MBA60302
Google
We were booked to stay at Maison Olhabidea for 2 nights, with dinners explicitly reserved for both evenings. Our primary reason for selecting this inn was the wonderful things we had heard about the chef. We knew from other TA reviews and other research that the accommodations themselves were a bit rustic but thought it was worth that tradeoff for good food.||||We arrived at the inn on the late afternoon of a Tuesday, which was following a 3-day weekend. Neither of the 2 brothers who run the inn and restaurant were home, and we were greeted by their father, who speaks very little English. No matter; our French is rusty and non-grammatical, but serviceable. He explained to us that both of his sons were away, taking a break after the 3 day weekend, that the restaurant would be closed that evening, but that there were a few restaurants in town where we could eat. This was very dismaying. We then were shown to our room, which was in fact spacious (although with very low ceilings under the eaves) and furnished with charm, but with a bathroom in dire need of updating. We did in fact go into town that evening and had a perfectly acceptable meal, although not one that I would have driven 100 kilometers out of the way for.||||In the meantime, it was raining constantly and the rain was forecast to continue all of the next day -- meaning that there would be very little to occupy us during the day so we made the decision to check out the next morning. Before we left we did have a truly delicious breakfast at the restaurant, which gave us a glimpse of the culinary treats that might have awaited us for dinner. (And, the owners did not in any way protest when we told them that we were cutting short our stay.)||||We were baffled as to why no one emailed us in advance to alert us to their decision to close the restaurant on the evening that we would be arriving. It would have been such a simple thing to do.