Restaurant Drouant — Restaurant in Paris

Sadly this was one of the best restaurants in Paris for many years running. It had one star and then 2 stars, now it has none. It certainly does not deserve any!...I have been here many times in the past and would never recommend it at this time. We are in Paris s3 times a year as I have famiily there. Going to Drouant was a highlight but over the past 5 years we have not been. Service was horrible. The captain at the table did not even discuss the menu. The foie gras is not home made, it is cut off a store bought loaf. The sweetbread dish ( vol au vent) sounded delicious until it was served. See Picture below). The sweetbreads were small chick nuggets, actually more bread surrounding the piece than actual meat. They were hard and cold. The seared foie gras was cold. There was a server who literally doused the dish in gravy making it unedible. There were more vegetables than worth the 60$ charge. My wife ordered the Sole. Great dish!! Except, one, it was priced in grams and they gave her a whole fish rather than asking how many grams she would like. It was cold and rubbery, not a flaky sole. My fork stood up in it like a tent pole! The captain has the responsibility to ask how much a patron would like if it is billed in grams or say per shrimp etc. This was 90$, poorly overcooked and tasteless, again covered in too many bread crumbs. All in all it was a 300$ night that forced us to go the the Tabac next door for the same quality but for 50$..I have no issue spending money as I am a gourmand. Having been best friends with Jean Claude Vrinat, the owner of Taillevent, and eaten there 6 times a year for 20 years, and was at his funeral sadly , so food is not an issue. ( we were at Lasserre the night before...wonderful meal, presentation, and staff). Sadly the company that owes this place should dump it out of their list ( they own Taillevent as well) Truly horrible!!! And the place was half empty at 8pm..that says alot about a bad restaurant who rests on its old forgotten laurels ( for some reason I can not load the...

UPDATE - I will be contacting the restaurant direct so put the below down to a bad day.

I noticed as we walked by that a corporate do was going on. It was very hard to get our booking recognised at the door as we were repeatedly asked what business we were from. I have lived in France on and off for 5 years so can explain that I've booked for 3 people not connected to an event. From our table we could hear speeches and applause for whatever was going on downstairs. When we mentioned the disruption the music was turned on at high volume. We pretty much had to flag down for any service from then on. The sommelier gave me no information for wine choice - I gave a few pointers and also stressed I was meeting a great friend after 2.5 years of lockdown. I'm assuming the party downstairs was more important. The food was strangely average. You can't get fresh oysters too wrong if your supplier is good, and the ravioli was nice, but I had the vol-au-vents and was completely underwhelmed. The veal was chewy, and dominated by unadvertised button mushrooms. I have made mushroom vol-au-vents recently. They were better and cost about 2 Euro to make. The chips were strangely sweet with the steak. My wife wanted the John Dory especially to try the sable comte. When we got someone over to take our order we were told it was not available. When there are only 7 mains, at least tell us what we can have before we order our wine. Anyway - read into this what you may. Possibly a bad day because of a busy function, but it doesn't look like the basics of hospitality, service and flavour are being followed. We thought it was going to get better at every low point but it continued to disappoint. We went elsewhere for cheese and dessert where they were very pleased to see us, we were please to see them and I got to catch up with my friend properly. I'll be writing to the restaurant separately if they choose...

After trying and retrying every Michelin stars in Paris and 3 Stars in France (you can follow me for all the updates and reviews). I’m also trying all the main 2 Stars in France (done half of them) and a selection of Michelin guide non star in Paris. The selection is based on opportunity (to be honest), recommendations from my gourmet friends and living historic heritage. And when we speak of living historic heritage, Drouant is high on the non star list. In France , it’s associated with the Prix Goncourt, the most famous price one can get in French literature. Since 1903. To this day. Making the atmosphere of this French institution quite unique. You have the main floor, a quite nice terrasse and the several salon upstairs. The glasses and the plates have the restaurant logo to remind you where you are. The waiters are international which is important as the crowd is also. The service is busy as a brasserie should be. It’s a tad upscale, as it must be with its mythical status. As the price are, but it’s fair, and all things considered, it’s less expensive than many fashionable place that not only do have the history, but are not even selected by the Michelin. Basically, the place is out of time and yet active, cosmopolitan

Concerning the food. It’s a good brasserie with, logically, historical dishes (vol au vent, pâté en croute, etc..). It deserves to be in the Michelin, but with this size, it’s difficult to do a Michelin star cuisine, with a Michelin Star associated service. On a side note, the wine list is really impressive and actually there are gems for astonishing good prices for connaisseurs.

Will I go back? Yes i will. Most certainly like that day, when I wanted a brasserie, think of the past and future generations, and watch the time pass with a good champagne. Out of time, yet active.

A...