Restaurant Le Gabriel — Restaurant in Paris

Dining at Le Gabriel was truly one of the most complete and thoughtful restaurant experiences I’ve had in Paris.

The setting is stunning—elegant but never cold, with every design detail carefully considered. Even the chairs were unusually comfortable, which may sound minor, but makes a big difference during a multi-course tasting menu. The atmosphere was also just right: lively in the best way, with the soft hum of conversation creating a warm, vibrant energy without ever becoming noisy.

The food was exceptional from start to finish. Every dish was full of flavor, beautifully balanced, and presented with refinement. There’s real creativity here, but it never feels forced or overly conceptual. Instead, the flavors are clear, often surprising, and always satisfying. You can tell the chef is not just technically brilliant but genuinely passionate about crafting dishes that stay with you.

What truly sets Le Gabriel apart is the level of detail and care. Even the small things are done perfectly. The warm towel at the start, for example—hot but not too hot, moist but not dripping—was an early sign of how precise everything would be. Knife rests were placed thoughtfully on the table, and each chair had a small built-in platform for handbags—a discreet but deeply appreciated touch.

The service was flawless. Every member of the staff was gracious, calm, and intuitive. There’s a real sense of quiet confidence and professionalism. When one guest in our group didn’t enjoy a particular course, the kitchen responded immediately and brought a special replacement dish made with artichoke hearts—which turned out to be one of the highlights of the evening. That kind of attentiveness is rare, even at this level.

The only disappointment came at the very end of the evening. While enjoying the petit fours with only a few tables left, the kitchen staff became audibly loud. At this level of dining, and especially in such a serene setting, that kind of disruption simply shouldn’t happen. It slightly broke the magic of an otherwise seamless experience.

Le Gabriel is not a place that tries to impress with flash or ego. It’s a restaurant that speaks in subtlety and excellence. Everything—from the food and the setting to the hospitality and the tiniest details—has been considered and executed with care. It’s a place where you feel truly taken care of. It truly deserves its 3 Michelin stars and Gault and Millau 18/20. An...

This was our second visit to this two star Michelin restaurant and although the meal was certainly of five star quality, our experience paled in comparison to our initial experience. Does time enhance the memory? I believe the "let down" was caused by ordering the four course luncheon menu, rather than opting for the independence of a la carte. This time it was a tale of quantity over quality, as neither one of us were able to "clean our plates;" a lesson to be learned.

Located in the "over the top" La Reserve Hotel, Restaurant Le Gabriel is the personification of elegant. A bevy of well trained, sophisticated servers cater to your every need. However, this is no "stuffy" wait staff. Quick with a joke, personal and charming, servers ensure your comfort and take the "chill" out of Michelin star dining in this gilded black and gold salon.

The four course weekday luncheon, a veritable steal at 115 Euros, climbs the price scale when ordering wine, water etc. Remember, France imposes a separate food and liquor tax that adds 10% and 20% to your check. Thus, what appears reasonable at first, slaps you financially on exit. Caveat emptor. Our lunch came to approximately 375 dollars as a final tally, a great deal more than I expected to pay. Of course, that included several amuse bouche courses adding to our gluttonous repast. In hind sight, always a guilty waste of energy, a la carte would have made sense.

Le Gabriel is a master of presentation, and each dish was a visual work of art. However, tastes were across the board. The terrine was a contradiction of delicate and hearty deliciousness, and could have been a meal in itself. The fish serving was refined, accompanied by a sauce that had a fine"wisp" of horseradish, but was unmemorable. By the time the stuffed poultry was served, both madame and I were uncomfortably full, which detracted from our culinary enjoyment. Desserts, while beautiful and creative, were eaten begrudgingly. It was simply too much. All this food was washed down with a gorgeous white wine from Collioure at a reasonable 90 Euros.

While Le Gabriel certainly is deserving of its two star status, we deserve to lose all our stars for not realizing a la carte menu choices allows for culinary freedom and independence, necessary for pure...

It pains me to describe this restaurant as mediocre, especially since we flew all the way from New York explicitly to celebrate my birthday dinner here, based on the excellent experience we had two years ago. But things have definitely changed. The room is still gorgeous. But now we have to talk about food and service. Regarding the former, there were two dishes we simply could not eat (and we literally eat everything without complaint). One was a truly disgusting fish called skate wing. When the cloche was raised, the immediate experience was one of smelling garbage that had been left out for a couple weeks in the hot sun. I did make a stab at it but actually gagged. Nothing else was that bad, but one other dish did come close. The wine pairing was also a bit odd. I understand these are going to be inferior, lesser-priced wines, but in some cases we really felt as though we were drinking Yellowtail, or something of that ilk. We had to ask for replacements for the undrinkable a couple of times and, when we did, the replacement wines were FAR better. We should have just ordered a nice bottle of something and called it a day. Lastly, the service was what I would call uneven. We had one delightful young lady who was a joy, but then a couple of other servers who helped with our table gave off a feeling of serious disinterest. There were a few times where we needed something and just could not catch the eye of a single person. When you have to raise and hold your hand up like you're in school, then the staff is simply not sufficiently attentive. I noticed they were much younger than the last time we dined here. Finally, we could not understand the sommelier's introductions to the wines because he mumbled. He also seemed way too young to have had enough experience drinking to answer any questions we had. For $1,575, the bill for our two dinners seemed completely out of range for the experience we had. Dinner at also-three-starred-Alleno the next night (same cost) helped make up for this unfortunate experience, but for the trouble we went to for this special meal was...