My girlfriend and I went to Chez Nous Tuesday evening. Ever since seeing this place in the Chronicle poll two years ago when I first arrived in Austin, I've been wanting to try this place. I haven't been missing anything. This is surely the worst french restaurant I've ever been to. The FOOD I ordered some lamb which was pretty decent. The side stuff was fine too. My girlfriend had steak which came in two pieces. She asked for it to be done medium: one piece was done medium, the other could be called well-done. How'd they do that? For dessert, my g/f wanted to try the chocolate mousse because she grew up on it and hadn't had any for a long time. It was OK. My crepe with pears was atrocious. The pears were good. The crepe itself had the texture of quarter inch think cardboard marinaded overnight in baking soda. My french isn't so good anymore, perhaps the menu really did say "bullet-proof crepes with pears". The SERVICE Not that we had any. My girlfriend had a clearer view of the waiter as he walked around. She was sure he was drunk. "Walked around" is a bit of an exaggeration. Most of the time he was standing at the bar drinking. It was hard to describe his attitude, but mostly he just acted like we weren't even there. Our glasses were empty for at least half of the meal. When serving the wine, he didn't show the label or provide a tasting. We could have been drinking anything. Some other guy cleared the plates after the main course and he at least had the decency to ask how we liked it. Surprise! Our glasses were empty and he refilled them. Whoever he was, he was fine. Our server certainly didn't ask once how the food was. In CONCLUSION Awful. Won't be going back. Am forced to stick to the "Royale with cheese" for my french food. :-) Are there any other french restaurants in Austin? I know about Le Madaleine - their pastries are great and their french roasted coffee is awesome.
Austin, TX