Paris Missives...: Complaints -- "Plaintes"

About

"The evolving Francophile..."

My husband Jack has always wanted to live in Paris and learn French. I thought it would be good for him to achieve his life time dream. Hence, we moved to Paris in 2008. My first year was difficult. I started "missives" to relieve some stress and chronicle my life so friends back in the US could read what I am experiencing. I currently write about my food in Paris, which is my passion., travel experiences, and "experiences living in Paris."

It is definitely a challenge to live here, but each year it gets easier, and quite enjoyable, in large part because I value friendships over locale. I have a love/hate relationship with Paris as do most Parisians, mais La vie est belle (but life is good)!

Thursday, November 16, 2023

Complaints -- "Plaintes"

Sadly, as tourists we can easily be scammed, especially at cafes in tourist areas and feel helpless. For example being "upsold" in a cafe where you ask for a glass of wine and expecting it to cost less than €10, but get charged €30. This happened to me when I first moved to Paris. I complained to the manager, and as a general rule, they always side with their servers. Now I always ask for the menu, unless I know the place I'm going to.

These days you can actually file a complaint to a government office, and they will investigate and take action, if necessary. Tourism is a major industry in France and the government has been taken scamming seriously for the past 10 years. And, with the upcoming Olympics, they will be cracking down.

So if you want to file a complaint, this site is similar to the "Better Business Bureau", and it's also in English.

WEBSITE IS: https://signal.conso.gouv.fr/en/cafe-restaurant/faire-un-signalement

Hopefully, you won't experience this, but if you do, now you have recourse to help correct this.

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Brief summary of my food philsophy......

“It’s not how well you can cook, but how well you can execute…”

I'm a big "lover of food" having gone to the California Culinary in SF as a hobby, and when I retired I ran a cooking club which included cooking demos as well as bringing in other "cooks" and local Chefs to share family recipes and/or provide cooking demos. I have helped Chefs develop menus, took part in wine and food pairing events, wrote restaurant reviews, assisted in test kitchens developing recipes, and I've even catered a few weddings.

Although I favor Asian/ethnic cuisine over European cuisine, I love to eat all foods. My philosophy has always been, when you travel visit the country's markets. Markets provide a wealth of information about a culture and it's people. Make no mistakes, I think French cuisine can be very good, but to me it is not the "be-all-end-all."

NOTE: As we all know, restaurants can improve or deteriorate. I will try to update my restaurant reviews, if there are any significant changes.