Easy for me. Chartier in the 9th. Beautiful Belle Epoque decor. Lousy service and mediocre food to go with it.

Won't ever bother to return except maybe stand in the doorway and look at the brass. Then turn around and walk out.

Agree with Indy..Chartier was the worst. I'd saved it for the last night based on Pauline Frommer's excellent review and was extremely disappointed.

I loved the interior and the bustling waiters and met some delightful ladies from Finland. We all laughed about how you were served hearts of palm for a first course, no matter what was ordered.

But the food, even the dessert, was not at all tasty.

Interesting observations about Chartier. I would like to see the interior - would I get thrown out if I went in early and ordered just a glass of wine and soup?

Semi-pedestrianized area of the Latin Quarter, can't remember which street. Can't remember the name of the restaurant, either...it was one of a dozen or more, practically on top of each other.

But I sure remember the steak. It was an insult to dog food.

I can't remember the name of the place, but they served the worst chicken and cheese crepe on this planet. The chicken must have been frozen for about a year before it was served, and the cheese was so chewy that it took about 20 chomps before I could swallow. After only 5 bites, and my jaws were sore with exaustion.

The good news is that I had plenty of room for dessert. The chocolate/banana crepe more than made up for the bad meal.

Degas - I doubt there would be a problem. The resto is very large and the turnover is quick and the waiters indifferent.

If you only want soup this would probably be a good bet for lunch.

I would go back just for the interior. Note the luggage racks over the tables for the original transient workers.

One of those horrid places in the Latin Quarter where the waiters stand in the doorway luring you in. The food and service were atrocious and there was a dead pigeon under our table. Yuck.

I've had many mediocre-to-bad meals in Paris, at any number of cafes (including some known for their "better" cuisine).

I realize that, as a New Yorker, I'm spoiled, but in general the "average" places in Paris dish up below-average food.

"The food and service were atrocious and there was a dead pigeon under our table. Yuck."

OMG, I thought it was a "cutting edge" freebie and applied the one hour rule!
No wonder I was extra gassy that afternoon.

I was pretty unimpressed with Chez Rene at 14 Blvd Saint Germaine.
I met some fellow Fodorites for dinner this past September and we ended up there when our first choice turned out to be closed. Admittedly, it was on the list of restaurants that I'd read about on Fodor's and/or it various guidebooks so I feel responsible (sorry Jules, Nina and Frank!). In my opinion, neither the food nor the service was very good, and it did not have an inviting atmosphere. I can't even remember what I ate so that can't be good. While it's not terribly expensive for that price (around 30-40 Euro w/o wine), I think you can do better.

Kate

There is a difference between my worst meal in Paris and a bad meal.

I think my worst meal was at a small place in the 6th where the Rognons de Veau were overcooked and the Orange duck was fatty.

I might have been there on a bad night.

Not a restaurant as such, but I remember ordering a Croque Monsieur from those little cafes on the roadside that have only a window display cabinet and a sales counter... nowhere to actually sit down. It was the most disappointing culinary experience of my life. As a child growing up in New Zealand, my Swiss mother often made the tasty toasted sandwiches for us and I was looking forward to trying the true French version... as it was, all I got was a sore tummy!

A place in that pedestrian area -- La Parchmenterie or something ... it was the only time that trip that we just walked in off the street. BIG mistake.

Chartier's food is so-so -- but worth the visit once for the decor and those grumpy waiters.

I was trying to think of a meal that I would remember as bad and couldn't until I read Mr_Go's. On that pedestrian street with the Greek restaurants. I had a meal that was inedible.

Now worse meal in all of France; I had a boullibase (sp?) in Marseilles that was just a horror!

ira, okay good point. Let's open it up to bad meals and over-priced meals just to get the digestive juices flowing so to speak.

I have to agree with Frostyev about ordering Croque Monsieur in Paris. Everytime I did, I was extremely disappointed. I can made a much better one at home!

And our worst meal in France was a dinner on Mont St. Michel. I don't remember what I ordered for the main, but the Crudities starter was a dish with canned corn, canned beets, and some sort of canned vegie mixed with a ton of mayonnaise. I took one look and handed it to my DH, who will eat anything. His meal was awful, also.

Like StCirq, I also had a horrible meal in the Latin Quarter in 1996. I think this was my second trip ever to Paris, and probably my longest. My mom and I spent nearly a week there, I think. On that trip we went to Versailles, and I've never been back there again (no time).

I remember a really gross onion soup and some lamb chops that were not really edible.

I didn't speak a word of French, and I had no concept that I had to do some travel research prior to traveling. We had a Jet Vacations package, I think. We left shortly after the TWA bombing of Flight 800 (when we were in Paris, the Olympic bombings occurred, I think).

