Annabella W.
Google
The dinner at L’Arpège was, by a wide margin, the worst dining experience I have had in the last few years. Across the board, the food quality, service, and interior decoration were remarkably lacking, falling far below the standard expected of a restaurant in a city known for its great cuisine, like Colmar.
Culinary Failures:
The most significant issues were with the dishes, which displayed multiple basic flaws:
The bread served was doughy and had a strikingly sour, unpleasant aftertaste.
Starter - Pomponnette: The flavors in this dish—crab meat surrounded by smoked salmon, sweet mustard, curry sauce, and herring roe—were profoundly unbalanced. Both the salmon and crab meat had an unpleasant bitter note, and the accompanying sauce was surprisingly bland. We were unable to finish the dish. The roasted walnuts on our other starter did not taste fresh.
I noted with confusion that diners at an opposite table were constantly salting their food, a concern I quickly understood upon tasting our own dishes.
Main Course - Black Hen of Moselle: This dish lacked the sophistication one would expect. The meat itself was not juicy, and the promised foie gras flakes were not noticeable. Most striking was the overpowering and persistent aroma of the accompanying mushrooms, which stayed uncomfortably long in the mouth and raised questions about its preparation.
Unattentive Service:
The service was inattentive, hectic, and generally failed to meet minimum expectations. There was a distinct lack of engagement, including the critical failure of the staff to explain the dishes when served.
A specific lack of professionalism was observed when the waiter cleared our unfinished Pomponnette starter, making no remark and asking no question about the significant amount of food left on the plate. Separately, staff began cleaning a nearby table and then abruptly stopped, leaving a cleaning cloth as inappropriate "decoration" on the table.
Interior and Atmosphere:
The interior design was jarring and haphazard, lacking any sense of charming or quirky curation. The objects—such as plaster Madonnas positioned next to wine bottles and golden hedgehogs—appeared to be an arbitrary collection of discarded items placed onto the restaurant's shelves. This random and unappealing décor contributed to a deeply disappointing overall atmosphere.
