L’Embarcadère is a well-known Bordeaux seafood restaurant, but surprisingly enough, given the city’s location, the end result is rather disappointing.

After my first three dinners in Bordeaux, I wanted to take a refreshing change and decided that a seafood restaurant would do the trick. I remembered l’Embarcadère, where I’d eaten several times during my Bordeaux days. A decent but not extravagant souvenir either.

So I asked local friends, some of whom have restaurants, for advice, and got the same answer every time. “For seafood, you should go to Arcachon or Cap Ferret….although you’ll get the same products as in Paris, as many of them source from Rungis. (Located south of Paris, Rungis is the world’s largest fresh produce market). In Bordeaux, there aren’t really any specialized restaurants, and they’re not very good… Ah yes, l’Embarcadère is a classic, but don’t expect much…. If you want high quality, wait until you get back to Paris“.

But I was brave enough to give it a try.

You’ll find all the articles about this Bordeaux getaway at the bottom of the page.

Restaurant concept

Quite simply, it’s a restaurant specializing in fish and seafood.

Setting

Very pretty, with its wood-and-brass decor and multiple frames full of photos, not at all in keeping with the restaurant’s theme, but no matter.

Warm without being dark.

The menu

Starters

Main courses.

Seafood

Desserts

So far, everything is consistent with the theme.

The dinner

I arrive at the restaurant, located in a lively part of the old town.

The welcome is super friendly and warm. I’m seated at my table.

My order is quickly taken and the service starts just as quickly.

I’ll start with langoustines.

They’re a little pale and I think there’s a way to make the presentation a little sexier. This is really the bare minimum, without effort.

Nothing to say other than: they’re good, but the restaurateur had little to do with it. But they look so glum on their tray…

Meanwhile I hear a waiter having a tense discussion with the couple at the next table. The lady has ordered a whole sea bass and wants it to be skinned before being served, but the waiter refuses, saying it’s not his job and that he has something else to do.

The discussion gets a little tense before he complies. So he’ll take care of the lady’s fish at the table, with a real funeral face.

I can understand his stance, but not his argumentation or manner, but we’ll talk about that later.

Then I had the farandole of oysters: 2 Cap Ferret, 2 Marennes, 2 leeks fondue, 2 maître d’hôtel butter

Once again, I’m not a fan of the appearance: too much seaweed for my taste. But with the hot oysters, they weren’t going to use ice. However, I think it looks a little slapdash.

I wasn’t given an oyster fork. Is this a mistake or is it the service protocol? I’ll never know, but it’s not convenient.

I decide to start with the hot oysters.

I could be wrong, but the point of the concept is the mix of flavors between the oyster and what goes with it… in one case I’ll feel a lot of leek and no oyster at all, in the other the oyster will be barely perceptible.

I’m quite disappointed….in fact it’s a dish for people who don’t like oysters, you swallow them without even noticing they’re there. I’ve had better.

The cold oysters will be fine.

In the end I managed with my regular fork, I finished the bread but didn’t get any refill.

The waiter comes to clear the table and tells me “since you’ve finished, I’ll tell the kitchen to start cooking the seabass”. What? An appetizer that can be eaten in no more than 10 minutes and the next course is not anticipated? I know a sea bass cooks fast, but still…

Yes, because like the lady next to me, I had the whole grilled sea bass with a white herb sauce.

It eventually arrived at my table.

The decoration of the plate is sober. Once again, they haven’t done much effort, but it’s hardly noticeable.

Just for the fun of it, I almost asked for it to be skinned, but I’ll be fine doing it myself.

The fish will be good, maybe a little undercooked but just right. The sauce lacks finesse and is a little coarse.

For dessert I’ll have chocolate profiteroles.

The pastry will be very hard, the ice cream…icy and the sauce not at all creamy, in too small a quantity to bind it all together. It really looks like an industrial dessert and I’d be surprised if it was homemade. Anyway, compared to the day before at L’Entrecôte, it’s night and day.

It then takes me a long time to ask for the bill: the staff are busy with the newly-arrived tables, but neglect the tables that are at the end of the meal.

I eventually manage to get it (€82.50), which brings the dinner to an end.

The atmosphere

No particular atmosphere.

The service

Nice and warm. Yes, but as one of my former mentors kept telling me, being nice is a quality, not a profession.

Overall, the service was pretty nonchalant. Friendly, but not prompt or even attentive, with oversights and odd things (the oyster fork). It’s as if they were there…to be there.

And then there’s the episode of the sea bass with the next table. So I understand that it’s not easy in the middle of service, but for me it depends on the type of restaurant. In an “entry-level” bistro or brasserie, I can see how this would be difficult. But in a real restaurant service, and one that specializes in fish and seafood, I don’t think the question should arise.

Anyway, I didn’t like the way the customer was initially put off when she asked for it, especially as there were only 3 tables in the restaurant at the time. Between bad faith, rudeness and laziness.

In short, what’s left in the end is a staff that’s nice but not very professional, or not very motivated, or both.

Bottom line

A friendly setting to start with, and that’s something.

In terms of cuisine, it’s good without being transcendent, and even disappointing in the case of the hot oysters. I think that if I’d had the same dishes in any non-specialized restaurant, they wouldn’t have been any worse, and might even have been better.

And as for the presentation, while it’s not bad, it’s a bit like “we’re going to do it with as little effort as possible, but we’re going to make sure it doesn’t show”.

Finally, the service, once again pleasant, but it’s not enough or else they should be working in another style of restaurant.

In short, a decent meal, but you expect something else when you go to a restaurant that claims to specialize in seafood. I could have gone anywhere else and it wouldn’t have been different.

A place you go by but which is too neutral to make a lasting impression and make you want to return.

Articles about this trip to Bordeaux

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