My very first meal in Paris. Ordered crepes from a stand. Totally dry and gaggie, horrible.

Controversial one this but I ate at Angelinas which I felt was a major tourist trap. Surroundings were beautiful but service was surly and the whole experience felt like being on a Japanese bus tour.

The chocolat africain was excellent but almost undrinkably rich and the house specialty meringue overpowering

Sorry to all those sweet-toothed people

Worst dining experience was this year at La Terrasse in the 7th - and to add insult to injury it was the first meal ever in Paris for friends from my home town!
We choose the roast chicken which was undercooked (meat should not have to be begged to leave the bone IMO), and I suspect it was no chicken either but a larger variety like a Cornish Hen which has an altogether stronger flavour.

Le Trumilou on Quai l'Hotel de Ville...it was fine going down but coming back up was the worst!!

Le Vieux Bistro, in 2001--slimy leeks salad and gristly boeuf bourguignon. Ugh!

While Le Vieux Bistro is famous for its boeuf bourgignon I didn't think it was that great. I found the one at cheaper Le Coupe Chou tasted better. And it wasn't so much the food but the service that irked me at Le Vieux Bistro. The owner/server didn't seem to have much patience in pushing the wine list after seating all the foreigners in one room separate from the locals.



But the most hideous meal I had was at an unknown cafe near Etoile called L'Empereur. Yuck! One of their offerings specifically mentions 'chicken legs'. What I ended up with were badly cooked wingettes passed off as chicken legs. And the prices are very expensive too.

Here's another thumbs down for Chartier. Although it's a pretty setting (1980's belle epoque grand open space), the food was mediocre.

I also did not care for the long community tables, where we could not escape the couple seated next to us who, once they learned we were also American, complained endlessly about how things are done in France. I thought to myself, if you wanted to drink coffee WITH your meal, and get free refills, you should have stayed at home to eat at Denny's.

Woody

Oops! I meant 1890's belle epoque.

At one of the cafes on the Carrefour de Buci (where rue de Buci turns into rue St. Andre des Arts and where you see lots of motorcycles parked). Years ago, we had a few very nice, but simple, poulet-salade (instead of poulet-frites) meals there. Pleasant service, homey feel. Went back a couple of years ago and it had gone the way of laminated menus in English and indifferent service. Despite these obvious warning signs, I ordered another poulet-salade meal. Worst chicken I have ever had in Europe, could have come straight from a bad Midwestern truck stop. The salad vinaigrette was almost pure vinegar. Absolutely awful. And NOT cheap.

My husband's worst meal ever was at Le Maupertu in the 7th. Not because it's a bad restaurant (it isn't) but because he ordered AAA andouillettes without knowing what they were. While we were waiting, he kept sniffing the air and wondering what that god-awful smell was...he found out when his steaming andouillettes arrived. Now he is a fairly adventurous eater (loves steak tartare and will eat all manner of exotic dishes from China and Japan) but he just couldn't stomach those andouillettes.

I was in Paris and I really had to use the toilet. I walked into McDonalds and purchased something to eat. I asked the manager why the bathroom was locked. His response was, "Their broken." I was pissed!

And how was that a bad meal???

It was at the Cafe Le Notre Dame, at the corner of rue du Petit Pont and Quai St. Michel, underneath the Hotel Le Notre Dame. We'd only been in Paris for a day and these were our first croque monsieurs. They were absolutely disgusting, barely edible. Naturally we wondered why everyone loved them so much. Then, I took a chance and ordered one again at Le Metro Cafe on Blvd St. Germain, right at the Maubert Mutualite metro station. Wow! Melted in your mouth. Went back the next day and got another!

I got a late-night panini from a street vendor in Monteartre near Place Blance. The "ham" was so tough and bad tasting, I think it was really 'cheval'.

Ours was at a café across from Park Montsouris. My husband is cranky when he wants to eat and wouldn't wait to go to a place I was thinking of. The only good think I can say is that we had a seat on the terrace and good people watching. The food was so bad, we did go to another place that was a huge improvement.

It was August 1986, I know, ages ago and hardly relevent, however, there was a Thai Restaurant on the Champs Elysees
.
We were on our 2nd wedding anniversary (I spent the 1st on Business in Japan -oops) so this was going to be a special weekend.
We ordered what we thought was a reasonable meal but Nouveau Cuisine !! The plate was 3 foot wide and the food was half the size of a chicken breast. It cost £70, which in 1986 was a lot of money.(It still is )
We left there after about 20 mins and dived in the wimpey burger bar for something filling.

