Le Vieux Crapaud — Restaurant in Paris

This was the worst experience we had on our stay in Paris. The waitress, Melina, was so distracted by her 5 friends who were at the bar, she forgot to bring us menus and then eventually forgot to bring us the wine we ordered. There were 3 out of 12 tables filled and we could tell most were family members of the owner/chef. At one point, we asked if we could move to any of the other empty tables further away from the bar, as the guys at the bar were being particularly loud and inconsiderate of other patrons in the restaurant, and the waitress told us no....not accommodating whatsoever. We thought at least the meal would actually be good....we were poorly mistaken. The steak I had was 70% gristle, literally could not eat. My friend had the duck dish and it was prepared so poorly, we both left so dissatisfied. This was our last night in Paris and our stay had been so amazing and to spend our last dinner there in this awful restaurant was so disappointing. We should have taken the clue when we saw the place mostly empty. ...

We had visited Le Vieux Crapaud on a whim after having visited the Arc de Triomphe late at night. The menu was handwritten so may be a bit tricky to translate for those whose French is a work in progress. The chef was so kind as to take a seat with us and run through each item and its components. It became clear that he understands flavours and is great at his profession. We fully trusted his recommendations.

We ended up having the frogs, snails and confit lamb.The frogs were served in an exceptionally rich garlic and parsley oil and was bursting with flavour. We enjoyed heaping leftover sauce onto the slices of bread we had been served at the beginning of the meal. The confit lamb was exceptionally tender and sat on a bed of couscous.

The service from the team was exceptional and we were well looked after. We would love to...

Loved it! One of our best dinner experiences in Paris!! The food was excellent but combined with the service level from the owner, Thomas, and his family, the night was truly memorable. We are from New York and all we do is eat out so we have a high bar. We were there in June during the World Cup and we happen to be walking by on an early afternoon. Thomas, was standing outside and had the game up on a projector screen and we peered in. Thomas invited us in and we basically ended up staying there the whole night (Thomas even helped us cancel our prior dinner reservations!). He urged us be adventurous - we had pigs ears, frogs legs and some pretty rare meats....it was quite the feast. There were others there that clearly were regulars so somewhat of a neighborhood place too. When we go back to Paris, we will...