L'Enoteca — Restaurant in Paris

My wife, friend and I were recommended L’Enoteca on 4 June 2025 by the nearby Hotel Charles V where we were staying. I guess we were very, very unlucky on our visit judging by some of the rave reviews I have read here since. It was probably the worst of the very few poor dining experiences in all my years of travelling and dining.

Granted we didn’t have a reservation when we arrived at 8.30 pm and the downstairs restaurant was pretty full, but we were welcomed by a young lady, who spoke english better than my French, and offered the upstairs seating area where two other tables of dinners were sitting. After disappearing downstairs for 10 minutes she returned with the menus and I asked to see a wine list. Another 10 to 15 minutes passed before she retuned, with no wine list, but we made a selection from the menu and ordered accordingly in anticipation of the wine list. . Another 10 minutes passed until she returned with service for one of the other tables, I asked for the wine list again. Another 10 minutes or so passed so I headed downstairs, and saw a young man coming out of the kitchen who I asked for a wine list, he looked rather blank and didn’t speak any english, not a prerequisite I appreciate, but I eventually got him understand we were sitting upstairs and needed a wine list. He followed me up with the with the wine list and more confusion ensued when we asked if any wines could be ordered by the glass before disappeared without a word. After another 15 minutes and no one appeared upstairs. I went down again and saw the young lady and asked if I could order some wine, she said she had asked her colleague five times to come upstairs to take an our order but he refused to! I asked if she could take our wine order but she said it wasn’t her job and her colleague, who refused to come upstairs, had to do it!

A decision had to be made. We had been in the restaurant for nearly an hour when food finally arrived, we’d been offered no water, no bread, no wine in sight after over 40 minutes trying, so it was time to cut our losses, as it was clear we would be eating without any accompaniment of water, or wine judging by the shambles that had ensued. We left extremely dissatisfied, frustrated and hungry.

I cannot review the food or the wine, or the water or bread come to that, so my review can only be based on the service, a resounding ZERO. Definitely do not accept an invitation to dine upstairs and maybe you will have better luck with the service. I note some great reviews here for “Margherita, the incredibly kind and a passionate sommelier for over 20 years”, unfortunately Margherita was no where to be seen on our visit, only two serving staff for two floors, one of which refused to venture upstairs to take the wine order.

However, our evening was saved by returning to Chez Mademoiselle, close by, at nearly 10.00 pm where the service, food, atmosphere and friendliness was...

I highly recommend this restaurant. The ambiance is amazing. And The staff members were welcoming and helpful. The food was authentic and tasteful. I had the fried shrimps on a bed of chopped vegetables, the shrimp was excellent but I found the taste was too vinegary coz the capers are pickled already so high acidity and salt, then they also added pickled apples. So I suggest either the apples of the capers. Or they could replace the capers with green black peppers that are green n fresh. We also had the fish that was beautifully presented, opened and stuffed with the vegetables. Same thing the olives in their were picked so they were high on salt and acidity and that strong flavor was dominant over the delicious sea bass and the delicate vegetables. I also had a special dessert for the first time in my life I had eggplants for dessert !!!! Yes it was made into jam with orange peel and a ball of ricotta cheese to balance it off, very...

Nothing special going on here... The decor is very nice and it was overall a good experience, but too many flaws for the price of the meal. The wine quantity served by the glass was too light for the price. Potatoes in too many of the plates. Gnocchi too simple for the gourmet positioning of the restaurant. Potato with the guinea fowl poorly cooked. Sauce of guinea fowl too vinaigry. Size of cheese portions -especially gorgonzola and parmesan ridiculously small. Lemon cake desert missing more zesty acidity like lime or lemon peel. Overall it felt like a very good business model where the menu was optimized more for the profits than the quality of the experience. Baccala, potatoes served generously, anything more expensive served stringently. And the service was friendly but not at the level expected for this kind of restaurant. Overall experience, almost but not quite. The potential is there but nothing special...