Trying to find a restaurant in Paris that would A) suit our budget and B) satisfy our want to all things Parisian, was going to be a bit of an ask. Fortunately, we were able to use our phones in France so used our trusted TripAdvisor app. We just didn’t realise just how expensive everything was going to cost (it didn’t help to be St. Valentines day and all). So whilst down by the Eiffel Tower, we decided to stop into the Frog XVI place.
The location was about 3/4 of the way down from the Arc de Triomphe, towards the Eiffel Tower. Which was perfect, as we had just finished a huge walk down from the Notre Dame, through Le Lovre and down the Champs Elysees. With the rain pouring we were just looking for somewhere to sit to wait this out, and although this place was more like a sports bar it did the job quite nicely.
Food Quality
Half the meal was crap and the other half was ok. We ordered the Grande Assiette BBQ a partner pour 2, which in English was a BBQ platter. This included the following;
- BBQ pork ribs,
- Smoked chicken wings (to which they had none left of, so were given more ribs, oh the joys),
- Pulled beef sliders,
- Haricots blancs et rouges, BBQ maison,
- Frites de patate douce,
- Coleslaw maison,
- Beignets D’okra (combo), Poivrons et pickles,
- Texas toast, and
- Mac n Cheese.
Lets start at the top, the ribs. These were ok. A fair bit of gristle on the bone itself, and the meat by all accounts was not fall off the bone like you should get with good ribs. The chicken wings we can’t talk about as they didn’t have any in (which is ridiculous in my opinion). The pulled beef sliders were for me the highlight of what was a very underwhelming meal, the fact that it needed to be packed out with a little bit of coleslaw also showed just how small the burger inside was. The beans that came with it were great and made the very poor, bland, mushy mac n cheese go down easier. Sweet potatoes up next, we both prefer these to normal potatoes.
Again, something that would be much cheaper than most of the other items on the menu, and just not enough to feed two people. Now for the most disgusting thing on the plate. That deep fried okra and other veggies, it all seemed nice from the outside, but when you started taking them all apart. Oh, no! You very quickly found out that the batter was not cooked inside, the veg was not cooked separately but as one giant congealed mess. Finally the Texas toast, this was ok. Just your bog standard bread dipped in egg and then fried.
So all in all the meal was pretty poor, especially for the money which we will discuss below.
Value for Money
All of the above cost 34€, that’s right ladies and gents 34 big smackeroos, or £25 for you brits and around $36USD for all our American friends. This did not include drinks as we opted to have water with our meal. The beers alone were like 9€ which is daylight robbery.
However, baring in mind we are in one of the most expensive cities on probably the most expensive day of the year to be there. Sandwiched between the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower we really shouldn’t have expected any different.
Atmosphere
It was a Sunday and there was football on the TV, i think it was Arsenal v Leicester at the time. You got the typical Lager louts cheering when the Gooners scored there winning goal, but it was soon over and they soon departed. Other than that, the decor was nice, but i did have to ask the waitress twice for drinks and then solar her again to ask for the bill. Really not great service and we certainly was not leaving a tip.
