La Mère Jean

Excellent typical “bouchon lyonnais” it means very friendly and family atmosphere with excellent food. All that with tasty fresh food coupled with excellent quality price and service. Please note they are two services it means you can come from 19:00 to 21:00 or 21:00 to 23:00 but it is perfect as the meals are quickly served. Always hot and well cooked. Not a big restaurant, limited avails so it is better to book upfront otherwise it is very unlikely you’ll be able to be accepted. I recommend !

A very cozy place that has a very bouchon type of menu. Food tastes decent but nothing extraordinary. Price is very reasonable, is that why it has so many good reviews?

Small bouchon, very central, less than 30 seats. Staff is welcoming and efficient. I had oeufs en meurette and tête de veau. Both good, alas there was a bit too much pink pepper for my taste with the main dish. Highly recommended.

Rustic Lyon food at good prices. There were plenty of locals which is a good sign! Atmospheric old place that is typical of the unspoilt Bouchon style. A good place to enjoy tripe dishes.

I recently dined at a charming restaurant in Lyon and had a wonderful experience. I was the only non-French person there on a Monday afternoon, but the staff were so welcoming and helpful. They took the time to explain everything on the menu in English and made sure I was comfortable. I ordered a few traditional dishes, and they were all delicious. The praline tart was especially good! The restaurant was also very affordable. I paid only 35 euros for 3 courses and 2 glasses of wine. If you're looking for a great meal in Lyon, I highly recommend this restaurant.

Excellent Lyonnaise cuisine. Although some of the dishes we tried were a little exotic for us, they were very flavourful. Salad was a surprise hit for us. Service was wonderful and the waitress was very friendly and hospitable.

Amazing food and great portion sizes! The service is quick and polite. Very cozy atmosphere. Loved it.

This place is authentic and really good! It’s my second time here and I had to bring my family for this beautiful experience. They all speak English and they were all very nice and polite. I loved the Quenelle and the Tarte aux Pralines. And the price is really good.

We were a group of 6 spending a night in Lyon looking for some traditional fair at a reasonable price point. None of us eat the traditional Lyonaise food of innards. Search narrowed down to three locations and we settled on La Mere Jean. A friendly staff named Georgia took the time to translate every item on the French menu for us six in English. I can only speak for the dishes in had tried. The Lyonaise salad was very tasty, the bacon was thick diced pieces crispy and melt in your mouth. You can't be afraid of a bit of fat as it's what makes it so good. I had the cold appetizer mix plate of meat and lentils. I felt it was to unlock your senses with different types of texture pleasure in the mouth than going for a flavour palette. The Quenelle was my main. It was an absolute unique delight with the fluffy and spongy texture smoothered with the seafood cream sauce with potato gratin. It's a rich heavy dish and hits you when you least expect it. Tried a piece of marinated fish that was also a suprise to the pallette. The texture and flavour was like smoked ham than eating fish and very tasty. Dessert was the traditional red praline tart. My mind kept getting fooled with it being red but it's not cherry, not strawberry, just sweet praline. All paired with a Cote du Rhone wine. It is one of those meals you have long memories of as it's so different to N.A. dishes. All in all our group was very happy to have tried the food, appreciate the reviews/photos and most of all thank the friendly staff at la Mere Jean to make it a wonderful experience as we had no idea what we were going eat in Lyon but wanted something local.

Ambiance was charming, service agreeable, plates could have been done better. La mère jean was my first bouchon expérience in Lyon and it was very nice. However I knew it would not be my only bouchon dinner after trying the typical dishes of eggs in red wine sauce and fish dumplings. I had never had these food before but I know how to cook so I knew something was off. The red wine sauce was thin and watery and the fish dumplings dense and pale. It was a Monday evening so perhaps the best chef had the night off. The wine was very good and the atmosphere was perfectly lyonnaise.