Yes we were young Naieve and didn't know any better, we just accepted it.

But it was a valuable lesson for us for the future.

Muck

Our worst meal in Paris was a cheese crepe on the Rue Cler. After reading on this board for years about Rue Cler, we finally went last year on our 7th trip to Paris. We dutifully lined up behind all of the ladies with the Rick Steves guides and ordered the cheese crepes. They were the worst meal and the worst crepes I have ever had in Paris.

Although I am not any kind of food affecianado, the best food I've ever had in Paris was at the McDonalds on the Champs-Elysee. Everything else was just as good or worse. I am not impressed with french food. (Would it have helped if I spent more than 50 euro per meal?)

Raghnall, it's not the cost of the meal that determines the quality in my opinion. I do like McDonalds too, but that was the best meal you had in Paris? Sorry to hear it.

>Not because it's a bad restaurant (it isn't) but because he ordered AAA andouillettes without knowing what they were.<

Definitely an acquired taste. Also needs a powerful red wine as an accompaniement.


Raghnall,

You have my sympathies.

I can't say that I had a "worse" meal but the one that wasn't all that great was at "le petit pont cafe" across from Notre Dame. It was a salad and it was just okay, but since it was my last night in Paris and I could look at Notre Dame lighted up while eating, I didn't mind too much. I wouldn't go back and I wouldn't recommend it but like I said, I wouldn't call it the "worst" Overall every place was pretty good, I think the fact that I was walking all day and by the time I ate I was HUNGRY made most of the food taste good.

At CDG

Which cafe/resto. at CDG was awful? We only bought pastries at CDG as we always have morning flights. Even the pastries at CDG tasted great.

After my first two trips to Paris, I was under the impression that you just couldn't get a bad meal in Paris. Everything we ate was just great.

Then, we took the kids (ages 13, 11 and 8 at the time). In our search for "famly friendly" places to eat, we found lots of bad food. The worst was at a chain called Hippopotamus, which is written up in all the guide books. The decor was cute. The food was below the quality of a Denny's or IHOP, at about triple the price.

Out of all Rick Steves recommendations, the Cafe du Marche on Rue Cler in the 7th is the one that needs to go from being recommended to recommending you stay away from it.

The food is not terribly expensive, but it's very lackluster and sometimes just plain bad, and it's one of the few restaurants I've ever felt rushed at in Paris.

Jules

Maybe those Rick Steves' restaurant recommendations quit trying to make an effort to serve quality food because they are getting alot of business due to RS and don't seem to care anymore.

I have to second the sentiments about the Café du Marché. I think most people eat outside and never go into the back of the restaurant. There's a back room that is just godawful - dank, dirty, and dingy, with tables all crammed together,and big clouds of odiferous steam wafting through the kitchen doors each time a waiter comes out with an order. We ate back there once and our waiter's apron looked as though he has just slaughtered a cow.

Helene Darroze. The food -- delicious... the service -- disappointing. Also disappointing was the stained velvet chair they offered me and our table right by the bus-table/area. Overall, we felt like spent too much money on a so-so experience.

The worst meals I had in Paris were those in the cafeteria of the dorm I was staying in while attending l'Institut Catholique de Paris. People thing because it was a French school, that the cafeteria food would be great, but they tried to serve as little protein and fresh salads as possible. I remember we looked foward to Sunday because it was the best meal because they were trying to impress out-of-town family guests. Many nights it was light nursery school food, and the night we were served mashed potatoes and hard-boiled eggs for dinner was when we kind of had a riot. We looked foward to the packaged yogurt and piece of Camembert for dessert because it was the best part of the meal.

In a restaurant, probably the worst was some Greek place on rue de la Huchette where the meat had virtually no meat on it, but was mostly fat and gristle. Runner up was some cheap pizza place down in the 14th near Cite Universitaire -- just a very bad pizza with little on it except a wipe of tomato sauce. McDonalds is a million times better.

I don't eat from street vendors, so have never had problems there. For a more standard-class restaurant that is recommended places, the worst was probably Les Fontaines on rue Soufllot near the Pantheon where I had a very tough steak. It's a restaurant often cited as good for steak, also.

jody, its funny that you mentioned that restaurant (Le Trumilou), because I do believe it was the one that two young American girls asked us directions for when we were in Paris last week! We were walking across from the Hotel de Ville and they were lost and I guess they thought we were either French (which is flattering but I highly doubt!) or that we knew where we were going, neither of which were true. Unfortunately we couldn't help them, but I hope they had better luck with it!

Tracy

I don't know if this place is around anymore, but in the 90s we received a recommendation for La Taverne du Sergeant Recruiter on Ile Saint-Louis.

