Can French Cuisine get any more boring?

Chez Patrick is not a new restaurant, it has simply changed its name. One way to make you think that it’s new. But there is nothing new about it. The owner/manager is in fact ‘Patrick’ the man behind Lou Pescalou.

From the moment we arrived until the moment we left, disappointment was the word.
Let’s simply start with our arrival: 8.30pm, we are taken to the room up-stairs. The room is practically empty. we are offered the table right in front of the loos. No thank you! Apparently, there is no other table, everything else has been booked. We insist. No thank you, the loos won’t do!

We are finally offered a round table away from them. That'll do just fine, thank you.
The menu arrives and then bang! Can a choice be less interesting? If the menu is this unaspiring, I should really retrieve to something safe: Oysters followed by monkfish with a tomato and basil sauces. There is an attempt at making you believe that you can pick the fish you want accompanied by one of their sauces but it’s barely 9pm on a Saturday and I have just ordered the last Monk fish tail. My friends will just have to have something else.
The menu does not say how big the fines de claire are (there should always be some indication of size because oysters can go from very small to very large). They turn out to be large ones, not my favourite!
One of my friends has ordered the baked aubergines. The disappointment on her face says a lot about the dish. It is blend and without anything special about it. In her words: ‘ce n’est pas cuisiné.’ My husband has ordered foie gras on artichoke. The foie gras is rather green when it comes and this is not because of the artichoke. Is it safe to eat he wonders?
The fish soup is rather nice I’m told.

When Patrick comes to ask if everything is fine, my friend who had the baked aubergines tells him immediately about them. He offers there and then to give her something else and replaces it with some prawns. He is a sport.
The next course comes, everything looks great until we taste the French fries. They’re soggy and  the sautéed potatoes are dripping with oil. The steak on the other hand is perfectly cooked and the shallots melt in the mouth.
Dessert comes and although the menu is rather restricted, everything on it is made to perfection. No complain on that front.
Patrick comes back to find out what was missing in the Aubergine dish? We go into some details. He is keen to get it better next time.

For your information, this is the sort of place where smocking is still allowed, so if you are very anti, you might find it too much. The guy next to us did not stop lighting up all evening.

My verdict, although Patrick is charming, I would not go there for the food.
The bill came to £50/head with wine.
Definitely not worth the experience.

Sorry Patrick. Try better next time. Could be a great restaurant if you had a better chef and better staff. Staff should not take a glass away just simply because you have not felt like having it topped up more than once. If they want to take it away, they might think of asking first if this is alright?!