Dilia — Restaurant in Paris

BEWARE: a good amount of 5 stars reviews seem to be written by friends of the chef/ owner. It also seems like there was an owner change at some point and a lot of legacy reviews from the past owner. We were certainly fooled. There is an incomprehensible gap between reviews and actual experience.

There are so many better places in Paris, this one should be forgotten forever for the sake of all tastebuds. First, the imposed 5-course menu at 69 euros (wine pairing excluded) was, for lack of a better word, absolutely disgusting; like a child playing chef experimenting with flavors that should never ever have shared a plate. Everything was so overwhelmingly salty I could literally feel my blood pressure go up with every bite. The fish dish was grossly over-cooked, covered with raw mushrooms drowning in a random spice mix that could have come from tesco. The poultry dish was sitting in a random vinegar sauce that didn’t complement any flavor - it seemed like the chef had seen a recipe on a blog and failed to reproduce it. I returned all my plates uneaten and nobody came to check why or offer an alternative.

Then there was the waiter, Federico, who acted like he was on some kind of chemically-induced trip the whole time, completely unable to read or pick up any social cues from customers. I now see that he’s mentioned in a number of other reviews for his surprisingly agressive rudeness.

At the end of the meal I asked to speak to someone, the chef / owner Michael came up; I politely said that I wasn’t able to eat anything because of the (paraphrasing) heart-attack inducing sodium content. The chef said defiantly : “I saw that, but everybody else liked it, so your taste is the problem”.

Taken aback, I asked if he intended to present me with a 70 euro bill given the fact that I hadn’t eaten anything, as he had seen. He responded “Well, of course. This is how restaurants work”. I said that, unsurprisingly, this wasn’t my first time in a restaurant and that at that price level you’d expect someone to check on you if you returned a full dish. He said that he was aware I didn’t like it, and his waiter had checked on me - he hadn’t, he’d simply said “ok” and taken the plates away.

I attempted to interject with a comment that the waiter had been particularly unpleasant all evening, which then prompted the waiter to jump in and scream - and I kid you not - that I had “raped him by asking his name and introducing myself at the beginning of the meal”. You literally couldn’t make this up.

So here I am, out 70 euros, with an empty stomach, nightmarish memories of Frankenstein dishes that should never have seen the light of day, and an accusation of “rape” (his literal words) because I introduced myself to the waiter.

At this point I fully expect, based on reactions to other reviews along with my own empirical evidence, that the accountability-challenged owner will chime in to explain how I was really the problem, although my friend had the same exact experience and told him so; to which he retorted, pointing to a group of his friends that had been here the whole time, that they were “food experts” and loved it, so what did we really know.

Hopefully my experience can save others the misfortune of crossing paths with the chef’s equally terrible food and attitude; then the 70 euros I spent on breathing this restaurant’s air tonight wouldn’t have been completely lost.

Pictured: what I ate.

Edit: if you want to have a good laugh, and see just how low the chef owner may stoop to harass customers (spoiler alert: you will be impressed); I recommend sorting by new to see the reviews the chef had his friends, two of the supposed “food experts”, write in broken French to counter my review. This is now officially hilarious. My favorite part is when one of them wrote that he would have happily thrown a stool at my face - such a perfectly normal reaction from a normal person.

I’m speechless and will be reporting to google for conflict of interest and harassment, as well as reaching out to consumer...

Part II: Following a serendipitously convivial night at Clamato, I received a reco from the very generous and affable Redwin to come to Dilia if I wanted to try one of the most underrated restaurants in Paris. And being predisposed to underdogs, I obviously made a reservation for the next evening.

I walked through the 11th Arrondissement, reaffirming the area's growing analog in my mind to Brooklyn, with even specific streets bearing similarities (Rue de Ménilmontant looks like a copy & paste of Manhattan Ave in Greenpoint; go Streetview it if you don't believe me). While I arrived slightly earlier than my reservation, they managed to seat me almost immediately.

To my great surprise at the time—although in hindsight it seems almost obvious this would happen—I bumped into Bella, a woman whom I'd met the night before at Clamato and with whom I'd received the recommendation for Dilia from our charming bartender. We greeted each other, and she introduced me to her friend who'd come to Paris to visit with her.

I made the initial mistake of trying to sit outside to enjoy the people watching, but the evening's overcast opened up to a light shower that forced me to seek refuge inside where I ultimately took my meal.

I opted for the 5 course tasting menu with wine pairings, and I would recommend that for anyone else that visits. They also serve 7 and 8 course tasting menus, but being solo and having enjoyed a heartier lunch, 5 ended up being perfect for me.

Now I admittedly have not spent enough time in Paris to authoritatively claim any food to be underrated or otherwise, nor can I make comparisons to other Michelin touting establishments in the city, but I can in all honestly say this was one of the best meals I'd ever eaten at the price point I paid.

Every single plate and complementary wine pairing offered up surprising flavors that kept my mind engaged in unpacking the exact ingredients and techniques used. And the wines were all unique from each other while perfectly expanding the flavor profiles of the paired dishes. It was a dream to be able to enjoy each plate and ponder the culinary craft that bore them in such a calm, relaxed, and unassuming spot that looked out onto a small square where rowdier patrons of the neighboring bar spilled out across the patio seating, erupting in sporadic outbursts and cheers as they followed along with whatever Eurocup match was playing out that evening.

The staff was far from formal. My waiter seemed to have also been the restaurant's sommelier, as several of his introductions to the wines implied his personal selection criteria and notes. But in serving both food and wine, he exuded such a boyish enthusiasm and charm that my own curiosity soon emerged to engage with him about the dishes, their ingredients, and the process of making them, to which he gladly obliged. On occasion, a burlier gentleman with a more gruff "fun uncle" demeanor, who I later discovered through online research to be the head chef, also tended to my table. At the end of my meal, he offered me a glass of their house-made limoncello and upon handing it to me, noted that it was herb-infused and quipped with a playful grin that it would be my job to identify the herb.

This house limoncello was absolutely delicious; simple yet unexpected. It had a very melon-like aroma that worked so nicely with the obvious citrus overtones. I took my time trying to catalogue every herb I knew that could bring such a round and verdant flavor to the glass. Halfway through drinking, I even started catching whiffs of menthol. Unsure of what it could be, I ultimately asked for 3 guesses. Shiso? Strike one. Eucalyptus? Strike two. And before I could offer up some type of sorrel, he let me know it was far simpler than where my head was at. "Think simple Italian cuisine." And with that, I managed to guess the answer, with the server noting Shiso had been a very close initial guess. Such amazing flavors from such an unexpectedly unassuming source. The perfect summary of...

NEVER give a bank imprint (deposit) to make a réservation at this restaurant !! We did this even though we made the réservation only one hour before arrival (big mistake). We were welcomed by a VERY rude waiter. He would roll his eye balls upon any request. We decided that we didn't feel comfortable in this restaurant and wanted to leave. They THREATENED us that they would take 200€ (!) of my crédit car if we'd leave (the meat was cooking for 'hours' they said, even though we had reserved 1 hour before.) So, since we didn't want to loose our money, we were forced to eat in this restaurant. The food was OK, nothing special but OK. The wine highly overpriced (€10,00 a glass for an average wine you could but any where for €15,00 the botte). Most ridiculous was the price for the Kids menu (kid is 3 years old): a tiny plate of plain pasta with butter and a mini scoop of ie scream for €28,00!! And, he was still hungry after because of the tiny portions. It was really...