Getting a table at this bistro is like playing Parisian Hunger Games. People will lie (“oh I made a reservation but it somehow didn’t go through” or “yes yes I have a reservation” even though they don’t and they don’t bother to check) and cheat (whoever pushes hardest gets a table).

If you survive the hunger games and find yourself seated, then prepare for a whole lot of nothing. The bistro is understaffed so be prepared to forego basics like water or even a menu to figure out what you want to eventually order in 30min when it is taken.

Now onto the food. For those envisioning a french bistro of old where quick dishes and good food are emphasized…prepare to be disappointed.

For our appetizers:

1. Mushrooms soup: not bad, but also not hot
2. French onion soup: this was sad. Many of the recent comments praising their soup likely couldn’t tell you what goes into making this soup if their lives depended on it. The lukewarm bowl was not topped with gruyere, but some tasteless nameless cheese. The watered down onion soup somehow lacked much onion taste and had an overall texture of soggy bread.
3. Eggs mayonnaise: this was actually great. So credit where credit is due. I know it’s hard to screw up eggs and mayonnaise, but it had a good sharp taste. Recommended.

For our mains

1. French fish and chips: the overly breaded fish was deep friend, and then deep fried again. And then likely left in the fryer and forgotten for a few hours. The accompanying fries were the same, except I suspect they were over fried yesterday and then reheated up this evening
2. Steak with pepper sauce: I’m not expecting a choice cut of steak when the price comes at 12 EUR so I can’t fault it. It was done medium rare as requested. However, it doesn’t hold even a brief candle to somewhere like Relais de l’Entrecote. The same applies to the sauce - you need to be a pepper sommelier to pick up on the faint hint of pepper taste in the sauce because I couldn’t detect one.

We skipped dessert. I wasn’t interested in being disappointed further, plus I had a really nice Mont Blanc I was going to eat back at my hotel.

So overall, I’d give this place a pass. I don’t think I’d eat here if I lived in Paris, I also don’t think it’s worth eating here if you were a visitor. I know this review will be crowded over by the hundreds to thousands of others with perhaps lower expectations and rating it five stars which it really is not deserving of even remotely. Perhaps my expectations should have been lower as well given their mains cost the same as the appetizers of many places I’ve been recently. Perhaps I had the delusional belief that there was a place that could magically balance taste vs. price if they made it up in volume.