Les Deux Colombes — Restaurant in Paris

The information I searched on Google Maps included menus and prices. As a foreign tourist, this is a habit of mine—it helps reduce time spent ordering at the restaurant and benefits both myself and the business.

However, as you may know, the prices shown on the official website linked via Maps were more than 20% lower than the prices on the physical menu at the restaurant. I later found out the restaurant had raised its prices, but had not updated the online information. This led to a misunderstanding.

Since I was already there and had waited for a table, I decided to let it go for the time being.

Secondly, the restaurant was quite cramped. It seemed like they had squeezed in too many tables within a limited space, making it difficult to move around. During our meal, there were two instances where guests leaving their seats bumped into ours—minor inconveniences. The place was bustling and a bit noisy, but still allowed for conversation.

Then I noticed the cutlery wasn’t clean, with visible food residue. After I asked for a new knife, I discovered the fork was also unwashed. I didn’t raise a further complaint at that point.

Regarding the food, I ordered a medium-rare steak, but when it arrived, it was well done and overcooked. The steak itself was of good quality—thin and large in size. It’s likely they tried to serve all dishes at the same time, causing the steak to be overcooked.

I mentioned this at checkout. The staff merely offered a polite apology, with no intention of making any form of amends.—which I had already anticipated. I didn’t pursue the issue and simply paid.

As for the other dishes on our table, they were generally average, with a few flaws: • The frog legs were large but lacked flavor. • The meat wasn’t tender. • The lamb, which was advertised as having been stewed for ten hours, was overcooked to the point of destroying the meat fibers. It had no juice or flavor, and the sauce used to cover this up only made it worse. • The duck confit was decent and tasty, but in France, most duck confits are good—so this was not a standout.

Overall evaluation: When the pricing is competitive, a number of small issues can be tolerated—such as tight space, average hygiene, unclean utensils, mis-cooked food, and the restaurant’s attitude in handling mistakes.

However, upon discovering that the prices had increased by more than 20% compared to the official listing (e.g. duck confit from €17 to €27), all these small problems became one major issue, as they formed a coherent pattern.

This one-star rating is not an emotional reaction, but the result of repeated tolerance that eventually reached its limit.

Attached are screenshots from today showing the official prices, which can be compared to those on the actual...

Les Deux Colombes is an intimate restaurant tucked away in the shadow of Notre Dame. There are 2 small dining areas, one over looks a very small kitchen where you can watch the 2 chefs as they prepare the meals. The other dining area has a bar. We stumbled upon this place on our last night in Paris, and it was by far the best meal most of us had all week. The lamb confit was much less gamey than typical lamb. It was so tender it was falling apart. The potato purée that goes along with it pairs well. It was a great meal and I could eat it daily. My wife thought the same of the beef with small sautéed potatoes. My oldest ordered a pork tenderloin - he wasn’t a big fan (I’m not sure why), so he didn’t eat most of it. Luckily I am a big eater and stepped in. It was very tender and had a nice cream sauce. It was complemented nicely by some black rice. My youngest got the cheeseburger. He liked it. I tried his as well. But after eating the other dishes, I don’t know who would order a cheeseburger here. The price was on par with every cafe in Paris - maybe even a bit cheaper at €25 per person. I wish we would have found this place sooner - but will definitely return if we come back...

If you’re an Asian tourist, I strongly recommend AVOIDING this place.

After reading similar experiences from Google and other platform, I have reason to suspect discrimination may be at play here.

I made a reservation and arrived three minutes early. When I walked in, the bartender didn’t greet me or acknowledge me at first. I smiled and greeted him in French. Only then did he look at me and ask if I had a reservation. I said yes, and he told me to wait five minutes. Then he turned away and went back to what he was doing.

I waited for 15min, even though there were empty tables. During this time, I smiled politely and made eye contact with several staff members, trying to signal that I was still waiting. They ignored.

Meanwhile, a couple came after me were warmly welcomed, seated quickly, and already enjoying their wine — all while I was still standing there.

After 20min, I just left. They saw me leaving. No one said anything.

This is my first bad experience in Paris, and I’ve been here for 5 days. All other people in this city are so nice and kind, but not the ones I met last...