Gordon Ramsay Au Trianon

We booked this restaurant as we were staying in the hotel for a few days on our visit to Versaille. The hotel and restaurant are beautiful. Staff are friendly but for a restaurant of this calibre, very understaffed. Understaffing is a general theme of many businesses around the world, however, it shouldn’t be an issue in a restaurant in this class. That being said with the service as is, it limits its ability to achieve those coveted Michelin stars. Wine/champagne services was slow. On many occasions customers either poured their own or had to be prompted to refill their glasses. When it was poured they poured too much which caused it to be warm by the time it was consumed. We chose the Prestige tasting menu which was a 9 course tasting menu. I’ll point out only a few courses. Abnormally long waits between courses. Almost uncomfortably long. Might be short staffed (UPDATE: confirmed staffing shortage with the chef) We waited 30 min between course 4 and 5 out of 9 courses. We had to prompt the waitress who said she would go ask with the chef. The 5th course - that we waited for, was not worth the wait as they rushed presentation. The artichoke with the ricotta cheese again felt out of place with the sour berries and barley. The beef itself was flavourful, cooked to a perfect medium rare and went well with the sauce of cardamom and barley. Main waitress who served us agreed that too many flavours were added in the main course of beef. Also agreed with too much time between the courses. We asked them to speed up, which is not something I have ever had to do for a tasting menu. This was probably my 40th tasting menu and so I’ve never experienced it before. We got to meet the chef Gabriele Raviosa, a 35 year old chef with lots of energy and passion. He was really nice and will certainly go places. It’s not easy running a restaurant without all the staff that you need to provide the experience. So kudos to him for keeping it together as much as he did without the staff required. With better service and working on some of those flavour combinations this could easily be a 5/5

An exceptional evening with an exceptional 7 (in reality, with little surprises, 11) course menu and an exceptional unobtrusive, competent and friendly service. In my wife´s and my constant search for palatal feasts, Gordon Ramsay´s place achieved a top rank in our all life hit-list, competing with Stephane Tournie´s Les Jardins de l ´Ópera in Toulouse and many others on our small precious planet. Each course presents itself as a piece of art for the eye, rivaling the masterpieces of architecture and fine art of the Chateau Versailles, the grand and petit Trianon and Antoinettes Hamlet like painted with a hair-brush, vaporing a perfect harmony of smells of finest ingredients from French produce, finally exploding on the tongue and palate as a firework of fine taste, fortunately abstaining from any tendency of "experimental" and "molecular kitchen", just composing a symphony of finest natural taste. Each course is perfectly presented unobtrusive charming by the highly professional service staff, with a smile and fine humor. If Louis XIV would still be alive, he would have chosen this team to run his most famous banquets. Thank You for an unforgettable evening of highest art of cooking.

We booked this restaurant as we were staying in the hotel for a few days on our visit to Versaille. The hotel and restaurant are beautiful. Staff are friendly but for a restaurant of this calibre, very understaffed. Understaffing is a general theme of many businesses around the world, however, it shouldn’t be an issue in a restaurant in this class. That being said with the service as is, it limits its ability to achieve those coveted Michelin stars. Wine/champagne services was slow. On many occasions customers either poured their own or had to be prompted to refill their glasses. When it was poured they poured too much which caused it to be warm by the time it was consumed. We chose the Prestige tasting menu which was a 9 course tasting menu. I’ll point out only a few courses. Abnormally long waits between courses. Almost uncomfortably long. Might be short staffed (UPDATE: confirmed staffing shortage with the chef) We waited 30 min between course 4 and 5 out of 9 courses. We had to prompt the waitress who said she would go ask with the chef. The 5th course - that we waited for, was not worth the wait as they rushed presentation. The artichoke with the ricotta cheese again felt out of place with the sour berries and barley. The beef itself was flavourful, cooked to a perfect medium rare and went well with the sauce of cardamom and barley. Main waitress who served us agreed that too many flavours were added in the main course of beef. Also agreed with too much time between the courses. We asked them to speed up, which is not something I have ever had to do for a tasting menu. This was probably my 40th tasting menu and so I’ve never experienced it before. We got to meet the chef Gabriele Raviosa, a 35 year old chef with lots of energy and passion. He was really nice and will certainly go places. It’s not easy running a restaurant without all the staff that you need to provide the experience. So kudos to him for keeping it together as much as he did without the staff required. With better service and working on some of those flavour combinations this could easily be a 5/5