Auberge Pyrénées Cévennes

Auberge I love you. What an amazing experience. This is as authentic as it gets - chef driven Sud Oust cuisine and a wine list that blew my mind. As part of my CASSOULET EVERY DAY mission, I was so pleased with the massive, classic country cassoulet. The portion was quite large - enough to share for two and still be quite full. The duck breast was especially tender and delicious. For wine, a 2004 Cahors only set us back €100, an amazing value for an incredible vintage. Also had a lovely Bordeaux and tried some of the very special Chartreuse bottlings on offer. The wait staff made us feel at home and were very attentive. The restaurant itself is homey and charming, with an old world vibe only France can offer. I will be back!

I had the pate en croute and the cassoulet. Both were delicious, but I especially enjoyed the cassoulet. All the meat was extremely tender, and the beans were porky and creamy but still had a bite.

The French pie (PÂTÉ-CROÛTE AU CANARD ET FOIE GRAS) was good, I don't think I'm the biggest fan of pate. I thought the best tasting parts were the top and bottom where crust was the thickest. The combination of the crust and pate was very good. However, the pate by itself wasn't tasty enough so the side parts of the bread were the weakest parts of the dish. I likely wouldn't order it again but if someone wanted to split it, I wouldn't be completely opposed as long as they let me have the parts with the most crust.
The veal stew (BLANQUETTE DE VEAU À L'ANCIENNE, RIZ BASMATI GRILLÉ) was good enough to order again. I wouldn't say it was phenomenal but the stew was creamy and tasted good enough that it worked well with the rice. The veal was very tender and easily fell apart without a knife. There were a couple pieces of fat on my veal but other than that it was great. The crispies on the rice really elevated the meal. They added a satisfying crunch to eating the rice. I would consider ordering it again, although it wasn't good enough for me to order it over trying something new.
The 1000 puff pastry (MILLE FEUILLE À LA VANILLE DE MADAGASCAR ET CARAMEL AU BEURRE SALÉ) was underwhelming. I think it could've used more caramel. The cream alternating with pastry was alright. I felt like it just didn't go far enough as a dessert. I wouldn't order it again.
One thing that was absolutely phenomenal was the wine I had. I love Rhone Valley red wines and the AOP Côte-Rôtie 2020 Domaine Yves Cuilleron, Bonnivières hit it out of the park. The wine was so good I went to buy a bottle immediately after dinner. It was tough not to order another glass but at 20 €, I had to exercise restraint.
I will likely return to Auberge Pyrénées Cévennes although the food wasn't phenomenal enough to guarantee I come back this trip. I struggled with what to rate this place and it ultimately came down to whether I would jump at the chance to come back here or if I would want to show someone this restaurant. If a friend asked me about Auberge Pyrénées Cévennes, I would recommend they try it, but I wouldn't offer to go with them. This was ultimately the deciding factor on whether to rate them 4 or 5 stars.

Food is just not very good. Probably worst meal I had in Paris. It lacks flavor and I feel bad for visitors who might seek the place for traditional French cuisine. The French can do so much better than that. I ordered the snails to start that was bland and I think was missing garlic or something. The cassoulet was my main and it lacked flavor. It almost was like they cooked all the components separately and combined it last minute. The cheese desert was cold. I have no idea how this place made it to the Michelin guide.

We decided to come here because we had been recommended to it from our son. We ordered the fixed price. The portions were very generous. The escargots were very good.

I ordered the rice and prawns which were very good and my husband ordered the cassoulet which was large and rib sticking but not very seasoned. The desserts were good - not great.

What was most disappointing was the seating and the service. I tried to speak French as I know a little but everyone was rushed and unfriendly. I sat looking at the back of a microwave. We waited and waited and then thought perhaps we needed to go to the bar to pay our check as we saw others go but the waiter yelled at us for being in the way. No one ever came to check on us or offer another glass of wine or anything even a little bit like they cared.

I was hoping for the friendly service others have described but I was disappointed.

I came here with my fiance and his family while visiting Paris. We all went in on the tasting menu which was absolutely fantastic. There was not a bad course from start to finish, and the duck was exquisite. If I come out here again, I will get the cassoulet, because it looked amazing.

I always leave a disclaimer that the service does not contribute to my ratings because there are so many factors that go into the timeliness and end to end service of a meal. Having said that, the wait staff was absolutely amazing and incredibly attentive. They were very accommodating of our large group, and the fact that the majority of us do not know French (thank you for that). We found ourselves as the last party in the restaurant and I was personally worried we were overstaying our welcome as it was late and I'm sure the staff wanted to get out of there. They were very nice about us being there past closing, and even served us complimentary champagne because we were in France for our wedding.

