It's always great to hear of independent restaurants with innovative design features that boast a niche hipster style client base ,so we were looking forward to experiencing Mama Shelter restaurant.
Set in the outskirts of Paris, the restaurant looked every bit the glamorous urban retreat. Once inside, the theme continued, and we were greeted with a lively atmosphere and artistically decorative surroundings.
Intrigued to find out more about what the restaurant had to offer we made our way to the hostess table. Even though they had welcomed us with open arms and confirmed our reservation, we were greeted with a hostile and angry hostess who spoke to us as if we were something she had trodden in. So much so that it almost felt as if she was trying to ensure that our evening was as miserable as humanly possible.
We couldn't quite comprehend how it is necessary to greet any guest in this manner, as dining out should be a pleasure from the moment you arrive. Greeting customers in a rude and abrupt manner is quite unnecessary. After being shown to our table we found ourselves at the edge of the bar area. Not acceptable seeing as we had confirmed a restaurant reservation.
We asked to move to an unoccupied table nearer the heart of the restaurant. The hostess informed us that this was reserved for a large party however several minutes later proceeded to give it to another couple. We aren’t ones to demand the best table in a restaurant, but we do feel that anyone reserves the right to move if they aren’t comfortable. This was a very uncomfortable situation.
The table on the edge of the bar meant that I had strangers bottoms continuously rubbing the back of my head and hitting me across the face with their jackets as they scrambled to the bar. The table was also right next to the waiters station so a constant flurry of food flew past inches from our faces.
"Our experience at Mama Shelter had to come to an end. We left, unsatisfied, unhappy and hugely disappointed."
Eventually the restaurant manager moved us to another table, but it was a huge struggle to get this to happen. We felt we were at the mercy of the hostesses power trip and were being treated as cattle instead of guests.
This really got our evening off to a terrible start, but we ordered a few cocktails which were really to a great standard. Each one made with fresh crushed fruit and blended at the bar.
To accompany these we ordered some starters, which we shared. A petit camembert which had fresh garlic cloves inside, it came with some bread and a grated salad. This was a good dish to kick off the meal. It certainly wasn't anything to shout about, but everything you could expect from a baked cheese dish.
We also had large salad Which didn't taste too dissimilar to the salad that accompanied the camembert but was fresh and healthy and ideal for a lighter starter.
For our main meal we wanted to sample two different cuts of steak. We ordered the skirt steak and the rib eye. Both were generously priced, the rib eye being 49 euros so we were expecting really quality cuts of meat.
Sadly this wasn't the case, both potions were extremely fatty, so much so that it was impossible to cut and very difficult to eat. The steak and the French fries were also immensely salty so much so that we found them so hard to swallow that the dishes were wasted.
The waiter didn't ask if we enjoyed the meal despite there obviously being a huge problem so we decided that our experience at Mama Shelter had to come to an end. We left, unsatisfied, unhappy and hugely disappointed.
The Bill: £62 per person
