Restaurant Fonzes

We had booked a table for 10 for a business lunch, with the view to treating our foreign guests with local specialities (I have been to Fonzes since I was a child, 40 years ago - the place used to be famous for its crawfish and trouts bred at the feet of the restaurant).The experience was simply appalling:- the pork sausage (2 plates) and the fish (dorade) (3 plates) arrived undercooked- the plates were sent back to the kitchen. When the fish came back, the plates had been mixed up (notwithstanding the fact that one would have expected for the fish to be replaced), and the flesh whilst burnt outside was still sticking to the bone, uncooked for most parts.- one guest, for whom a gluten free meal was specified, was served noodles with his fish When challenged about the lack of 'cuisson', the cook (not a Chef for sure) who happened to be outside the kitchen aggressively reacted claiming that he knew his job. The manager did not take the complaint very well either, calling upon all sorts of arguments (all other customers of the day had been very happy - insinuating that we were difficult, the cook was all fine, Sunday was a very busy time, we should have arrived earlier - whilst precisely when arriving at 1pm, they pushed us towards arriving as late as possible because of the traffic, etc). The manager did not seem to have much understanding of good manners either: I had to stop her from moving the complaint from her till to the table (an argumentation trying to get things rectified is not something business guests would expect to witness).The manager offered one bottle of Champagne as her form of apologies, which she made me feel like extremely generous of hers. But I was rather surprised to see that the bill was in no way reduced by at least the cost of those rather pricey main courses that were inedible. There was also an inflated number of deserts billed etc.The service was patchy, delivered by new and inexperienced staff, though doing their best to keep a smile on their face despite the stress around.Noted: missing napkins, water / bread / ice bucket had to be requested, plates and aperitifs glasses not removed when some of our guests had to leave early, one waitress tripping over a threshold leading to the terrace...All together an extremely unpleasant experience. We were lucky to have guests with a good sense of humour, and the view on the Gorges de l'Hérault as a compensation.The after taste was bitter - childhood memories of my family enthusiastically heading to Fonzes for their mouth watering 'écrevisses a l'américaine' spoiled by what appears today to have become a TOURIST TRAP.

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We decided to go to the beautiful village of St Guilhem le desert on an impulse, so hadn't decided where to eat. That was easily decided when we saw this restaurant with an eating deck perched 100' above the Herault river (which is also great for canoeing on!).We all had the Bistrot menu of a salad and main course - and all by chance selected the tarragon chicken - nice and succulent and very flavourful. The choice on this menu was limited, but there should be something for all tastes.We had excellent service throughout and the owner was very friendly - being early in the year the village was not populated by tourists, so we had a great day out - not sure what it will be like in August :)I would definitely recommend coming to this village, and also to this restaurant.

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We walked in because of the lovely aspect over the gorge. It was a busy day and we had to wait to be seated but once we ordered the food arrived within minutes and we had to wait quite a long time for water, wine and bread. Not the dining expereince one would like. The mains/salad were quite average, however the cafe gourmand was very good.

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The village is very quaint, but eat at this restaurant overlooking the Herault gorge. On the terrace you are right above the gorge. The menu is limited, but if our experience is typical the food is very good and reasonable value. The staff are friendly and helpful.

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We didn't eat here as we were too early for lunch and was looking for breakfast which they don't do. The staff were lovely and offered to share their own breakfast with us! We gracefully declined and had a coffee instead. The views are beautiful.

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