiting the bathroom and I was very grateful that he told me and also took it off my hands (handsome gentlemen with white hair and I think number 14?) very mixed experience for sure. Overall I think the squat man at the beginning telling me to take a seat could have handled this better (tell me to order, tell me we have to be a full party for a big table, tell me to chose a small table and order something until my friends come, tell me you are very sorry instead of just shooing me up and away from the table- I think there are many options here for someone who has experience in gastronomy) the food was alright and we stayed because my friends were very hungry but I was (as you can tell with this essay) quite upset from the way it was dealt with at the...

Review of Bouillon Chartier (Paris) – Gare de l'est During a rainy evening in Paris, I decided to visit Bouillon Chartier, run by Gardeleste. I ordered the escargot, the bœuf bourguignon, a portion of fries, and a beer. The bill came up to around €24, which, considering Parisian prices, was very reasonable for a full meal. The atmosphere of the restaurant is classic and lively, full of the kind of old-school Parisian charm you hope to find — and I was genuinely pleased to have chosen it. The waiter was exceptionally friendly, attentive, and made the experience welcoming; I even left him a 20% tip to show my appreciation. Now, about the food: I must say I was very disappointed with the escargot. For €7.50, I expected better. The snails were overcooked, and the garlic butter — which should have been fragrant and plentiful inside the shells — had evaporated. I found myself scooping out semi-dried escargot, which was a real letdown. I’ve had much better escargot elsewhere, notably in Autun and even in London, so this was a major disappointment. The bœuf bourguignon, on the other hand, was decent for €13.50. The meat wasn’t the best quality I've ever had, but it was tender and pleasant enough. It was served with coquillette pasta, which was simple but worked reasonably well with the dish. The fries were excellent — crisp and properly cooked, exactly how I like them. The beer, a standard Kronenbourg, was cold and fresh. In summary: Would I return to Bouillon Chartier? Yes, absolutely. But I would not order the escargot again. I would instead try other dishes on the menu, as the overall quality and atmosphere, combined with the pricing, make it a worthwhile stop. Most people around me seemed very happy with their meals too, which is always a good sign. All in all, for €25 (plus a well-deserved tip), it was a very Parisian experience — charming despite the culinary misstep with...