L' Atelier du goût Bandol — Restaurant in Toulon

This was the best restaurant we found in Bandol during our week there. We went twice. Very tasty and limited menu of haute french cuisine. Outdoor seating on a nice old street just off the main town square. And virtually 5 star service (more about this later).

Over our two visits we tried three of the entrees; the ceviche, the courgettes with goat cheese and the burrata with tomato chutney. The ceviche was the clear winner, with a wonderfully buttery flavour, but be warned, it's a very generous portion.

For mains we tried grilled pulpo, grilled cod on risotto, braised lamb shoulder, slow cooked veal chop and steak with truffle. The child menu offered fish of the day or steak with mashed potatoes. The latter was a huge winner for my picky son, and he talked about it for a few days. My own favorite was the lamb and my daughter really enjoyed the pulpo and had it both times we went there. We sampled one of their rosé' and a few reds, all from Bandol, by the glass, and they were all great.

The restaurants vegetables are supplied by the local farm Les Olivades, of Daniel and Denise Vuillon. The Vuillon's are the founders of the "Association for the Maintenance of Peasant Agriculture" (AMAP), a direct to consumer organic farming model with annual delivery contracts and prepaid prices. The system was inspired by the American "Community-Supported Agriculture" and is designed to help struggling farms survive in competition with industrial farming systems. Needless to say the produce is amazing and each vegetable a real treat.

We had mostly ice cream for dessert and it was delicious. Lots of nice flavours to choose from. Not much more to say about that.

The first time we came the service was impeccable, but unfortunately the second time they seated us at the end of the street and forgot about us in the end. After ordering dessert we waited for a good 30 minutes and then we realized they had completely forgotten about the order. It was a bit frustrating as it made the meal close to 3 hours and well past the bedtime of our son. When we finally got the attention of the waiter they realized the mistake and quickly got the desserts served, but there was no reduction in price, something on the house or similar, as we would expect from a mistake like that, which made it further disappointing. But overall that seems like an unfortunate mistake and we would otherwise have given them 5 stars for service also.

The meals here were about 25% more expensive than most of the other places we tried for dinner in Bandol, but really well worth the difference.

The photos show the courgettes, the veal, the pulpo, the steak with truffles, the steak from the child menu (blue plate) and the outdoor...

We were lucky enough to walk by this restaurant and making a reservation for the evening. We had a wonderful meal. The outdoor area is on a narrow old street of Bandol. Service was very friendly and efficient. We had the entrée sampler and enjoyed all four entrées to share. We think this could be shared among 4 diners as the portions were very generous. But we had no problem finishing one at a time. For plats we tried the grilled poulpe. This was delicious, tender and again very generous. The veal chop was also excellent with a basil crust and nice jus. For dessert we shared 3 boules of ice cream. It was probably the best ice cream we had ever tasted. It had a texture and richness that we really enjoyed. (We regret not asking where it was made.) Overall a great experience and one we hope to repeat on our next...

Our dinner here was excellent! First off I called to make a reservation using my very rusty high school French. The person who answered quickly put someone on the line who spoke English. He was friendly and put us in for that evening.

The location is on a side street a couple blocks from the main street. We were seated outside and they brought us a very yummy olive tapenade and what I think was an anchovy paste. Both were delicious (and I don’t really like olives!)

Each item we had was like summer on a plate bursting with flavor. I am not exaggerating. We had the burrata and ceviche to start. Then the lamb and Mediterranean Sea bass. For dessert we had tarte tatin and a peach “gazpacho.” More summer on a plate. We loved every bite.

We are here two more nights and are thinking we might...