Maison Decoret

If you're visiting Vichy, this is the place to be. House Decoret is well situated and feels like home. The Decoret family own the place, and their table was perfect. I got to try both the dinner menu and breakfast. A special thank you to Augustina for welcoming us and making us feel at home. We'll be back.

The food and its presentation were beautiful, with quality ingredients and harmonious flavors. The staff were perfect all evening, until a skinny waiter came along and spoiled the experience. He moved our table, cleared away a full bottle of wine and mineral water, and acted rudely. It felt like a very clear message to leave. We'd read some recent reviews with really bad comments about the staff, and he was definitely the source of those. Everyone else was professional and lovely. One worm can spoil the apple. My kind advice is to give the young man a different role.

The dinner service was fine dining at its best, and worth every penny. We stayed four nights and had an amazing room, spotless throughout, with the kind of shower you wish you had at home. Service was excellent. We were delayed on arrival and let the hotel know we'd be late. Around 9 pm they called because they were worried we hadn't eaten, and offered to help us find food since most restaurants would be closed. The dinner was incredible too. It was an absolutely amazing stay, and very hard to leave.

The dishes were the highlight of our three-week gourmet trip around France, and we will still come back because the food was just too good. The restaurant had reopened after the holidays with new menus, and we were the first in that evening and among the last to leave. The ideas, combinations, and refinement were unparalleled, far beyond what you'd expect from a one-star place. But the service was the opposite. Sometimes we waited a long time for food, and sometimes a course arrived while we had no cutlery. We felt ignored and as if we didn't matter. That was more than annoying. The food alone made us happy.