After searching for so many places for cassoulet, perhaps my boyfriend and I had expectations too high when we came to La Cave au Cassoulet. It was a must-have for me to have cassoulet in Toulouse, and we found this place to have great reviews with a reasonable price range. Although my boyfriend is from the Southwest, he has never had cassoulet, and as an American, I've never had it myself. That said, perhaps you can take this review with a grain of salt.
Location (5/5): The place was easy to find and is in an area that has many other restaurants and shops surrounding it. It's a 3-4 minute walk from the river and is also near the Cathédrale Saint-Étienne.
Atmosphere (4/5): I think it's cool that it's really like a cave. You enter the door, and you walk down into the restaurant with exposed bricks. We visited during the first weekend of August, however, and it was so hot. As such, we ended up drinking so much water. We sat by the far wall where the drink menu was written, and we were sweating during the whole meal, and the air was so dry. There was an air conditioner by the bar, but we couldn't tell at all from where we sat if it was on or not, but it was really uncomfortable.
Service (2/5): Perhaps because the manager saw us having less than pleasant expressions when we paid that he apologized for having slow service and said that it was only that night that it was like that. That said, service was so, so, so slow! It took awhile to get our menus. Then, it took another while to give our orders. Then, another whole while to get our drinks... and so on. After our appetizers, it took (again) awhile for them to collect our plates, and when they finally gave me an extra plate for my cassoulet, I thought it was a sign that it was arriving soon, but alas! That plate was false hope. Even trying to receive the bill itself was such a wait.
Since we were hot and waiting, we drank water a lot, and even when we were ready to order dessert, it was so difficult to get any of the servers' attention. Maybe because we were in the back of the restaurant, but it was just really poor.
Food (2/5): It wasn't inedible, but also, it wasn't pleasurable either. It was eating because we had food, and we were hungry. They are very generous with portions. Personally, I can't believe that kind of portion for cassoulet was supposed to be for one person. Between my boyfriend and I, we were struggling to finish the cassoulet. Another disclaimer is that I'm not a fan of beans, so again, my review of cassoulet is biased, but with the hype of Toulouse's special dish, I was expecting more. I wanted it to be savoury and have that taste of a good homecooked meal, but I got neither of that. I enjoyed the saucisse in the cassoulet, and I wanted to like the duck in it, too, but I think the duck was overcooked. As for my boyfriend, he had another duck plate, and he complained how it was too acidic and that there was too much vinegar. Finally, their dessert selection was so disappointing that we just got ice cream.
Conclusion: Overall, I just can't recommend this place. I don't know if cassoulet is supposed to be this way, but it didn't leave a lasting impression for me aside from the size of portion. But as my boyfriend read on another review, quantity doesn't always mean quality. read more