Cafe Palais Royal — Restaurant in Paris

There are a few things in the life that are more important than profit, although I cannot blame anyone for not giving up his potential earnings for humanity, therefore my review will be quite subjective and it’s up to the readers to agree with me or not. I and my wife arrived at this restaurant in the evening of 29 December ‘19 and we agreed with two more friends of us to meet up and have dinner here. We told the waitress that we’re going to order once our friends arrive. After waiting for 15 minutes for our friends, we felt a bit tired and my wife had some heat, so we decided to leave and cancel our meeting with the friends, but out friends asked us to wait for 5 more minutes, so that we can just see each other. We told the waitress that we will leave shortly and asked her to allow us to sit for 5 more minutes, so that we do not wait outside in the cold and she was ok with it. However, just after this, a waiter (probably more senior) approached and asked us to leave the place immediately in a very rude manner (literally kicking us out) as we are occupying a table and not ordering anything (it was just 15 minutes and there were a lot of empty seats, so we were not really preventing others to sit). I did not argue much because this was his right to ask us to leave the place but I believe 5 minutes would not make much sense and the way he asked us to leave was so rude. Just to say, I was going to tip the personnel just because of the fact that they allowed us to stay there for some time (even if we did not order anything).

Again, my review is quite subjective and it has nothing to do with the quality of food or drinks , but the thing here is behavior of the personnel and humanity, that we did not see in this restaurant. Paris is a wonderful place to visit and the behavior of the personnel in this restaurant is not representative for the city and its inhabitants, but I can say definitely, that I will remember Paris with this, as this was the last experience in here - you may work in a restaurant in a city centre, but this does not mean that you have to forget about humanity and values (if you have...

I’ll keep it real. The food here was ok. In comparison to the rest of the restaurants on the same block, it’s just basic. Not bad, but basic. I had the salmon. My husband had the steak. His steak was delicious. The desserts were also basic (I immediately knew this was an American tourist trap when I saw the apple pie… the French are not known for pies). I knew something was off when I was brought a burger when I asked for salmon. The waiter insisted I ordered the burger when I POINTED at salmon. Less than 30 seconds later a salmon dish appeared. But here is really why this I am rating 3 stars. The people next to me were complaining about the food and the service and their bill. When they left, the shenanigans began at my table. Now know this: Tipping culture is American. It is not custom in France. As a historian, I am aware of this. My waiter proceeded to ask for a tip and pressed us for one and was bothered by the fact that we didn’t want to use our American card. We had Euros. And he covered the bill so we couldn’t see the itemized items and only the total. My husband is a native New Yorker straight from Queens. We don’t play that. So we proceeded to give the exact amount with no change needed or a tip given. Again, this place is just ok. It’s not something I have to have again and it is a bit sketchy. The only reason we went here is because the restaurant we wanted was closed and the waiters barked us from the street because they had space and were open. Do make sure you read the rest of the reviews before coming here. Some people got GOT. But again, New York instincts are superior and thankfully we didn’t get got in the process. Oh and one more thing: they pressure you to leave a review BEFORE you see your bill. Red flag. My husband left the review and I as a top Google guide with a badge on my profile is sharing a follow up. Baby, I’d never lie to you publicly and I’ll stand 10 toes down on what I said. You have options and this doesn’t...

Before visiting the Louvre Museum, I stopped by Café Palais Royal with my 13-year-old daughter, hoping to enjoy a quick snack and drink. From the moment we sat down, the waiter was incredibly rude. He kept pushing us to order a full steak combo, even though we clearly said we just wanted something light. When I mentioned again that we only planned to have a drink, he deliberately ignored us and didn’t take our order for nearly 15 minutes.

Eventually, I ordered a pasta & coke for my daughter and a small beer for myself. The waiter immediately snapped, asking, “Why are you only ordering one thing for two people?” Then he insisted that the small size was too small and tried to force us to upgrade to a medium. I stayed calm at first, but after continued pressure and attitude, I expressed my frustration.

That’s when it got even worse; he tapped me on the stomach and told me to calm down. Not only was this incredibly unprofessional and disrespectful, but it was also invasive and humiliating. We ended up leaving immediately, and as we walked away, I could see him smirking behind us.

The whole experience had a clear tone of discrimination and arrogance, and I couldn’t help but feel that we were being treated poorly because we were tourists and perhaps also because of our race.

I don’t write many negative reviews, but this was beyond unacceptable. Café Palais Royal was the worst part of our time in Paris, and I strongly recommend avoiding it, especially if you're expecting even the most basic level of respect...