Had Tracy and I followed our instincts, we would have gone AWOL as soon as we walked in, but, alas we did not. The place was a dump and the food pathetic. But at least the service was bad, so it was consistent.

To be perfectly Franc, it not only was it the worst meal I've ever had in all my trips to Paris, it was the worst meal I've have ever had in Europe.

This is a restaurant that hopefully has been court-martialed and is no longer on duty.

L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon. I know that this is a destination for food snobs and my negative comments will cause controversy but the dinner we had there last November was the worst meal for value we ever had in our multiple trips to Paris. In absolute terms the food was not good either.
Looking back at my notes from 11/04 I can report the restaurant was stiff and formal, a terrible place for any conversation since everyone sits at counters, the service poor and the staff at best condescending. Almost all the courses except for desert were over salted and that was the major taste that came through in the starters and main courses. I did not know that you could find iceberg lettuce in Paris until this meal. The taste was like wet cardboard. The rognons d'agneau were loaded with salt as was the ravioli de Langoustine. The only reasonnable features were the bread, a verrienne and the three different glasses of wine. However they were terribly over priced. The desert was a medley of 5 small bite size tartes. You could go into almost any corner patisserie in Paris and get better ones at probably half the price.
Stay away. It is a tourist trap for food snobs. It was very hard for us to imagine anyone that would love this place. Some might tolerate it but love it. We don't think so.

Bistro de Breteuil in the 7th, which many Fodorites love. I wanted to like this place -- reasonable prix-fixe, etc., but blah!

Me and all my Italian relatives just found it to be mediocre.

But on a positive note: LOVED Le Coupe Chou (5th arr.) and Georges (on the top of Georges Pompidou Centre) -- enjoyed the food AND LOVED the ambiance of both of these places.

Disagree with your assessment of Le Coupe-Chou. It wasn't bad; just ordinary. I suppose you could call it romantic.

Someone (firsttime visitor to Paris) posted recently on another forum that the La Taverne du Sargeant Recruiter (sp.?) was their favorite restaurant! Hopefully this means that the service and food have improved greatly since the 1990's.

We ate at La Taverne du Sergeant Recruiter back in 1998 (I think) and it was especially fun (but maybe that was because we were seated next to a German couple who were particularly friendly and funny). It was a pretty basic menu with choice of about 3 main dishes, and while not haute cuisine in the least, it was worth its price (which was about $20US pp at the time). I still recommend it to people as an inexpensive and enjoyable place if you don't want to fuss with menu choices. As I recall, "starters" and "desserts" were served "family style" (in our case for us and the table next to us) and the wine choice was perfectly palatable house red or house white and our glasses were never empty. It seemed a good place for first-timers at any rate.

That said, if I'd had an atrocious experience at any place, I probably would avoid it for many years after as well

Our worst experience was someplace in the 7th that looked like a good moderately priced bistro. It was moderately priced but the food was tasteless. I've forgotten it's name (and I don't think I even put it in my journal!) We just picked it while walking around and reading menus on the street. Normally we have better luck.

francophile03 -- I think you're right as far as the Cafe du Marche -- but they are so slammed with RS fans that they don't have a prayer of keeping up the standards of slow Parisian style dining -- and god forbid, decent food.

I would imagine that a recommendation from Rick could bring out what is already there in you -- either the best or the worst. I've eaten at a couple of his other more obscure restaurants that are harder to find, and discovered excellent service and the promised good food. Some people step up to the plate -- others coast when they get a recommendation...I just hope RS stops by there (or has a mole do it for him) and discovers what a nightmare it's become before he publishes his next Paris book.

Jules

I had two good dinners at La Terrasse in the 7th.

Anyways the worst meal I had in Paris was at Roland Garros. Just horrible food. Next day I brought some sandwiches in rather than eat their rubbish.

" posted recently on another forum that the La Taverne du Sargeant Recruiter (sp.?) was their favorite restaurant! ."

Well, our friends told us it was good back then, too. We hated it. That's why the only review that truly counts is your own review. But below is something I culled from the "master of gourmet" Rick Steves' website, so I think I'll stand by my previous statement.

".......La Taverne du Sergeant Recruteur.... famous for their rowdy, medieval cellar atmosphere. They serve all-you-can-eat buffets with straw baskets of raw veggies (cut whatever you like with your dagger), massive plates of pâté, a meat course, and all the wine you can stomach for €36-38. The food is just food; burping is encouraged. If you want to eat a lot, drink a lot of wine, and holler at your friends while receiving smart-aleck buccaneer service, these food fests can be fun.

