Little Nonna — Restaurant in Paris

Visited this plac after a visit to the Arc de Triomphe since it was near and it was good to know that everything was gluten free. I ordered tomato and basil foccacia, expecting that to be the flavour within the bread but the tomato was just cherry tomatoes on the plate alongside the bread and I could not taste any basil anywhere. I even had to check with the waitress that I had received the correct focacxia and not just the plain one. She assured me it was the same one that I ordered. Having said that, for gluten free foccacia, the bread did have the perfect texture and was light and fluffy. For the main course, I had Fusili in a bolognese sauce but again, this had no flavour. It was served in a round metal pan, which had obviously been put into the oven to melt the cheese on tip, but unfortunately this resulted in some of the pasta around the edges of the pan being hard. They were still edible for me but I know that other people would have not eaten these edge pieces. It was €20 for the fusili alone. I could have made a tastier bolognese myself and sold it at 50% profit for a lot less than €20 per portion! I took one bite of the other bread from the side dish that comes free and it was rock hard. When the waitress came to ask If I wanted any dessert, I said no thank you and complained again about the quality of the food. She asked if I wanted to take the rock hard bread with me and I said no thank you, but she came out with a tub of 3 fresh halve loaves for me. I told her that I couldn't take it with me or eat it as it was rock hard and said that the quality of the food was not worth the price. I had to eat as it was late and i wanted somewhere I knew I could easily get gluten free food, so that I could get back to the hotel early enough ready to pack my case for my 6am departure for my flight in the morning. Otherwise, I would have complained earlier and asked for a different dish or a better version of the one I had, but I could not waste time waiting for another meal. So I complained properly when asked if I wanted deserts. I asked if could have something off the bill as the food was not worth the price which she took to mean for me asking for the bill. When she brought the bill, I asked if it would be possible to speak to a manager about my complaints and she walked off with an expression of disgust on her face. I waited 10 minutes for a manager to come but nobody came. Neither did anyone come to the table for me to pay the bill, do I went to the bar to pay. I again asked if I could speak to a manager. I was told that the manager was not there. So i asked if there was an email address for them so I could write my complaints to then. All of a sudden the waitress claimed to not be able to speak much English, yet up until this point after the meal, her English was very good, she was very helpful and the food was served quickly, so when I first asked to speak to a manager, I told the waitress that I would still be willing to give her a tip. After she said she didn't understand, I used Google translate to ask for an email for the manager and why I wanted it. She told me I could not have one and said "you eat, you pay' so unfortunately my complaints have ended up on google reviews instead. At this point I was, so fed up that I walked out without giving any tips.

Regarding the atmosphere, I was expecting that there might be Italian music playing but it was just a mixture of different things and I'm not sure there was even one Italian song in the time I was there. This did not make it a bad atmosphere, but just not as good as I would have expected it to be.

Finally, they claim to be open until 11pm. I was still there at 10:15pm and people who needed gluten free food were coming in and being turned away as it was apparently too late. They asked about somewhere else they could get some. The waitress recommended a place but they said that they'd already been there and it was shut.

I took the photo because it looked so delicious but unfortunately, the flavour left a lot...

SUPERB PIZZA BUT…

When we got into the restaurant it seemed nobody had noticed us, we had been standing in the middle of the hall for about five minutes while the waitress kept ignoring our presence even though she noticed it and there was no queue in front of us (we evidently were customers looking for their table)… Nobody even greeted or welcomed us in: we had a reservation but no one took care of it… We had to stop another waitress while she was serving and ask for the table. When we sat she handed us the menus without even asking us if we wanted something to drink. We waited again for 35 minutes before ordering our food… we asked three times to order and we were replied to wait “just a moment” every single time. And there is more: sitting at the table next to us there were two old British women who struggled to understand the menus entirely written in French and Italian. They asked the waiter for an English version of it but he replied they didn’t have one… the stunning fact is that he didn’t give them help to translate the menus at the table: WE had to do it cause he ran away as soon as he replied. It took an extra 45 minute for the pizzas we ordered to arrive… I’m pretty sure this is not the usual time needed to cook a pizza, considering the fact there were not so many customers at that moment and a good half of them didn’t order a pizza.

Just a side note: In Italy the average price for a well done Margherita is around 4-5€ and in just some cases it peaks up to 6-7€… Here it’s served for 18€: I didn’t expect to find same Italian prices obviously but the triple of the most expensive Italian Margherita is a bit too much… btw in other restaurants (in Paris) it costs from 12 to 15 euros!!

Despite these facts, pizzas were very good looking and very well topped with high quality products carefully chosen, it was perfectly cooked and the pizza dough was delicious…over all the pizzas were as good as Italian ones… under this point of view I can just say compliments and five stars (but the over all judgment needs evaluation of other factors as well).

The last delusion came with the bill: we ordered some water to drink, they brought us 1L of Evian water… guess how much it cost…pick a number! It cost 9 euros!!!! I understand Evian is one of the most expensive kind of water, but you can find 1.5L of it in supermarket for 79cents and in other restaurants I paid a maximum of 5€ for 1L of it!!!

Please improve...

My recent visit to Little Nonna in Paris was, unfortunately, a letdown. While the promise of a fully gluten-free Italian restaurant is exciting, the reality of our experience fell short in several key areas.

First, let's talk about the food. It was adequate, but certainly not the best gluten-free Italian cuisine I've had. The pizzas were decent, but after waiting an extended period, we had passed the point of being truly hungry and couldn't fully enjoy them.

The prices were another significant issue. We were quite taken aback by the cost of beverages. A bottle of water was €9, and a small 33cl Coke was €6.50. These prices felt exorbitant, even for Paris.

However, the most significant problem was the abysmal service. We were seated on the terrace in a section that seemed to be the responsibility of a specific server. She was a woman with vibrant red hair and a very distinctive, striking appearance. Throughout our entire two-hour stay, she was incredibly inattentive. She spent most of her time either engaged in lively conversations with colleagues behind the bar or chatting loudly with other French-speaking customers, completely ignoring her assigned tables.

Our corner of the terrace was consistently neglected. We repeatedly had to flag down other staff members to get menus, order drinks, and eventually, to place our food order. When we finally managed to order with our designated server, it was only because we actively approached her while she was clearing a nearby table. Even then, after waiting for 30 minutes, we learned that our order had been misplaced. It took a full 1.5 hours to finally receive our food.

Furthermore, we were never once offered a second round of drinks. The only beverages we had were the initial ones we had to actively seek out ourselves. The lack of basic hospitality and attention to customer needs was truly shocking.

It's important to note that the other staff members were a stark contrast. They were extremely friendly and seemed to be working much harder to compensate for the lack of effort from the other waitress. It's a shame that their hard work was undermined by one person's poor work ethic.

Given the combination of mediocre food, high prices, and exceptionally poor service, we have no intention of returning to Little Nonna. I sincerely hope the owner takes responsibility for this specific waitress's behavior, as it significantly impacts the overall...