Friday, December 9, 2011

CHEZ L'AMI LOIUS - PARIS, FRANCE

Chez L’Ami Louis – Paris, France 
Eating with Jennifer (Wife of a restaurateur, but she doesn’t like pepper so there’s that)

This restaurant was recommended to Jennifer by a big foodie who frequents her husband’s restaurant; we will not thank her when we see her.
The reservation was made two weeks in advance and the only opening they had was 10 p.m.; fair enough, we took it.  We phone the morning of to confirm and to see if there were any openings earlier, but there were not.  We asked if there was a bar we could sit at if we came early; there was not.  So when we showed up at 9:55 we were met with sneers and French servers turning their noses up to us.  After looking us up and down they gave us a menu to look at, assuming it would quickly scare us away due to the unbelievably high prices.  Our pride, and the fact that everything else was closed at this time, made us suck it up and stay.
When we were sat we were met with one of the rudest humans I have ever encountered, I will call him rude waiter.  He told us that the kitchen wanted to leave and that we must order immediately.  I, having just as much attitude, told him that we would order when we were ready; he huffed dramatically and walked away like an ass.  When another waiter came by, who I will call nice waiter,we ordered the foie gras appetizer and two kir royals. 

Our order: (sharing)
First Course
Foie Gras (59€)
Second Course
Coquilles St.Jaques (60€)
Third Course
Confit Canard (48€)
Veau (some sort of veal nonsense) (54€)


We ordered wine on nice waiter’s recommendation, La reserve de Louis, Saint-Emilion Grand cru, France, 2008 (80€).  The foie gras arrived and was more than disappointing.  The portion was double what it should be and the quality was half of what we had eaten the night before at a much cheaper place.  When the scallops arrived we were pleasantly surprised, they were the best thing we ate that night.  The sauce was the perfect combination of onion, garlic, etc…
Our entrees arrived and, despite the fact that they were told about allergies, they brought out a big plate of fries which remained on the table even after they were told we didn’t want them.  The duck confit was lovely but typical, certainly not worth the price but good never the less.  The veal chop that came out was an embarrassment, it could have easily been confused for an oversized pork chop you might receive at a roadside diner somewhere.  It is funny how bad food can be when it is grossly overpriced to begin with; maybe we were being overly critical but I think that is allowed when you are paying prices such as those. 
We couldn’t afford the 25€ desserts so Jennifer just asked a table close by if she could have one of their oranges (yes she did) and nice server ran and grabbed us one out of kindness.
Overall, the wine was amazing, as were the scallops.  Everything else was either typical or under par in my opinion.  The service was, for the most part, terribly pretentious and rude. 

Final Bill: 301€
Tip: 10% (Any tip you leave after the bill in France is being generous, this extra tip was mostly left as a pride thing, I hate when people make assumptions about wealth.  So I left that was more of an F U)
Overall Grade:  5%
Likeliness of Return:  0%

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