Le Select (Paris) — Restaurant in Paris

We were very excited to be staying near to Le Select while in Paris - in the early days of dating one of our frequent and favourite restaurants was called Le Select, only in Toronto, so having a meal here was a must. We managed to get day of reservations and when we arrived, the staff was kind and warm. I think we got one of the best tables in the place, it was in the main part of the restaurant, just far enough away from the doors and windows to be a bit private. We were also very lucky to be given a booth. The atmosphere was lovely, the menu wonderful and the wine list excellent. Between my husband and I we ordered the escargots, foies gras, duck confit and steak frites. The escargots were delicious, perfect amount of both garlic and butter. The foie gras smooth and rich, as was the accompanied bread. My duck confit was the kind of duck confit I dream about - rich, a little gamey and oh so good. The potatoes and salad were excellent although I only had a mouthful of each. My husband's steak was perfectly cooked. He found it such a pleasure to not have to instruct the chef about his preference of cook, they just do it perfectly as they know how. We were very happy and very impressed. We found the wine list to be thoughtfully curated and found a perfect red to have with our meal. I am very grateful to our waiter and staff for allowing me to practice my French while we were here and showing me patience in my learning. My only regret was not being able to try any dessert, I filled up too much on my entree and plat. I will have to visit Paris again to try the crème brûlée. Thank you so much for an...

TOURIST TRAP AT ITS WORST!

However hard I try, it is hardly possible to come up with anything positive about this tourist trap that has nothing to boast of.

First we had the escargots and salmon on toast. The escargots were mediocre at best. One was off. The sauce was extremely flat and tasted of its cardboard container. The salmon was disappointing. The toast was wet.

Because of the first course I decided to cancel my main course. The waiter acknowledged the cancellation. Nevertheless it was served by a collegue of him and she feigned to know nothing of the cancellation. She called the manager and only because our original waiter by chance walked by they were ready to believe I cancelled. It was unpleasant.

My friend made the mistake not to cancel his main course: the cheeseburger. Nobody had asked him how he liked it, bloody, medium or well done. Anyhow: it was done to destruction how he got it. The cheese was a 4 by 5 centimeter slice of supermarket cheddar. The fries looked and tasted as if the were found behind the fridge.

Total cost: 90 euros for 6 snails, one disgusting burger and two slices of meeky salmon. One glass of wine and one bottle of mineral water.

Overpricing compared with good value: 40%. Pricing compared to actual value: only the water was oke.

Please please please save your day and never darken the door of this shameless has been establisment.

Go to La Rotonde instead. It is incomparably better, briljant food and excellent service and yet less costly.

By the way: I did not go here as a tourist. I live in this...

This is a historic restaurant/cafe with a really classic and beautiful interior. Menu prices are on the higher side which is totally acceptable given the central location. Clearly it has a following.. there were many 'regulars' solo lunching the day i was there. The food was good/high quality--nothing extraordinary but exactly what you would expect form a higher end cafe in an affluent area of Paris.

The reason for my review is the treatment from the server. I ordered from the lunch menu Entree+plat which should have been 27 euros, but he charged me for each dish separately so the bill would be higher. I didn't realize the error until he came over and started speaking to me english-- I became completely flustered because up to that point we had been speaking french.

When I was paying for the meal he said: [in english... again we had been speaking french to that point...] "...make sure you leave me a good tip! didn't you like the service?"

I found this extremely gauche... He put me on the spot becasue I am American? Yes we have tipping culture in the USA. However a server explicitly asking for a large tip on my credit card was rude, and made me feel like I was being taken advantage of because I am a tourist.

It soured the experience which is a shame, because its a really beautiful location and the rest of the staff was very...