L'Alambic — Restaurant in Reims

Second time in Reims for me and stumbled upon this beautiful restaurant in the corner near the Gare on a Tuesday night. It was 7pm and asked the Miss host if I could dine without a reservation and they let us in. Both Misses who hosted us were very warm and friendly and with my broken French, still allowed me to continue tried speaking in French. On a tangent, I am of Japanese decent and believe that language plays a huge roll in perception in the world and always felt if visitors in Japan could learn just a little Japanese, the experience would be 10x better. The nuances of things change dramatically and the hosts (I later found out they both speak very good English) allowed me to converse with them in French. I really appreciate the time they spent dealing with my ego and very appreciative of their hospitality. I think most of the seating were underground level and felt like I was dining in a beautiful old wine cellars which hit my taste 120%. Every time I visit a basement I keep imagining converting it to my man cave.

Now for the food and champagne side, you are in the best brut region in the world. I had a demi-bottle for two of us which was perfect for my non-alcohol tolèrent body and the food was beautiful and very tasteful. A lot of local ingredients in season. I love sauerkraut and learned the dish they served had it under the fish we ordered and is the Alsace regions specialty. My travel buddy loves asparagus and the white asparagus soup (potage??) he said was best he has ever had. I always love restaurants serving great seasonal local ingredients that is not common to me.

Price wise, coming from California and stopping by at Paris, is very accessible and nothing that would break your bank. I don’t want to say “cheap” because as a restauranteur myself I don’t want to give impression that the restaurant is underselling itself at all but compared to what you get for spending 75-100 USD for two in America, I say what we received in food and services is something that would easily cost me 150+ per person in Bay Area. (I know this is bad American habit but had to put it in here)

Thank you Ms.s for taking us in and not rushing us during the dining experience. I was happy with the hospitality but the city was very pretty and after the great food, I wanted to stroll around and see the beautiful buildings as it matched the food very much.

I am looking for place in France to remote/work in the future and this restaurant gave me +2 pts for choosing Reims as...

Very nice ambiance and we were glad our group of 6 was seated up stairs. Nice affordable tasting menus, and wonderful fish selections. Something for everyone, even if you have non adventurous foodies with you. The ice cream liquor desserts were very fun. We all liked the home made liquor shot when finished, and they were nice enough to split the check 6 ways. Wonderful wine selection with a nice range of prices. We had a great rose for 22 Euro and a very peppery Gigondas red for 40. This place was a great value for your money. We were there over 3 hours and sadly had to skip our floral liquor round because it was getting late! I will need to go back and try the geranium and...

Fantastic staff!! The owner/manager was patient enough to go through the menu and explained it to us with basically no French knowledge. The servers, with limited English, were fantastic and super friendly. I have worked and eaten in many expensive/fancy restaurants in the U.S., Canada and Italy and this was some of the best service ever; simply impeccable.

The food was amazing: fresh ingredients, perfect sauces. I usually do not eat greens, but they were so good I cleaned my plate.

Great wine list and affordable prices throughout the menu and wine list.

Very nice atmosphere, the crayere downstairs was beautiful, you want to sit there not the ground floor.

Miss this restaurant at...