Le Récamier — Restaurant in Paris

My recent visit to Le Récamier left me utterly disappointed and frustrated with the abysmal level of service I encountered. Despite the restaurant's reputation, I had the worst experience I've ever had in my life, and it is something that I simply cannot overlook or dismiss.

Upon arrival, my excitement quickly turned into annoyance as we were left neglected and abandoned at our table. No waiter bothered to come over to attend to us. No menu, no one asking for drinks, no one to take our order. After 15 minutes, we flagged down the maître d’ to get a menu. We thought she would also get a waiter to attend to us, but no. Another 20 minutes pass and still no one came to take our order or ask for drinks. The lack of attentiveness and initiative from the waitstaff only compounded our disappointment.

To add insult to injury, the level of neglect and indifference continued even after we placed our order. While the food arrived promptly, we never received our drinks. We had to ask the person bringing our food for our drinks.

Throughout the entire duration of our meal, not a single waiter bothered to check on us or inquire about our satisfaction with the food or service. We were essentially left to fend for ourselves, resorting to visiting the bar to request a refill on water.

After we had been finished with our meal for 20+ minutes, no one was around to bring us our dessert. We had no choice but to flag down the manager to get our check, since we didn't want dessert anymore at this point. He still brought out the dessert and he took the cost of the dessert off the check due to the bad service, but the entire dinner had already been spoiled by the awful experience.

Rather than expressing genuine remorse or acknowledging the inconvenience caused, the manager seemed completely apathetic and unaffected by the situation. The lack of empathy displayed by the manager was striking and left us feeling unheard and unvalued as customers.

Furthermore, it is worth mentioning that Le Récamier's reservation system is shockingly archaic and outdated. Instead of utilizing a modern reservation service, they rely on an antiquated contact form/email-based system.

To exacerbate the problem, the lack of responsiveness from the restaurant when it comes to alternative reservation options is deeply frustrating. In the event that your preferred time slot is unavailable, there is no effort made to suggest or accommodate an alternative time. The absence of proactive communication demonstrates a disregard for customer satisfaction and further highlights the restaurant's disorganized approach to customer service.

Overall this is the worst experience I've ever had, and would highly recommend you...

Poor and rude service. Waited over an hour and never received our main course. Arrived at this beautiful restaurant (the book page interior is elegant) at 12:15pm for lunch, without a reservation. There were about 20 tables open on the terrace, yet the manager (maître’d?) led us into the covered front part of the restaurant next to an AC unit and a table of four who were clearly tourists. When I asked in French whether we could sit on the terrace, where there was open space, plants, and a nice breeze I was rudely told that they were ONLY for reservations. Before I could explain that I had a RDV nearby in 2 hours, she turned away. Honestly felt like she hated my guts and that she’d lumped me into “poor accent, not French, go sit where I tell you with the other tourists, you jackass” category. When my wife arrived and asked the same thing, the manager said “he doesn’t believe me?!” I didn’t get to explain that we did not plan to stay long. Our waiter, Diego, was kind but soon became busy. We received the appetizer, aubergine cavier, which tasted like glorified tomato paste. Two groups arrived after us, sat nearby, and they received their main courses promptly - within 25 minutes. We waited an hour and still nothing. Was this revenge for our terrace request? The staff seemed to ignore our table and were oblivious to the fact that other people had received their soufflés before us. After unsuccessfully trying to flag someone down for five minutes, I stood up and asked a waiter about the main courses. They went to find a different manager who five minutes later said: “It was on the fire and on its way.” But ten minutes went by without receiving our main course. At this point we just wanted to pay and leave. The manger, while rude before, was now kind and said that we didn’t have to pay for the appetizer or glass of sparkling wine. She probably just wanted to get rid of us. But we left hungry and angry. And I would never have written this bitter review if it wasn’t for this: while leaving, there were still numerous (5-10) empty tables open. We had waited 1.25 hours for a main course that never came. If we had received our dishes in the same time as our neighbors we would have been gone before those “reservations” arrived. But we were never given the option. I worked in 7 different restaurants in NYC and the lack of customer service in Parisian restaurants, while a cliché, can still be shocking. So don’t go here unless you want to roll the dice with service. And if you do decide to eat here, make sure to remind the manager: I’m your customer,...

My partner has been taking me here every couple of years for over three decades. We were given a good table in the inside/outside seating area - number 109 - so that made us happy. We were less impressed by the service…Within five minutes of being seated we were asked for our food order before we’d been offered drinks. It felt rushed. When our soufflés did arrive my partner’s salad didn’t and after ten minutes we had to ask for it. The waiter wasn’t friendly about this. The soufflé with snails was a first for me and delicious - would have again. My partner’s cheese soufflé was as excellent as usual. It’s a miracle how Recamier’s kitchen achieves this - would pay to sit at a chef’s table if they had one! My fault for going off-piste and not ordering a soufflé as my main course. Instead I chose lobster and crab ‘hamburger’. It was neither hot nor cold. The pieces of homard were fine but the crab pate was overly rich and coated the bottom half of the bun glutinously. The big fries were also luke warm and not light and fresh as might have befitted a sea food dish. Note to self: stick to soufflés. Another service error with puddings. Partner had ordered soufflé with salted caramel and it was excellent again, but it arrived fifteen minutes after the previous course had been cleared… Meanwhile I ordered sorbets to keep her company, but they arrived almost immediately. So foolishly I watched them while we waited instead of sending back to keep frozen. No sign of a waiter during this lengthy period. Recamier has expanded in terms of seating outside and it’s a great spot for a sunny lunch. But I fear Recamier may have become too successful for its own good. That’s a shame, and it’s not too late to get...