L'Escargot — Restaurant in Paris

We recently dined at L'Escargot Montorgueil with some of my family experiencing their first overseas trip and first taste of Paris. Wanting to introduce them to authentic French cuisine, we went all in: snails, frogs' legs, foie gras, potato frites, confit duck, and, for a finale, crepes Suzette.

The food itself delivered on its promise of classic, traditional flavours, authentically presented. I don’t know how to say “phoning it in” in French, but that was the feeling I was left with by the end of the night. I feel like you’re paying for the privilege of eating there, without it feeling like a privilege to eat there.

The service started as an amusingly French cliche to us, but felt slightly more dismissive and bordering on bad as the evening continued. Our waiter was an efficient server, but by the time it got to lighting the crepes Suzette, he lit it and ran away faster than a neighbourhood prankster lighting a paper bag on a doorstep. The waiter did it like he’d done it a million times, not like he was doing it for someone seeing it for the first time. The dramatic tableside flambé, a moment meant to delight my nephew who had ordered it, didn’t get to really see the spectacle and it was out by the time we passed his dessert down to where he was sitting.

If I could speak to the staff, I would ask them to remember that guests here are more often than not probably excited to be in Paris, and are enthusiastic and happy to be eating there, so it would be good if the staff were. Many guests might not have ever had escargot, or frog legs or traditional french cuisine before so their visit here is to try them is special. It would be good if the guests were treated like it was special and they were special.

The ambiance of the restaurant exudes a special Parisian vibe, and the menu is a solid choice for those looking to experience traditional French dishes. For many diners, especially those visiting Paris for the first time, this is probably something like a bucket-list meal – an opportunity to try iconic dishes in an iconic setting. L'Escargot Montorgueil has the look and the menu, but with some tweaks and focus from the team, it could transform a good meal into a great memory.

I still left a very nice tip and was glad I took my visitors to a traditional venue on their first night in Paris. But for me, this place will be the baseline, as I look for better French fare and service next time I...

Poor hygiene, poor service, I don't recommend this restaurant if you speaks English / are Asian.

Made reservation like weeks ago was hoping it was enough to ask for a good seat, but in fact I can tell the restaurant purposely putting Americans + Asians into the same crowded corner, which the non-English speaking guests can seat at a more relaxing spacious area (e.g. two people sharing a 4 people table).

During our arrival, the restaurant was empty and we were asked to sit at somewhere strange and dirty, there were flies and bugs flying around and it annoyed us throughout the whole meal. The flies kept going from the most left table to the most right table, and we saw them landing on others' food and it disgusted us. We asked to swap seat and they said we couldn't because the restaurant was fully booked. We asked the staff to give us an extra chair to put our bags and they said they didn't have extra chairs (seriously?), and we asked them is there somewhere we can put our bags, they said wait for a moment, then totally forgot about this...we repeatedly asked a few times to different staff until one young man responded to us, it was a really bad experience.

One point to mention is that we forgot about our order. We order two main dishes including the steak and duck confit, and seems the waiter forgot to order the duck confit for us. When we finished the steak, a lady came and asked whether we wanted any dessert, we told her no but we were still waiting for the duck confit. But she seemed not good at English and she took away all the plates on our table, and after awhile she asked us to pay because people were waiting outside. Seriously? Even if I had finished my meal, it would be extremely rude to ask the guest to leave in such way. and it is your problem that your restaurant overbooked instead. And there were other European guest finished their meals and chitchatting, obviously they ordered less food than us and finished earlier than us, why asking us to leave? It is ridiculous.

Then I told her that we were still waiting for the duck confit, then within a minute she came back from the kitchen with that. Obviously they missed our order but without apologizing about it.

For the food quality, the escargots were delicious, we tried the mixed one. The steak was also not too bad. The oysters were not fresh so you can skip that. The bone borrow was average, can...

Having seen all the reviews, especially those accusing the restaurant of being racist towards Asians, I would first like to address this. As a group of Asians with three adults and one child (10 years old), we did not encounter such attitudes personally. I will explain why.

I booked a table for 1:30 pm on a Wednesday, and we arrived about 5 minutes late. We told them we had a booking and gave my name, and we were invited to sit at the high chair table in the semi-outdoor area. We ordered two dishes of snails, onion soup, foie gras, beef tartar, sea bass, duck confit, and finished with a crème brûlée and two coffees. One waiter primarily served our table. During the process, we did not urge or wave our hands at him. He had his own pace and knew when to take orders, collect plates, and bring the bill. Throughout the process, I did not feel any form of discrimination or disrespect. I saw some posts claiming that being asked to sit outside is a kind of disrespect, but personally, I didn’t have any issue with it.

However, while we were halfway through our meal, a group of 4-5 Chinese people came in. The same waiter, without saying a word, waved his hand outward, indicating that they were not taking them. At the time, I wondered if the last order time had passed, but it turned out that it had not. After about 5 minutes, a group of three young, pretty ladies walked in and were assigned the seat right behind us. I am pretty sure they were walk-in customers, and they managed to order many hot plates (i.e., the kitchen was not closed).

From the above observation, I cannot definitively say there was no discrimination. However, in Paris, we always make reservations at proper restaurants like this. We never just walk in, and we never urge the waiter to do anything. This might explain why we have never encountered this kind of treatment.

Talking about the food, I was not disappointed. I personally liked the snails, especially the...