Paul Bert closed for renovations

[Shira]

Walked by last Thursday to discover that most of the interior was on the exterior. Dorie Greenspan mentioned in her Bon Appetit article that renovations were scheduled. Any intell on whether they'll be back before August?

[sharonb]

I had lunch there yesterday, so yes, it's open. (I assume we're talking about the Bistro Paul Bert.)

I'd never been there before; I'd been planning to go to La Muse Vin because my friend and I are both wine geeks, but it was closed.

Something annoying happened at Paul Bert. First, they have a lunch menu at 16 € that is entrée + plat + fromage + dessert, with only one choice for each. The regular menu is also all the courses, but for 32 € and with around 10 choices for each course. You can also order à la carte from the same menus, with the lunch plat du jour at 14 € and the longer menu's plats at 21 €.

Feeling all those courses would be too much, I just ordered the lunch plat. My friend ordered one of the menu plats. But then he felt like having dessert, so ordered that, too. (So with just a plat and a dessert, his meal was 30 €.)

Since I was taking him out to lunch, I paid the bill without wanting to seem too concerned with the total, though it was somewhat annoying that less food/courses cost more. But the real kicker was that afterward, I looked at the printout, and saw I'd been charged 21 € for my plat rather than 14 €. That upset me, but I didn't want to make a stink in front of my friend, so I just swallowed my sense of injustice and left.

But when I think about it, I actually paid them 7 € not to be served the lunch entrée, cheese and dessert. Not the best deal in the world...

The food is pretty good, but I don't think the higher prices for certain dishes are worth it. (And several have supplements, even when ordering the menu.)

Edited July 27, 2007 by sharonb (log)