La Table du Castellet*** — Restaurant in Toulon

Starting that I wasn't planing to do a review but I sent them an email with my comments and didn't even got an acknowledgment our experience was not perfect, it was below what we expected for a 3 starts Michelin. First while arriving at the gate after waiting for a minute or 2, the guy at the gate didn’t have us on his list, I had to show my reservation from my phone. We got an apologize but :( Then no instruction was giving us where to go. While arriving near the valet it wasn’t clear if Valet or self parking, look like Valet was busy and just show us with his hand the parking, we self park. Then service was fairly good. Not going through all the details but there is 3 other points I’ll like to bring: LOTS of wait: I believe we got 3 times an apologies for waiting too long :( After seating at the patio it took 20 minutes to get drinks while we saw other tables arriving after us and got immediate attention. When seating at our table it took over 30 minutes between time we sat and time we got our wine pour. The first 3 dishes came on a good pace but long wait for next ones We waited over 45 minutes between the time we finished our dish and we got to the cheese vault. I asked twice. Again got an apologize. Same for the desert, too long wait between the different deserts. You could feel at 11:30 all my guest were ready to leave. We arrived at 7:30 and left at around 12:30 What is pity, spent over $1350 for 4 and the main thing my guests remember is how long the service was. Food: was great, presentation great. I really like the idea to use “standard” ingredients and elevate them but I would not complain having some ingredients that are outside of what we usually eat. The “calamar” ( not sure of the exact name was very well presented but very hard, had some a lot more tender). The Cheese cellar had some flies. I understand it is hard to avoid but between 2 groups of customers they could be catch. My Daughter is Vegan this was the perfect place for her. The end: We were celebrating my daughter graduation and my wife birthday, I saw some other tables had something that was brought to the table around the desert to reminder but us. The gift is a great touch. I was with my wife, my mom and my 25 years old daughter. I wish they would have give us 3 bags and not 2. It would have avoid to figure out who gets one. We were on our own to figure our way back to the car. Not a big deal.

overall great but not for a 3...

This review may be slightly unusual, but hopefully it is also creative, useful and pleasing - just like La Table du Castellet.

When a language lacks a term, it invents a metaphor. For example, many of the boats around Var evoke multiple meanings by their metaphoric names.

Not that I’m anywhere close to naming a super yacht (or a restaurant), but to me, this restaurant symbolizes a gong.

When a gong is struck, a soft texture meets and even dominates a solid one, reminding me of the haptic profile of La Table’s dishes. Especially the first bites of several dishes tend to present a perfect contrast between crisp and melting.

A pleasant splash of flavor follows, pure and balanced, slowly adding new nuances and length of taste. It’s a bit like hearing the impactful sound of the gong take up echoes while the resonance persists.

Even the decor of round forms and vertical lines is reminiscent of how a gong looks when it is hung.

When eating the fish dishes, I felt connected to the sea. The squid was too salty and monotonous, but I found its sauce artful. During dessert, I wished every strawberry was this expressive.

The gong is just one metaphor. The experience of eating here presents many playful metaphors and meanings. I hope you can experience your own.

The smaller 6-course menu (more like 10) can actually be done in 2 1/2 - 3 hours.

Don’t miss the best part of dining here. Try to take pauses for outdoor walks, especially if the moonlight is reflecting off of the sea.

I would have welcomed the music playlist from the hotel breakfast: subtle classical. The silence in the first half of dinner was fine, but I did not like the late-session music.

After this dinner I am once again convinced to not rely on anyone else pouring my water. That system fails everywhere, every time. That includes Asian countries where each table has a dedicated server for water. Dear restaurant, please decide. Either fill the glass to 80% or top it up every 10 minutes. Filling up to 30% every 30 minutes while keeping the bottles away from the table is a guarantee of dehydration. Surely not your intended outcome. Again, this is not a question of staffing. I have yet to experience a restaurant where your water system works. There’s no shame in leaving the bottles on the table. Thanks for your understanding of this...

This is our fifth three Michelin star restaurant we have visited in the last two weeks in this trip and it was the most unpleasant experience.

Food: The food, except perhaps the sea bass, which had a wonderful combination of flavors and the taste buds were touched for the first and last time, was completely inexpressive. I didn't remember anything else from this dinner. It's good that they put salt on the table at the very beginning, and it was possible to add flavor to the dishes. Because some of them were rather bland. And I'm not saying this because I like saltier dishes, it's a matter of bringing the ingredients to their ideal taste. The pre-dessert was cloyingly sweet, although you could feel an attempt at sour flavors, but the pastry chef overdid it with the sugar in the sauce.

Service: I was amazed by the sommelier, on the one hand he picked a good wine for our description. But at the same time he poured three times more wine into his own glass for tasting than into my glass. Maybe he also likes this wine, but my friend, we ordered this bottle for two, not for three. The waiters tried sincerely, but we had to constantly add water ourselves. Serving dishes from different sides. And many another small thing, what can be much better. This is not the level of service that we have encountered in other restaurants of this level.

Overall this experience was not worth the 900 euro final bill, you can get much better experiences in many one star...