Flora Danica — Restaurant in Paris

AVOID THIS RESTAURANT!

The terrace in the back is nice and quiet - well away from the hustle and bustle of Champs-Élysées - so far so good - however, the food is actually terrible. We are Danish and the Flora Danica restaurant in Maison du Danemark claims to serve elegant Nordic inspired food.

We ordered pate with cod's roe and blini; Carpaccio de Betterave with feta; smørrebrød (Danish open face sandwich) with shrimps and another piece with roast beef. All quite normal Nordic food items well known by all Danes.

The first dish was the cod's roe and blinis. The cod's roe was over salted and the blinis (advertised as speciality of the restaurant!) was seriously dry crusted. I think it had been baked the day before or not stored properly on a warm day. We didn't finish the dish.

The second dish was Carpaccio made of thin slices of red and white beetroots with vinaigrette, feta and toasted hazelnuts. The idea was good, and I think the dish has been designed by a reasonably good chef originally - but that chef was not in the kitchen on the day we were visiting, because the presentation was a catastrophe with the red juice of the red beets swimming into the white beets, the vinaigrette was super sour and all together not nice experience. It looked like someone vomited on the plate! We didn't finish the dish.

The shrimp open face sandwich was the worst of the dishes. It was cooked shrimps from one of the low quality Danish shrimp cans where the shrimps are stored in a salt water stock base with a mayo based cream. Like the low cost prefab shrimp salads offered in plastic bags in Danish discount super markets. Was. Incredible that this is served in a Parisian restaurant.

The roast beef sandwich was relatively better. A single thinly sliced piece of cold roast beef served on a mountain of shredded horse radish mixed with yellow English curry and a dried out salt leaf. However, we were hungry, and it was possible to swallow this dish.

So, as you will understand: We cannot recommend this restaurant, where the waiter immediately turned slightly aggressive when we answered his final question (after he had taken out full plates out and we had paid) if "everything was ok" with a "no, not...

I went to Flora Danica for lunch. I stood there a while not really knowing if someone is supposed to seat me or if I'm supposed to go in to order, and then sit with it. A waiter walked pass me TWICE, didn't say hello, or be with you in a moment, sit anywhere, he just IGNORED me completely. I waited a minute for the waiter to IGNORE ME AGAIN, and decided to walk in. I manage to communicate with a woman behind the counter who took my order... a sandwich, strawberry tart, and a cola. She said "for here or to go". I said "For here, but wrap the sandwich, I know I won't eat it all," and when she started to pour my drink in a glass, I said "I will just take the soda unopened." I paid for my items, I walk out, and pick a shady chair to sit and eat the sandwich I just bought inside. Well the waiter didn't take long to ignore me at this point, right away he walks over and says, "You cannot sit here. Sorry." I look at him and just gesture of the things I just bought inside. He says, "You got it 'to go,' ..so you cannot sit. Sorry." I was standing there waiting a few minutes to be seated and if you remember, the waiter completely IGNORED me. I just paid for food inside your store. Its too much sandwich for me to eat it all at once, so I had her just wrap it so I could sit and eat a little of it and then a little bit later eat the rest. If someone buys food at your shop they should be allowed to sit outside on your patio and eat it. I thought this was just BAD policy. He could have let it go especially after he did ignore me and missed the opportunity to seat me and get tipped. I would have loved to sit with a menu and properly dine and enjoy your French cuisine, but no one offered a menu to me, I had the impression I was to just point to the sandwich that was displayed, and ordered from the counter. Your waiters should be trained to acknowledge and welcome each person that walks into your patio seating area. The soggy fraises tart and dry sandwich was as terrible as...

I have always found the “rude French treatment of tourists” stereotype to be wrong and have had nothing but positive experiences all over the country throughout the years. However, this place goes out of its way to embrace that stereotype. The server wouldn’t even make eye contact as he waited on people who arrived after us. I finally went in and asked at the bar. The bartender scrunched his face like he caught a whiff of bad fish and then pretended like he didn’t even understand what “parlez-vous anglais” meant, a phrase that anyone in France will at least respond with a yes or no. (We know some French, but often their English is better, so we ask.) After managing to convey that we wanted to order, he said that a server would come. Then the woman behind him barked, “Tell me… what do you want to order?” I said, “I don’t know what everyone else wants to order.” At this point we gave up and left. They made it clear they didn’t want our business, which is strange because they are next to the Arc de Triomphe, one of the biggest tourist attractions in the city. It’s nothing BUT tourists. Given their overpriced menu offerings, it seems they definitely want to cash in on the tourism, just not have to provide decent...