A few call outs about this wonderful restaurant if you choose to make a reservation. The portions are huge (not just the tasting menu, but everything), so if you think you're ordering too much, you probably are. The menu is also all in French, so if you do not speak the language, you'll need to phone a friend on this one. It's also very meat heavy, so this is not a great option for the vegetarians out there.

On a mission to indulge in classic French cuisine, the wife and I decided to try cassoulet here at Auberge Pyrénées. We'd read good things about this spot and especially about their cassoulet. We booked a reservation and when we arrived were seated, only after the waiter hunted and searched though the restaurant for an additional chair. The service was horrible. There were only two servers, rubbing about frantically. I actually saw the female server RUN numerous times it was so busy. Once we were seated we waited about 15 minutes before the server was free enough to take our order. We ordered to menu, the wife got snails for the started, and I got the pâté en croûte. For the main dish we both went with cassoulet. We booked some "Instant Michelin" menu on The Fork, which happened to come with a glass of wine as well. My wife ordered a kir and I ordered a Chartreuse. Then it really went downhill... The waiter, who spoke to me like I was a fool when I ordered, brought my wife's kir and me a glass of wine. When I asked about the chartreuse, he didn't seem to understand and he made the other server come over and clarify. She clarified the variety of chartreuse, and it came a few minutes later. When the starter arrived I was pretty happy. The snails were good and so was the pâté. They weren't anything mind-blowing, but yeah, they were good. I did take about 45 minutes before the food showed up though. When the cassoulet finally came out, it looked amazing. There was a pork rib in there, a duck leg, a sausage, beans... Huge portion size. I was super excited, but honestly it was pretty bland. I thought the duck leg was dry and it was just a hearty, tasteless slop with a couple chunks of meat in there. For dessert the wife ordered the tarte tatin, and I got the prunes in Armagnac. Only to find out, about five minutes later, they were out of the tarte tatin. We decided to order the Napoleon instead. The Napoleon was fine. Again, nothing amazing... But the prunes... Christ. What a travesty. The tasted like the prunes you can get for 2€ in plastic tubs in carrefour, and seems to have been soaking for no longer than 15 minutes. It was bad. At that point, we didn't even really want dessert, but we had ordered the menu and figured we'd at least try it. The service and the frantic servers really took away from any sort of ambience. They never asked us about the food, the never took the time to do anything, and they silently brought and collected our plates. Don't go here. Really. If you've looking for cassoulet... I don't know, maybe reevaluate and look somewhere else. Don't pay 100+€ for a meal of disappointment.

Classic French food for locals fit the bill for a solid meal.

Food: 4, Atmosphere: 4, Service: 4
Cost to worth it rating: 3
Return worthiness: sure
Eve award: best esgargot

Highlights:
- Escargot: arrived sizzling in a traditional escargot plate with 6 holes. Out of the shell, perfect texture, and bathing in garlic buttery parsley goodness. Perfect
- Duck: hearty slices in a decadent light brown sauce. Order it as it comes as she asked me if I'd like it medium but it was more cooked than I anticipated with no pink. Comes with a huge side
- Rib eye steak: cooked nicely with just a bit of salt. 4 stars
- Cheesy ravioli: in a bowl of thick creamy cheese sauce. 3.5 stars
- Veal head: brain, tongue, and cheek. Not for me but my Frenchman was super excited for it.
- Creme brule: Classic sugary crust and custard
- Tart tatin: slice of soft sugary apples
- Service: friendly

Midlights:
- Needed my French friend to translate the menu ;-)
- Veal liver: most popular item on the menu apparently but I didn't care for the texture

Lowlights:
- Not for those on a diet with the rich food and American sized portions

Traditional French meal was a fun experience for our first night in Paris.

This was a terrific dinner Ning experience ! A must if you are in Paris topical country French meal. Best cassoulet ever, more meat that I was expecting a wonderful tasty treat. Service was beyond expectations.

And this is where I fell deeply in love with cassoulet.

Cute place. Warm hospitality despite showing up on the early side. Nice people. Very good terrine. But the cassoulet. Oh Em Gee. It was warm, soulful, loving and amazing. The flavors all combined to form something greater than itself. In the most amazing way. Maybe it's the beans that they simmer it all in that creates the experience. Whatever it was made me a fan. And the portion size was unreal. I'm 6'2, 220 and can put away a lot of food. I ate at least a pound and a half of the cassoulet and there was plenty more that I couldn't finish. And when I was done there was still a cheese course that I could only glance at.