As the name implies, this restaurant is not going to score any points on decor or presentation. It offers regional dishes like tripe and fish dumplings. I had the later. The execution was on point. The dumplings totally had pike/fish flavor but so light and delicate. However the star is what lies beneath it. The lobster bisque was insanely good and brought added dimension to the dumpling. It was served with scalloped potatoes. I started with the cheese and salad. I never had cottage cheese so fresh and light. No comparison to the one you get in the market. It was whipped with herbs and olive oil with a wonderful mouth feel. The dessert was a let down. A praline tart. I should have gone with the cheese plate, but I wanted to end with something different.

Had to try a bouchon while in Lyon, and there are so many to choose from. We ended up at La Mere Jean. First of all, they were very friendly and tried to explain each of the menu items to us. We each decided to order from the Menu options - each comes with a choice of appetizer, main and dessert. Pros - They are reasonably priced and large, generous portions were served. Really liked the Lyonnaise salad - poached egg with pork belly salad = Yum! Although some thought the tripe was a bit too strong tasting, I actually liked that dish the most. Lots of tripe and the tomato sauce was flavorful. Dad liked the potatoes that came with the quenelles. Lots of desserts to choose from. Hubs loved the chocolate cake. Cons - Some of the other dishes lacked flavor. Was looking forward to the quenelles in the lobster sauce - although the quenelles were fluffy and soft, they didn't really have any flavor overall nor did the sauce. Mom couldn't eat her chicken - said it was very dry. This was the only bouchon we got to try. Wish we had more time in Lyon to try out more food places.

I love eating at bouchons in Lyon. The bouchons feel like being invited to eat at someone's home. This is a very small Bouchon and fills up fast for lunch, so I would advise to come early when they open. My family really enjoyed our time at the restaurant and the servers were very kind with me, since it has been a long time since I spoke French. They will speak to you both in English and French, so it was really fun to practice learning. I asked the server to recommend a glass of wine to go with the quenelle I ordered and it was superb. The name of the wine is Le Liby verre blanc, you can even buy a bottle from them to go. The wine is hard to find at any stores or wine shops in Lyon, so if you enjoy a wine at a Bouchon, I recommend you purchase a bottle there to go. Great place, great food and great people working at the restaurant.

We stopped by La Mere Jean for some authentic Lyonnaise food on our first day in Lyon to find it closed for reasons unknown. We tried again the next evening and were happy to find it open. The menu included a number of traditional lyonnaise dishes. The salad was spectacular with a soft egg on top and yummy chunks of ham or bacon. We struggled to pick entrees as we weren't familiar with any of the foods but the waitress was very helpful. My husband loved the steak he ordered. My dish was a bit too eclectic for my taste but I could still appreciate the flavors. Dessert was also delicious, something along the lines of a pink cake with pear sauce. I'm not sure if that's the proper way to describe it but I wanted to lick the plate! Very happy we were able to have this authentic Lyonnaise experience.

