Le Marceau — Restaurant in Paris

The food was decent enough. Our issues all stemmed from communication problems with our server, even with me being able to speak passable French.

I ordered oysters to start. The server told me they don't serve oysters. I mentioned the sidewalk sign and he reiterated they didn't serve oysters. He pointed at the menu: "we have snails." Fine. We settled for escargots - but he seemed to have no idea that the sign out in front advertised differently. Just in case he didn't know the English word "oyster", I did ask in French as well.

We ordered cocktails. He came back with one of the two, and said they lacked an ingredient for my wife's. She picked a different one. A few minutes later he came back again, and said they lacked ingredients for it. The third time was the charm, but that interaction should have been smoother.

Our escargots came out with the dishes we ordered as our main course. Maybe he thought that's what we wanted, but I've never been anywhere that did that before. I felt rushed in eating our escargots to make sure my boeuf bourguignon didn't get cold on me, and that partially ruins the delicacy.

For dessert, the menu lists two cheese options: a three-slice variety plate or a single slice of your choice. I asked for a single slice of Roquefort. I was informed they didn't have Roquefort. No alternatives were mentioned. I asked if they had a blue cheese. "No." I mentioned that I saw another table right next to us with blue cheese. He started telling me about some dish that was mixed "with meats and other things", when the other table had the three-cheese plate that appears on the menu. There was nothing on it but a variety of cheeses, so I have no idea what he was talking about.

After being pressed further he went back to the kitchen to ask about blue cheese and said I could order it. So, great! I did. And he brought out not the single slice, but the three-cheese plate... But with three slices of blue cheese. Not Roquefort, so I guess that claim might have been accurate, although I have my suspicions. Three slices was way too much for me to make it through - that's why I asked for the single slice. I couldn't bear the idea of sending two slices back, though - interactions were difficult enough already.

Finally, when the bill came, we were initially charged for one of the cocktails that they didn't have ingredients for. We caught it, but I was in the middle of handing my card over when I noticed. I didn't bother with fighting the cheese debacle. I was just exhausted and ready to leave.

I want to reiterate: the food was good. I liked the food. I liked the restaurant itself. The heat outdoors was cozy. Everything was positive except for issues stemming from our waiter. Be careful if you're planning...

Thursday, 31 July 2025 at 18h00 Entrée : Cuisses de grenouilles persillées, 16 € Plat : Onglet de bœuf, Sauce chimichurri, pomme frites, 27 € Dessert : Baba au rhum, crème fouettée, 13 €

Food: 4/5 Very Good. The frogs legs were perfectly cooked with a crispy skin and tender meat. The beef onglet was beautifully seasoned with a balanced sauce of garlic and parsley flavors. The pomme frites (French fries) were disappointing. They were dry and barely warm. Simply edible. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the dessert because a large shot of white rum is served to pour and soak into the pastry. Most baba au rhum use rhum-flavored syrups but to have actually rum is decadently brilliant and delicious.

Service: 5/5 Excellent. My server Mehdi always had a smile, looked genuinely happy and was very attentive. He was polite and professional. We were seated at 18h and finished at 19h45. The courses were nicely paced and the finished plates were quickly removed without asking.

Ambience: 5/5 Excellent. I absolutely loved the decor and layout of the seating. Silk flowers adorn the window frames and terrace partitions. I deeply appreciated that a glass wall separates the terrace into a smoking and non-smoking area. Finally, I can eat outside without always having wafts of smoke in my face! Brilliant!

Cleanliness: 4/5 Very Good. The entrance, ground floor, and the public spaces were clean and appealing. My only criticism is the basement restroom lighting which I found a bit too dim for my preference with a somber blue hue. Many night clubs use similar lighting which is not a positive association. Therefore, I would recommend the management to brighten the restroom lighting to promote better associations of cleanliness.

Value: 5/5 Excellent. For a total of 56 €, I had a delicious meal that was an excellent representation of French cooking. Additionally, my hunger was very satisfied with the restaurant's generous portions.

Overall: 4.6/5 Excellent. I was refreshingly surprised by my overall experience. I would gladly welcome a return meal here. I will recommend this restaurant for anyone searching for a good French meal near...

I went to the restaurant for breakfast, sat down at a table at exactly 10:50 in the morning, ordered an American coffee and only received my food at 11:25. It would be understandable if the restaurant was full, but it wasn't, there were no more than 5 tables occupied and I watched people who arrived after me receive their food first. However, that wasn't the worst part, I had tickets for the YSL museum scheduled for 11:30, which means I was already late thanks to the delay in the food, so I had to eat quickly and asked an Asian waiter for the bill, the friendly waitress who was serving me had disappeared at that moment, and I honestly don't know what I did to the Asian waiter for him to be so rude to me. I simply asked for the bill, he looked at me with an extremely ugly face as if I had asked for something absurd and during the whole moment between me looking at the bill, taking out my cell phone and making the payment he stood there in absolute silence looking at me with that unfriendly face, I thanked him and he walked away without saying anything. I felt disrespected and insulted for absolutely no reason!! I don't know if it was because I was speaking English, which was not a problem anywhere else during the 5 days I spent in Paris, or if this man is prejudiced in some way. But I found the way he treated me simply disgusting and despicable and honestly if I had more days in Paris I would have gone back there just to ask what his problem was. I found it 100% prejudiced and the food, besides taking a long time to come out, was less than average. I have never had such a watery omelet.

From what I'm reading from other customer reviews, I'm not the only one who has had a bad experience with a waiter. I would even bet that it's always the same waiter. I think the restaurant should rethink...