Le Châteaubriand — Restaurant in Paris

This isn't meant to be a bashful review, as I haven't given the establishment one star, this but simply an opinion to be considered when making your choice for dinner.

We were fortunate enough to book one day in advance over the phone as it was low season (end of August, ).

We were excited to eat at a restaurant ranked in the international top 50, actually ranked 18th.

For those who didn't know, there is only a set menu at 60 euros or 120 euros with the wine pairings.

First warning signal,  there were very, very few Parisians in the restaurant and the crowd was mostly made of tourists. (we are tourists ourselves)

The service was unforgettable for all the wrong reasons, e.g.  rotating waiters, plates brought on the table hastily before the previous one was consumed (and we weren't eating unusually slowly), lack of knowledge of the ingredients used in the dishes (erroneous fish name, told a dish was served with a pistachio dressing when the pistachios were actually whole nuts sprinkled on the purslane), on a few occasions one particular waitress had to go back and forth between the kitchen and our table to be able list the ingredients of multiple dishes. The tostino del cielo, their signature dessert was abruptly brought on the table, presented simply with its name and the manner to eat it, after which the waiter vanished. We had to ask another waitress what the ingredients were.

We had to ask for water carafe refills, the waitress then forgot and had to be gently reminded yet again. If this was a 10-15 euros meal, I could understand, but at 60?  Making it more expensive than many 1 Michelin star restaurants in Paris.

The food was good, not great, not spectacular. It did not provide any surprises or interesting mixtures of flavors for our palates except for the cucumber granité (part of the dessert). But as my friend sitting with me so well put it, "I did not come here for the dessert".

In the end, as we asked for the bill, yet another waitress, Asian this time, came and asked in both broken French and English how the meal went and when we vocalized and gesticulated so-so, she answered with a smile and replied "good then",  clearly not grasping our disbelief. She swiftly proceeded to swipe our credit card though.  As a disclaimer, we are both fluent French and English speakers.

Let's not mention the 4 rowdy Canadians (we are Canadian too) at the table next to us who were already well inebriated by the half-point of the courses, who were swearing and almost shouting over all the other patrons.

I believe that le Chateaubriand is riding on its reputation made by the media and a few trendy blogs and reviews, cutting corners (and expenses) with its staff, yet still manages to reel in clients and making them pay the big bill for its pretty yet empty shell.

What's unfortunate is how this review will be buried in the mass of overly positive reviews, most made by patrons who are lured and awed by its reputation (as we were initially) and who haven't  experienced the refinement of what a 18 euros lunch or a 35 euros supper can buy.

I'm glad to see that there are quite a few other patrons who took the time to vocalize their dissatisfaction and hopefully some of you will take our experiences into...

This meal was a huge, huge disappointment. I'm French living here in Paris, but I'll write this review in English in case it's useful to a broader audience. I won't be coming here again, that's for sure.

Le Chateaubriand is a very famous restaurant that has had a huge influence on the French restaurant scene, and my friend went there twice 5 years ago or so and told me it was the best meal he's ever had in his life. We returned together for my first (and his third) time. We both couldn't believe how mediocre the food was. Like a random bistro would have been 1/5th the price, way less pretentious, and about as good.

It started off with Gougères, which are French cheese puffs (yes, it's as basic as it sounds). They were fine, but more what you'd expect from a random bistro than the Chateaubriand. Either way, that was followed by a delicious shot of "gazpacho", the best thing of the night by far, so we hoped that maybe the cheese puffs were just a fake-out. The next meal were clams in crab sauce, which were pretty good, and again kept us hopeful that we were into something good.

But then the blandness started. We were served a salad with endives and scallops. The scallops had close to no taste, and weren't particularly well-paired and felt out of place. Then came another dish (which looked beautiful) with foie gras, greens, and poultry reduction, but it was just okay -- more form than function with little impact and conflicting taste profiles. Then the cabillaud, an extremely pedestrian fish served in a sauce that tried to bring the dish to life but just couldn't deliver. The slow decline in quality with each new dish left us pretty disappointed already, but then the final dish came and that took the cake.

We were served a fried veal pancreas (ris de veau) that we just couldn't finish. It was not disgusting, but we were completely okay with leaving half of it on the plate. Apart from it being far from an attractive ingredient, it tasted oily and greasy, like bar food that you could be okay with a few pints in. And it just wasn't what you'd expect to eat 4 dishes after scallops.

At this point we were ready for desert. We had chestnut ice cream with meringue, which was fine, absolutely nothing to write home about, and another small desert that looked complex to make but again just didn't do much for us.

This was a tragic experience. The kitchen put so much effort into this meal, and you could clearly recognize that. They didn't skimp out on us and they genuinely tried to deliver a great meal. But they served us really elaborate dishes that were completely mundane and pretentious. Hopefully this menu was just a one-off failed experiment. But even so, it was an expensive experiment that we really didn't enjoy...

At these prices? One thing I’ve noticed about restaurant reviews is that most people focus on either the food or on the service. It’s a personal preference. I tend to be in the food camp. If the food is great, and the wait staff doesn’t fawn over me I don’t usually care. However, when you’re paying a premium for your experience, as at Le Chateaubriand, it’s fair to expect at least a balance between the two, and it’s unsettling when you start to feel no one gives a damn. We chose Le Chateaubriand as our “special” meal at the end of our Paris trip. It’s not dear on the level of a 5-star, 400 per head situation, but it’s not cheap either. It’s where you go for something elevated, and it came recommended for just that. We were excited. We arrived at opening, and were welcomed formally if not warmly to a nearly empty dining room. At first, we received visits from what seemed to be the whole waitstaff who explained the tasting menu system. We opted out of the wine pairing but the sommelier helped us choose a lovely bottle to accompany. The food overall was delicious and inventive, though some courses were less exciting than others. The menu here changes nightly. Around the time our food started arriving, another party came in and sat down at the table next to ours. Here’s where things changed. By the flurry of attention the group received It became clear they were known by the staff and possibly the chef. Suddenly it was as if we were no longer in the room. Finishing our 1st bottle, we flagged someone down to ask for the sommelier so we could purchase another and were told she was too busy. The waiter could help us instead. Uh. What? After that, someone who appeared to be the chef came out and stood chatting with his friends at the next table, never even glancing around to see who else was in the dining room. I get it, friends are friends, but it was a strange feeling to be neglected in this way. During the second half of the meal, nobody checked in to see how we were doing, all of the staff we had encountered early on had disappeared, and we were left with one lone server, doing his best but clearly stuck with us while the others attended to more important matters. Finally, we waited and waited for the check, but nobody ever came so we stood and put our coats on. The (pricey) bill arrived as we got to the door, and when I said to the staff that we felt they’d forgotten about us they acted shocked, shocked I tell you, as if this wasn’t possible. It’s a shame, because the food here is whimsical, sometimes even inspired. But ultimately what we went home with wasn’t the memory of the food, but that sinking feeling of having...