It was a misty December night in Place Bellecour, the top of the brilliantly lit blue Ferris wheel that dominates the square barely visible beneath the low-lying cloud cover. I was thinking about our meal just a few nights before just around the corner on Rue Marroniers and how good it was, but little did I know that the dinner waiting just ahead was going to be even better. It is no wonder that Lyon is the culinary capital of France, if not the World. We visited Le Mère Jean, which translates to "The Mother Jean", on our first night in Lyon, a damp, chilly Saturday night, but she was fully booked - "Complet" - so we reserved a table for the following Monday at 7pm. The proprietor, Jean perhaps, recommended Les Comptoirs de Marroniers just down the cobblestone covered road, having learned to cook there as we were told. They were kind enough to make room for us based on her thoughtful recommendation and the subsequent meal was outrageous, a Lyonnaise four-course meal that blew my socks off for just €36, but that my friends is another story altogether. Le Mere Jean is a small place in an old building, long and narrow, seating only 20-25 diners in a rustic dining room with a tiny kitchen at the back. That small kitchen produced a lot of chow, very good chow, generating a fair amount of heat in the process. A tad warmer than we would have desired, particularly because we were dressed for winter, we quickly acclimated in order to focus on the task at hand. A three-course dinner was waiting for my wife (from the €16 menu) and I (the €19.50 menu) with a 50cl bottle of Cote du Rhone setting us back a mere (no pun intended) €12, a pittance comparatively speaking. Our first course, or "entrée" as it referred to here, was the Salade Lyonnaise, a huge bowl of fresh, seasonal greens topped with chunks of hot, salty bacon, homemade croutons galore, and two perfectly cooked poached eggs sitting on top. There was more than enough for the two of us and was absolutely wonderful, a recipe I shall incorporate into my own repertoire when we finally get back home. For our second course, or "plat", my wife decided on the Chicken Fricasee, large chunks of de-boned chicken breast in a cream sauce that was both rich and flavorful. The Onglet de Bœuf Poêlè Sauce St Marcellin, a steak in a savory cheese sauce, was my choice, accompanied by potatoes Lyonnaise which are very similar to what many have come to know as potatoes au gratin. The steak was of a reasonable portion, about eight to ten ounces (500g), tender, and perfectly cooked to medium on the inside with just the right amount of char out. The cheese sauce that enveloped it was made from the local St Marcellin cheese, a savory, gooey concoction only the French could devise ... MERCI BEAUCOUP! For our third and final course, dessert, my wife had the local favorite, a praline tart. Lyon is famous for their pralines, a pink candy-coated almond I have only seen here. They make a variety of desserts with them, including a praline brioche and, in this case, a crispy, baked pastry filled with a praline cream that resembled a small strawberry pie ... YUM! I had a warm chocolate cake surrounded by a sweet cream that was rich and delicious. An incredible dinner for two, both three-course meals, and a bottle of wine set us back just $65, the best $65 I have spent in a long, long time. I am sure that I will fondly reminisce about my many superb meals while visiting Lyon, but this was one that I will not soon forget ... HOOAH! CombatCritic Gives Mère de Jean 10 Bombs Out Of 10 And A Spot On My WALL OF FAME ... More Bombs Are Better! Ten Bombs Equates To: "HOOAH!" Translation for Civilians: HOOAH!: "Phonetic spelling of the acronym HUA, which stands for 'Heard Understood Acknowledged.' Originally used by the British in the late 1800's in Afghanistan. More recently adopted by the United States Army to indicate an affirmative or a pleased response." - Urban Dictionary "The U.S. Air Force stole 'HOOAH' from the Army because we were part of the Army until 1947 and rather than waste a bunch of time coming up with something new and unique like "ROO-YAH" or "HAL-A-LOO-YAH", we said 'to heck with it, let's go with HOOAH' ... thanks Army ... HOOAH!" - CombatCritic

Very uneven. Most of my meal was great (œuf meurette and quenelle homardine), but the dessert was hard and bad (tarte praline). My wife's salade lyonnaise was disappointing. Too uneven to want to go back.

So glad we made it here. Make reservations because there is extremely limited seating. My husband is quite the picky eater so I was nervous about taking him here. If he could have chicken breast and baked ziti every day he would.. we ordered the prefix menus (one €16 and one €26 for two and we shared) which you get to choose from the options. In total we ordered: the onion tart (served hot with a side of salad), the lyonnaise traditional starter of cold meat salads and lentils, the fish soufflé, tripe stew, cheese dessert, and two dessert tarts. If I went into detail about every single dish we had the pleasure of indulging in, this might be the longest help review every.. it's safe to say that everything we ordered was superbly made, served properly the cold items were cold and the hot were piping hot. These are great for sharing and you will be totally stuffed. Photos do not do it justice. I'm not gonna lie, it was the excited and passionate reviews that persuaded us to try this fine restaurant, the photos were not really impressing me. Once you are dining in, you can smell everything and see the steam dancing, you can feel the textures of the sauces and food. If you see my dessert photo, the slices look totally unexciting, when you bite into it though, it's totally unique and delicious. Everything here is homemade. The menu is only in french however our two servers, who were so sweet and helpful, they spoke great English and made fine suggestions and were even able to understand how picky my husband is and arrange around that. Expert tips: call ahead and make reservations for 7 or 19:00 because everyone pours in at 7 and will be dining for at least 1.5 hours. Call at least a day in advance for reservations Monday - Friday, a week or so in advance for Friday and Saturday. We dined in on a Wednesday night at 7, made reservations the night before. Be sure to walk in right at 6:55 because this place is popular and I'm sure if you don't arrive on time for your reservation they will probably give it away. If you cannot finish the dessert ask for aluminum tin foil and you can wrap it and take it home.

