La Petite Chaise — Restaurant in Paris

I hate and never post bad reviews as it’s a personal opinion and I would never want to hit any historical site or the service industry, BUT here it goes. Today was my daughter’s birthday NY Day sweet 16th in Paris 2023 for the 1st time! We had reservations and arrived early at 6:45 and the door was unlocked. The host was very sweet and told us to sit and wait. Another gentleman told us they don’t open till 7 and made us wait outside instead of the benches which would have been fine we just wanted to sit and wait. Keep the door locked if you don’t want people waiting. Then other people were allowed to go in and were seated? If you speak French I think you would be treated differently. My main issue was my tiny less than 100lbs daughter only ordered a plate of the salmon but couldn’t finish it and I ordered the dinner meal: onion soup starter, salmon and white fish and the crème brûlée which the daughter wanted for her birthday. Our waiter was very rude to her bc she couldn’t finish her dinner to the point she just wanted to leave bc it was very uncomfortable being scolded! I walked up to counter to pay bc it was better to leave than get into an argument! I explained in French it was her 16th birthday and of course I was tearing up bc I was so sad that on her birthday she was so uncomfortable. The host was very pleasant and tried to comfort me and apologized but how do you fix that? They basically don’t want Americans even if they try to speak the language. They waited on the French with a very different demeanor. So I will chalk this up to what foreigners think about the French being rude to tourist. So disappointed and I had such high expectations for such an important night for mother and daughter on our first European vacation and her dream Of Paris. In fact I’m still in tears and so disappointed! Again the food was good and the host was genuinely apologetic and tried to touch me for comfort but I didn’t want to break down in full tears like I am now!

The crème brûlée we completely swallowed down to not insult and I personally hate crème brûlée sorry it’s not my thing with the cold custard when I would only really want to eat the topping but thankfully it is small so swallowed down to finish wine as quick as possible to leave. Historic yes, environment no way is that the environment that made that restaurant historic. So extremely sad and of all days on your young beautiful daughters bday who does look older but if she ordered a coke maybe you should think about who you are scolding in French! Also we waited for many seated after us but were Parisian to get even water or vino but understand that can be the French custom to order all at once. Again we were an hour early and others didn’t have reservations but got waited on before us and for goodness sake come bring some water it’s the day after NYE!!!

This was my comment to the host I translated to French: she is a child and this is her 16th birthday. your waiter was rude. please give us the check. I’m sorry she is not...

Minus one star compared to the beginning of the year.

The minuses:

We were three people, but from the way things were served, you would think we were one. One bread basket, one pat of butter, and one little cup with four radishes for the whole table - the exact same setup we saw given to tables of one or two people. Very… economical.

The fries were a real low point: literally like eating salted matchsticks, dry, greasy, and so over-salted they were impossible to enjoy. The duck confit was average.

The glasses smelled strongly of stale dishwasher rinse, which made every (bottled) water sip a challenge.

We weren’t asked if we wanted to sit upstairs or downstairs, while the next group was. Small detail, but details matter.

A simple request to have half green beans, half fries as a side was refused - the only option was to pay €8 extra for a full serving of green beans. Even chain restaurants on the side of the highway are more accommodating than that.

Not a single leaf of salad or greenery was offered, although back in January they had brought us fresh salad on the house. Seems that was a one-time generosity.

And one last mystery: the “suggested tip/for the service” when paying. Service is already included in the French system, so I’m not sure when Paris decided to import American tipping culture, I was very surprised to see this especially at a “centuries-old institution”.

On the plus side:

The bread was good quality (we did request two refills which were kindly provided), and the Saint-Émilion was very nice and did a great job at distracting us from the glassware smell. Lovely music and atmosphere overall, in spite of the...

One of the oldest restaurants in Paris, established in 1680, A La Petite Chaise is also one of the very best places to eat in the city. What is an incredible value is their lunch menu. An entree and a main dish is 25 euro with a coffee and add a dessert to that for a total of 33 euro. The quality of their traditional French cuisine is simply outstanding and will impress any French native used to fine dining. The decor is charming and falls somewhere between rustic /country style and historic/ royal. The service here is also very thoughtful and friendly and professional which is quite rare these days in Paris where they have great food. On the lunch menu, the Cuisse de Canard a l’orange was one of the best I have had in France. The sauce was perfect, not too sweet and not overpowered by orange, but balanced and took the duck to the next level. For a starter, the duck pâtè was top quality with a small salad and pickles. I wasn’t planning on having a dessert here because the two plates were more than enough, but given the quality of the previous dishes, I had to indulge. I went with the classic crème brûlée and it was up to the same standard as everything else on the menu simply amazing. This restaurant actually has quite an interesting history given that they have been around for so long, they have some info on their history which added quite a bit of mystique and interest to this already first class restaurant. Will have to come back here again for dinner as well. Can’t wait. The price for the lunch menu is a steal considering the quality of the food...