Aux Lyonnais

This was a very disappointing meal, both for the food and the customer service.

They have two sittings a night, at 7.30 and 9.30pm. This is unusual for Paris and amybe should have been a warning that the experience of the customer is not paramount for the management. The menu choice is quite limited, even a la carte (the fixed menu has only 2 choices per course). Most main courses are priced at about 24 euros with starters averaging 11-14 euros. Examples of main courses are: shoulder of wild boar, chicken casserole, fried cod. There were no vegetarian options. Starters included pumpkin soup and baked egg.

Fried cod was well cooked and comprised a 3x2 inch slice of cod on a heap of salsify. Chicken casserole was half a hen with piles of carrot and parsnip. The chicken was completely undercooked (and we noticed was undercooked for our neighbours too). This is when things really turned bad...

The undercooked chicken was pointed out and the waitress removed it without saying a word. Fifteen minutes later it was returned, again without a word, having been stuck in the oven again. By this point, the remainder of the people at the table had essentially finished their meals so we asked for the chicken to be returned and taken off the final bill. The mananger appeared at the elbow of the waitress and started shouting at my guest, leaning in towards her in a very aggressive manner and saying: %26quot;The chicken is very nice. No one else complains. You will pay.%26quot; He then walked off.

We asked another waiter what was the name of the manager (Eric Mercier) and moments later the manger returned, again leant in very aggressively and shouted his name over and over again, saying he would write it down for us. At no point did we raise our voices or become aggressive to this man, being frankly quite stunned at his actions.

The bill was never amended, we never received an apology for the appalling way in which we had been treated and we will never return. I recommend you try Bofinger instead.

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Welcome to the club of unsatisfied %26quot;Aux Lyonnais%26quot; customers but most of us haven%26#39;t encoutered this, from what I understand people are just dissapointed because it doesn%26#39;t meet their expectations (so was it for me) but the food is not bad and the service was really good.

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How disappointing!

I had the Aux Lyonnais on my to-do-list, but now it is gone ...

It can happen, that the cook has got a %26quot;bad day%26quot;, but shouting at guests? Seems, the manager hasn%26#39;t learned the first lection: The guest is always right!

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Aux Lyonnais

32, rue St-Marc

75002 Paris

Is this the place ?? Isn%26#39;t it supposed to be a rather fancy resto ?

Pfui - there is nothing so yukky as undercooked chicken - and how about agressive waiters/ managers !

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Well, no, the customer isn%26#39;t always right but you have to be diplomatic enough so he thinks he is... That is the rule.

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To be a really good owner of a shop, restaurant or whatever, you must have a deeply felt wish %26quot;to make the day%26quot; for other people. Then the quality - right down to the quality of the toiletpaper - comes automatically, because you won%26#39;t settle for sloppy %26quot;almost-good-enough%26quot;, if you care for your customers.

(Amen)

ps. Is it the same place I asked about, Kasthor ??? So as to avoid it, I mean.

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Yes Gitte, sorry I skipped your question, that is the place, it%26#39;s owned by the Ducasse group.

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Thanks for this review. I love eating in Lyon and had thought about going to this restaurant when in Paris for some of the same food, chiefly quenelles. However, your experience was really so bad, that I will spend my money elsewhere. Sorry you had to endure this. Bad service is not excusable. nor acceptable. And this seems to have gone even beyond those boundaries.

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FYI - Sent the Ducasse company the link to this and the Benoit posts. Thought that they%26#39;d like ot know that their service and food is not getting good reviews, especially from locals like Kasthor and myself.

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Wow. My experience was quite the opposite of yours, smk.

In any case, there is NO excuse for that type of treatment. I like Phread%26#39;s idea of sending the link to Ducasse%26#39;s website.

I%26#39;ve heard a lot of comments about poor service in Parisian restaurants, not only Aux Lyonnais. Could part of the reason be because the gratuity is included in the menu price? Don%26#39;t you think service might be better if the gratuity was separate?

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Add me to the %26quot;over-hyped and over-priced%26quot; list when it comes to Aux Lyonnais, though I didn%26#39;t have the same experience as the OP in terms of service. I%26#39;ve seen so many great reviews for the place that I really wondered if it was not just that I was having an off night when I ate there. Good to know I%26#39;m not the only one to find it disappointing.

As for Benoît, it was alawys expensive of course, but there was a time when it was worth the price IMO. Apparently no more. A bit sad...