Auberge Chez Denis À François

The views from the canary yellow century home are stunning, but inside, the two dining rooms have been painted white and lost their character and history. The colorful linens shown in the photos weren’t on our table at dinner. We were a group of six and managed to order everything on the menu. The food was average, and the atmosphere didn’t match the pretentious service. Denis á François haven’t kept up with the caliber of fine dining available on these precious islands.

The host was informative and very helpful, and breakfast was terrific. We stayed three nights in the newer part of the hotel. It was nicely finished, with real wood tall baseboards and wide colonial-style wood trim around the doors and windows. The large bed was comfortable and I slept well. Strongly recommend it, one of the best three-star hotel experiences.

At Chez Denis a Francois, the meal opened with an overly fishy amuse-bouche that hit my taste buds hard, and things didn’t get much better. The Bouillabaisse had a clear broth with no flavor and was short on seasoning. The Scallops with Pernod and Pot-en-pot were both quite good, but the price and pretense weren’t reflected in what arrived on the plate.

I ordered two entrees to take out. The portions were extremely small, and the presentation was awful. The taste was fine, nothing more, and $43 for what we got was the worst part.