MARIE BELLE — Restaurant in Paris

I like to check the reviews before I write my own - I love reading the negative reviews sometimes because it tells you what kind of people would be unhappy there. It's usually reassuring when people say "Oh, the waiter took too long to bring my drink," or "we were crowded into our tables..."

Yeah, you were. It's Paris.

This place was just incredible. We wanted to sit outside, but - of course - the terrace was crowded so they put us in an incredibly comfortable banquette in the back. The service was impeccable, and then -

and then -

I asked the waiter, very nicely, if it was at all possible to move outside if a table came open. It was our last night in Paris, and it was beautiful out...and he said he would try.

It wasn't 10 minutes later when we all got to go outside after all.

I thought I had the best steak tartare I've ever had until I ate it here. And everyone else's food was great, too. All the waiters were ever present without being intrusive. All you had to do was look up and they would be looking around and looking for that eye contact to come right over. Sure, someone might beat you to it, but they'd always come back and do the same thing. So anyone saying the service is rude may not really understand what service is. It's not about being waited on hand and foot. It's a brief relationship between equals, with boundaries; it's transactional, sure, but that doesn't mean that you can demand special treatment or expect miracles, your spending money there entitles you to the same thing everyone else gets.

But

Maybe try asking for what you like politely, with the understanding that this person isn't there to do your translating, no, not even if you're curious about ingredients, and it's not rude of them to take a pass on that. And that even if it is your last night in Paris, you may not get a table outside. Be OK with that, drop the grudge and maybe you'll find yourself in a fantastic place with great food and accommodating staff that are more than happy to...

If you are a tourist try to avoid this place by all means, the server we got was rude (you won't feel welcome, it is more transactional) and because they know you are a tourist they ask for tip (when in paris that's not something expected, everything is included on the prices). Also, the place is a little bit expensive for the quality you get. We came here on our last day and got very disappointed , first by the treatment of the waiter, also we needed to wait for 15 minutes to order our dessert. And finally, the food.... it's just ok (nothing outstanding) ! We tried the onion soup (not tasty at all), the meat (was just ok), the duck (was good but nothing amazing), and the profiteroles (they were just ok) . If you want to have a better experience and tasty food, try to go to bistrot victoires, you...

Looks ok from the outside and relatively comfortable looking interior. However, our waiter was the archetypal french waiter. Super rude, dismissive speaking to us, even actually threw the cheque on the table as my colleague reached out to get it. There are actually few people like this in Paris anymore. Really bad vibes. And unfortunately on top of that, the food was terrible. Entrecote was so bland and tough. Supposedly with herbed butter which also tasted of nothing. The fried were over cooked and just crunchy little ends. My colleague had a Croque Monsieur and she said her food was really bland too. Zero love in that food. Totally regretted going there with so many other places around. It takes a lot for me to be totally negative about a place. The one star is because the place had a nice...