Le Petit Flottes — Restaurant in Paris

In Paris with my 13 year-old daughter. This restaurant was next door to our hotel. We were told by the hotel receptionist to eat at this restaurant. Oh, what a mistake at 8:30pm 3-28-18. We were finally greeted after 5 minutes of standing in the door (with no one else in sight, and we waited and waited while others were seated WITHOUT a reservation. I know this because I asked the more lavishly dressed french couples who entered after us and they also did not have a reservation. After 15 minutes of waiting with multiple empty tables visible, I again asked if we would be seated. The host came to me putting his hand under his shirt imitating a "beating heart" asking me to be more patient and calm in his broken English. A very humiliating and demeaning gesture. I guess the French people have forgotten why they still have a French beating heart in their bodies. Sorry, I digress. Anyway, they sent us upstairs and there we sat for almost 20 minutes. No waiter approached us and we could see that others that were seated AFTER us had already given their drink orders and received their water and bread. I don't care how good their food may be rated, but I will NEVER return to this restaurant and I think they have an attitude against Americans. From here we went downstairs and told the manager what had happened and he did nothing and did not seem to care. A young Indian waiter seemed to be utterly embarrassed. We ended up at the "Mademoiselle Cafe Brassier" near our hotel where we were greeted with respect and treated with respect.

Interesting observation after writing this review which I am now editing: My feelings and experience tonight are validated. I read a review before mine that claims the "atmosphere" at this restaurant has too many unsophisticated Americans who don't even know what is Escargot. Oh PLEASE! Don't bite the hand that feeds you. Americans help sustain your Parisian lifestyles so I think Americans should stay away from this place and don't waste your money...far too many other wonderful...

In summary, lousy service, and I witnessed them "recycle" leftover shellfish. On one busy evening, our Westin hotel concierge recommended us to go there. We waited must have been about 20 minutes and noticed that this place is mostly tourists like us. While waiting, one of the waitresses cheerfully passed us out the door with a leftover seafood plate. Curious maybe she was refilling the tray, I peeked outside and witnessed her take a small group of uneaten leftover whelks back to the seafood containers outside while chatting with the seafood man. I am not sure what the custom in Paris is, but I wouldn't feel comfortable with recycled shellfish taken from one customer's leftovers to be resold onto another patron's plates. So I was like okay, not going to get the seafood plate tonight. Anyway, while setting the table for us, the manager broke a glass stem in half. He left many bits of glass, some larger and small on the table. I politely asked him to change the tablecloth for us so we wouldn't have glass in our food or get cut. He acted like it's nothing, and left. We waited another 20+ minutes for the tablecloth change or something when I realized that if they are recycling seafood outside, what the heck are they doing inside? So we left without anyone even coming to help us. This is a place fit for tourists guided by paid-off concierge ready to take unsuspecting tourists. I am sorry we even spent time...

This was our fourth night out in Paris and we fly home tomorrow morning so we wanted to make it a worthwhile dinner. The complications were that it was a Sunday night as well as Bastille day so many restaurants were closed. Also, we got a late start so we needed stay in the Vendome area as we didn't have time to walk far given a late start. We were seated quickly and the staff was friendly. They also spoke English well. They had a good wine list and we found a red from the Loiure Valley that looked interesting; 2009. It was quite tasty. For starters we got the French onion soup, escargot and grilled vegetables with goat cheese. It all was delicious. The French onion soup was the best of all of the ones eaten to date. For the entrees we got the salmon tartare, cod and my wife and I split the chateaubriand. The salmon was well presented and tasty but needed a sauce. The cod was also tasty and well prepared. The chateaubriand was cooked perfectly, was very tender and came with an excellent bearnaise sauce. It was accompanied by nice and crispy French fries. For dessert, it was the hot chocolate and chocolate mousse. Both were fantastic. It all made for a very...