While I’m not one for writing restaurant reviews, especially
negative reviews, I do feel that as editor and publisher of
Paris Woman Journal, I have a duty to warn my readers about
places in the city with high and often expensive reputations,
who may not live up the hype. I don’t want people to move to
Paris or to visit and waste their time and money on something
that will make them feel bad as foreigners or as women. And so
it is for that reason alone, and nothing personal, that I am
sharing my story about my son’s 12th birthday dinner
party at Castel’s in the 6th arrondissment.
Castel’s reputation is one of “humm”.... On the night
that we took Kenny out for his birthday dinner, we were a family
of six, including my mother who was visiting from California,
and my eldest son and his French girlfriend. We wanted a place
where we could find nice and warm ambiance with music. We were
told by a hotel’s staff that the restaurant at Castel and its
club were great fun and that after dinner we could stay for
dancing. First problem came when we called for a reservation and
were told there was no more space. We found that odd, since the
hotel had told us the exact opposite. So, we contacted the hotel
staff who managed to get us a table with no problem.
The table was on the second floor, where the staff were mostly
older males, around forty, one younger woman around twenty-five.
Together they served about nine tables and all were dressed in
black. Although the crew was supposed to rotate, I noticed that
the woman never came to our table, but instead served the
mostly-male tables. Every few moments I would see her refilling
wine glasses and asking if things were okay. Throughout the
entire meal, no one refilled our wine glasses. Kenny had to
do it himself since he insisted that he could serve us, his dear family.
I did not say anything about the slight, but I did observe the
staff as they worked. None of them ever gave us eye contact,
and they seemed a bit cold. I was not happy with their
attitude and the service that we received. Being the only Asian
people present, we wondered if that was the reason. At one
point, a couple was being seated next to our table, but they
immediately asked to be moved elsewhere. I was not bothered
by this; I don’t care if people can’t handle diversity. But
I did note that by the time we ordered the desserts, we were
almost abandoned. None of the staff brought the ice-cream my son
ordered, and we had to remind her repeatedly. Finally, the bill
came and it was close to four hundred euros. You are not
required to leave extra tip in France since all the service
charges (10-15%) were included, but I usually do. Call it my
American upbringing, but I feel when people work hard to make
your experience memorable, they deserve a tip. But after
being virtually ignored for several hours, this time, I made
sure to tell my husband not to leave any extra money on the
table.
By this time it was about 12:30 am, and my elder son, his French
girlfriend and I went down to the dancing club downstairs, while
my husband took my youngest son and my mother home. He planned
to return as soon as they were secured. In the nightclub, we
were lucky to get a table since it was still early by Paris
standards. Since the staff will only serve tables that order
entire bottles of strong liquor (starting at 180 euros), we
ordered drinks at the bar and brought them back to out seats.
That’s when the real trouble began.
As my son brought over the drinks, a waitress suddenly rushed up
and told me that we could not have the table without ordering a
bottle. I said to her that no one at the club told us that when
they seated us. I also told her that we intended to leave in
about 30 minutes, as soon as my husband returned. Fed up with
their disrespect, there was no way I was staying any longer. We
thought the matter was settled when she walked away, but five
minutes later she returned with four men behind her and told us
we had to leave. I was floored. We weren’t allowed to finish
our drinks?
“Fine,” I told her in French, “Bring me a bottle”.
"Oh la la, calmez vous," she said (stay calm!).
"No, c'est vous!", I replied.
She turned to the men, pointed at our table and left.
The men did nothing, but stood and watched us. Now feeling
physically threatened, I called my husband on his cell phone and
he told me that he was five minutes away. I told my son and his
girlfriend that we would have to wait until my husband's got
here. But about two minutes later, one of the male waiters
appeared and said that we had to leave because other people are
waiting for our table. I told him that we needed the table too,
that we had also paid for a meal, "a very expensive meal", and
that we would pay for a bottle.
“No!” he shouted, “C’est fini !” (It’s finished!).
“Pourquoi?” I asked.
“C’est comme ça” he said.
He replied with an attitude which tells me that “No service
for you, you must leave!”
Faced with this rude and incorrect attitude, I decided,
finally, to leave and on the way out, we were met by my husband
at the stairs. When he went to talk with the manager, he was
told that no one was around. We finally left, but not without
the last word.
The fact that Castel’s restaurant only caters to its circle of
selected people with lots of money to spend, was not lost on us,
but we had the money and wanted to spend it. Whatever
happened to professionalism and basic human manners? Perhaps
if the quality of the food was so outrageously wonderful, we
could understand the attitude, but it wasn’t; nor was the dance
club anything special. The space was quite tiny compared to the
number of people and tables and the music was not hip and
trendy. And to speak bluntly, the French were better treated
than other customers.
Needless to say, I will never be going back to Castel’s, and I
certainly won’t be recommending it to friends and readers. Lest
you think I am being sensitive, I attach this link I found to a
“comments” page about the restaurant. It seems that other
people also have had bad experiences at Castel’s. You can view
it and draw your own conclusions at:
http://www.fra.webcity.fr/soirees_paris/castel_11338/Profil-Lieu.
Juliet Lac, Founder and Publisher
Edited by Vernita Irvin
Love Me Paris...
