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2
Tue, 30/5
20:00

Ratings and reviews

RATINGS
Food
Service
Value
Atmosphere

Details

PRICE RANGE
US$16 - US$48
CUISINES
French, European, Healthy, Contemporary, Gastropub
Special Diets
Vegetarian Friendly
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meals, features, about
Reviews (1,713)
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253 results
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164
63
15
5
6
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LanguageEnglish
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Traveller rating
164
63
15
5
6
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All reviews tasting menu prawns fine dining great meal great food and service by the glass menus courses english euro
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Reviewed 2 weeks ago via mobile

We enjoyed an exquisite lunch while in St Malo. Honestly one of the best meals of our trip. My husband and I selected two different menus allowing us a number of different tastes, all beautiful and delicious. The restaurant is cozy and intimate with a...lovely balance of traditional and modern decor. We absolutely loved the experience.More

Date of visit: May 2023
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Reviewed 3 weeks ago

Food was imaginative and tasty but items were switched without us being informed, e.g. mushrooms and sweet potato instead of chard! Also we were pressured to choose all 3 courses as soon as we sat down. Felt rushed.

Date of visit: May 2023
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Reviewed 23 April 2023

This is one of the worst restaurant experiences ever. We were waitng for ages without drinks or being seen. The menu is very limited with the same menu printed across different pages. The food was very boring. Small portions. Lacking in flavour or imagination. The...waiter was beyong rude. One of the party speaks flunet french. The rest aimed to use French. He basically laughed at us. And went on to correct every attempt to speak to him. It was very inappropriate. I would never have him on my restaurant floor letting the whole place down. He was also very demanding of pre ordering desert. This had then clearly sat on the pass and was too soft / melted by the time it got to us. This is in addition to him mocking the way my partner drank his drink during the meal. After our mains arrived he then brought bread and butter asking if we really want it? Such strange behaviour. I've worked in hospitality for years and this is one of the worst experiences. Food and service. Having frequently passed through St Malo which offers exceptional food offerings I would AVOID this place. The street L'Absinthe is on has other restautants that look amazing and I wished we'd gone too. The need a complete refurb of ideas, food and staff.More

Date of visit: April 2023
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Reviewed 25 February 2023 via mobile

The food is magnificent. The staff welcoming and helpful. The atmosphere friendly calm and gentile. Thoroughly enjoyed a wonderful meal Thank you!

Date of visit: February 2023
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Reviewed 2 October 2022 via mobile

Best restaurant in St Malo 1st visit 10 years ago and even better now Owners so accommodating and the food a little unusual and delicious Wines sold by the glass and half bottles great for us

Date of visit: October 2022
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Reviewed 11 September 2022 via mobile

A great looking menu, but could not meet expectations. The food was extremely disappointing for the price. Another customer was also complaining and said he would refuse to pay. Disappointing because previous reviews were so good.

Date of visit: September 2022
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Reviewed 10 September 2022 via mobile

We were a party of 10 for dinner. The restaurant was busy with only 3 people serving. Nevertheless service did not suffer. We had a good evening with great food. Many thanks

Date of visit: September 2022
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Reviewed 5 September 2022 via mobile

Terrible aggressive servers/owner. There are a lot of negative reviews that go into detail, you should not ignore them, the service was shockingly bad and the owner doesn’t deserve patronage. We dine out a lot and I have never felt compelled to leave a negative...review, but this was by far the worst dining experience I have ever had. No amount of good food would have made up for how awful the server and owner were. The best thing we ate were bagel bites with salmon cream cheese… not exactly gastronomic, or worth the price. It’s sad because the building is gorgeous and the restaurant could be something special, but I can’t and won’t support businesses who berate their customers when they point out that their experience isn’t going well. There are a lot of really wonderful restaurants in Saint-Malo (there are 2 restaurants just doors down from this one that are fabulous), my recommendation would be to go anywhere but here.More

Date of visit: September 2022
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Reviewed 4 September 2022

We decided to ignore the bad reviews of this restaurant and book a table for dinner. That was a mistake. The various tasting menus they offer make this restaurant seem like an upscale place, but that was not at all our experience. We were sat...and then completely ignored for half an hour. Once we finally ordered, the seafood menu plus wine pairing, we received our entree without any explanation or wine. We also ordered a bottle of water that never came. On top of that, every table around us had a bread basket but we never received. We sat with our first dish for ten minutes before we were able to flag down the server and ask about the wine that was supposed to come with it. He apologized for not bringing it with the food, blaming being short staffed and overwhelmed, then proceeded to return with the wine. Then he awkwardly poured us obscenely large glasses, saying "you have to take a large drink right now because my boss will be upset if he sees how much wine I've poured you." He the forced us to awkwardly chug too much wine, which we did not ask for, and made us feel very uncomfortable. This continued throughout the night. Our dishes were severely delayed and the server kept pouring us unnecessarily large glasses of wine to compensate, but then demanded we drink them quickly so his boss didn't see. The entire experience was extremely uncomfortable. Ultimately, we decided to leave before completing our menu. When we had to explain to the owner why we were unhappy with our experience and wanted to leave before completing our meal, he was extremely aggressive. He blamed us and blamed it on a language barrier (the server had no problem communicating with us in english and I speak French). We felt like we were in a fever dream, and asked the table next to us about their experience. They agreed that it was the strangest and worst service that they had ever had at a "fine-dining" restaurant. There are a lot of wonderful places to eat in Saint-Malo, and we had some truly exceptional meals. My advice is to go anywhere other than here, and you will have a lovely meal. Aside from all of the service issues, the food we did have was disappointing.More

