Les Charmilles - Maincy

We recently enjoyed one of the beautiful Saturday evenings when they light the Chateau with over 2000 candles! That was breathtaking as well as the grounds! Then the evening light show with the horses and music... wow!! We were staying in Paris and tour a small van out with other people in a group and had an amazing dinner at Les Charmilles. The setting was amazing and so romantic. We were seated at 7:40 with others in our group and were trying to be done by 9:15 so we could enjoy a tour in the chateau. Others in our group were done (we had the same waitress) but it was like she totally forgot about us. At 9:45 we had to find her and ask for our dessert! Took her another 20 minutes to show up again. At this point we missed our tour and also missed part of the 2nd light show. Its a set menu so I could not understand why it took so long other than she completely forgot about our table. Would have been a better evening had we not have to sit at a table all evening and not take in all the sights. Heck I would have ordered more wine had I ever been approached. Truly disappointing.

I believe this restaurant is open only on weekends and certain time of the year. The price for a three coarse meal was absolutely fair not to mention that the view was magnificent. Make your reservation around 8 if you are visiting in August. You will see the daylight fading into a romantic evening.

We were glad to eat inside as the weather was too cool but to be seated and wait for 40 minutes for first interaction with a server, with an 8:30 reservation no less, was too long even by French standards. We saw this is how the staff were managing all tables, except those with small children. We well know the French way is not to rush the meal, but this was a colossal experience with patience. By 10:30 PM we asked for coffee and check without getting to the dessert course because we had a 75 minute drive back to our hotel in Reims. By the way, the restaurant bathrooms are not ADA, they are up a few flights of stairs unless you walk quite a ways to the entrance ground floor bathrooms. The food we had was very good. We had sense kitchen could not keep up with the number of tables, it wasn't the server's fault, but the existing model is such that servers (at least on this night, perhaps they were short staffed) are inattentive. We have been coming to France for over 20 years, and this experience was a disappointing surprise for us.

Unfortunately the dinner loses a little interest if it is taken inside. The meal is delicious. a flat: there were several choices of bread and the server gave us the bread without proposing the choice, damage. another flat: the frame is very beautiful but we dined on vulgar plastic tables, damage. another thing, a musical background would be nice because we hear all the sounds coming from other guests, so it lacks intimidation

The view from the restaurant is really amazing. High quality food with a very professional service. Highly recommended