*All employees we engaged with spoke English. I know that's critical for some, so I just wanted to…read morestart with that.
What a Huuuuge letdown! I was sooo looking forward to dining here, but unfortunately, I was left with cheese on my face (sorry no eggs here, only cheese, cheese, and more cheese).
We arrived a bit early for our reservation (15-20 minutes), but we were seated immediately, which was nice; the table was stuffed into a corner, but at least we were seated. Unfortunately, that was about where the niceness ended. The restaurant is supposed to be housed in a former cheese cave, which I thought would be exciting and romantic, instead it was just hot and cramped. This is one of those restaurants that tries to accommodate as many diners as possible, so we were basically eating right on top of another couple (who were incredibly displeased, even stating, "this service is abysmal"). We could literally hear every word spoken up to two tables away, so don't expect to have any privacy, except from the servers that is.
Service was unpleasant and extremely minimal. Our server took our food and drink order, delivered our drinks, another server apologized for the delay in receiving our meal, and our original server delivered our meal...and that was it. They didn't refill our water bottle, ask if I wanted another glass of wine, stop by to see if we liked our meal -or needed else (which we did), or even bring a check. After waiting too long for our check, table full of finished plates and empty cups, we eventually just got up and headed upstairs. Apparently you're supposed to head upstairs to pay, but we'd have never known since our server was doing they're best David Copperfield impression.
Now for the food. The kitchen was tiny tiny, so it's no wonder the menu consists of cheese for the starter, cheese for the entree, and cheese for dessert. Sprinkled in-between the assortment of cheeses was a steak masquerading on the menu as "Aubrac Bib", whatever that means, and the Tartiflette, think pork belly scalloped potatoes and the only thing you should order here.
The Tartiflette was microwave-lunch small, but it was hot, rich, and pretty meaty for the size. I got the Camembert (takes 30 minutes) and it was pretty awful as a meal. It's not even really a dish. They literally opened up the wooden wheel of cheese, peeled back the paper, sprinkled a few things on top, then baked for 30 minutes, so it was more of just a cheese dish. It arrived-paper still covering the top, and was served with some under-seasoned fingerling potatoes and a salad. The salad was good and potatoes were okay, but the cheese was so one-note, it needed meat or veggies to dip in it. Unfortunately, I only had the few potatoes and two small bits of baguette to dunk, so my only option was to eat it like soup, which I did not-so half remained wasted and uneaten.
We would have liked to have eaten dessert, but after the poor meal, and lack of even offering dessert, "How could we?".
I'm giving 2 stars for the Tartiflette because it was delicious.
I would not return and DO NOT RECOMMEND.
