Le Capitaine Restaurant Grand Baie — Restaurant in Isle Mauritius

A fine-looking restaurant, made to feel welcome immediately, if a bit slightly dark. But I suppose that adds to the ambience, right?

Straight to the starters where we had some fresh bread rolls, calamar crouistillant, jalapeno peppers and prawns.

With exception to the prawns, which didn’t seem to be cooked [much], these all tasted fine especially the croustillant and bread with the accompanied condiments - great!

For the mains, I had dorado fish with a tomato-based stew, with nuts and white rice. This was a lovely balanced taste and came in quite a grand-looking tagine-esque pot. I enjoyed the varied flavours of the dish and the portion was filling too.

I also tried some of the lobster ravioli, which was really lovely and part of me wishes I had that as my main meal!

The virgin mojito we got was also a perfect balance of the flavours and ingredients - something where many other places don’t appear to get quite right.

The only botch on the night was the evening entertainment. The singer for the night, although clearly talented, was just too loud, effecting the restaurant experience. At times, I could not hear the person next to me.

Personally, I believe live entertainment should be something that is experienced in a more softer way that complements the dining experience rather than being part of the main.

This is only the real issue of the night we had and unfortunately Google does not do half ratings, as I would rate this as a 4.5. It’s not quite a 5 as it was not the perfect night, but an enjoyable food experience nonetheless.

I hope to visit sometime...

If I could give zero stars, I would. I visited this restaurant with my family today and walked out with a MUR 11,000 bill—and empty stomachs. The price wouldn’t have mattered if the food had lived up to even the basic standard of quality. But unfortunately, it was a major letdown from start to finish.

I ordered the linguine with tiger prawns, expecting a flavorful seafood dish. Instead, I received an overly oily mess with barely any prawn meat—mostly just the shells! It was so greasy I couldn’t even finish it. And as disappointing as that was, what my parents received was next level outrageous.

They ordered something listed as "Camaron mm Valette"—which, at Rs 1,450, you’d expect to include a generous portion of camaron. Instead, they were served a plate with ONLY ONE single camaron surrounded by small shrimps. When we politely questioned the waiter, he first tried to claim that the small shrimps were actually “camaron décortiqué.” But when my sister pointed out we know the difference, he finally admitted they were indeed just regular shrimps.

That’s not just disappointing—it’s dishonest. Restaurants should never get away with misleading their customers like this. We didn’t make a fuss at the time, but it was honestly disgusting to see such blatant food fraud happening in a supposedly reputable place.

⚠️ Word of caution: double-check what’s on your plate—it might not be what you ordered, but you’ll still be charged the full price. Also, there are definitely better seafood restaurants in grand baie, totally...

Really a mixed score card for this restaurant. The food can be very good, e.g. the Babonnne Filet with crab gratin and the Chicken with Asparagus, and some can be good, e.g. the Chicken with a Mustard sauce - although it tasted more like a Pepper sauce - and the Gambas with Palm heart. Although this last was very overpriced in the humble opinion of this reviewer. What really let's the restaurant down is quite patchy service. You are greeted and shown to your table well. The menu is only in French. Fair enough. For English, "please read the online menu and I will tell you the WiFi password". But the waiter disappears before telling you the WiFi password! We had to chase for the wine we ordered and the bill. On clearing the main course, 2 of the places weren't cleared up. It wasn't obvious why. At this point we decided to leave.

I am glad I visited the restaurant. And might return, but I will be careful with what I order. And be very persistent with the wait staff.

P.S. I've just remembered, we were served really good bread rolls - lovely and warm as if straight from the oven - with plates of butter and an amazing chili sauce/paste but we had no cutlery and had to ask for them. And even then there wasn't a separate bread knife. Curiously bad service considering the price range the restaurant aims...