Restaurant Le Mérou Bleu

Maybe it was the ambience of Marseilles, but this was one of the best meals I had in France.

I walked around trying to find a good restaurant as I was unfamiliar with restaurants around Vieux Port and happened upon this restaurant which looked the most appetizing and welcoming and had a decent amount of people at the early hour I arrived. Good sign.

I was seated outside where it gave me a good people watching view and it was the perfect temperature for a nice meal.

Started out with a dry white wine and soon after came the raw oysters. The wine the waitress suggested matched perfectly with them which started off the meal perfectly.

After letting the oysters and wine soak in a little, the Bouillabaisse came out. Super hard croutons that you let absorb the Bouillabaisse soup to soften up and soak up the flavor. So perfect. Each variety of seafood in the Bouillabaisse tasted excellent and I continued on with the dry white wine which offset the richness of the Bouillabaisse and gave a fresh attack for the palate to every spoonful.

The finish for the meal was the profiteroles as the waitress also suggested. So good and a perfect way to cap an outstanding meal.

This place is just one of the many in the harbor but I really liked it. It wasn't the fanciest and there may be better out there but for me it was just right.

Better than most on the back streets of the vieux port. Many places here, but few are good. Most can be tourist traps in summer.

Worst restaurant in southern France thus far! In our view, Le Merou Bleu had terrible service, worse food and it did not even accept credit cards. While we have enjoyed our dining experiences thus far in Provence, Merou Bleu was an unfortunate exception. If you are not a gastronomic masochist, avoid this place.