"If you’d rather be surrounded by drunk tourists than locals, pick La Taverne du Sergeant Recruteur."

Somehow, I doubt the quality has improved after reading that stellar review. Bon Appetite!

Any place in the 5th or 6th that has Moussakka on the menu (no matter how they spell it.)

I've had opposite experiences at Chartier, BTW - good food and cheap bill, plus interesting people-watching. It's also fun to see if you can shake up the waiters. I be ruder than thee - what a fun contest.

Also had a meal long ago at Deux Magots that had me looking for the missing Gs and Ts. Go figure.

Our worst meal from our recent trip was at Thomieux in the 7th. Their cassoulet is meant to be a speciality, but it was horrible, fatty pork, small amount of duck, tastless chipolatas (not even decent sausages) and masses of beans, I mean masses. Very bland and overrated.

I think that one should not take any of these reveiews as gospel. Maybe Sergeant Recruiter IS great now.

You can have a bad meal or dish anywhere. I've had them at some of my favorite local restaurants, but since I know the place, I'll return knowing it it was just an off night.

On vacation, a restaurant usually only has one chance to sparkle, and if it comes up short, that doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad place. The question does make for an interesting thread, however.

Maybe the nice recent review I read about La Taverne du SR was because it was the reviewer's first trip to Paris and either he/she really did like the way the food tasted or didn't have much else to compare that dining experience with.

Different strokes... etc - Unlike PaulR my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed our meal at Joel Robuchon three weeks ago. He's DEFINITELY not a foodie... and he's still talking about it. Maybe because we didn't really have any expectations. Just went in one nite because we were staying in the adjacent hotel.
My WORST meal which I will never forget was in the Italian rest. at the Hyatt in Jerusalem. (Am about to serve dinner go won't go into details! Don't want to lose my appetite.)

We haven't been back, but from what I recall it was a fairly "bullet proof" menu -- and with so few choices that is USUALLY easy to keep palatable. Not like the chains in the states with endless menus, listing choices that go on for so many pages you wonder how they could all be decent...you know some could be no more than a glorified TV dinner, snatched from the freezer, zapped in a microwave and maybe run under a broiler for color. (Then left sitting on a steam table to wait for some poor overworked 17-year old waitress with multiple piercings.)

Ya know, I think it would be fun to put this question on the US forum...

Andouillettes--ugh. UGH.

What are andouillettes?

My worst meal in Paris was at Le Procope this past August. The house wine was fine, the house pate was fine, but the plain, dry chicken breast was inedible. Live and learn.

Just returned last night. Worst dining experience we ever had in Paris was at Georges on the top of the Pompidou. Avoid at all costs!

La Coupole.

For sure, the place (those columns!) is gorgeous. Way too brightly lit, closely spaced tables, horrendously crowded, overburdended waitstaff (spending lots of time with "regulars", none with others), unbelievably LOUD. Food overpriced and quite dismal.

Yup, La Coupole was a total downer for me, too. Really brusque and slow service, waiter got the orders mixed up, then argued with me about what I'd ordered (a plate of bulots with mayonnaise - not something it takes long to prepare) because I told him I had a train to catch (2.5 hours later). The place was incredibly loud and chaotic and WAY overpriced, IMO.

Chartier - this place holds some sentiment for me. I just love the look of the place and the paper tablecloths the waiters scribble on, and the fact that you get shoved right in the face of other customers you don't know and it's all hustle-and-bustle, , but the food is incredibly spare and plain, and it's all about a sort of negative ambiance that runs counter to what I'm usually looking for in a dining experience in France.

I was quite disappointed with the food in Paris. I'd come w/ great expectations on my first trip, but found the restaurants in particular to be mediocre or plain bad. Better luck with the boulangeries and pastisseries though.

The worst had to be one near the Pantheon. I did all the things I learned to spot an authentic good restaurant when traveling but it didn't work. The menu was all French, the place was small but packed w/ more "local-looking" people. The decor was intellectual hip being the universities.

But the food tasted like or were from the can. All the veggies were soggy and drained of colors and salty. The steak was cooked to death, like a piece of leather shoes. Even the dessert was canned peach.

Here's a recipe for andouillettes that I found through Google. Makes me seriously consider becoming a vegetarian!  

Ingredients :
1 x Large intestine and belly of the pig (or part)
Fat bacon (1/3 of above weight)
Bouillon
1/2 x and-half milk and water to cover
3 x onions stuck with
4 x cloves each
3 med carrots
Salt, pepper
1 x bouquet garni

*(If the intestines, etc., have not been cleaned, soak in cold water for 24 hours in a cool place. Overnight only in warm, humid weather. Then clean and scrape them. Simmer for an hour in water.)

