La grande georgette — Restaurant in Reims

La Grande Georgette – Reims: A Champagne Tragedy”

You walk into La Grande Georgette in Reims with that rare sense of anticipation — the way you feel before boarding a long-awaited flight to somewhere exotic, or cracking open the first bottle from your bucket list.

The place is gorgeous. Crisp limestone walls, chic Parisian terrace chairs, and a promise of air-conditioned comfort inside. The waiter smiles, leads you through like you’re entering some private champagne temple, hands you the menu. You scan the list — a murderers’ row of bottles, from the merely expensive to the absurdly decadent. You’re already deciding how deep down the rabbit hole you’ll go. A snack, some bubbles, maybe two bottles just because you can.

And then…

Nothing.

Fifteen minutes of nothing.

Other tables are being served, glasses clinking, orders taken, plates arriving. Your table? Invisible. You could have set yourself on fire and no one would have noticed — though maybe they’d have come over to ask if you wanted ice for it.

You’re not in a bustling street market in Bangkok where chaos is part of the charm. You’re in a buttoned-up French hotel bar where the whole damn point is attentive, expert service. A waiter sits you down, hands you the keys to the champagne kingdom, and then ghosts you like a bad Tinder date.

This isn’t aloof. This isn’t “French charm.” This is contempt — casual, corrosive, business-killing contempt. It’s the kind of thing that makes you realize no matter how beautiful the décor, how legendary the wine list, how perfect the setting… if the people running the place don’t give a damn, it’s all worthless.

If I were management, I’d clear house before the rot spreads. Fire the lot of them, start over, and remember: people don’t come here for a chair and four walls. They come for an experience. They come for champagne dreams, not the cold, flat taste of being ignored.

Until then, if you want champagne in Reims, you’ll find far better places where they actually seem happy...

I wanted to love this place. It’s in an almost incomparable location overlooking Notre Dame Reims. It has an open kitchen which is especially interesting for a sole diner. I ordered the tasting menu. It started out phenomenally well with the best hummus I have ever tasted. It was perfectly balanced and tasty without being overpowering.

The amuse bouche was interesting enough. 2 were slightly over seasoned and one a bit bland. All completely fine. Then came the asparagus. The sauce was a tad heavy but easily forgiven because they were the most perfectly cooked asparagus I have ever had. These were flavorful without being overpowering. My mouth still watering from these bits of perfection.

Then things went poorly. There was this supposed seafood dish. I think they threw all the leftover seafood from the night prior, added gelatin and milk and threw it in the blender. The result was an aberration. It was a jello that tasted like old seafood. Even the vegetables that were included were too bitter and inedible. That went back almost untouched with no comment from the serving or kitchen staff.

The protein was a pork. It was tasty and perfectly cooked, without too much fat. The only issue with it was a white radish disguised as a potato that was deeply offensive, but purely a matter of personal preference.

Dessert was a boring stack of sweet things that looked great but were … well, boring and relatively flavorless. The best past was a disappearing foam (because it melted so quickly).

The wine pairings were uninspiring and in some cases downright odd.

All in all, I might come back and not order the tasting menu. A...

PLEASE NOTE this is for the new restaurant NEXT DOOR that has only just opened called Little Georgette. They don’t have their own online presence as yet. We went here in spec on Saturday evening as there had been a mixup at another restaurant we had booked. We were offered a table outside and the menu looked lovey. We were left ignored for almost 30 minutes- and watched in as people who sat down after us got served food and drinks. Our waitress seemed to avid eye contact with us, and wasn’t helpful when we asked for advice on wine by the glass. My fish soup arrived cold, and we received mash instead of fries. When I wanted a second drink I had to attract attention. I have never felt so ignored by a restaurant. Our waitress wasn’t friendly at all and seemed to avoid us giving plenty of attention to her other tables. It’s very very rare I would complain but this was just terrible. I take a lot of pleasure placing good reviews to many places. They gave us an incorrect bill also, and my husband found out from the friendlier male staff that it was this particular restaurant’s opening night and you could see they were under staffed, but they shouldn’t have accepted our request for a table. I think my fish soup was tasty if it had been served hot- and by the time it came back my husbands (average) steak was finished and my side order of vegetable was cold! I literally had to keep standing up and waking to our waitress to get her attention and I hope nobody else has this experience. I will add this to the correct restaurant when they have a...