Restaurant Maison Rouge — Restaurant in Saint-Julien-en-Genevois

The good: ||This hotel has been stylishly decorated (in the fashion of Vogue living c.1999), and has a restaurant. They also have a small gourmet food store in the lobby. ||||The bad:||It is in the middle of nowhere. They lie about this on their own website and listings elsewhere, claiming to be 5km from Geneva. This is not remotely true. To get to Geneva takes over an hour and 2 buses. ||||The ugly:||We stayed there for several nights in 2 rooms. The staff treated us like an inconvenience. One evening I asked if I could borrow a corkscrew (I had bought some wine in town). Marie-Laure flat out refused. She offered to SELL me one. For €5. Given that we were spending upwards of €1200 during out stay there, being cheapskated like this was insulting. ||Likewise: in each room they have an espresso machine (with milk frother!) which is a nice touch. But when we asked for milk, their first response was that they could SELL a litre to us. This all added to the sense that we were not "GUESTS" but an annoyance to the owner, and that they were trying to gouge us at every turn. ||||They are charging rates for a high end boutique hotel, but not offering anything like the service I'd expect in this...

The good: ||This hotel has been stylishly decorated (in the fashion of Vogue living c.1999), and has a restaurant. They also have a small gourmet food store in the lobby. ||||The bad:||It is in the middle of nowhere. They lie about this on their own website and listings elsewhere, claiming to be 5km from Geneva. This is not remotely true. To get to Geneva takes over an hour and 2 buses. ||||The ugly:||We stayed there for several nights in 2 rooms. The staff treated us like an inconvenience. One evening I asked if I could borrow a corkscrew (I had bought some wine in town). Marie-Laure flat out refused. She offered to SELL me one. For €5. Given that we were spending upwards of €1200 during out stay there, being cheapskated like this was insulting. ||Likewise: in each room they have an espresso machine (with milk frother!) which is a nice touch. But when we asked for milk, their first response was that they could SELL a litre to us. This all added to the sense that we were not "GUESTS" but an annoyance to the owner, and that they were trying to gouge us at every turn. ||||They are charging rates for a high end boutique hotel, but not offering anything like the service I'd expect in this...

The place is an oasis because the surrounding area is not very sexy - a road with lots of shops and commercial activity (zone industrielle). The Auberge is surprising, because it is both original in terms of its decoration and layout (certainly not rustic, let's call it, say modern - kitchy - lounge style). The reception was correct. Room was nice and again, original, felt good. Good bed. Bathroom incorporated in the room, but with a wall. Kitchenette. Nice balcony as well. They have a shop with local produce and wine. The restaurant was also very atypical for a French auberge, but we liked the food (the menu is however very foie gras oriented). Service was very good - we had car trouble and they were quite helpful. The place also has a nice lounge area where you can enjoy snacks & coffee (and I assume drinks in...