* Set aside enough intestine for the casings-thinner pieces for andouillettes, fatter for andouilles-and out them into suitable lengths. Sprinkle with salt and store in the refrigerator or the coolest part of the larder.

* Slice up, with scissors or a sharp knife, the rest of the intestine and the belly, into strips 1/3 to 1/2 inch wide and a little shorter than your lengths of casing. Put them in a bowl and sprinkle with plenty of salt, freshly ground black pepper, and a mixture of spices such as quatre-spices. Remember that andouillettes and andouilles need a strong spice contrast to the slightly rubbery smoothness of the tripe filling. Let the strips macerate in the seasonings for 24 hours, in a cool, dry place.

* Next day, out the fat bacon into pieces about the width and length of the tripe pieces. If you refrigerate the fat first, this job becomes quite easy. Divide the tripe and bacon strips into bundles and tie each one, at one end, with a length of "heavy- duty" white thread.

* Wash the salt off the casings, and draw the bundles in, by means of the

* "heavy-duty" thread (this is where the neat-figured are at a premium). Cut away the thread and tie the andouilles or andouillettes at each end.

* (If this process appalls you, you can, more simply, chop the tripe and bacon fat rather than slice it into regular lengths. If you have a sausage-making attachment to an electric mixer, you can treat the mixture like sausage meat and fill the skins that way--but use the very large-holed plate as the final result should not be too smooth or solid in texture.)

* If the knobbiness of your andouilles and andouillettes seems excessively exaggerated, roll them backward and forward with the palm of your hand on a smooth surface (Formica or marble slab).

Cooking Andouillettes
* Prick them with a darning needle and arrange evenly in a large saucepan. Cover with milk and water in equal quantities, add the other bouillon ingredients, and bring to the boil. Simmer gently for 3 hours. Leave them to cool down in the liquid until tepid, then lay them side by side closely in a shallow dish and put a lightly weighted board on top. This gives a handsome squared-off appearance, which is not strictly necessary but gratifying. In France they are often glazed with a mixture of lard and veal fat in equal quantities, or, when the weather is warmer, with one fifth mutton fat and four fifths veal fat.

* Now they can be fried, or else slashed across in three or four places and grilled. Serve them on their own, as a starting course, with French mustard; or with mashed potato as a main luncheon dish. Well-spiced andouillettes are a great treat and worth the trouble of making.

I think it's safe to say that even many of us who are died-in-the-wool francophiles and live in France at least part time think andouillettes are absolutely disgusting and would not eat them under any conditions.

Many French people feel the same way. It's definitely an acquired taste.

The restaurant was highly praised for its fine food and decent pricing from many sources, so for my birthday while in Paris 4-5 yrs ago, we made reservations at l'Epi Dupin. T

he place was crowded with Americans 9only Americans from the sound of it, and a bad sound at that), the waiter argued with my wife over her dessert choice (and brought HIS choice, not hers), the rare duck was well done, the rabbit farci was dry (as in dried out), the sides were few and overcooked, and the price was decent. Subsequent reviews have all been less than stellar, so we missed the peak.

I am sure that the pedestrian pizza grabbed in haste at a cafe was objectively worse than the sorry underperformance at l'Epi Dupin, but it was a bummer as a birthday meal for a foodie.


I appreciate the posts from the remining regulars. Thanks, degas.

>What are andouillettes?

As noted, they are tripe sausage.

The texture is somewhat glutinous, yet still chewy.

The flavor and aroma are strongly reminiscent (if not closely akin to) of being in a barnyard.

I shall stick to Ris de Veau.

JC98,

It sounds as though you had really bad luck when eating in Paris--usually it's hard not to find a good meal, even in the less expensive restaurants. What kind of food do you like?

winnie:

I could understand if you thought GEORGE's food was not great, but how could you not enjoy yourself there with such a stellar view of Paris? Also the decor...Plus, our waiter was adorable. Heck, even the bathrooms were cool! Welcome back!

My worst meal in Paris was at a Wimpy's on the Champs Elysée in NOvember 1968. I don't know what possessed me to eat there--perhaps I hadn't known of their reputation.

Second worst was some years later. I don't remember the restaurant (which was OK), but the main dish was--you guessed it--andouillettes. Never again!

A minor digression here, but does anyone remember the joke about getting to heaven where the Chefs are supposed to be French, and the lovers Italian, and the something English and the something German? Can you remind me how it goes?