Hey you're in Lyon so you might as well have some old-school Lyonnaise food. I'm talking very old school... What I'll say is we're glad we tried it. And we actually really enjoyed the Lyonnaise salad and the quenelle (very, very tasty). But really it's one of those things where we can say we had it... and we're not likely to ever have it again. Then again, never say never...

This place is a lovely local place - they serve only Lyonnaise cuisine and no English menu, naturally - but the waitress took time to explain things to us and were very patient although I was hopeless with French. We came here for late lunch so we got table immediately but this place is very popular so you might consider to book a table. I had a quenelle while my boyfriend got andouilette, both Lyonnaise specialty and we loved them. We split a bottle of red for lunch and everything was just perfect. A tip: Make sure you know all the specialty cuisine they do, so you wouldn't take a long time to decide like I did, a total amateur - also in the language :P

I think I just experienced an authentic Bouchon! My appetizer, an assortment of ofals with a lentil salad, is a staple of Lyon and can be overwhelming to the eyes. I found it to be much lighter on the palet and delicious followed by a Côte du Rhone. I later got the boudin noir with baked apple and gratin which was interestingly well balanced with slightly sweet flavors. This place gets booked up and I heard them turn away people all night. Make a reservation! The service was cordial and look forward to my return to Lyon so that I can come back here.

I chose this restaurant after reading the other reviews, and it definitely didn't disappoint. Great Lyonnaise fare, not to pricey, with a few great options. My wife chose the €13 option of Lyonnaise Salad with chicken fricassee and dessert, I chose the €16.50 of the same salad and Steak with onions. The salad starter is a MUST! My steak came out rarer than I asked for, but the hostess quickly sent it back to complete it medium rare. Both entrees were good. The desserts were amazing, I had the pear tart, my wife the chocolate cake- both with cream sauce. A perfect ending with an espresso. With two glasses of wine, the total was only €51, an amazing deal.

Local Lyonnaise food. Friendly service. One of the servers had very good English, the other had English about as good as our French, which is barely passable. None-the-less we managed fine and enjoyed a local chicken liver pate entree, a salad Lyonnaise and a quenelle mains, and a almond tart n the most amazing pink color. Lyonnaise food features a lot of organ meats, so be sure you know what you are ordering if you are squeamish. The pate was served with a nice tomato based sauce which completed it nicely. The quenelle was served in a very rich seafood sauce and accompanied by a large portion of Lyonnaise potato's. Very filling. The salad Lyonnaise was a moderate amount of greens buried in fried bread croutons, crispy thick cut bacon, and a couple of lightly poached eggs. The warm eggs and toppings and the cool greens made a tasty and filling combination. We finished up with espresso and an almond tart. It was delicious, but really hard to eat because of the tough crust which was difficult to cut with the small sounds provided. Despite that quibble it was worth the effort it too to eat. The recommended wines by the glass were good and quite reasonable. In fact the whole meal was comparatively cheap at only a little over 50 euros for two.

Great lunch, so much food, almost more than we could eat, for a very reasonable price. We each had a 3-couse price fixe menu, plus 1/2 liter of water and one glass of wine, total price 41€. Lentil salad with marinated slices of beef nose, salad Lyonnaise, with giant lardons, croutons and a poached egg on salad greens. One main of sausage with carrot and potato, another of chicken breast in cream sauce with sauteed zucchini and potatoes cooked in sauce, 1 chocolate cake, one walnut tarte.

my best friend and i are here after going through the raving reviews. we stood in front of the restaurant for literally 15 minutes. the waitresses and hostess all saw us and chose to walk pass by us and continue to carry on with their day. this is our first time in this part of france. we are not looking for supreme service or mindblown food. but we just ask for people to selectively choose to not acknowledge our presence. we finally flag down the hostess and she explained that it is best for us to leave without reservation. we are totally ok with this response, but can i understand why this message can only be communicated after we made eye contacts with you for 15 minutes and obviously all of you saw us?

