LE PETIT COMPTOIRE ♥

LE PETIT COMPTOIRE - 4 Boulevard Maréchal Joffre 11 100 Narbonne

This is really one of our favorites. We have never been disappointed and we have been there a number of times. We do not hesitate to say that it is the best gourmet restaurant in Narbonne. The looks of the place from the street is not very exciting. The first time we went there was just because it was a convenient place to go.  We ordered the lunch of the day and we were really surprised by the quality of food in what seems to be a simple bar.

Behind the bar is however a very nice dining room, not big but very nice. In connection to the bar there is a wine shop there you also can eat the lunch of the day. The lunch menu is always very nice, but the real experience is to eat dinner here. They have several dinner menus and they are all very good value. The food is absolutely excellent and the service is professional and friendly. You can always get very good wines with the food. The wine shop is excellent and have a good selection of local wines of good quality.

There are however two complaints. First, the restaurant is not open in the summer and their summer restaurant on the road to Gruissan does not live up to expectations. The other complains is odder. The normal carafe water is absolutely undrinkable. It is taken directly from the tap and so full of chlorine that it even smells chlorine. I can understand that they prefer to sell bottled water, but it is an odd way of selling to serve something that totally destroys your taste buds.

Revisited September 2013: As always absolutely perfect, despite we had their lunch of the day. Even when you order their least costly menus you get better food than most restaurants have on their gourmet menus. Friendly and personal service!

Revisited November 2013: We never get disappointed here, and today was no exception. The small pre-starter was very nice – a rillettes with mushrooms and dill. The starter was a very nice risotto with small cubes of ham, full of taste. The only complaint was that it was a bit too much. It would have been better served in the same little dish as the opening little pre-starter. Now it looked more like a portion of morning porridge. We could not finish it – not because we did not want to, but we had to leave some room for the rest of the meal.

The main dish was absolutely top quality. How about quail stuffed with foie-gras on a bed of red cabbage. I was especially impressed by how the chef had managed to cut out the rib-cage without ruining the bird. It looked absolutely intact with wings and legs.

The desert was fresh raspberries with a pistachio cream – really good and not too sweet.

Revisited January 2014:  It made us happy as usual!

Revisited november 2018: The food is still very good and the management always welcoming. The venue is attractive. The two last times however they have had some problems with individuals of of serving personell that did not have a professional attitude to customers. As they however come and go we still think this restaurant is one of the best in Narbonne.

Birthday lunch January 2019: Luckily enough we could have a very good lunch here as restaurant La Table Saint Crescent had missed our reservation.

WEB: http://www.petitcomptoir.com/
LATEST VISIT: January 2019
NUMBER OF VISITS: >20

Reasons for the ♥:
Our oldest acquaintance with gourmet food in Narbonne. We have never been disappointed. It is one of those places you can take friends and know they will have a good time.