Le Pave dans la Mare - Condom

Pity about this restaurant--it has a pleasant situation, attractive decor and friendly staff--but our party of 8 found the food absolutely appalling.The soup was just overcooked cabbage water and bit of other veg, the macadoine of veg seems to be tipped from a can and served with a dollop of garlic mayonnaise.There were 2 main courses--the mussels were served cold and had to be returned, The chicken was a small and scrawny leg served with tasteless spaghetti. The desserts were even worse--the cake was a tasteless hard slab and the other pudding was genuinely inedible--the five people who chose it, all left it. We were unified in saying that this was the worst meal any of us had eaten in France. This table d'hote experience was 13.50€ per head. The wine was reasonable but not cheap.We main our feelings known (poilitely) when settling up. the chef was called by the waitress--but had no interest in discussing it--he just walked off with a snort An awful experience.

When we found our favourite restaurant closed on this Monday lunch we thought we would head to Condom. On the way we came across this gem. We thoroughly enjoyed both the setting and the food. There is a set lunchtime menu with limited choices but to be honest all sounded delicious. We were treated courteously by the staff and shown to a table on the terrace overlooking the small lake. Very pleasant on a hot day. As we have found in French restaurants you are not hurried into making decisions and as we were with friends we spent a leisurely time talking and eating. Madam was careful to explain how to tackle my Bulots, whelks, and also warned us that Grandma's cake may have stones in it as it was cherry, it didn't and was delicious. Our meals were cooked to perfection and the portions were a good size. All in all a lovely lunch with friends in a pleasant restaurant with good food, wine and service. As an aside, the waterfowl and fish in the lake are very attentive especially if you throw scraps to them.