La Ciotat
Calanque De Figuerolles

Calanque De Figuerolles

Avenue Figuerolles, 13600, La Ciotat, France

Café • Tapas • Français • Européen


"There are actually two separate restaurants here which isn't immediately obvious to the ambling tourist so here is some advice. After the first set of steps you reach a snack bar type café which is although does not have the fantastic views, does provide a...friendly, well priced service for those beach visitors, like us, that just wish for some refreshments before going to the beach. However, most will hasten down a few more steps for a better view and find themselves at what would appear to be a lower terrace. This however, is not the beach cafe but a very upmarket restaurant with prices to match. We took seats at the front of the almost empty restaurant as there were a number of free tables with marvelous views of the sea. The waiter took our order: two mohitos and a starter to share as we didn't feel like a 3course lunch. The drinks were fine and the starter was very picturesque and just right for sharing a gridded dish with different tapas style portions and 4bread sticks. Not the cheapest at 24euros but we had realised as others started to arrive that this was no beach cafe! Halfway through our meal we were approached by an extremely abrupt waiter and told that as we had not reserved in advance, we would have to move to the back of the restaurant. Wew were a little shocked at this as there had been no objection from any of the three previous waiters that had served us, in fact we were told to sit anywhere. It was particularly embarrassing as the people that had come in were saying they didn't mind and would sit somewhere else. Our half eaten food was whisked away and dumped on a back table while the waiter glared imposingly at us. Not wishing to cause a scene or spoil a nice day, we moved and finished our meal, a little nonplussed at what had happened. We noticed that other frontline tables remained vacant for the whole time were there. I can only assume that it was thought that we were not spending enough to have a premium view although again, this was not mentioned when we ordered. At 50 euros for two drinks and a starter this was hardly a cheap lunch! As nice as the food was I would never recommend this place due to disgraceful service and rudeness so I would say, avoid like the plague, the view is not worth being treated like a leper."