L'Esberit — Restaurant in Pau

Small (less than 50 covers that I could see) but classy restaurant in a great location opposite the church of St Martin just a five minute walk from Henry IV Castle. Anyway back to the restaurant, it has a mezzanine floor, ground floor and outside dinning in a cozy area. The outside tables which are limited I’m sure, have to be booked well in advance on a sunny day because they have a superb view over to the church and people watching must be as good as the aspect The menu at lunchtime is a plate de jour with a choice of two for each course, starter, main and desert. Now, I have always been a lover of massive menu choice spending ages mulling over what to choose and always ending up with more or less the same food! Now I am becoming a lover of the semi set menu as it directs you to a different choice, one you may never normally opt for. So far I have never been disappointed with any of the dishes and In fact I have enjoyed a much broader spectrum of food and tastes doing so. Back to the restaurant, Starter, cold thick zucchini soup with octopus, asparagus, chorizo and a rice ball thingy- delicious. Main - grilled Hake with asparagus sauce and vegetables- Devine. Desert- strawberry mashed with cream and bergamot. The flavour combination of all three dishes was outstanding. Service was a bit hit and miss but didn’t spoil our visit. If you find yourself around this area of Pau book a table or take a chance to walk in, you will not be...

We were quite let down by our experience, some aspects in the service were not where they should be. Overall the food was good but heavy. The andouillette amuse bouche was very fatty, the lobster accra was oversized yet lacked flavor. The main dish (pigeon) was enjoyable, the meat was cooked well and quite juicy. There were not many vegetables or greens in the dishes though, they were mostly all composed of meat/egg/foams. We chose to skip the cheese cart, and instead get an extra dessert (3 total). The desserts were enjoyable, even after the surprise of having Girolles mushrooms in one of them.

There's a significant number of flies in the dining area and the kitchen, yet the staff literally brushes them away, and they land on their open cheese cart. At some point in the meal, they brought us a pitcher with a stink bug on it, and when we pointed it out, it was summarily brushed...

Food was really good. Even restaurant’s chef came out and asked about his work. Which we were really pleased.

Instead of, Service was a bit poor from the restaurant’s Maitre. Took ages to have the menu. My wife eats little, we were pushed to have each a 5 courses option, because restaurant doesn’t serve one of 3 and another of 5 courses. Excuse gave, to eat all at the same time. Maitre showed lack of interest while presenting different courses of food, speaking at high speed, no room for questions. He seemed in a rush. And bothered when questioned.

Concerning wine, I chose 3 glasses of wine, one with each plate, start, main course and dessert. On the 3rd glass of wine, even not a chance to try it. He just poured the wine. The experience in general is worth, just restaurant needs to improve on their service skills. Quite poor...