Established in 1345 the La Couronne Inn and Restaurant is one of the oldest establishments in the city of Rouen, maybe even the entire country. It's located in the Place du Vieux-Marché (Old Market Square in English) right across from the Church of Joan of Arc.
Brief History
The foundations of the restaurant remain original from when it was built but the half-timber building that sits atop them actually only dates back to 1928. Still, that is almost 100 years old so I think it's actually pretty impressive. The day we went it was so sunny outside that all my photos got washed out. They're all I have though so we are going with it.
Part of the restaurant was destroyed during the bombings of the city during WWII but the the facade has since been preserved. It is decorated with various country flags, colorful flower boxes and red string lights. It definitely has an iconic look about it.
The Interior
The interior is decorated in an eclectic fashion with the walls covered from floor to ceiling with pictures of customers and presumably, famous people who have frequented the restaurant over the years.
Leopard print carpet on the floors, royal blue cloths on the tables and elegant tapestries covering the walls - it's certainly a busy but fun sort of decor. I quite liked it. We ate outside on the terrace but I pooped inside to snap off a few photos of the interior.
I had a facination with the restaurant ever since I saw the movie Julia and Julia, which mentioned that the restaurant had been the location of Julia Childs first meal in France which inspired her to take up cooking. I guess I just like history and romanticism.
Needless to say, I had high hopes for the site and fairly high expectations. I wanted my sister to try a good meal in France during her visit so I figured this location would be the perfect spot for us. The restaurant was awarded the Michelin Guide Bon Plat rating in 2019 and a plaque next to the door proudly advertised the accomplishment. We had tried many Bon Plat restaurants in the past and they had always been amazing, by far some of the best meals that we have ever experienced, so how could we go wrong?
The Food
Well, the food was shit and that's my final verdict. Well, I guess it wasn't terrible but definitely was not good at all and certainly over priced for the dining experience. Id say that it was mediocre at best and i certainlywould not recommend it. I dont know why they had lost their Michelin rating but what we ate made me wonder how they had ever gotten it in the first place. Maybe covid had been particularly bad for them and they had cut costs by sacrificing quality? Maybe they had recently taken on a new chef or maybe they had actually paid off the Michelin organization and bribed them to give them a good review? I doubt that last part was the case but nonetheless, the food really sucked.
For an appetizer I got the oysters and immediately regretted it. They didn't taste fresh and for a brief second I wondered if I was going to get food poisoning if I ate them. I still finished them despite the thought and luckily I felt fine the next day. Overall I wasn't happy with my selection.
Someone at the table got the Foie Gras and I tried it as well and that was also pretty terrible. The bread was overly toasted and filled with nuts and fruit and just seemed was all wrong. It didn't really go with the Foie and was way too crumbly to spread any pate over it. The Foie Gras itself was pretty bad, but in a way that I cant quite describe. It was tasteless for sure, and of a bad texture, maybe gummy in a way?
So two terrible dishes and I was starting to get nervous about or mains.
For my main I ended up getting a flavorless pork belly served with overcooked almond crusted potato. My wife's fish was also over cooked and just all around medicore. Note the black burnt edge of the fish. That wasn't intentional. One thing I did like though were the plates. They had a traditional design that fit the decor - colorful and fun.
The service was pretty decent but it felt very old fashioned and rehersed which made it feel somewhat tacky. They did the old trope of serving the dishes beneath a silver cloche, which is the dome thingy that goes over the plate. I had to look up what it was called. The waiters did a big reveal of the dishes, which cames across as a little cheesy and was less impressive since we could tell right away that the food looked overcooked. The cook on the food wasn't the waiters fault and I'm sure that the restaurant forces them to do the trope since its going for that old traditional sort of vibe, but the act just didn't land this time around. The waiters pretended that they had mixed up our order before revealing that things were actually as they should be, but that was another old school joke trope that we could see coming from a mile away. I appreciated their effort to make things fun but it all felt a little contrived and somewhat awkward.
For dessert I got the lack of flavor chocolate mouse with tasteless fruit.
My wife had a deconstructed lemon pie that tasted way too sweet and, I don't know, fake or something. The pastry was over cooked of course.
My sister got the apple tart. I didn't care to try it. If two desserts were bad then why would a third be any better?
Conclusion
To be honest, for my sake I didn't really care that the meal was so terrible. My wife and I had had plenty of amazing meals during our time in France. What really disappointed me was that I wanted my sister to have a good French meal in the country during her vacation and unfortunately she didn't get to experience that. Instead she got what imI described above. Mediocre overcooked food. The price wasn't horrendous by any means but still over priced for the quality. All in all it was disappointing and I definitely would not recommend ever going there.
Yeah, that famous demo effect... It happens to all of us. Like Caroline's 60th birthday: We booked a restaurant with great food which we had frequented in the past and raved about to anybody who would listen. So we invited everybody there. When we got there, the table wasn't ready and the food turned out complete garbage! So embarassing...
Damn that's unfortunate and definitely embarrassing when it happens. Makes you get all jibber jabby as well - "it's not usually like this, I swear. I'm not sure what's going on. Normally everything is so good....etc..etc
it makes you wonder what the hell happened when you experience it though. We're they having an off day? or chef called in sick? or cut costs and quality or what?
Probably a new chef, and most likely a foreigner with no clue of the cuisine. Germans don't want to cook anymore; too lazy. Happy belated Canada Day! 😀
Haha that's funny. It's possible I suppose.
Thanks 🇨🇦 😁 🇨🇦
🙂
Jokes and lousy food don't go hand-in-hand for me at all.
I guess the decor and the presentation were like seeing a beautiful face with an ugly personality and no character.
I take your word as gospel. There'd be no need for me to go to prove otherwise.
Yeah that's a good way to describe the place. Pretty face but bad personality. Haha
Ha! I really did lol as I was reading thinking, this place looks incredible. Then I got to the food was shit 🤣🤣
It's really disappointing when that happens. Those oysters, I have been in that situation myself where I wonder if I'm putting myself in the way of food paining by continuing!
Haha yeah. It was kind of a hot day so oysters were a bad choice in that regard as well. I was lucky I didn't get sick.
We had a lot of good meals in the country but it was unfortunate that my sister didn't get to have a good French meal. That was the main disappointment for me. But what can you do 🤷♂️
When we went to Paris we had many a bad meal..I was starting to lose faith!
At least you didn't get sick, that would have sucked big time
I'm not great at picking restaurants. My wife is good at it. Reviews and ratings go a long way and if you can find Michelin Bon Plat restaurants then you're pretty much guaranteed to have a good meal. That's another reason why this one was so surprising. But I guess the fact that they lost the rating explains it and 2019 (we went in 2022) was quite a while ago.
My wife is quite good at it too. I am usually taken in the the looks and then disappointed by the food and she loves to actually research their reviews!
Yes exactly. I'm the same lol
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