La Rotisserie - Abbeville

Nous avons déjeuné complètement par hasard dans ce restaurant alors que tout était fermé à Abbeville (1er mai). Belle découverte : délicieuse cuisine, plats copieux et charmante équipe. Bienvenue enfants (hauts jambes et kit de couleurs disponibles). Très bonne adresse

We arrived rather late but the staff kindly let us in. There was a party of French celebrating for Christmas next door in the private room. Our lovely waiters apologised for the "noise" but we were delighted to hear French rather than English accents and everyone was very friendly to us. Hubby had the foie gras which was made a la Maison and was very good. I had the halibut capaccio from the set menu followed by salmon with timbale rice and buttery (ooops) courgettes. Hubby had a very blue steak with frites and bearnais sauce, this food is bistro in style but good and much improved since our last visit. Trying to eat relatively low fat I had the blackcurrent sorbet which was delicious. I would never have recommended this restaurant before but there is a new chef and things have changed for the better. Service was good and personable.The restaurant itself us still rather brightly lit and, at 10: 30pm half of it was being set up for breakfast. With variable lighting in sections of the restaurant the atmosphere would be better but we still enjoyed it. Ps the bar closes at 11pm prompt :-)

We do have a difficult time in France as we have eating allergies. In some places we have been refused service as a result. Here the staff couldn't have done more to please us and the quality of the food was superb.

Service in the restaurant was very good as was the food. I opted for the steak tartar, which I have about once every few years, and it was prepared at the table to my taste. It really was very good.

This hotel is very well situated, right in the centre of Abbeville. It looks fine from the outside, the reception are and bar are fine.However, my standard room was badly lacking in a number or respects:- the'wet room' shower soaked at least half the floor, taking well over an hour to dry- the plug in the sink allowed water to constantly drain away- there was no complimentary bottle of water although my colleague had one- there was no 'Do not Disturb' sign- BBC World News did not appear despite it being listed on the scheduleIn addition, they appeared short staff and had no specialist bar staff.When we reported our misgivings on checkout, the receptionist did not appear in the least interested.This hotel needs to review its practices, improve a number of simple deficiencies and upgrade its rooms to justify this rating.

Starter was excellent in terms of presentation and taste. I had the pate which was served with brioche that complemented it perfectly. My partner had the wasabi prawns. Also excellent.Then a coach party came in and spoiled the ambience ...Main course of Oso Buco with tagliatelle was nice, as was my partners chicken supreme. Although neither lived up to the starter.We had a desert of cheese (two pieces with bread and salad) & a trio of chocolate (that was mousse). Again ok but not up to the standard of the starter.The house wine of Muscadet was very good.Without the coach party we would have enjoyed it more.

Adequate but unspectacular meal. Fun started when attempting to pay. Allegedly Amex refused to accept card, immediately followed by same response with MasterCard. Embarrassment for self and partner with staff refusing to consider problem was their terminal. Subsequent 'phone calls to both card issuers confirmed no request for payment had been received by either organisation. Lessons learned? Always take cash notwithstanding security risk but above all, avoid Mercure like the plague.

So much to choose from even though I arrived quite late - the staff were pleasant and the wine excellent