Le Clarence — Restaurant in Paris

I don't know what else to feel but disappointment of what has become of one of my favorite restaurants in Paris. This was not my first visit to Le Clarence but instead my fourth. As a repeated customer, I understand entirely of the level of professionalism and standards that this restaurant is capable of. However, this visit in April 2022 has entirely ruin the image of class that Le Clarence has installed from previous visits. The front of house team, previously flawless, has changed entirely, now filled with entirely new faces and a brand new condescending and racist attitude toward guests. Many issues can be forgiven, but I can identify 3 very clear problems that are truly problematic. As we were seated and handed the menu, we found out that the menu was the dinner menu (3,5,7 courses), not the lunch menu (3,4,6 courses). This is no issues. However, when we selected the 5 courses option because we don't want to eat as much, we were immediately met with respond from the waiter saying that our choice was incorrect and that we should instead choose the more expensive 7 course menu. Even when we replied that we don't want to eat as much, we continued receiving condescending comments from the waiters that our choices were indeed wrong. We had to frustratingly insist on our decision before the waiter gave up. We had never had this happened before in fine dining establishments, only warnings from the team that we have ordered too much, but never questioned or insulted for ordering less. Then, when the bill came, we handed them our card and the waiter loudly announced to the entire table "would you like to tip in cash or credit?" We were immediately baffled because in our decades of dining out in Europe, never had we experienced this crass behavior from the waiter of a fine dining restaurant. Typically, the service charge is already tacked onto the bill. As we were treating important guests, we didn't want to cause a scene and decided on an extra 10% (on top of service charge). Once we announced this, the waiter even had the audacity to question us loudly "do you mean 20%?" For a restaurant that prides itself on service, this is absolutely unacceptable behavior, shaking the customer down for tip. Especially when we have already spent almost $2000 for the table. Finally, we tried reaching out to the restaurant to ask of the policy on service charge and tipping to justify the waiter's behavior at the meal. We were met with complete silent from the restaurant. We have tried to email the restaurant twice yet no answer or even a gratuitous reply was given. I never wanted to make a problem like this public, but rather just an answer. But when a restaurant commits horrible faux pas and expects to ignore the problem away, it is unacceptable.

This is truly the most condescended we have ever felt at a fine dining restaurant in France. A long way from the class and and warmth that I experienced at Le Clarence in my...

For our second planned meal of our two-week visit to Paris, my wife and I had dinner with my cousin at Le Clarence. We arrived at the restaurant 15 minutes early and were met by the host outside. Once again, I was relieved that she (and the rest of the staff) very kindly spoke English with us. When she tried to show us into the restaurant, she discovered that a co-worker had exited behind her and locked her out. April Fool! We all shared a good laugh as she left us to make her way around the back and let us in through the front door.

Since we were a little bit early and the rest of the staff was still having its pre-service meeting, we were invited to wait in the restaurant's "living room" upstairs. I've never been happier to wait for my table. The room is spectacular. After only a short wait, we were offered a glass of Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé champagne, which is one of our favorites. And shortly after that, we were offered some "snacks"; a selection of cheese puffs and then bulots (whelks), which were more than the simple, undressed variety that you usually receive with a plateau de fruits de mer.

When our table was ready, we were led down to another beautiful room with fabric-covered walls and a very high ceiling. Although there were several other tables, I only remember one other being occupied and it really felt as if we had the whole room to ourselves.

We all decided to order the Le Clarence Menu in 5 Sequences. We also continued our new tradition of having champagne with every meal. When we mentioned the Duval-Leroy champagne that we had previously enjoyed to the sommelier, he enthusiastically recommended Duval-Leroy Femme de Champagne Brut Grand Cru. Coincidentally, he had recently visited the Duval-Leroy champagne house and told us all about it.

The "5 sequences" consisted of many more than five dishes. Each sequence was three to four separate dishes. I will post photos of some of them, but they were all beautifully composed and presented, and were, without exception, quite delicious.

We ended up lingering over our meal for the better part of five hours. Yes, FIVE HOURS! But it was truly one of the best, most enjoyable meals that I have ever experienced and we really didn't want it to end.

We even visited the kitchen, where we watched a dish being prepared for us and got to enjoy it at the counter. We met Chef Christophe Pelé, who doesn't speak English but could not have been more friendly and gracious. I wasn't surprised, because every other member of the restaurant staff was equally friendly and gracious.

If you gather your friends and family to have a meal at Le Clarence, you will enjoy the best meal...

We chose this restaurant because of the good food but mainly because we wanted to see the interior decor. Two people for lunch, we had the three course and two pairings. One being the “around France” pairing and one being the Bordeaux pairing. Both being four examples. The food was seafood. Except for the deserts it was exclusively seafood, which was absolutely perfect for me. And it was very very good. My wife thought the mackerel was most memorable and I thought the lobster. We appreciated that my wife’s gluten free preference was easily accommodated. I said we came for the decor. We were sat in a formal lounge containing three tables off the library. The room was a delight and the tables were generously spaced. All was very classical french, very formal and high quality and perfectly presented all the way to the french flag fluttering just outside the window. I repeated the word formal previously and service was formal but with an informal friendly touch. The staff who dealt with us were all very pleasant and helpful. We hadn’t expected the wine story and hadn’t realised the restaurant has a large cellar and is owned by an owner of a Bordeaux winery. I bought the story and ordered the Bordeaux wine flight. The idea was that the wines would all come from the owners chateau. Of course I was forgetting with all the seafood I was going to be given white. Of course I was forgetting that if all the wines are white and coming from the owners chateau I am not getting much of a pairing. By which I mean that the number and variety of white Bordeaux’s from the same maker is going to be limited. And so it proved with the first glass which was a mono dimensional white. Then came a fantastic white that had complexity. Next the 2001 Bordeaux blend red Haut Brion ( this wine being the reason for buying this pairing) and finally a Sauterne. These three wines were fabulous, I don’t think they matched particularly well with the food but I did not care, I wanted to enjoy the wines and the story and I did. In summary. The things we will remember very positively and in order are a) the setting b) the wine flight c) the quality of the food offering and d) the friendliness of the service. Price I can’t recall in Euros but it was a little over AUD 1100 on my credit card. About AUD 450 was the food. Yes the wine was expensive (AUD 460 for 1+3 tastings of Bordeaux for one person is “fully” priced), but it was integral to the experience and really lifted the experience for us. We thoroughly recommend Le Clarence and all aspects of...