La Cigale — Restaurant in Saint Martin (France)

Food was great, but the owner a left a bad taste.

My wife and I carry a yearly tradition. Every year, we have 1 drink each from a bottle of gin that was gifted to us on the day we got married. We always request permission from the restaurant at the time of the reservation and explain that we’re willing to pay full price for the cocktail due to the peculiar request. After chatting with someone via WhatsApp, La Cigal said they love that idea and would be more than happy to oblige.

The juicy part: They knew we were celebrating an anniversary and were informed ahead of time that we would bring our own bottle of alcohol. Upon arrival (I admit we were 15-20 mins late to our reservation, but we also gave them a heads up), we spoke with the owner and told him we have our reservation. We explained the tradition above. We were met with slight hostility and got ushered to our table by a young waitress while the owner talked to the other staff griping about our bottle. Once seated, the person we spoke to while making the reservation clarified everything with the owner and explained what was going on.

Maybe this is our fault, but we also assumed that we would be seated at one of the waterfront tables for an intimate evening since La Cigal was informed about the celebration. Even though 2 tables were available, we were still seated in the middle restaurant.

Time for our yearly cocktail. To make things easy for the bartender, we ordered a drink off their cocktail menu. Usually, with this drink, they shake the gin over ice with lime juice and top it with Prosecco. Instead, they just poured it right in the glass, with a dash of lime and Prosecco. So the cocktail was lukewarm. At this point, I needed to remind myself that the only important aspect of tonight’s dinner is spending the evening with my wife.

Still, the part that stayed with us was how the experience made us feel—small and unwelcome, in my wife’s words. Not exactly how you hope to feel during a special anniversary tradition.

As always, the food was fantastic, and the service was great. This is why La Cigal is in my family’s rotation of restaurants on the island. However, the cherry on the cake came with dessert. A group of 4 showed up, and the owner brown-nosed them to bits. I get it. I come from a hospitality family, but it was over the top. I’m not saying I expected him to bend over backwards for us, but maybe you treat locals the same as you treat tourists. After all, we dine here year-round.

(I hate doing this. Between me and my family, we own 3 restaurants on the island and understand how these reviews feel. So that’s why I’m trying to be fair with this review.)

Response: Hospitality is about how you make people feel—not just food, facts, or friends. Your response proves exactly why this review...

We were there for new years eve. Since me and my partner are swiss and have been to Michelin and Gault Millau restaurants before we were not pleased with the service at all. Our critique is not one single incident but a whole lot of stuff that added up...We thought we were going to have good food with nice service - but were disappointed. We are a young couple (mid 30ies). At the beginning we were asked if we know the price of the menue (as if the service suspected we could not afford it). Then we were told that another table (with a lot of people as they told us) chose to have their courses very fast one after the other- so we have no choice but to have our courses also very fast one after the other. After that we were told that there are no complementary wine courses to the dinner. The courses were then served very fast without explanation of the different components. After we had both of the main courses (two were served) - the service asked if we wanted to have some time between the two main courses (there must have been a mix - up, because we already finished both of them). Furthermore we are used to having new cutlery served with every course. The service put the dirty cutlery that we already put on our used plates - back on the table. At one point - before the desert they even put ithe forks and knifes back although we did not need it any more. In the end we waited over 40 minutes to pay. The food was very good but we felt like being treated as"second choice guests" - since we are young and they assumed our monetary status was not good enough for them. The service was disastrous though the food was very good.

As answer to the answer the answer you gave: if an original festive Zimmermann dress from 2023 (sorry for being "last season") - is not your style, I am very sorry. Your answer is more than unprofessional an completely inappropriate, since some of the other guests came in flip flops and with hiking Rucksacks. I hope you might learn to recognize class without screaming logos on clothes and high academic education without raised voices. I prefer class, education and friendliness without having to advertise...

La Cigale

Exceptional cuisine, setting & service! On point refined French cuisine! I started planning a birthday dinner at La Cigale several weeks before setting foot on St. Martin. The professional and courteous assistance of Mr. Dylan Wagner and the awesome crew at La Cigale made it possible! These people are not only genius in executing the French dining experience, they are also high quality, good people who care that you are delighted in their establishment. Our party had nine adults, one toddler and two infants. The service was on point, the food and presentation was absolutely magnifique, and the setting outside is beautifully captivating and unpretentious. Our party enjoyed appetizers including Ceviche de mahi-mahi, avocat et condiments and Terrine de foie aux girolles et asperges vertes, vinaigrette aux girolles. Among the entrees we enjoyed were Parmentier de canard confit, jus aux cèpes et huile de truffe - Duck “Parmentier” with ceps mushrooms and truffle oil, Filet de bar sur sa fondue de poireaux et ses légumes croquants - Fresh sea bass filet on a leeks fondue and its vegetables and Noix de Saint-Jacques rôties au beurre noisette sur son risotto aux asperges vertes et chips de parmesan -
Sea scallops roasted with butter, green asparagus risotto, crusty parmesan cheese. Everything ordered was fresh, precise, delicate, beautiful, scrumptious! There are many lovely things I can say about La Cigale, but I would mostly like to say that if you have an opportunity to enjoy an evening here, gift yourself with this experience! To top the wonder of our event, unbeknownst to me, I had dropped my debit card in the sand before leaving the table. Because I had been in contact with Dylan, he was able to reach out to me to let me know they had it! Thank you all for everything you did to help me surprise my husband for his birthday, for a superb dining experience and for reaching out when you...