LE GABRIEL

It pains me to describe this restaurant as mediocre, especially since we flew all the way from New York explicitly to celebrate my birthday dinner here, based on the excellent experience we had two years ago. But things have definitely changed. The room is still gorgeous. But now we have to talk about food and service. Regarding the former, there were two dishes we simply could not eat (and we literally eat everything without complaint). One was a truly disgusting fish called skate wing. When the cloche was raised, the immediate experience was one of smelling garbage that had been left out for a couple weeks in the hot sun. I did make a stab at it but actually gagged. Nothing else was that bad, but one other dish did come close. The wine pairing was also a bit odd. I understand these are going to be inferior, lesser-priced wines, but in some cases we really felt as though we were drinking Yellowtail, or something of that ilk. We had to ask for replacements for the undrinkable a couple of times and, when we did, the replacement wines were FAR better. We should have just ordered a nice bottle of something and called it a day. Lastly, the service was what I would call uneven. We had one delightful young lady who was a joy, but then a couple of other servers who helped with our table gave off a feeling of serious disinterest. There were a few times where we needed something and just could not catch the eye of a single person. When you have to raise and hold your hand up like you're in school, then the staff is simply not sufficiently attentive. I noticed they were much younger than the last time we dined here. Finally, we could not understand the sommelier's introductions to the wines because he mumbled. He also seemed way too young to have had enough experience drinking to answer any questions we had. For $1,575, the bill for our two dinners seemed completely out of range for the experience we had. Dinner at also-three-starred-Alleno the next night (same cost) helped make up for this unfortunate experience, but for the trouble we went to for this special meal was disproportionate.

My friends and I went to Le Gabriel in Paris to celebrate a birthday. We chose the seafood-themed tasting menu for dinner, and every dish was executed with perfect precision—especially the cooking of the seafood, which is notoriously hard to get just right. The ingredients were incredibly fresh, and the flavors came through beautifully.

My personal favorites were the radish appetizer, which was light and full of character, and the dessert: dark chocolate paired with sea salt cookies—an unexpected and delightful combination. The wine list was also excellent and perfectly matched the dishes.

What stood out the most was the service—it was one of the most professional and warm experiences I’ve had at a Michelin-starred restaurant. Overall, it was a truly memorable evening and a wonderful way to celebrate.

Amazing 3 star experience

excellent food and service with good atmosphere

Dining at Le Gabriel was far below expectations, especially for a Michelin-starred restaurant.

The staff service was unprofessional, and during the course of the meal, a staff member made multiple mistakes—spilling sauce or water three separate times. These were the kind of basic errors you wouldn’t even expect from an intern.

To be honest, the level of service was comparable to a fast-food chain like McDonald’s.

Definitely not recommended.