Le Ballon des Ternes — Restaurant in Paris

It was a cold night. This restaurant was close to the hotel. We went in just looking for onion soup and immediately the waiter began talking us into $105 euro seafood platter. We had no interest in it and told him no please just bring us a soup , then a few minutes later we added a prawns dish for 24 euro We had 4 glasses of wine between us to for a total of $24 euro and on the second round, the waiter insisted it would be on him. We had our soup and we’re just waiting for the prawns when he brought the prawns out he brought out the massive seafood platter with the extra prawns on it we said no we don’t want that. He said no no no don’t worry it’s on me. I’ll make sure it’s all OK I’ll take care of it. He said he was so grateful to talk to Americans because he lived in America for 16 years. I felt like we had a lovely conversation. But when the bill came, we were charged fully for all four glasses of wine for the 105 euro seafood platter the 24 euro prawn platter and the soup for a total of 181.00 we were livid when we asked why we were brought some thing we didn’t order he insisted we ordered it. Not wanting to be that American couple to cause a nasty scene. We just chalked it up to experience and moved on. We probably only ate a handful of the mass of seafood platter items. I also work for an airline and our crew stays at the hotel right next-door. I will be sure to let every crew member I fly with know how I felt we were completely taken advantage of and ripped off I’ve moved on, but it will never...

Just ate here tonight, really enjoyed it. We were probably rushing a bit in our meal because we were tired from a long drive but the staff was very accommodating to our pace and we had dinner in an hour. Everyone was super nice and the food was excellent. The maitre'd or manager (I'm assuming as he was an older gentleman in a suit as opposed to wait staff white shirt/black pants) took our order and was very congenial.

I got the duck leg and it was very well prepared, not too salty and very tender. The garlic potatoes were also really good. They did forget to bring a second side of potatoes but the one serving was so large we decided not to raise it as an issue. I'm sure if we did actually want the missing side dish, they would have bought it.

All three of my friends got to daily fish special and it was delicious. The fish was prepared in a yummy butter sauce.

I also got the mille feuille for dessert and it was as expected and not too sweet.

If you're in the Etoile area and/or staying at the Hyatt across the street, this is a great choice; they were very welcoming to diverse clientele - tourists,...

This was the worst meal in Paris. Be prepared to wait 90 minutes for your food while swatting flies for entertainment. The staff is rude. We were sat down in the middle of the restaurant and waited 30 minutes for anyone to take our order. We ordered a bottle of wine ,their daily special for starter and two entries. The starter arrived in about 15 minutes and still no baguette! The first glass was poured by the waiter and we were given bottled water. The water bottle sat empty the entire dinner and we poured our own wine. The bus boy came by one time when we finished the starter and asked us if we're done. Confused we replied that we're waiting on our man course! The main course was bland and the food was cold but the plates were scorching hot. We ordered cod and octopus in a restaurant known for fresh seafood! Very disappointed, especially considering the...