It is interesting that most of the replies here don't include the actual name of the restaurants. I guess we want to forget the bad meals as quickly as possible. I have been pretty lucky in choosing places that are quite good, usually still referring to an old edition of the Food Lovers Guide to Paris, but the worst was a chinese restaurant in the middle of that big pedestrian zone near Les Halles.

Also mediocre food and bad service (as mentioned below) at le Vieux Bistro, although I have friends in Paris who adore it and even claim they prefer the "american" room in the back. Also any restaurant in sight of Notre Dame on the street level is automatically overpriced and not good.

an addendum to the discussion on andouillettes...there is a tiny place called l'escure on the rue Mondavi, a small street off the rue de Rivoli, between the Intercontinental Hotel and the Crillon, that serves fabulous andouillettes (if you like 'em...I do). The waiters are funny, the food delicious, not expensive, and you sit together with lots of other folks, many local, at tiny tables packed together, with dried garlic hanging from the ceiling.

I'm game to try them. Can you give us an idea of how they taste?

Catbert

Heaven

Italians are chefs.
French are lovers.
Brits are police.
Swiss are government.
Germans are auto mechanics.

Hell

Italians are government.
French are auto mechanics.
Brits are chefs.
Swiss are lovers.
Germans are police.

Will this get me flamed?

no, but maybe roasted...LOL

I also want to weigh in on andouillettes. I am one who will eat many things ris de veau, frog, snails, veal kidneys, tripe, sweetbreads, eel, sushi, you name it. But don't name andouillettes.

I picked them as a last minute grasp at something as the duck was out. I managed to eat half of one. Then the mustard sauce ran out. I gave up.

My dad was brave enough to try it. He'll eat lots of things, was even loving the blue cheese in France. I've never in my life seen my dad spit something out before like he did the bite of andouillette.

Ahh - andouillettes, most definitely not to be confused with Cajun andouille, which I unfortunately did when ordering my first real Breton (un)savory crèpes in Vitré.

Best meal on that trip was at the Hotel de France in Douarnenez. Stopped to spend the night there because it was late and I was tired of driving and recognized the Logis de France logo. We were suprised the restaurant was open out of season at 9 pm, so were delighted at the perfectly prepared fresh seafood, and delicious creme brulee.

Worst meal in Paris was some nameless little dump in Montmartre. It was late, we were hungry, and it did not appear touristy. The fact that there were also no French or any other people there should have been a clue. All I really remember was tepid onion soup that tasted like really watered down Lipton's powdered mix.

Thank you, Indie.

Hey IndyTravel, you were posting while I was typing. We might be the only people in Indianapolis who have actually eaten the dreaded andouillettes.

Another vote for Chartier...yuck...

There was this little dive near our hotel where we ordered some uninspired item--exactly what it was, I forget. What made it memorable for me was that the waiter was an obnoxious young guy who definitely wanted us to order wine or some alcoholic beverage or other. He was quite insistent and quite annoying.

Since I'm a recovering alcoholic, I obviously don't drink wine or whatever, and I certainly didn't want to explain my reasons to this guy.

A bar/bistro on Rue Grenelle, away from the LaMotte Piquet metro stop, La Gitane. Slices of cold veal tongue smothered in a super-garlicky white sauce laced with too many peppercorns. Gluey, something like library paste -- not good.

Indytravel, your Heaven/Hell post gave me my first big laugh of the day! Thanks.

last boxing day, we went to a brasserie in the general Montmartre/Pigalle area. I ordered sole in cream sauce and it tasted very strange but I didn't think it was anything potentially dangerous - and my wife is from Japan (bless) where its a dishonor not to eat everything presented to you - so i tried my best but could only eat 60% of it - she had a little bit of it too but there was no way we could finish it all...

several hours later, it became immediately apparent something was wrong - result? food poisoning! from doing research, it was salmonella brought on by the cream sauce - to make matters worse, it was only our second day of 8 in paris, so the guidebook i had for cheese shops in paris (at last, my chance to try AOC brie & camembert) went to waste - as did our reservation for l'arpege on the next night, our one planned ridiculous splurge of the trip - as did approximately 2 days we could've explored sights but ended up recovering in our shoebox hotel room...

for the life of me, i wish i knew the name of the place, but i only recall the location - if you're walking along the road that moulin rouge is on & on the same side of the street, pass it on the right and keep walking for about 10 minutes until you get to a huge intersection - the interior of the restaurant had tons of framed pictures of old hollywood stars (had i noticed this at the start, i probably would have chosen a different place but i was too hungry to look at anything other than a menu)...between moulin rouge and this place, you'll pass a tiny sushi bar - we almost went there but ironically decided against it since we didn't know whether or not to trust the quality of the fish...