There are a lot of restaurants in this popular area, and many of them are small bistros with only a handful of tables. It was hard to find a table without reservations even when we went to dinner early, which is about 7 pm in France when many of the restaurants open. La Mere Jean received good reviews on TripAdvisor, and we were able to get their last table for the night. This bouchon serves up comfort home cooking with reasonable prices where the entrees can feel heavy, which can be good during the cold winter. It is a very tight space though where the tables are literally right next to each other (think communal dining). Food: -Onion tart: This was not the best savory tart I've had because it was too mushy inside. -Steak with cheese sauce: The hubs got this dish and although the steak was good, he felt that the sauce was too heavy since it came with Lyonnaise potatoes, which is basically potatoes au gratin. -Quennelle: This is a Lyonnaise speciality, so I figured I had to try it. Quenelles are dumplings made out of pike, but they can come in various flavors. I expected more of a chewy dumpling , but the texture was more like a soufflé: soft and airy on the inside. If you're not a fish person, don't worry because this dumpling tasted nothing like fish. In fact, it was rather bland and took on the flavor of the sauce it was bathed in, which was a very rich cheese sauce. On a cold winter's night, the cheese sauce was perfect for dipping some bread in. -Apple tart: Again, this was not the best apple tart. The crust was too hard and not buttery enough, and the filling didn't do much for me. Service: -They do speak English, and the female waitress was kind enough to answer questions and help translate for us. -Something that we did see was that the employees didn't wash their hands when cutting the table bread, even after coughing. They went about their work and would just go cut slices of bread from the big loaves of bread sitting on the counter. Maybe this doesn't bother some people, but we try to be careful not to get sick when traveling abroad, so let's just say we didn't eat anymore table bread. -There are bathrooms here, but it's quite an adventure to get to the bathroom. You have to go outside with the key and passcode. After punching in the code to pass the gate, you walk into a random courtyard without any clear markings as to where the bathrooms are. Go to the left and the bathroom is one of the doors on that side (can't remember which one it is). Overall, with so many restaurants in that area, I don't know that I'd go back to this place

One of the best authentic Lyonnaise food... but I must confess that I am no expert on this food. I go by what I tasted , and how amazing the flavors of everything was. This definitely was an experience in authentic cooking in a very small setting with amazing wine recommendation to go with it all. I have ate at lot of Michelin star places but the food here lived upto the sophistication and perfection you expect from those places.

Traditional style Lyon food. Tiny place, 20 seats. Reservations absolutely needed. In busy season 3 days ahead. Hearty portions. Bold flavors. Delightful staff. LOW prices. Stuff yourself sick for $20 plus wine. Probably the best food on this ridiculously formulaic touristy street that is 100% restaurants.

The first bouchon that I tried in Lyon. I made reservations a week or so in advance, and I'm glad I did - the restaurant quickly became crowded as soon as it opened for the lunch service. Everyone else in the restaurant was French, which made me feel like I hadn't chosen a tourist trap. Most of the servers did not speak English, but they were patient with my French! We had the 3 course set menu, which seemed like such a value deal for all of its options. I chose the salade lyonnaise as an appetizer and was already full by the time I finished it - super generous portions of the pork belly. I also got the onglet and the îlle flottante. The onglet was good, especially for the price, and so was the dessert. My friend got the tarte praline, and while it was yummy, it wasn't the best that I've had in Lyon. I probably won't come again while I'm here, but it's a place I would recommend to any friends!

Amazing experience. Salade Lyonnaise has ruined me for other salads - I will poach eggs and add to salads in the future but don't know that I will match the elegance. Took the brave choice of Andouillette and it was delightful. A milder form of Andouille type sausage but with larger "tasty bits" as Anthony Bourdain might say. My French colleagues were impressed that I would go for a typical Lyonnaise dish. Great wine - hey, it's France. Lovely evening.

