Le Bistrot du Maquis — Restaurant in Paris

Missed the mark. Food was sub par.

Let me start off by saying this place has been recommended by Michelin. Take that for what you will but we’ve been to every category from their Bib Gourmand to their highly rated 3 star restaurants.

This is one of the places you should probably avoid and I’ll tell you why.

We started off with the octopus. It was chilled and sliced. Had a bunch of pickled items so the acidity was nice but the octopus lacked any flavor. It was very tender but that’s standard. The highlight on the dish were these little red peppers. I’m talking maybe 1/2 an inch diameter and length. There were only 3 or 4 of them but with everything else on the dish being blah I found some joy cutting them in half and eating them.

My wife had the monkfish medallions. We’ve had monkfish multiple times and this was overcooked and chewy. It’s almost like they preseared it off before service, let it dry out and reheated it. It didn’t taste old but it was probably the 2nd worst monkfish dish I’ve ever had. There was an extremely bitter vegetable which I couldn’t figure out also.

I had the pork belly. Which was extremely tender. After adding salt to the sauce and the pork itself I thought it was missing something since the server told us it came with black pudding and I was torn between the pork or some braised beef dish. I picked the pork with black pudding.

The dish didn’t have black pudding so I asked if I missed something. The server told me that they ran out and that they were closing for the holidays after today which is the reason they didn’t have it.

Well my question to that is, the same server dropped our food at the table and didn’t mention the lack of the black pudding, so why would they only mention it when I bring it up? No excuses.

We skipped dessert. I didn’t want to take a chance and gamble on how bad it could be. 2 out of 3 courses were already lacking. I didn’t want to waste another course.

Food 2: “could be a 4 on a good day but I’d avoid this place”.

Service 3: despite all that our server was very nice. She just didn’t know how to handle the situation well. “Our server was not the owner since the owner we saw a picture of outside and was working the dining room also”

Ambiance 3: typical French bistro.

Pictures are of the menu we took from their iPad. Obviously they sketched out an app that was out when we arrived and also a blank in the entrees. Not sure if that was done during service or not.

The duck press picture is one I sent to a friend of mine since if this place was actually decent when we return to Paris we’d pre-order the duck press. Would beat going to tour...

The food may be excellent, but I’ll never know because the service was so slow.

I arrived late during the lunch period, and the room was only ⅓ full. I waited several minutes for the sole server (and also the wife/owner, as well, I think) to notice me in the doorway (even though the room is quite small). She then offered me a choice of two tables, one of which was by the window. I stood waiting for her to clean the table, which was dirty, and still had the previous client’s bottle and glass. And waited, and waited....

After what seemed like 10 minutes standing there she finally came over and cleaned the table, without the slightest effort at being pleasant or welcoming. I then sat another 5 or ten minutes waiting for her to bring me a place setting and a menu. Never came. A mother and daughter had already been seated just next to my table before I even arrived, and they did not receive their menus until after I was sitting and waiting. It would have been simple to bring me a menu at the same time, but no. Apparently menus are rare and to be guarded carefully.

So, I decided that there was no point in offering them my patronage. I got up and left, went a few doors down to the Cafe de la Butte where I was immediately greeted and seated, brought the menu and served with courtesy and efficiency. The food was very tasty and reasonably priced.

Note that I have a fair amount of experience dining in small Parisian restaurants like this one, and generally they are quite pleasant to me, and though they may be a bit slow if they’re busy, the experience is rarely as negative as this one was.

I recommend you avoid Le Bistrot Du Maquis if there’s anything else you’d like to...

Racism and Discrimination - I went there on 28th of October around 8:40 PM on the recommendation of my French friend. When I went there lady told me in French that there's no space available for me even though there were 3-4 tables free. I left but I stood outside to observe her behaviour and then she let first French couple in after making them wait a minute and writing something on paper and then she accepted another two French people right away much quicker than the first couple without writing anything and making them wait. After that I wrote this in French on my phone and showed her "il n'y avait pas de place disponible pour moi mais vous venez d'accepter deux français. Je parlerai à mes amis français de ce racisme et de votre discrimination. Ils m'ont envoyé ici." In english it means that because I don't look French you are treating me differently, that's racism. She somehow started talking to me in English and said reservations but I have been to plenty of restaurants to know how a reservation is treated and how unreserved people are. She showed different behaviour with next two folks and different with 2 people who followed after. Clearly one group had reservation but the one prior to them didn't. Anyway I'm going to make sure everybody knows about their racist behaviour. They ruined my fun in Paris. I booked my first flight to London in morning and leaving now. Racism has no place in this world and I'll with the help of my French Parisian friends going to raise more voice against this restaurant. It's an individuals act. Glad in Canada we don't have...