L'arnsbourg Baerenthal

That dessert was so delicious! We loved it, and the whole evening was made special by a friendly atmosphere alongside elegant, professional service and fine dining. Best service we’ve ever had. Thank you, cheers!

Looking out at the beautiful garden from every table made the meal feel relaxing and eye-opening. The food and service were lovely, and so was the atmosphere.

We came back after many years because we’re usually looking for excellent Michelin-starred food and French wine. The hotel and its surroundings are beautiful, wonderfully calm, and an ideal place to disappear into the forest. We were warmly welcomed into a lovely classic room, finished to a superb standard. We enjoyed the room and the friendly staff, and the quality and design were impressive everywhere. The restaurant itself is beautiful, with many precious details. The service from the whole friendly team was outstanding, and the hotel is excellent. The dinner, though, fell short of what we expected. We visit Michelin-starred restaurants across Europe often, since in our experience that gives about a 90% guarantee of finding outstanding cooks. Here, it felt like three-star service paired with cooking below one star. I was puzzled to see oyster, octopus, tuna and Homard on a menu in Northern Alsace. Successful Michelin-starred chefs today often focus on authentic local ingredients, varied textures and intense aromas, and we couldn’t find any of that in this menu. Many dishes looked nicely arranged but had no taste. The oyster served as standard was disappointing. I’d skip that senseless dish and offer a local surprise from the forest instead. The cook seemed to miss what made each dish special. To me, standard tuna, which usually has little taste, is giving up. Mackerel (Alsace?) was okay but a little boring; the Fois gras was quite good, while the duck was ordinary, with no crunch and a medium-soft texture. The desserts were simple, pure sugar and disappointing. Strawberry with Olive was nice to read about, but tasted like marmalade without any olive note. And meringue in 2024? That feels like something from 2000 and before. The wine list is interesting, but I found it very overpriced. Good wines outside Alsace varieties were hard to find below €150,-. The typical Alsace wine character didn’t fit the menu at all. €170 for a €45 (amazing!) Condrieu? That’s your decision. These days, many French Michelin-starred restaurants focus on very good wines around 60-120 Euro. Wines over € 100,- are hard to sell, even in France. Keep that in mind if you want to succeed with 1 Michelin star. The cook didn’t show up, and overall I felt the cooking was very traditional and old-school, with many parts of the menu outdated for today and lacking in taste and especially texture variety. The hotel and service are excellent, but you probably wouldn’t travel to L'Arnsbourg for standard holidays. I hope the beautiful house does well in future with a young, fully focused cook who can meet clients' expectations.

Absolutely amazing 🤩 Such a beautiful place, with gentle, kind staff 🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵🥰🥰🥰