Date of visit: September 2022
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Reviewed 21 August 2022 via mobile

Great meal - excellent service - just an overall good experience - very civilised and pleasant. Happy to recommend and will come again.

Date of visit: August 2022
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Reviewed 16 July 2022 via mobile

We booked a table for lunch today at 1.30pm. We arrived 45 minutes early, which didn’t seem to be a problem for the restaurant and we were shown to a lovely table by an open window on the second floor. The waitress didn’t speak English...but spoke French slowly to help us to understand. I had profiteroles with smoked trout to start and my husband had sea bass carpaccio - both delicious. The main of prawns in curried spices were excellent and we had desserts of nectarines and apricots and fruit salad - both very good. We had a very nice bottle of wine and the ambiance was cool and relaxed. Would definitely return.More

Date of visit: July 2022
Helpful?1  
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Reviewed 6 July 2022 via mobile

I don't normally post negative reviews, but feel the need this time. L'Absinthe, to me, acts like a gourmet restaurant, a level above the crowd, with website and prices to match (set menus 35 to 59 euro). Be warned..... We found the food to be...bland and service extremely rushed. Our starters were the weirdest and most tasteless plates of food we've ever had. Other courses were slightly better but not good. Staff almost ran around, in what seemed to us an effort to get tables cleared and more people in. Their manner was brusque at best, verging on rude. If you want in and out in an hour, this place may be for you. But you could feel underwhelmed and overcharged. Our only bad meal in 8 nights of our trip so far. Pity, it could and should be much better, if only they cared a bit more.More

Date of visit: July 2022
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Reviewed 3 June 2022 via mobile

We had high hopes for this recommended restaurant - unfortunately the experience at L’Absinthe wasn’t as good as expected. They were clearly understaffed, so the wine came too late for our dishes, the food was nice enough but nothing special. Some dishes tasted a bit...boring and flavorless, the food on the plate seemed to have been sitting there for a while before it came to our table, so things were a bit dry and the gravy was cold and had thickened. There was NO gravy on my plate, which again made things a bit dry and tasteless. No fotos of food since we couldn’t be bothered taking any. The restaurant itself is nice, the seating is cozy and stylish. Just such a shame the food was so disappointing!!More

Date of visit: June 2022
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Reviewed 2 January 2022

I was a big fan of that restaurant a few years ago. Now Menu is completely different with the new chef. Filet mignon was dry and other table around us complain too. Other plate were tasteless. Avoid it.

Date of visit: January 2022
Helpful?1  
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
Reviewed 19 August 2021

This restaurant is located within the walled Intra Muros, It is a great place to have dinner, since the food is well prepared and reasonably priced. We both enjoyed local fish and their accompanying sides. We had the wine pairings, which was amazingly good. We...were seated downstairs in a cosy dining room, with just the right amount of tables. The service was very efficient, and helpful during the ordering process also being attentive during the meal. Everyone looked to be enjoying themselves, and we were happy to have made this choice.More

Date of visit: July 2021
Helpful?1  
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
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Questions & Answers
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Amandad43
23 September 2016|
AnswerShow all 6 answers
Response from pierremaxime r | Property representative |
Dear sir, Yes we accept dogs Best regards Pierre-Maxime
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Coopercar2015
4 July 2015|
Answer
Response from pierremaxime r | Property representative |
Dear Sir, There is no dress code in our restaurant. We then adapt any menu to your diary/restriction requests. We unfortunately have no view on the water. Best Regards, Pierre-Maxime
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RESTAURANT L'ABSINTHE, Saint-Malo - Menu, Prices & Restaurant Reviews - Tripadvisor

Frequently Asked Questions about Restaurant l'Absinthe

Yes, Restaurant l'Absinthe is taking precautions against COVID-19. A full list is available within the "safety precautions" section of this page.

Restaurant l'Absinthe is rated accordingly in the following categories by Tripadvisor travellers:
  • Food: 4.5
  • Service: 4.5
  • Value: 4
  • Atmosphere: 4.5