Located on the crowded, touristy street of "rue des Marronniers", you'll find my local eateries known as "bouchon's" in Lyon. The street is very close to Place Bellecour. I would say that this street primarily targets tourists like me. I came here out of hunger and a desire to try local cuisine from Lyon. La Mere Jean is tucked away between larger restos, but has quite a few recommendation stickers all over its window. I chose the 3 course meal, which was about 16 euros or so... add in a glass of wine and you're about 20-21 euros which isn't shabby. I chose the Lyonnaise salad that featured pancetta, poached egg, toasted croutons and a dijon type sauce. It was very good. I was less than impressed with my choice for main course: the sausage (saucisson). I'd skip it entirely honestly. It tasted pretty close to spam for me. Finally, I chose the local Saint-Marcellin cheese. It was beautifully runny and tasty! I highly recommend it for cheese lovers. Although the table next to me got some very tasty looking chocolate desserts. Pinched for time to find a less touristy place to eat, I would recommend this place.

We loved this place, the food and service so much we went back twice while in Lyon. Get the Lyonaisse salad!

A taste of true Lyon traditions! As a couple we only spent about 70 euro for a very tasty meal, and left with two bursting stomachs craving to come back again!

This place came up when we searched for a late lunch (trying to find a place that specialized in Lyonnais cuisine that is open after 2PM was apparently harder than we anticipated!) so we decided to stop by here before we did the hike up to the Basilique Notre Dame de Fourviere. We weren't particularly hungry, so we opted for a couple of small plates instead. I got their 3 cheese toast with a fried egg on the side and a glass of their petit rose drink (which was basically milk with grenadine. So simple, yet so delicious!) The bf got a charcuterie plate, and we were really surprised to see how much food he got and at the price he got it for (ended up costing him something like 6 Euros). My toast was delicious and decadent. Our dishes were simple, but so tasty. Also, everything was pretty cheap, so that was a nice surprise added on to our delicious meal. If I ever go back to Lyon, I would love to go back here.

Probably the best meal we had in Lyon. We came early since we were dining with a one year old and the staff was helpful for us as non French speaking guests reading a French menu. My husband ordered tripe and I ordered sausage in a mustard cream sauce with white wine. Flavors were amazing and the price was extremely affordable. Even though they didn't have a "baby chair" for my son there was enough going on around the outdoor seating to keep him entertained and we had a great meal.

La Mère Jean, or Mother Jean, is by far my favorite restaurant in Lyon. While others will say that this place is great but not the best, I stand by my pick. It's the perfect definition of a Lyonnais bouchon: small and cozy with amicable servers and unfailing traditional cuisine. Located on Rue des Marroniers, a street of restaurants right next to Place Bellecour, this restaurant is dwarfed on each side by bigger, more touristy restaurants. That's not to say that you can just walk in without a reservation and be seated... La Mère Jean is almost always busy. I've been here twice already, both with reservations, and I plan on returning many times more. What made me fall in love with this restaurant is their Lyonnaise salad. I think that because I had such a bad experience with this dish at Le Bouchon aux Vins, I was exceptionally more taken by the perfection that I had at La Mère Jean. The pork belly slices are so warm and crispy, with a mouth-watering greasy sheen, on top of the cold fresh lettuce and topped with a fleshy, jiggly poached egg. Moreover, the croutons, normally an easily forgettable part of a salad, were unforgettably crunchy and savory. I could eat this salad for days and not get tired of it. The other dishes at this restaurant are of course delicious as well, save the poultry dish (the reason why I give 4 stars). Amongst the amazing other plates, this one fails to shine. My favorite main so far has been the steak in cheese sauce.

I have been to quite a few bouchons and I think this was the best. It is very, very reasonably priced and you have all your typical lyonaisse dishes in large portions. I had the veal head which was a first (apart from some tacos in Mexico), and it was pretty good considering the subject matter. My friend had liver and chicken, which had an awesome cream mustard sauce. My bottle of red for 23 was above average, the pot of wine (from a box) was terrible but cheap. We also had free pear grappa shots after the meal which was average quality. The desserts were great, the chocolate taste in creme anglaise was amazing. Will be back for a cheap, huge dinner!

