Le Bouclier de Bacchus -- Restaurant Review

Address: 18 Rue Saint-Lazare

Nearest transport: Notre-Dame-de-Lorette (ligne 12)

Hours:
Tues: 10:00 am 8:30 pm
Wed: Friday: 10:00 am - 12:00 am
Saturday: 3:00 pm - 12:00 am

Reservations: recommended

Telephone: 01 48 74 94 99

http://bouclierdebacchus.com/

Rating Standards: 5-Stars = Extraordinary; 4-Stars = Excellent; 3-Stars = Average; 2-Stars = Fair; 1-Star = Poor
€ = Inexpensive: 30€ and under; €€ = Moderate: 31€-49€; €€€ = Expensive: €50 -75; €€€€ = Very Expensive: more than €76 (prices based on minimum 2-courses)

1-Bell = Pleasantly quiet (less than 65 decibels); 2-Bells = Can talk easily (65-70); 3-Bells = Talking normally gets difficult (70-75); 4-Bells = Can talk only in raised voices (75-80); BOMB = Too noisy for normal conversation (80+)

  2.5 - Star..................................................€ (Pre-fix menu)...............................................1 - Bell

Our friends made reservations at one of their neighborhood restaurants, “Le Bouclier de Bacchus.”  It’s an interesting restaurant, as soon as you walk in you can see all the wine bottles displayed, quite impressive.  We were 11-people, so we sat upstairs. I found it really interesting, they had several “living-room” areas for dining. It’s hard for me to sit on couches and basically eat from a coffee table, so fortunately we were able to get a long table.  The prices were extremely reasonable, for 2-courses at 17.50€ and for 3-courses at 24€.  

They brought out a “jambon persil” ham for the table to share. It was basically ham seasoned with parsley. It was OK, I guess, but reminded me of ham you get in U.S. and serve during Easter. For some reason I was expecting a Basque, Bayonne or even a Spanish (Iberia) style ham, would have been preferable! 

It was very hard to read the menu, since deciphering French handwriting is not my forté.  So, I’ll use the English equivalents.

 The Entrées:

I had the “smooth cheese”.  There were some at the table that really loved it and others who didn’t. I was on the camp that didn’t like it. It tasted like someone scooped out a butter cupcake, put a round of cheese on top and then heated it. It tasted like a bad cheese pudding surrounded by greens. Very "cake" doughy and not pleasant at all.

Salmon salad. It was executed well, and although it wasn’t outstanding, for those who had it, it was good.

Quail salad. I had a taste of it, again, it wasn’t anything special, nor did it stand out as a gastronomical feat, it was just OK. My 10-year old niece could’ve made it.

And, the remaining group had the green salad, which they all said they enjoyed.

The Plats:

I had the pheasant with a foie gras sauce. The pheasant was cooked well and tasted fine. Here’s the problem I had with the dish, the foie gras sauce. Two of us commented that it was extremely rich, and for the life of me, we couldn’t figure out why they called it a foie gras sauce, it was heavy cream and butter, with emphasis on the cream! and a hint of foie gras. As a starch, they had rice. It was a very unbalanced, unattractive dish.

Several people had the veal, and according to them, it was a very, very, good dish.

The desserts:

The gingerbread, called spiced bread in France was a bit too sweet and the sauce was a bit too gooey. Nothing wrong with that, but this is France for God sake, you sort of expect something a little more refined. I found it just OK.

The Soufflé Grand Marnier I loved. This was probably the highlight of my meal. It’s actually an ice cream but light and refreshing, with a nice fine crusty topping. What can I say, I was a fan of this dessert. And, you can definitely taste the Grand Marnier.

The wines, we had several bottles of Ajaccio at 12.50€ each, not a bad price.

Prices:

For the price you can’t beat it. For 11-people, it averaged 32€ per person, which included several glasses of wine, tea and coffee. Excellent price!

Summary:

If you’re looking for haute cuisine, or more refined cuisine this is not the place for you. This restaurant is known for their low priced wines, ambiance, and home cooking, what maman would make, if maman was an average cook.  Everything was just OK. However, the service was EXCELLENT. Think of the food as secondary, and you're there to socialize with friends!