Le Relais du Viaduc

I have lived in France for 8 years, and have always loved French food. But the beautiful image was smashed yesterday by the team at Le Relais du Viaduct in Coutances. I had just fetched my mother from the hospital in Coutances, having had had a procedure and this was supposed to be a nice little lunch after leaving hospital. To be honest she would have eaten better from the hospital vending machine.The restaurant is situated on the roundabout to Villedieu-les-Poeles. First impressions are good. Nice interior led to a small table with contemporary cutlery. The menu board looked interesting but a waiter changed an item that had sold out. We ordered but were told that what we wanted was off the menu because they close over Christmas and so are running down their supplies. This should have been the warning sign….. Eventually, we ordered Terrine of Lotte and a Tortilla with chorizo for starters. They arrived very quickly which surprised us since the restaurant was busy. However, the food tasted of nothing, was totally bland with no seasoning whatsoever; not a hint of flavour of fish in the terrine and I couldn’t tell you what was in the Tortilla. It was grey inside so presume it was powdered egg mix or out of a pre-made pack. Well, we ate this and waited for better to come from the mains. We all know that presentation is the first impression when you receive a plate of food. What arrived looked as if it had been slopped on the plate straight out of a bag. I have taken pictures to validate how awful the food is at this restaurant. I had ordered Thai pork which was anything but Thai. The chef either has never been outside of Normandy or hopes to deceive. The supposed Thai sauce had no trace of spice at all. Indeed, it was so bland I was reminded of my school dinners in the 1970s. The pork ‘meat’ was just gristle, with what meat was there was being stringy – precisely the sort of rubbish you expect from the cheapest boil-in-a-bag offering. How a chef can make mistakes cooking pre-packaged food is astonishing but the ‘chef’ at Le Relais du Viaduct has perfected his craft of killing pre-made food to perfection. I would expect some Thai rice with a Thai plate, but no, good old Uncle Ben came to the rescue. Under-seasoned rice is a fundamental flaw because rice with no taste at all is just nasty. Rice is one food that is perfect for soaking up flavours. How can the lowliest chef ruin a portion of rice? But the cook at Le Relais du Viaduct in Coutances can’t even manage to cook what a 9 year old can do in their first home economics lesson. The plate came with ‘ratatouille’ and even that had neither seasoning nor taste. it was just a bunch of wet, overcooked vegetables. Seriously poor. Mum’s dish was supposed to be Duo of roast veal and roast pork with a Boursin sauce. What arrived were slices of mechanically recovered meat and a piece of petit salé. This was served with a melted knob of Boursin on the top and over-cooked soggy pasta that had been boiled to death in unseasoned water. This too, was accompanied by the somewhat dubious ratatouille. We were both very disappointed and took photos of the food to show our friends. But they will never appreciate how terrible the actual food tasted. We told the waitress that we were very disappointed at the lack of quality and taste. She looked neither shocked nor upset but just replied "Bon", and with a shrug asked us what we wanted for dessert. We declined, given that what we’d had already was virtually inedible. She, the waitress simply turned away. She couldn’t have cared less. We stood up from the table went to pay for the food we couldn’t eat and told the owner it was the worst food we had ever eaten in France. She didn’t seem to care either, probably thought we were foreign tourists and as such, unimportant and our views irrelevant. To summarise: If you have an allergy to salt or any sort of flavouring whatsoever, then this restaurant might be for you! Otherwise I would suggest you stay clear of this establishment. The food is obviously brought in pre-made & ready to boil in bags. Unless or until they change their cheap and nasty solutions, we will never return. There’s more taste from licking the back of a stamp than from the food we experienced at this restaurant.

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After a check up at the hospital in Coutances we decided to go for dinner and end, what had already been a good day, with a nice meal out.We chose the restaurant "on the fly" after looking at the menu posted outside. The position is not brilliant (right on a roundabout over looking large discount warehouse) but it looked modern, well decorated and very clean.It was a Wednesday night, so very quiet and we were, to start with, the only people in. But we really must say the food was equisite. We were treated to great service; the attention we received was exemplary, great food and great (cheap!) drink.We enjoyed every course and found the ambience and friendliness of the staff and the other diners (who arrived later) wonderful. A really great evening shared.I really cannot praise them highly enough and will definitely be going again.Just to add my tip was refused with the polite statement that it is already included in the bill. This just iced the cake. I will be recommending this restaurant and taking some friends there very soon.

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Just because we are English doesn't mean we have no taste. Living in France for 7 years we have a good taste for food and wine. In fact I cook French food English food I love to cook Indian food. We would never ever return to this restaurant it was disgraceful the chef asked was the food good , he walked off when we complained. The chef and the lady doing the bar spent most of the time serving drinks to their friends also both of them drinking wine. They didn't say anything when we left as they were too busy tucking into wine and oysters with their friends . Simply couldn't be bothered . They rely on passing trade.

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We were a group of four friends who visited this restaurant for dinner. We arrived on our bicycles from a nearby b&b and having forgotten our lock, asked the staff if they could keep an eye on our bicycles as we couldn't see them from our table. They were very happy to do this. Although I didn't have any myself, my friends informed me the oysters were very good. The service was good and we had a very enjoyable evening. I would just say though, that the photograph above which I presume the restaurant put on the website is quite off-putting. The actual food served is much better presented.

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We stopped here on the way to the ferry at Cherbourg and could not have been more pleased. We loved the choice, the service and the prices-and something for me as a vegetarian was no trouble at all when I explained what I could and could not eat. The location is fab so avoid the A road and take the back route instead to discover this gem.

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