La Crique is a beautiful restaurant placed in a somewhat hidden spot below the Citadelle, on a…read morecliff by the sea and a little beach.
The restaurant has almost exclusively outdoor seats; there are a couple of tables indoors, but if the weather permits it - ask for a table on one of the terraces. The view is magnificent.
The restaurant offers hot and cold appetizers, main courses, different fish dishes and desserts (such as smoothies, ice cream, regular cake desserts).
They DO NOT accept cards however, so come prepared with cash.. A lot of it, because the prices aren't exactly budget friendly.
During my vacation in St. Flo, I went to La Crique three times. Two - for lunch, once - for a post-lunch dessert.
I enjoyed my first lunch visit, when I had the lamb skewers. The meat was perfectly cooked, the rosé was chilled to perfection and the fries were just the way I like 'em; crispy on the outside, mushy on the inside.
During my second lunch visit, I ordered the "pâte avec gambas", and let me tell ya.. I'm Swedish and I'm used to eating king prawns.. and prawns in general. But these were just impossible to eat without getting soiled beyond recognition.
Don't get me wrong - the pasta was great. I loved the spaghetti (although I dearly missed a spoon..), it was drenched in olive oil, garlic and parsley, but the king prawns were just.. I don't know. Bland. And hard to eat - especially from a large cereal-type bowl.
My non-lunch visit, however.. This was my second, overall visit to La Crique and I went there with a little kid friend of mine because I wanted to use the restaurant's wifi and I had promised him ice cream.
We were treated horribly. If the place is half-full, and you charge a smaller fortune for ice cream - why treat paying customers like crap just because they're not having actual food?
It's not like I went there and asked for the wifi password and ordered an espresso.. I ordered a glass of rosé and two scoops of ice cream. I also asked for water, which I had to pay almost 2 euros for, something I wasn't informed of and only found out about when I got the check.
We were first placed by a regular table and then told to sit by the stairs up to the Citadelle, because.. like I said, the place was half empty, it was after lunch and I really don't see why we were reseated.
It should be noted that the staff - at least the people I met - spoke almost no English what so ever.
It was a very unpleasant experience for me. I've been dining out all over the world my entire life and generally, I think the staff of La Crique should get off their high horse and take a class or two on how to treat paying customers.
So, to sum up:
- they don't take cards, bring cash;
- the staff don't really speak English and the menus only come in French;
- there's a pretty solid wifi connection, but you'll need to ask the staff for the password;
- the prices are pretty exaggerated (think around 15 euros for a main course, around 8-10 for dessert...)
- the lamb skewer is pretty good!
- they have a pretty easy kids' menu: a slice of chicken ham or regular ham (jambon) with fries.
- there's A LOT of walking up and down different stairs to come here.
