Restaurant Gaya — Restaurant in Paris

#67th in my Michelin Marathon in Paris Forget about the fish! Judge on the results

It’s a fish restaurant. But you should not care. Yes you should, but you really should not. You should care because you’ll have great fish and seafood dishes. I had sea urchin in a way in never had before. And this why you really should not care. Because the chef manages his dishes in a way that you forget it’s seafood or fish. It’s just great cuisine. I do think that the fact that it’s marketed as a seafood restaurant does not do it justice. Of course it is seafood. But it’s not the point. Actually, the setting is perfectly adequate. Exterior: a deep blue and white. Interior: leather, club chairs, wood, bottles and magnificent black and white dedicated pictures everywhere (I could come back just for that!). Basically outside it does say sea but inside it’s more “paquebot” or luxurious yacht where you forget you’re in the middle of the ocean. You’re just surrounded by other wealthy passagers. Speaking of which, the lunch menu is of great value. Interestingly you could spot the part of the staff who must have worked at the main restaurant and the one that did not. Nothing wrong there. But the one who must have worked in a 3 stars were obviously a notch above the rest. You guess it. I had a very pleasant time and my guest too. My experience: A few days after I realized that I did not remember this restaurant as a seafood one but just as a great experience and a place where I would have lunch with my darling A very solid one star.

Update 2022: Came back a year after. Very consistent. I may admit that I preferred the first time but I would not account on the kitchen, more on the normal variations, as the lunch menu changes regularly. I always forget that the restaurant is a fish/seafood one, but I remember that I’m in a 3 stars chef one star restaurant. And It is still a very...

Only if the food had been as good as the flowers and plate service! Upon entering the restaurant behind the bar were two men offering greetings. One with thin and tall with glasses The other smiling like a fox with short dark hair is the one to be ware of! The oysters with banana and a roulette were interesting but not impressive. The artichoke was absolutely delicious The pea soup lacked direction and substance The soul was overcooked and the wine list was weak with no sommelier present to give recommendation. At the end of the meal I was greatly disappointed when the headwaiter instructed the table waiter to increase the price of our wine by $50; thereby teaching the younger person to take advantage of customers and steal ! I could see the frustration on her face as he sent her to the table with the bill. Instead of calling this restaurant Goya they should call it “Gouge Ya”!!! This kind of deliberate behavior should be Stopped by the chef...

Starters are expensive and we took one with spider crab in it...and even if it was OK, we could find a hint of it at all... Fish as main course was excellent and perfectly cooked ! And the dessert was common, not surprising at all.

But the biggest problem we encountered is that when the waiter arrived with the bill, he told us that the credit card payment terminal was not working. I asked him since how long they were aware of this problem. He answered me that they discovered the problem at the beginning of the service, at 20:00. The problem is that we arrived at 21:15 and they didn't mentioned it !! I have had to talk with the manager who reacted perfectly well by proposing us to send a check or come back to pay another day. He only took my name, address and phone number. So that's what we did.

But still, they should have warn us. It's not encouraging...