La Crémaillère 1900 — Restaurant in Paris

WARNING!!! DO NOT EAT HERE!! TOURIST TRAP!!! MANAGER DO NOT ALLOW YOU TO SHARE FOOD WITH YOUR FAMILY!!!

This is a restaurant with terrible food and extremely poor customer service from the manager (see photo) to the waitress (see photo). My wife and I ordered two portions of French onion soup and one order of mussels to share as we are not the type of people to waste food. The onion soup was too salty and my wife could not finish half of the soup. The waitress later came with 2 portions of mussels and I reminded her that we only ordered 1 portion. She gave us a look of disgust and she returned after speaking with her manager to advise that the restaurant has a policy that customers are not allowed to share an order. I spoke with the manager who advised that it was his policy that customers cannot share a meal. I asked where the policy is advertised at the restaurant for customers to review and he said that it was his policy. I asked for the mussels for take away so I can give the meal to a homeless person and he refused since the restaurant do not have take away option. I’ve been in Paris 16 times since 2001 and have dined at various places in Paris, elsewhere in France and 55 other countries but I have never heard of nor experienced that customers cannot share a meal at any restaurant. Another French customer at the restaurant said she’d never heard of such a policy.

If you are in search of restaurant serving good onion soup and mussels, then visit Café du Trocadéro. It has a great view of the Eiffel Tower.

STAY AWAY FROM THIS TERRIBLE PLACE AND SPEND YOUR MONEY AT OTHER...

Good food, authentic decorations. But don't go expecting a great human interaction. Some of the 'old school' waiters do not even look at you while you are saying 'Merci, Monsieur' for the items that they are bringing. It feels like they are doing you a favour, smile back doesn't cost a dime, or even saying you are welcome, or it's my pleasure. I spoke their language, probably not 100% perfect, but good enough to be understood as I've been in other restaurants and lived in the french part of Switzerland for years. I kept being polite wishing them a great day ahead, and not even then...one of the younger waiters did say thank you and 'have a great as well' so kudos to the young waiter with beard and the other waiter from Catalunya.

If your tourists feel welcome, you'll make more business. I changed my mind about getting dessert there after the interaction. Felt disrespectful and borderline offensive.

Their pesto tomato pasta was served in a hot type of pan (it would be nice to provide some oven mittens to be able to manipulate this out of my way without burning my hands (I had to use a double napkin and reuse the same one to clean my lips after eating). Not sure if there was parmesan to sprinkle on the pasta as I didn't ask, I didn't want to case more unease. It's hard to enjoy something when you don't feel welcomed.

Last thing, I was told after asking for butter for the bread 'butter is not for free, you have to pay for it' all of this in french. Sure, no problem, no one expects free butter. The problem is not the cost...is the way you are saying it...

This review does not concern food, atmosphere, service, or price. I booked a reservation online a few weeks ago for 2 persons for December 24th. I quickly received a confirmation, which was followed by another email, both from Uniiti (which seems to be the agency responsible for handling reservations and payments) requesting a prepayment. I promptly paid using my credit card. Then, just within the last 3 days, I received another email from Uniiti informing me that my reservation could "not be honored" by the restaurant. No explanations were given for the reasons for this cancellation, nor was there any information about a reimbursement. I promptly responded by sending messages to both Uniiti and the restaurant requesting a reimbursement. Nobody answered. In view of this silence, I contacted my credit card company, filed a claim, and they quickly answered informing me that they had resolved the issue, and that a credit would appear in my account within the next couple of days. Needless to say this was an example of what appeared to be outrageous and dismissive behavior on the part of Uniiti and the restaurant. They promptly pocketed my payment, then cancelled the reservation without bothering to give explanations or reimbursing the payment made. Kudos to the credit card company for their quick action. La Cremaillere may be an excellent restaurant. I cannot comment on that since i have never been there, but their client relations and business ethics are appalling. They don't deserve any stars. Prospective clients reserving...