Auberge de l'Ile

This is only about the restaurant. The food was terrible and everything came out incredibly fast. The mussels were undercooked, and half the people who ate them were throwing up a few hours later. The fish arrived still frozen, and the burgers were completely raw. One of us asked for a salad without dressing because of an allergy, but it still came with dressing.

The cassoulet was one of the best I’ve ever had, and the Salade Auberge came topped with delicate slices of smoked magret and gésiers. We had a lovely, quiet dinner on the patio, and everything tasted great without being overpriced. It’s a modest place with a really warm welcome, another Logis de France success. A lovely evening, and I’d happily come back.

The best plate de jour we had on our trip came from here. We tried two different ones on separate days, and also had some good desserts. The food can be good, though I wouldn’t call it excellent. For the area around Martel, it’s one of the better restaurants, and you can expect a decent meal. Prices are steep unless you choose the plate de jour. Creysse is picturesque, and there’s a small church up the hill that makes for a nice walk after eating. We came four times during our three weeks in Lot, once for dessert, once for drinks, and twice for meals. The staff were hard to read and inconsistent: they ignored us on one visit, were very nice on another, rude on the third, then nice again. It can be hard to tell what might offend them, like arriving near the end of dining hours or skipping espresso after a meal. A young waiter speaks decent English, though on our third visit he wouldn’t speak it for some reason. This is only a restaurant review.

This is about the restaurant, not the hotel. The food and service were okay, and while it was a little expensive, that seemed fair enough for a small town with limited access to supplies. The problem was the orange juice. At 2€90, I expected a glass of freshly squeezed juice, but got a small 250mL bottle of concentrate instead. When I pointed that out, they tried to claim the bottle cost more than freshly squeezed juice. If that were true, why serve the more expensive option in the first place? That 2€90 mistake could have been avoided, and it earned them a one-star review.