Why Georges was so unpleasant? 1) The view might have been nice but we wouldn't know since they seated us as far inland as possible, this despite reservations, and despite an abundance of vacant tables along the windows. 2) The service was condescending and negligent starting with our first step over the threshold and throughout the evening. 3) Food portions were miniscule and actual food unimaginative. For example the mini -duck dish was served with a 2 oz. portion of plain unadorned white rice and nothing more. 4) Even if the prices had not been astronomical this would have been our worst meal anywhere. This is a theme restaurant that tries way too hard to be cool and forgets why people want to dine out to begin with.

Is it just me, but does it seem like the higher the price the smaller the portions? At some of those snob magnets, its darn near $5 a bite!

L'ambroise.
Yes it is 3 star, but to be honest( I have eaten at dozens of 3 star restaurants) I did not get it.

My dinner cost $300 per person, and 2 years later, I am still wondering, "for what?"

Some awful concoction at a well-recommended brasserie on St. Germain called Vagenande. Fish balls floating in a watery/milky sauce, tasted terrible. My daughter had a beef thing, also disgusting. Beautiful old restaurant but terrible food. Also, in 1978, got really bad food poisoning from croque monsieur in a charming bistro near Invalides.

Wow, I forgot about my own awful dinner at Vagenende. I chose from the prix fixe menu which is average in cost. I didn't make note of my menu, but I ordered a main dish which is like a pot au feu. When it arrived I couldn't believe they actually served the leftover parts of the chicken. By that I mean there were just a few bony pieces that were served, pieces with hardly any meat left on them. It was a total ripoff and not only with the price but with the cooking which was just okay. The best thing about the place is its decor, nothing fancy just nice.

In reply to Tondalaya's question on how andouilletes taste, the taste and smell are in the kidney range (in my opinion). I mean, let's be honest, we all know the bodily function of intestines, so it shouldn't be surprising that there is an earthiness to them. But, they are throughly cleaned before cooking, and the taste is not strong. And it's a perfect foil for very very strong Dijon mustard. And don't consider drinking white wine with them...only red will do...preferably a burgundy or beaujolais...no Bordeaux. This is a country dish to be eaten with gusto! But if you hate them, just order something else...they don't cost much!

andib, I ate there about the same year. It was a lovely place but the meal was not memerable. On PBS one year I was watching French in Action and one episode was filmed in the Vagenande.

Not awful meals, but very mediocre by Paris standards:

Le Train Blu: gorgeous décor, but I could have enjoyed it just as well over a glass of wine. Didn’t eat much, just moved the food around the plate and kept my glass topped up.
Restaurant in the Museum of Man with the view of the Eiffel tower: not awful , but not great.

Ironically, in both cases I was brought there by my French colleagues for the “experience”!

Did someone mention 'andouillette'? What sick, vile sadist thought of disguising tripe as a sausage to trap the unsuspecting tourist? I went to the best 'andouillette' restaurant in Paris and almost died when I realized that 'andouillette' was tripe – AFTER I had ordered. The sausages ended up wrapped I toilet paper in my handbag to be disposed of later.

Two events...

L'epi Dupin which was so highly recommended, was very upsetting. It was our first night in Paris too. To explain...we were seated in a small outside veranda. There were three other TINY tables all jammed together. I do mean TINY. No tablecloth.

I had to change seats with my husband as a screen/shade ?? was there and the air was blowing on me. In doing that, I scratched my arm on something. Blood! I should have been forewarned.

The waiter just pushed the menu and the food on us and I will tell you it's the only place in France where I was rushed. The food?..my husband's meal was ok..my scallops were not. I hated the whole night.


The second worst meal..if you can call it that...we were at a market in Gordes and I got hungry. A vendor had a booth set up and was grilling things. I chose something (what was it?)..that everyone else seemed to be eating. I will tell you..it was atrocious. It looked like sausage but it was on a roll. The taste stayed with me for a week. Maybe it was that andouillette...who knows!!

Went to a Chinese restaurant there during my last trip. Don't bother to ask why...

As much as I love Paris, I think Montreal is a much better "foodie" town overall.

Gee,

I'm a bit surprised by the remarks re the Vagenende.

We have been there 3 times in the last 4 years and found the food reasonably good at a moderate price.

Sorry you folks had bad experiences.

Ha! Maybe a little out of date but interesting. George Orwell's, Down and Out in Paris & London. Recommended to be read before dining in any Paris restaurant.

A USA paperback..Never Eat Out on Saturday!

If you are brave, ask to view the kitchen. 2nd best, ask to use the washroom/toilet. 3rd, if you are buying/ordering a meat dish, ask to see it before it is cooked.