L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon Étoile - Champs-Élysées — Restaurant in Paris

My wife and I had a reservation right when they opened at 7 pm. We really enjoyed passing through the market/drugstore upstairs before going downstairs to the restaurant. We really loved the ambience, with a distinct black and red decor at the counters and throughout. We waited about 5 minutes before being seated at the counter. Note to everyone: bar/counter seating is part of the experience. If you want a super formal and intimate fine dining experience, reserve a table in the private dining area way ahead, or don’t go here. The laidback style was what my wife and I actually preferred, while getting to watch the masters at work in the kitchen. Staff was great to us, made us feel very welcome, even as Americans. As expected, the sommelier at first came off a little intimidating, first offering us a glass of champagne to kick off the night. We were then given our amuse bouche, which was like a Parmesan truffle soup with melted foie grois on the inside, it was insanely decadent and delicious, accompanied with delicious bread and butter. We decided to forego the pre-fix option (which looked great) as I wanted to try dishes that stood out to me. After ordering, the sommmelier recommended a nice bottle of white to pair with our all seafood choices. I requested the lowest priced bottle of the white Burgundy (€150), to which he replied they were out of. He proceeded to then recommend another white to us that would be comparable, which much to my surprise was in fact much cheaper than the bottle we requested (€95) and was perfect with our food. He also warmed up to us throughout the night, and we enjoyed interacting with him, contrary to other opinions I had seen before booking. First we started with the caviar, in which they brought us out a baseball sized dish of caviar with blinis and toppings. It was by far the most caviar we had been served at a restaurant before, and pretty self explanatory: delicious and decadent and paired perfectly with our champagne. Next we had the crispy langoustines, which were incredible. Somehow fried but insanely succulent, juicy, and tender as butter, paired with done great sauces. The chef was gracious enough to give us an extra so we could each have two, since we were sharing. Next was the roasted lobster with stuffed heads. Again, probably my favorite lobster dish I’ve had, we each got half of the lobster and paired with delicious shoe string fries with a delicious aioli. Last, was THE main event: the Dover sole. It was the best fish we have ever eaten hand down, with our waiter expertly dissecting and deboning it right in front of us with a fork and spoon. This was the whole reason we came, and it exceeded expectations. On top of that, it was accompanied by the iconic Robuchon potato puree (mashed potatoes), and live up to their name as best in the world. We finished with a delicious chocolate dessert and coffee. They also capped the night off by giving us a freshly baked tray of madeleines, which were warm, soft and delicious. Note to customers: you will be asked about a tip when checking out. We didn’t care, because we felt they were deserving of one, but I know this can rub some people the wrong way. Furthermore, it’s a Michelin starred establishment, so it wasn’t cheap. But we anticipated this and came to not hold back. You get what you pay for. The only critique we would have is better cutlery. The langoustines needed a knife to cut through the fried outer layer, and the knives were less sharp than a butter knife. Overall we had an amazing night and enjoyed every aspect of our dinner at the counter. I also have to say that we were impressed with the portion sizes for it being a fine dining establishment. We actually probably ordered too much food for the two of us, but everything was so delicious, we managed to finish all of our dishes.. We hope we can visit again one day to have the Dover sole again and try some of their other innovative and...

We’ve dined and had exceptional meals at L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon on rue du Bac several times over the past 16 years, so we had high expectations for l’Étoile location. We ordered the Signature tasting menu. After our experience last night, we expect that l’Étoile should lose its one Michelin star in 2026.

Food: the dishes were beautifully prepared, but were under-seasoned, under-salted, and generally bland. As one example, the basil sauce accompanying the langoustine had no basil flavor at all. It made us wonder if any of the chefs tasted what they were preparing. The only dish that excited us was the mango dessert, which was beautiful, technically difficult, and full of tropical flavors.

Service: The best part of the service was the exceptional wine pairing selected by the sommelier and her interactions with us; she was professional and delightful. Our waiter and the other staff seemed under-trained, over-worked, and lacked the attention to detail expected for a restaurant at this level, especially when the restaurant was maybe 60% full. One example, the waiter did not present a wine menu or options for beverages until I asked for the wine menu when our first course arrived. Several times a course arrived before the dishes from the previous course had been removed. Overall, we felt that the speed of the tasting menu was too fast and timed to the kitchen’s needs, not to ours. At the end of the evening, I asked our waiter for the menu of digestifs (especially because bottles of Chartreuse and scotch whisky were displayed in front of us). He didn’t know what I was talking about and thought we were asking for l’addition. When I explained what I wanted, he got agitated, seemed more confused, and said he would get the sommelier, but nothing happened. After waiting 5 to 7 minutes, we asked for l’addition, paid, and left.

Atmosphere: The evening felt like we were in an expensive late-light diner, rather than a refined Michelin restaurant. Someone at the other end of our counter was loudly making a FaceTime video call and no staff member asked for it to end. Birthday desserts were delivered by staff singing the slowest, saddest version of “Happy Birthday.” With diners seated around an open kitchen, the chefs didn’t seem to realize that they are part of the dining experience and didn’t hold to a “quiet kitchen.” We saw open disagreements among the chefs. After one chef was reprimanded by a superior, he stuck his tongue out behind the superior’s back (and it was clearly not done to be fun). One staff member even pointed out to some guests near us that the displays of peppers and vegetables around the dining room were plastic. Overall, we were left with a bad impression of the professionalism of most of the staff, as if none of them cared about what they were doing and how it would be received...

I tried the 'signature' tasting menu and overall the food is great. Its signature dessert "passion fruits and banana posset, old rum granita and coconut foam'. Different layers of flavours filling in your mouth with an excellent balance between sweetness and acidity.

Unfortunately, there was a big problem in this dining experience. we arrived the restaurant in 7:45pm and the first dish was delivered at 8pm and each dish was sent to us around 10 minutes after we finish the previous one until we finished the first four dishes. Then, we didn't know what was happening and we had to wait for the main course around 60 minutes!!! It is totally unacceptable to wait an hour and the most funny thing is the customer next to me had finished two main courses during our waiting time. That means the open kitchen is working properly but just missed our table. I don't believe it is a proper service quality given that this restaurant was granted Michelin 1 star.

In addition, the sommelier was not professional and he just dropped me the wine menu without recommending anything to pair up with the tasting menu. The most ridiculous point is he just told me to pick up any white wine because the main dish I selected from the tasting menu is quail. Based on my basic food an wine paring knowledge, we have to consider the sauce and the texture of the dish in order to find out an appropriate wine to match. For my main dish "caramelized quail duck foie gras with chanterelles', I would prefer a glass of Pinot Noir or even Sauternes rather than any white wine.

I visited L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon Hong Kong several times and each time was a perfect excellent dining experience. Probably their high standard of food and service set me a high expectation of its restaurant in Paris and so resulting in a disappointing dining experience this time. Maybe it is not fair to compare between the same restaurant in different cities and let me recall my memory I visited Guy Savoy last year. Seems to me both food and service there were more impressive.

I really don't want to say this but I guess we were served poorly (especially the sommelier) because we were the only asian face customers in the restaurant that night or we maybe we cannot speak French. I found the sommelier talking happily with the customers of other tables and introduced them different bottles of wine. This is really a big contrast compared to how he talked to me. Anyway, I hope I am wrong, otherwise, how this restaurant is going to welcome visitors from worldwide during olympics game in coming summer? Or, they just want to serve local French...