I had dinner at Le Mere Jean about a month ago while on vacation in France. My friend and I looooved it! Its really quite good!! The place is very small and be sure to make a reservation. Its located on a street in downtown Lyon which has a lot of other cafes. We went to Le Mere Jean as it was recommended to us by a friend who is from Lyon. It did not disappoint! We were seated inside close to the kitchen and I saw that all this incredible food came from a very small kitchen with one cook and one dishwasher. Happy to say that I could on;y see the cook and not the dishwasher from where I was sitting. I enjoyed watching the chef cook all the meals...the rhythm of his pots and pans (all copper) and seeing how fresh everything was. We stated with a Lyonnaise salad. The best I had when in France and I tried several. The salad had pancetta, fried croutons, a poached egg and a dijon dressing. Not to be missed!! Next was the entree which was incredible potatoes daupin, meat in a divine cream sauce and some other side dishes. It was delicious. For dessert they had a selection of fresh home made tarts and other items. I had the almond tart which was sooo good! We had 2 bottles of wine and the bill was quite reasonable. I would highly recommend Le Mere Jean!!

La Mère Jean is an outstanding bouchon, traditional in some respects, and elevated in others. The appetizers were delicious, in smaller servings than another highly-rated bouchon we visited, but even better tasting. We were seated right next to the kitchen, in a tight "booth" where they had to slide out the middle table top to let a guest in, and we loved it. We watched people get turned away, so be sure to make reservations. As of this date, you can't make reservations online at most Lyon restaurants. If you are unable to make a reservation over the phone, the Visitors Bureau will be able to make the reservation for you, just make sure you have alternate dates available in case the restaurant is closed or full for that day.

We wanted to get good Lyonnaise cuisine without breaking the bank and La Mere Jean delivered wonderfully in that regard. We each got a prix fixe menu, which were 16 and 18 euros respectively, plus a 10 euro 46cl carafe of Cote du Rhone. The appetizer portion was surprisingly large and included lentils and a number of different kinds of meat. It was the kind of portion that I would have expected to pay $10 for in the US. The the entree Andouillette with mustard sauce was delicious and also very reasonably sized. The cheese finisher was also extremely tasty. We planned ahead and got in right as the restaurant opened because it fills up very quickly. On a different day when we were walking by, we saw a sign saying "complet." Very recommended.

I love this place. A traditional bouchon that's been around for over 50 years. It's very small, so mobility inside is difficult but the friendly atmosphere and amazing food makes it worth your while. So far I've gotten the 12€ menu (saucisson-- amazing), tarte praline, the quenelle plate with au gratin potatoes. All have been exceptional. I've gone twice already & will continue to come here when I want traditional bouchon food.

The duck of my friend was perfect, but this in a total contradiction to my salad. The chicken was dry. The sauce was to sour and the tomatoes still green. When talking about service, you would almost state that the duck came from a different restaurant. So, take their perfect duck. Don't judge the rest while eating it.

Good food but nothing special here! "Most bouchon" do the same food and taste the same. For the same price and food you should try to get a reservation at "Le petit bouchon chez George".

This has been one of the best restaurants I have ever been to. We never made it to this restaurant because either there was no space or we just didn't find the time to eat there, but we finally made it and it has been one of the best decisions so far! It is simple in so many ways. The kitchen is typical Lyonnaise prepared with fresh and local ingredients. We had the salade Lyonnaise and it was a huge portion - we almost didn't have any space for the other dishes because we just couldn't stop eating it. The staff was incredibly friendly. Will deffinitely go back here many many times.

Friendly staff and has local eats! Had a great evening with my friend. They also speak a little English which helped A LOT!

Delicious traditional lyonnais food! Could be more spacious but it's a very enjoyable experience to eat here anyways .

we found the food mediocre and unexciting in general. the best dish we had was the quenelle. the lyonnaise salad was just so so and the desserts were just sweet. sadly disappointed after reading all the great reviews. the restaurant itself was cute and cozy and the waitresses were wonderfully friendly and gave great service!!