Hôtel Restaurant La Chaumière

Breakfast was amazing, though slow-cooked eggs may not be to everyone’s taste. The rooms are lovely, and the beds and bedding are really comfortable. We paid a little extra for a superior room. The Michelin-starred restaurant is worth looking into, but check the website for which nights it’s open. The pool looks nice for summer.

This is about the restaurant, not the hotel. The food was great, but unprofessional handling of our jackets spoiled the impression of the whole evening. We had dinner at La Chaumière in Dole on August 26, and the hostess took five jackets at the entrance. We left by taxi for the marina in another village, then realized we’d forgotten them. The taxi had already gone, so I called the restaurant. Since we don’t live in France and had to get home on August 28, we agreed I would drive back for the jackets when we returned to our home marina the next day. The restaurant was closing for vacation, and they said they’d leave the jackets on a chair outside by the entrance. When I came back as agreed, there was nothing there. I took photos, then spent another 20 minutes trying to call, email, or find someone, but everything was locked and I only got out-of-office replies saying they’d be back September 5. I was disappointed, but expected the restaurant to follow up once it reopened. For a restaurant in the Michelin Guide, I thought the service would be excellent, perhaps even impeccable. Nobody called or emailed on September 5, so I wrote again. The contact person said they had our jackets and that she had left them outside, asking how I could have missed them. That wasn’t true, as the photos showed. I asked if they could send them to Austria. Another person replied that they had already written to say they had the jackets. I asked again if they could mail them to Austria, and haven’t had a reply since. I would have expected them to remind us about the jackets before we left. When I called that evening, they could have asked where we were, since perhaps an employee heading home could have brought them through our village. Taxis in Burgundy can be hard to arrange quickly and are quite expensive. At the very least, they should have kept the agreement to leave the jackets outside the next day. And if that went wrong, I expected them to admit the mistake, apologize, and send our things to us, covering the postage. Those seem like simple, obvious ways to show hospitality and respect for guests.

The room was incredibly cramped, with no air conditioning or any mechanical ventilation. Leave even a tiny part of the window open at night and dozens of mosquitoes will keep you company. I’d definitely avoid staying here in summer.

I’m reviewing the restaurant: every visit is a delight. The plates are creative, original, full of flavor, and truly memorable. Bravo to the chef and the whole team.