L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon — Restaurant in Paris

Atelier for overpriced fast food Robuchon and other gourmet Masochi(sm) in Paris...

Haute cuisine doesn’t go hand in hand with brisk, impersonal, bored service and a rude attitude. At least, that’s what I thought when my wife booked our family of four dinner at Joel Robuchon Atelier in Paris Saint Germain.

We Arrived on time but still had one hour unexpected wait due to some bad mannered germans, who despite the hostess’s best attempts (I mean why is she there unless to establish some order in the booking times and attendance and make everyone leave whenever they have promised to?) refused to vacate on time two out of our four reserved seats at the bar table where we were supposed to sit - and -another hour and a half of noisy, chaotic, smoke clogged but cold over-air conditioned time , where we (didn’t) enjoy a matchbox sized Angus steak for 69 (both mine and my daughter’s were burned), not a trace of “black” - cod - overcooked, a regular Joe salmon and delayed desserts we got for free (sphere and le noix de coco not bad at all) with the same grace as if they were handing me the keys of a new Rolls outside and - last but not least - 600 Euro later, we left that example of snobbishness ( us part of it’s fuel) relieved, rather than satisfied.

We booked Atelier Robuchon in Paris for our last night as we believed it will justify it’s hype and popularity, more over having still a good aftertaste by the Atelier Robuchons in Vegas and Dubai we visited lately.

Judging by how hard (and don’t tell me you haven’t gone through this -how humiliating and awkward is - when -begging a maitre or a girl being so proud of their momentary super power over you , when - they stay at entrance or over the phone - feeling like Jana d’Arc or first cousin of Louis XIV......) it was to get a table at decent time ( not 6pm) the place is packed every possible day.

Our gourmet roller coaster started even worse two nights before in the oh-so famed Matsuhitsa (or rather Masochistic) Nobu in Raffles Royal Monceau hotel in Paris.

The food was not worse (is this actually good comparison?) than in the numerous Nobus we have been-Milano tens of times, London, Dubai, Miami, Vegas, Malibu, aahhh.....

But wait to see the service..... real blue blood, I mean not ours, the client’s one, but the pretentious, arrogant, rude, Napoleon-for-a-minute style of the welcoming staff, the distracted, bulimic, hungry and hungover hostesses, gossiping to each other for few minutes every time before answering a question, the waitress and waiters, who behave like they are investment bankers or fashion queens who, God knows why and how at that particular moment, need to pay some attention to you - the not Nobile tourist with unlimited budget for good food (prices rise averagely 12-15% annually by default).

The Sommelier at Matsuhitsa brought a bottle of white at room temperature ( why do they have these great big super expensive floor to ceiling glass wine drawers?) and when we asked him to cool it down a bit he disappeared together with the bottle for good. We asked 3 different waiters for more wine during our dinner and no one was able to find the hidden bottle, since that Sommelier has gone home. An hour later -dinner finished already-someone managed to dig out the runaway bottle and bring it back to our table.

The Matsuhisa inhabits an otherwise not changed design-wise part of the ground floor of Raffles, not matching it’s Japanese spirit -dark, not cozy, unfriendly.

Very rude staff, slow kitchen, generally a disappointment.

Well well well, enough for Paris and the Parisians from the deep countryside, who once stepped on the coveted reception pedestal or entrance door of your wished restaurant become blue blooded relatives of Louis XIV......

A...

It was the WORST experience I had in fine dining and Robuchon and make you never want to visit this restaurant. I adore Robucbon and had dined in this particular one in the past and a couple others all over the word, such as hong kong, macau, london and Tokyo. Every robuchon was on point and customers leave with a happy smile EXCEPT this one. We dined on 14th Aug for dinner.

When you walked in, the floor was hideous to look at cause it’s full of dirty footprint as you walked into the restaurant.

Absolutely terrible receptionist, she did not even help to sit us down on the stools and just pointing at the stools and just when she later pulled the stool away, she pushed us in with a rude manner.

Okay FINE- dont want to ruin my night. Tried to ignore it and moved on.

Went to toilet. I asked for direction and she just said “opposite!”. Well, it was opposite side of the Comptior, and need to push through a hidden door and walk down the stairs. Would you care to show me the way or at least give better instruction? And toilet area smelled like a fish market, dont feel hygiene at all.

Read earlier reviews- YES, there are many flies which make the situation even more unpleasant!

Food- was very below a robuchon standard. I did not say that because I was already pissed. I would praise the food if they are decent.

Then, what stucked us was- I had a small envelope on my table and not even taking space of my next seat. The receptionist walked in and THROW my stuff on the counter without asking me and said “I asked you to remove your stuff half an hour ago!” you could ask me to remove my stuff instead of throwing my stuff. That I think is totally unacceptable! Believe me, she was starring at me as she spoke. I was pissed and asked for her name because I wish to complain about this situation, and she just walked away. LOL. It’s a joke!

Then I had to express my frustrations to the restaurant manager. WHAT AMUSED me was after the restaurant manager came to have a chat with me to understand the situation. At first, he said all the right things and said will talk to her at briefing later at night. But I am asking an apology from her because for the unpleasant experience and the restaurant manager said “she is busy” and at last, he asked me “what is she apologising for?!”

Did he not understand a word I expressed? Or simply no standard at all? I am not saying that only this is a fine restaurant so that customer deserves an sky high level of respect but at any restaurant business, this is like a bare minimum of respect and professionalism that could offer to their customers.

I am not surprised why is there so many poor reviews...

Comically bad. We dined May 26 on our wedding anniversary. I wish we had opted for anywhere else. The food was immemorable – nothing terrible, nothing great. The caviar and crab course topped with gold foil was bland, and frankly, silly. The gyoza was no better than the kind you get in the frozen aisle at the supermarket. The membrane of the foie gras was not properly removed. The service on the other hand was “miserable” as one other reviewer said. The courses were dumped on the table with no explanation as to what we were eating. I asked several times for a server to explain the course, no one seemed to care. The main server was in a foul mood. At the beginning of service, he was busy fighting with staff, sending back every other dish, shouting at the bussers in front of guests. Halfway through the 3-hour meal the kitchen erupted into chaos; the chef was shouting at his underlings, sauces were boiling over, the counter was littered with food scraps. Toward the end of our meal the server redirected his venom to the guests. It seemed like every person seated at our end of the restaurant was having an issue with the food orders and service. The server lashed out at guests, us included, when we attempted to correct his mistakes. At one point during the service my husband left to use the restroom. The server came out with the next course. When he saw my husband was not seated, he barked at me in French “where is he?” I responded he’s in the washroom and he said, “I am going to serve the next course anyway” and tossed the two plates in front of me and walked away. There is only one men’s toilet servicing the entire restaurant and there was a queue. My husband came back 10 minutes later to a cold dish sitting in front of him. Our first drink was never replenished; the empty glasses were never removed. The bottle of water we paid for was never served. The server simply ignored us. We became trauma bonded with the other guests sitting near us. We were all shocked at the appalling service. We told a couple that was just seated at 9pm to save themselves. To our left a junior server opened a bottle for a couple of guests, poured a small amount of wine in a glass, sniffed the wine, and then proceeded to pour the contents of the glass back into the bottle. The server then served the bottle to the guests. They were shocked. We were shocked. It was time to leave. We asked for the bill twice. The server scoffed and walked away. The bill was astounding at over 600 euros. We left feeling bitter and ripped off. Please believe me when I say there is a reason this location...