LE PRINCE NOIR

The vibe at Le Prince Noir is quirky and fun. It is clear the chef has put a ton of his personality into the decor which includes a TV showing Street Fighter II on SNES and a wide variety of pop art. The music also leans in a more Gen X classics direction which sets the mood as more casual.
I did feel the grounds and gardens that surround the property and provide much of the outlook from the lovely glass enclosed veranda could be better kept as it was quite overrun by weeds which detracted from its enjoyment.
Overall though, the old chateau setting with updated modern architectural touches is a fun juxtaposition.
The service was friendly, but slow and bordering on inattentive. I suspect this was because we were seated the duration on the veranda with only one other table while the rest of the guests were in the main dining room. This meant the waitstaff needed to spend more time there with us being a bit out of sight. The pacing of meal was painfully slow for my taste, meaning we often sat waiting with empty glasses and plates for 30 minutes at a time.
Finally the food; I have to admit that I felt disappointed here. Many of the dishes sounded great on paper, but many of the interesting flavors were lost on the palette.
The malted toasted brioche with smoked butter, black pepper and strawberry coulis was the worst offender here; the strawberry syrup completely dominated the taste profile and there was no discernible flavor of pepper while the brioche honestly just felt like hard bread that made eating with just the spoon provided rather difficult. I was honestly shocked a Michelin restaurant would serve a dessert this poor.
The foie gras/asparagus was fairly flat and again dominated by the sauce, letting the taste of neither shine through.
I did not enjoy the pea dish as I found them unpleasantly raw while the sauce they were in was actually quite good.
The better dishes we had were the langostine, cod and pigeon as well as the strawberry sorbet dessert with chile pepper infused syrup and the vegetal mint sorbet to finish. I also quite enjoyed the vast majority of the wine pairings.
Sadly nothing served “wow”ed me which I do hope to get a little of here or there at such a restaurant. Plenty of other people thoroughly enjoy the offerings here and clearly other groups truly loved the offerings this night, so I expect that this might be a case of “this place is not to my taste”.
Overall the price point for both the dinner and wine pairing seem a great value, but sadly this was my first time dining at a Michelin restaurant where I was wishing for it to hurry up and be over with only 5/8 courses served.

Comida excelente. Servicio impecable. Sitio muy bonito.
Recomendable a 100%.

Muy buen restaurante gastronómico, de ambiente relajado, con excelente música y platos sabrosos. Ideal para festejar una ocasión especial.

Wouah ! A la hauteur des espérances du début à la fin. Tant pour l’expérience, la sympathie que pour la cuisine qui est à tomber. L’apéritif dans la véranda, le pigeon découpé et flambé sous vos yeux et le Chef Vivien Durand qui apporte le premier plat en tout simplicité mais toujours avec beaucoup de finesse. Les vins proposés ont été parfaitement choisis par le sommelier. Les produits sont bons et excellemment travaillés et ça se ressent dans les saveurs qui sont inoubliables. Étoile amplement méritée ! Merci à toute l’équipe et surtout Bravo !!!

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