Café de l'Opéra — Restaurant in Paris

My husband and I ate here December 28, 2017. After shopping at Galeries Lafayette we were hungry and decided to get a bite to eat. It was freezing so we went inside.

Time: 3:00pm (local time)

We ordered: Vegetable soup which was severed with bread Linguini with mushrooms Steak & Fries Crème Brûlée Maison

Food: 10 out of five stars (Absolutely delicious)

Atmosphere: Fantastic, busy, bright, large windows downstairs looking out on to a side street. Outside seating is available.

Service: As with most reviews on here I will say that the service was a two out of five stars. The waiter bantered a bit, but was very abrupt. He was busy but seemed dissatisfied with his job. You don’t go to a foreign country and expect people to speak your language, so between his small amount of English and our little to no French we did surprisingly well. Take a French to English dictionary or read the menu in advance online. I think the main issue with most people is that they expect to have perfect English spoken to them. That isn’t fair to the establishment.

Suggestions: Be prepared for a long leisurely lunch. This is not the kind of restaurant that you grab and go. Stay, enjoy the atmosphere. Speak a bit of French, or have a dictionary to help you. Understand that in a smaller (non-chain) restaurant items sell out.

We will definitely...

One of their servers was rude as soon as we approached the café, although we had the decency to give them a second chance- they didn’t deserve it. The man that we had as our server was far more rude as he snatched dishes out of our hands and made rude comments about dish choices. By this point we were already too far in to walk away, but I strongly advise you to sprint past this “café” if you ever see it. Our food came at varied times, the first came 25 minutes before the last and they even forgot our order and blamed us. My friend was given a spoon which was not cleaned and had remains of the last dish on it. Due to this we asked for a new one, we waited 7 minutes and the guy still hadn’t brought us it despite lounging around the bar. At this point, we had to get one ourselves but luckily the server came and handed us a new one. Now for the food, bread was like cardboard and soup was full of oil. Fries were nice. Then we got the bill. They tried overcharging us and then wouldn’t let you see the amount they had put on the machine. Then after all that they had the audacity to make us pay a COMPULSORY service fee. SCAM! Don’t recommend....

Very, very expensive and whilst the food was good, the manager was extremely rude. My 7 year old daughter was using the bathroom & the light switched off (must have been on a timer). She was screaming and couldn’t get out. The manager finally came over (after a while) but before he let her out he yelled at me that the bathroom was “private”. Meanwhile she was locked inside in complete darkness and absolutely hysterical. Nothing on the door indicated that it was a private restroom (I took a photo of it). It was located in the restaurant right near our table. My daughter is traumatised and I am so upset that our very first French meal ended with us all feeling very upset. Absolutely no regard for my daughters well being. I have NEVER been screamed at by a restaurant manager before. He was so angry and kept yelling at me “MY BATHROOM!!!!” and “This is PRIVATE bathroom!!!” I am really shaken and upset about being treated that way. Absolutely...