Bistrot du Forum — Restaurant in Reims

Bad management, bad food, bad customer service.

From the start it was clear that the team running the terrace was greatly understaffed so my girlfriend and I knew what we could expect. Therefore we lowered our expectations, which was fine. We never expected to be served as bad as we did. We've been there for almost 3,5 hours for just a cheeseplate and a main course. Unbelievable. Don't go here.

15 min. We finally got to order. We ordered a cheeseplate and some glasses of champagne. Upfront we were informed that the cheeseplate would only be served in 20 minutes since the kitchen was still closed. Not really a problem for us. 25 min. Drinks arrive. Since there were a lot of wasps (and no visible measures against wasps) we decided to move a couple of tables away. The waiter assured that the cheeseplate would be served at the new found table. 70 min. Finally we are able to reach a waiter. Professional as he is, he admits that something went wrong and he would make sure we got the plate. We decided to order a main dish with him and he greatly advised some wine and we ordered a bottle. Since there would be 2 courses now, he offered to have the main course brought over when we had finished the cheese. 85 min. Cheese and wine arrives. 90 min. The waiter arrives with the main course, sees the cheese we were still enjoying and he realises that he had messed up again. The agreement was that we would finish our cheese and then start at the main. He takes the plates away. 110 min. We finished the cheese but there is no waiter to be seen. 150 min. It takes so long for the main course to arrive that the bottle of wine (which was paired to the main course) is already empty. We finally get to speak to the waiter. For the third time he realised that they had messed up. We order a second bottle of wine. 160 min. Main dish finally arrives. Telling from the dead cold fries and grey entrecote, it was the plate they had prepared an hour ago and had taken away. I wish it was a joke, but it is not. 210 min. We finish the plate and want to get out as soon as possible. We give notice to the waiter that our food was bad. He apologises and reconvenes with his manager. We were not expecting anything from it but now comes the kicker: we were offered a discount of €3 on a €160 bill. This was like a slap in the face and we felt like we were not taken seriously. It was like an insult.

Being patient and polite for seeing the crew having to deal with a lot had resulted in the worst restaurant experience ever.

Food: 1 star, cheeseplate was well balanced but the fish and beef are not supposed to be served cold. Service: 2 stars, bad personell planning by the owner resulted in long waits for customers. You could make a lot up by good customer service, but they did not. Communication between the kitchen and waiters is clearly horrible. +1 for the waiter, he really knew his wines. Atmosphere: 2 stars, people screaming and running because of the wasps wasn't the USP i was looking for. In the forum there was a concert going on of which the sounds we could enjoy from our table. That was nice, but is that really credit to...

Our experience here was truly terrible, it took 45 minutes after being seated for someone to even take our drinks order and the waiter could not have been less interested. Our drinks order came out wrong missing one drink, getting one wrong and not getting our water. We mentioned this to the waiter who simply walked off but came back shortly with the correct drink and missing glass of wine but still no water. We mentioned the water at least 4 times across our time there and never received it. The starters came out after over an hour of being there, again one of them wrong, we'd ordered the Jambon and Salmon and relieved a terrine. The mains came out after 2 hours. We had got up to leave because it had been so long and were halfway down the stairs when the waiter appeared carrying them. The 3 steaks were not seasoned at all and the chips were lukewarm at best, the burger was pretty good in their defence. While we were there another table sent all their food back but unfortunately they left before we could find out why. My main issue with the service is that the waiter simply never spoke to us, if it was busy, or they were understaffed or there was an issue of any kind we couldn't tell so it felt like we were being ignored. If they'd take a minute to explain they're in training or a man down or whatever the issue was then it would have been more bearable, maybe. But 2 and a half hours for an, at best, mediocre food at an exceptional price tag is unacceptable. Just for a bit of clarity, we arrived at 7pm, there were only 2 other tables seated inside at that point so we didn't arrive mid-rush. Truly...

We asked for two Perriers, a Rosè and a local Champagne, trusting they would bring one or more highly rated bottles and pour a taste for approval... as is done in most reputable establishments, but we underestimated the local tourist trap. The first sip curled the lip of the drinker who immediately referred to it as "rough", when questioned on the origion /type of beverage there was some furtive looks between barman and manager - they produced a "local" bottle but did not offer any justification/tasting to confirm that the content of the glass served came from that bottle - as the invoiced item did not match the bottle shown. Instead they took the invoice - reprinted it - with same name and took off €1 ???

I'd rather have good champagne and pay an appropriate price than be treated like an idiot that doesn't know the difference.

Went 100m to Le Cave Colbert (Wine merchant) spent €34 and got great advice on local producer; Champagne Doyard Cuvèe Vendemiaire. We felt, based on what was put on invoice, and what we tasted, rather than what we asked for that they palmed off cheap prosecco as local champagne. Save your money. Save your tastebuds. Save your dignity, go anywhere...