Cafe De Paris

10/25/09

Absolutely the worst dining experience ever!!!

by Esquared at Citysearch

I recently attended Cafe de Paris for dinner with my husband and my sister, who was visiting from out of state. It was absolutely the worst dining experience any of us have ever had!

The food was okay, but I've definitely had better. We ordered the pyramid de crab as an appetizer. It was cold, flavorless and was barely enough to feed one person. As entrees, we chose the mahi-mahi, sole, and beef tenderloin. Both fishes were tough and the vegetables were soaked in a puddle of oil. The beef tenerloin, ordered medium rare, was overcooked.

They were obviously understaffed, with only 3 servers, waiting on 2 large parties, in addition to the regular guests. Our waitress was pleasant, but non-existant and clueless about the menu items. We finished an entire bottle of wine before we ever received our salads or a bread basket (at least an hour, if not longer).

They tried to win us over by offering free desserts. Hesitant, we accepted and ordered coffee to compliment. The desserts weren't anything worth mentioning and the coffee was cold and stale. We had nearly finished our dessert before receiving fresh, hot coffee.

Very unhappy and dissatisfied by our experience, we chose not to prolong the situation by complaining. Five days later and still fuming over a nearly $200 dinner bill, I mailed a letter of complaint to the owners, requesting a refund. Although I knew it was unlikely I would receive one, I at least hoped for a sincere apology.

Serge called me after receiving the letter and was nothing short of insulting. He patronized me for having never been to France and therefore, not knowing what it was like to dine in an authentic, french restaurant. He stated that if I wanted fast food, we should have gone to McDonald's.

He literally laughed at me over the discussion of a refund and said waiting 5 days to complain was too long to make such a request. Not once did he ever apologize for the poor experience we had. Finally he said, if we didn't like it, we didn't have to return. Needless to say, we won't be, and I highly caution anyone else to do so!

• Pros: Atmosphere
• Cons: Food, service, prices