Au Jardin Des Carmes

We had a delightful experience, easily the best food we had in France during our family road trip. It clearly seemed like a family run place (a well run one at that). All the food tasted very fresh and bright, you can tell that they know how to pair flavors. And the wine recommendation was the cherry on top. Please come here if you want to avoid the tourist trap restaurants and want Provence cuisine with a modern twist.

AVERAGE at best. the beef was chewy, the risotto overly salty and the starters were average at best - flavourless mostly. it’s a shame as we came here because of the good reviews but it was pretty poor considering the price! would not recommend

Certified member of the clean plate club. The waiter was very nice, and did his best with a little English, but then the chef came out from the kitchen to take our order. Her food was all unbelievably amazing, my wife especially complimented the duck as both crispy on the outside and juicy in the middle. Not sure why they don't have a Michelin recommendation anymore, but they certainly earned it for the years they had it.

Unbelievable risotto! The restaurant is situated in a private garden space. The food was pretty delicious, apart from an appetizer dish that shouldn’t have had popcorn on it. That being said, as mentioned before the risotto was top class. Would come back for just that.

Background: We dined at Au Jardin Des Carmes on a Saturday evening, 8pm (20h00) reservation. We made the reservation earlier that day. Ambiance: 2 out of 5 We were looking forward to dining in the outdoor garden, but unfortunately the restaurant was not seating guests outside. Maybe it was due to possible rain in the forecast but who knows, we did not pursue it further. So if you want to sit outside, I recommend inquiring about that when you make your reservation. Instead we were seated indoors under bright lights with a view of an even brighter wine fridge (looked like a giant vending machine). I would have rather sat on the couch in my Airbnb - at least there I can dim the lights so it doesn’t feel like dining in a cafeteria. Wine: 4 out of 5 Selected a bottle of Viogner which was easily the best part of the meal. Food: 1 out of 5 Could not have been more disappointed in the food experience. The only reason I’m not giving it a 0 out of 5 is because they included an allergen guide at the back of the menu, which was helpful since I have celiac (gluten allergy). The positives stop there. (Full transparency: there’s a chance that the dishes we ordered were adapted to meet my allergy needs, so maybe we did not get the traditional experience. Not that any information or guidance was provided by staff.) We ordered “Tacos Guacamole” and “Artichauts à la barigoule” to start, followed by the “Risotto, asperge verte, parmesan & lard fumé” and “Filet de boeuf, crique à la provençale, jus de viande” as our main dishes. Tacos Guacamole - while I wasn’t naive enough to expect tacos, I was disappointed that this was just whipped avocado (avocado mousse you might say), topped with off-brand Doritos. Best part of this dish was the couple cherry tomatoes included. Artichauts à la barigoule - My fiancé described this as artichokes from a jar still sitting in the liquid from the jar. Also came with the grayest pancetta/bacon bits we’ve ever seen. Like actually the color gray. Risotto, asperge verte, parmesan & lard fumé - I ordered this as my main dish as I was told it could be made gluten free. Best part of this dish were the two pieces of asparagus on top of the risotto. The risotto itself was green mush (basically I had two servings of green mush for dinner, ha). I used the table salt to season the dish because with the exception of those two pieces of asparagus, the dish was flavorless. Filet de boeuf, crique à la provençale, jus de viande - This was my fiancé’s main dish. The filet of beef was lackluster. It was definitely not a “filet” and instead just a random cut of beef (easily the worst cut of beef either of us have had during the duration of our trip so far). The potato pancake that it was served with was another pile of green mush. I wish I was kidding. And my fiancé, who is willing to try any dish at least once, was visibly surprised with how bad the mush was. Service: 2 out of 5 Honestly if you don’t want to have more people in your restaurant, then just say you don’t have any reservations available. I’m rating service a 2 because at least the hostess was quick to take our drink order. In summary: Would not recommend unless you’re in the market for some flavorless mush. Seriously. I’m stunned that this restaurant has earned awards for its food. Also - don’t just rely on Google Reviews - the more recent reviews on Trip Advisor note a similarly disappointing experience.

We were wowed by every aspect of our experience at this gorgeous little restaurant. Contrary to our expectations from other reviewers' photos of the food, it was not expensive. Two courses was €28, 3 courses was €33. The English-speaking waitress was very knowledgable of the food and wine and explained the small, seasonal menu very well. Our meals were all stunningly presented and absolutely delicious. Even the bathroom was impressive - very clean with a baby change table.

We had great hopes for this place having read previous reviews. However, the food was really average. The beef was chewy and inedible and the risotto salty and bland. For the majority of the meal we were the only the table there, so there wasn’t much atmosphere, which is not what you’d expect for a Friday night. I had to get up and find the waiter to order wine with my meal. I don’t normally like to leave bad reviews like this as I would rather talk with the staff in person. I know that sometimes it can just be an off night and maybe we were just unlucky. I did try to talk to them about our experience with the food but they weren’t at all interested and just shrugged and handed me the bill. There’s a lot of choice in Avignon so considering the prices they are charging I would expect a much better offering.

It has a small garden at the back which is unexpected from the street. Everything we ordered tasted great and presented beautifully. Definitely recommend it for a lovely night out.