We live in the department of Haute Savoie in France, but very close to the Swiss border and the city of Geneva. The area that we live in is often referred to as the ‘Bassin Genevois’ or the ‘portes du Geneve’. In fact from 1798 – 1814 when the Republic lost its independence the area we live in was incorporated in Le départment du Léman. I digress! I just wanted to give a reason why I am about to review Le Cafe de Peney restaurant that we visited recently in Switzerland.
Le Café de Peney, Satigny, Genève
I had visited this restaurant for lunch once before but only tried the plat du jour on that occasion. I love the surroundings and the memorabilia and decor of this bistro-style restaurant, so I was delighted when it was suggested we should go for dinner as a group of 10 to celebrate a friends birthday. We were placed in the slightly raised area of the restaurant where I have to say the acoustics made it seem rather noisy. However, I knew the treat would be the quality of the food and I was not disappointed. There is a choice of menu on a card on the table. On one side is their ‘bistronomique’ menu for 82 chf or 65chf for 2 plats and dessert and à la carte on the other. The menu looked great good choices 4 entrées, 4 fish, 4 meat choices thus telling me everything would be cooked to order as I would expect in a restaurant of this quality. The food was outstandingly good and enjoyed by all, however, there was an upset during the evening which sadly leaves a bad taste in one’s mouth and the question to ask is whether the food was good enough to overlook this and return! The waiter took our order and spoke very good English, my fellow diners ordering in turn mostly pointed to the dishes on the card that they wished to order. I should point out that there were duplicate dishes on the bistronomique menu and à la carte. It was not until our main courses arrived we realised that there had been a mistake in the ordering. The filet de boeuf on the a la carte menu was presented differently and called Filet de Boeuf Rossini (which no one ordered by name) and one diner was presented with this, she alerted the waiter to this politely, where upon she was told rudely that she was wrong and this is what she had ordered. Knowing that she was right in what she ordered she continued and asked for the dish to be replaced, he refused to do this and eventually agreed she would be charged the bistronomique price. This ‘contre-temps’ took place in front of our whole table and other diners and we were most taken aback at his attitude. As if this was not bad enough, the owner then came over and explained sarcastically that she had enjoyed the foie gras starter from the à la carte menu without complaining! On both menus the starter was foie gras – the only difference we can see retrospectively is the way the foie gras was cut and presented on the plate. So whilst the food was really good, I have to say the service was not, my friend was totally humiliated and the attitude of our waiter appalling. My last thought on this: if there are identical or very similar dishes on both menus, then is it not for the waiter to establish what the customer is ordering, rather than placing the responsibility on the customer and then arguing with them when there is a mistake! Here are a fews shots that I took of the well presented and very tasty food.
