Restaurant L'Absinthe - Saint Malo — Restaurant in Saint-Malo

We decided to ignore the bad reviews of this restaurant and book a table for dinner. That was a mistake. The various tasting menus they offer make this restaurant seem like an upscale place, but that was not at all our experience. We were sat and then completely ignored for half an hour. Once we finally ordered, the seafood menu plus wine pairing, we received our entree without any explanation or wine. We also ordered a bottle of water that never came. On top of that, every table around us had a bread basket that we never received. We sat with our first dish for ten minutes before we were able to flag down the server and ask about the wine that was supposed to come with it. He apologized for not bringing it with the food, blaming being short staffed and overwhelmed, then proceeded to return with the wine. Then he awkwardly poured us obscenely large glasses, saying "you have to take a large drink right now because my boss will be upset if he sees how much wine I've poured you." He then forced us to awkwardly chug too much wine, which we did not ask for, and made us feel very uncomfortable. This continued throughout the night. Our dishes were severely delayed and the server kept pouring us unnecessarily large glasses of wine to compensate, but then demanded we drink them quickly so his boss didn't see. The entire experience was extremely uncomfortable. Ultimately, we decided to leave before completing our menu. When we had to explain to the owner why we were unhappy with our experience and wanted to leave before completing our meal, he was extremely aggressive. He blamed us and blamed it on a language barrier (the server had no problem communicating with us in english and I speak French). We felt like we were in a fever dream, and asked the table next to us about their experience. They agreed that it was the strangest and worst service that they had ever had at a "fine-dining" restaurant. There are a lot of wonderful places to eat in Saint-Malo, and we had some truly exceptional meals. My advice is to go anywhere other than here, and you will have a lovely meal. Aside from all of the service issues, the food we did have was...

A truly wonderful dining experience

A very attractive setting in the first floor and basement of an older building. Walls a mix of beams, columns and arches of wood in a slate grey stain with walls of stacked flat stone. Lighting gave a warm ambiance. Wait staff was attentive, timely and very well versed in the menu and wine selections.

We started with a bottle of Bordeaux and the wonderful house baked whole wheat baguette and creamy butter.

The appetizers were excellent! Monkfish Gravlax was slightly salty and herby with kaffir line oil and a fresh salad of orange and grapefruit supremes for sweet, acid bite and balance. Beef Tataki was thin, rate strips of seared beef with julienned carrots, zucchini and pickled daikon radish. All in a great teriyaki sauce. Both wonderful mix of flavors.

Mains were equally impressive. A saddle of lamb Ballontine style - a stuffing of breadcrumbs, aromatic vegetables with a thyme laced au jus. Sides of carrots and broccoli and sliced potatoes. The lamb was perfectly pink with the moist, flavorful filling. Croaker Rossini Style was a skin-on portion seared crisp with a Rossini sauce (rich deglaze of fish pan juices and Madeira) poured over the fish and a seared slice of foie gras. A flavorful risotto al dente with steamed vegetables. All merged together wonderfully.

The dessert was called the Rock - a scoop of praline chocolate mousse with a heart of caramel and peanuts in a dark chocolate ganache shell with fluer de sel ice cream beside. Oh, so decadent! Be warned, you must order before your meal starts as it takes 45 minutes of prepare this masterpiece!

A truly wonderful dining experience! Suggest you make...

The vegetarian menu was very disappointing. The starter (maki rolls) consisted of dry undercooked rice and flavorless vegetables rolled poorly in seaweed. The rolls fell apart almost immediately when you tried to pick them up. The main course (the tortilla/omelet with zucchini spaghetti) was a bit bland and flavorless, some salt (or any other seasoning) would have made this dish a lot more enjoyable. The dish was also served cold, even though you might expect a tortilla to be warm. The cheese platter was nice, but some of us received different cheeses and the servers couldn’t provide us with an explanation. The dessert was the highlight of the meal. I chose the crème brûlée, which was absolutely delicious and well made.

The poor overworked servers were incredibly stressed and constantly forgot drinks (they were often served at the end of the dish they were meant to pair with, which took away from the experience) and also late with a couple of dishes. Parts of our party had to wait upwards to ten minutes more than others to receive their meal.

For a meal of this price i expected better service and definitely more flavorful and more meticulously cooked meals. It can be hard to find vegetarian options in Saint Malo, and it felt nice to find an entire menu. I just wish it would live up to the expectations and live up to its price.

I don’t recommend this restaurant for anyone looking for a good, filling vegetarian meal, since we left a bit hungry after four courses even though we didn’t...