"I've been making annual trips to Menton for the past dozen years and Le Nautic was always on my list of places to eat. The food was great and the view of the old Bastion with the Mediterranean in the background was outstanding. I especially enjoyed the camaraderie of their senior waiter. I was never really sure if he was French or Italian, but he always greeted me with a "boun giorno!", so I conversed with him in Italian. Just friendly chit chat. About the weather, our health, recommendations for fish and the unpredictability of the fountain in front of the restaurant. "Comme Una donna", he would say with a shrug of his shoulders when I pointed to the fountain in the square that was not working and asked why it was so unpredictable. Nothing earth shattering, just friendly conversation to make a traveler feel at home. And like I said, the food was always excellent. Unfortunately, my experience last year was disappointing. My old waiter friend was gone, replaced by a waiter whose snobbish attitude was more consistent with a snobby Parisian restaurant then the usually agreeable French Riviera. But because this place was a regular for so long, I decided to give it another try during this year’s visit. Unfortunately my experience was much the same. Like last year, the service was surly and mistake ridden. The glass of white wine I ordered never arrived and instead of a small bottle of mineral water they gave me a liter bottle. I didn't say anything about the water as I thought perhaps that was the only size they had. But when a small bottle appeared on the table next to me, I felt like I had been duped. As for my glass of wine, after a couple of unsuccessful attempts to correct the problem, I finally gave up. My Salade Verte was above average, with the thinly sliced fennel a nice touch. But my entrée (Dorade Royale) was marred by a few slices of burnt potato. Not charred, but totally burnt. I also found that the addition of pizza on the menu a step in the wrong direction. After all, how many people go to seafood restaurant for pizza? All in all, it was not a very pleasant experience. In the restaurant world change is inevitable. But you hope that the characteristics that you find favorable in one particular employee (helpful, agreeable, professional) are passed on to his replacement. But unfortunately that does not always happen. What was once a friendly outpost in a foreign land was now nothing more than a place of indifference. And with so many seafood restaurants to choose from, I think that the next time I visit Menton, I will give Le Nautic a pass."
