La Flottille — Restaurant in Versailles

Every time I visit Versailles, I make it a tradition to stop by La Flottille, not necessarily for the best food in France—but for the ambiance, the views, and the overall charm of dining just steps away from the stunning Versailles gardens and its tranquil manmade lake.

This most recent visit was my first in 18 years, and I was thrilled to find that they still serve my favorite treat—the Strawberry Melba. I can't say for sure if it was made exactly the same way as before, but it was still delicious and satisfying (strawberry & vanilla icecream topped w/ whipped cream & cut strawberries w/ strawberry or raspberry sauce).

This time, I also decided to have a meal beforehand. I ordered the sausage with mashed potatoes, and while it wasn't particularly groundbreaking, it was tasty and comforting—especially with the rich gravy over the mashed potatoes, which were actually very well done. To drink, I had a glass of freshly squeezed grapefruit juice (not bitter and very refreshing), followed by a second glass of orange juice, which was equally fresh and flavorful.

The service was great—the waiter was friendly and attentive, and I was seated immediately at around 2:00 PM, with no wait or line. It was only for a table of one and was impressed by how quickly everything moved—my meal was served in about 15 minutes.

If there's one small drawback, it's the bathroom, which was quite tiny, but functional enough for a quick stop.

After my meal and dessert, I walked off the calories by strolling around the entire lake and eventually back to the Versailles train station. That was over 4 miles starting from the restaurant, and it was the perfect way to enjoy the scenery and let the meal settle.

La Flottille may not be the spot for a gourmet culinary adventure, but it’s absolutely worth it for a peaceful meal surrounded by nature, history, and the timeless beauty of Versailles. If you’re already visiting the palace and gardens, this is a great place to take a break, refuel, and soak in the atmosphere.

Highly recommended for the...

This place is extremely busy, we asked for English menu’s and while my French good is enough to get by I find it easier to order in English, I felt they treat English speakers differently. They were clearly under staffed the day we were there on Easter long weekend, our waiter seamed frazzled. When we sat down the people next to us had French onion soup in big deep bowls (and were speaking French) we ordered the same, our French onion soup came in a shallow bowl with barely any soup and lots of crunchy croutons. It was delicious with proper balance and deep richness you expect of a great French onion soup, but disappointing there was so little of it. I thought well it’s busy they must have run out of the deep bowls. But then a different French couple sat next to us as the other ones had finished and ordered French onion soup, it came in the big deep bowls, I though that odd (but maybe dishes had cought up?) then a English family sat behind us and when they ordered the French onion soup it came in the shallow bowl! For our meal I ordered the Parisian Salad and my Partner the steak. My salad was delicious and the steak good but he felt small for the price. I also ordered the pouched pear which came out quickly but then we had to wait a long time for the bill, our waiter was still waiting for our dessert to be delivered, when we finally flagged him down, so some kind of communication error between the servers and kitchen. The Bathrooms were also disgustingly dirty. They would really benefit from hiring more service and cleaning staff. All in all the food was good, but expensive, expect to pay a lot and do your self a favour if you can get by ask for the...

Unfortunately, our experience at the restaurant was terrible. The restaurant by itself seems nice, however, there add some things to consider. First of all, would have been much better, if a smoking and non smoking areas would be separated outside. I am pregnant, so I could barely tolerate the smell of cigarettes everywhere around. When we’ve arrived, around 4 pm they were already closing the outside terrace that was facing the lake, so unfortunately we didn’t get to enjoy the view. I would say the only thing that was great were the drinks-I had a non alcoholic one with fresh lemon juice and mint syrop which was absolutely fantastic but as well as a martini spritz my mom loved! The whole experience was ruined by our server, who took forever to give us menus or take our order in the first place, but I get it, the place was busy. However, after he brought our drinks out he completely forgot about the rest of our order, even though I saw him writing it down. I had to remind him at least 3 times item by item what we got. We have unwillingly spent over 2,5 hours there, waiting for a plate of fries and another one with fries and chicken nuggets. Ice cream tasted much better from a nearby street vendor too. Would not recommend this place and definitely...